Page 9 of Midsummer Phoenixes
It took me a moment. I’d seen twins, but never triplets. These three were blond and brown-eyed, and their faces made me think they were quick to smile. They all wore jeans and T-shirts, nothing identical, but similar.
“We’re stopping by for dinner, Mr. Hawthorne,” one of them said, giving me a friendly nod.
“We heard the food was excellent,” said the second, this one in a dark blue shirt.
I looked around. “Counter or the table behind you.” I indicated table one. The three of them slid right into the booth. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”
Elias made a moue. “But you promised me syrup, Amory. Sweet, sticky syrup all over my cream.”
“It baffles me how you can make that sound so dirty.”
“Does it really?” He gave me innocent vampire eyes again.
“Fair enough. I’m sure you’ll manage to wait for a hot second. All good things to those who wait, you know.” I grabbed three menus.
“Hmm. Valentin says the exact same thing when I tell him I can’t wait any longer.”
I looked over my shoulder. “Are you sure you want that cherry syrup?”
Elias sighed dramatically, dropping his head back on the counter. “Yes, please.”
That left him silenced, at least for the time being. I rounded the counter, checking on my tables as I walked past on my way to table one.
Once there, I handed out the menus, wondering what those three were. Blue Shirt, White Shirt, Gray Shirt each gave me a warm smile and thanked me for the menus.Maybe they are werewolves. Wolves have several babies, right, so maybe werewolves do as well.
Either way, they knew Elias, and that was good enough for me. “Do you know what you want to drink?”
“Yes,” they said in unison, which was a little weird, but I had broken out in flames just on the other end of the counter, so I wasn’t going to judge.
“We’re having a strawberry milkshake, iced chai tea, and the homemade raspberry lemonade,” Gray Shirt said.
“All right. I’ll get those ready for you.”
I headed back, but stopped at table seven where Man Bun was waving at me.
“Could I please have another salad?” he asked. Kale lover or not, his small plate of fries was gone.
“Sure. More fries as well?”
The man—or werewolf—next to him answered, “Yes, please.”
“Actually, if you could make that two,” Atkins said.
The wolf next to Atkins leaned forward. “Three, please.”
Atkins sighed. “We’re going to become regulars here, Mr. Saintclair.”
That they knew my last name would have upset me if I hadn’t talked to Soyer earlier, but knowing he knew them, I smiled.
“We love our regulars. I’ll get those fries and salad for you. Please leave room for our Pride brownies.”
One of the wolves gave a longing whine at the mention of brownies, but I wasn’t sure which one. It was sort of endearing. I went back to the kitchen and left the order with Dwayne before putting one of the rainbow-glazed brownies on a plate.
“Break?” Dwayne asked.
I shook my head. “No. For my...friend out there.”
Dwayne nodded and added a grunt, his way of saying,All right, but you can take a break if you need it.
