Page 81 of Pierced Pages
Morgan somehow managed a muffled “Hey” in return. But she wasn’t sure what else to say, and for once, her mouth wasn’t running away with her thoughts before she could filter them.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to say anything.
Danielle raised a hand holding something roundish wrapped in a yellow paper that Morgan recognized as from the deli down the road that she and Jen picked up from once in a while. They were known for their Greek lunch dishes, but they also served breakfast sandwiches all day.
“I know it isn’t the same,” Danielle said, “but I brought you brunch. Consider it yesterday’s brunch today.”
It definitely wasn’t the same, Morgan thought. Not since the point of the brunch was to spend time with Danielle and her kid.
But she recognized a gesture when she saw one.
“Thanks,” she said. “That’s really thoughtful. And I haven’t had lunch yet.”
Actually, she wasn’t planning to have lunch at all. Her stomach was in knots from being so upset, so she’d planned on just having a bag of chips like Jen.
A breakfast sandwich sounded much better.
“I hope you like bacon, egg, and cheese. I couldn’t decide if I should get bacon, sausage, or ham. But then I thought, who doesn’t like bacon?”
Danielle’s words flew out of her mouth in a flurry, making her sound more like Morgan than her normally calm and collected self.
She was clearly nervous about this. Morgan wasn’t sure what that meant. Maybe she just wanted to clear things up between them before making a clean break. Maybe she wanted to stayfriends. Morgan wasn’t sure which one would break her heart even more.
Either way, she had to find out.
She placed the sandwich behind the counter, then glanced at the empty waiting area before nodding at the front door. “Come have a smoke break with me.”
Chapter 36
Danielle
“Ididn’t know you smoked,” Danielle said.
She’d never seen Morgan smoke before, but maybe she knew even less about her than she thought. They’d only met just a few weeks ago. Still, that seemed like more than enough time to know if someone was a smoker.
“I don’t,” Morgan said, showing her to a spot around the side of the building. “Jen and I call our breaks that.”
Danielle felt something that felt a lot like relief. Not because Morgan didn’t smoke. Although if she was being honest, she was glad for that, too. Mostly, she was relieved she hadn’t missed noticing something so big.
“Well, then. Thanks for taking your smoke break with me.”
“Sure,” Morgan said. Her words were very slow and soft. Deliberate. Very un-Morgan-like. “I’m just a little confused about why you’re here.”
Dark circles rested beneath Morgan’s eyes, giving away that she hadn’t gotten any more sleep than Danielle had the night before. Her deep brown eyes above those circles held a swirl of sadness and confusion. Danielle’s heart broke knowing she’d caused that pain.
“Well, I wanted to apologize for being so short with you yesterday.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “And for freaking out. I do that sometimes.”
“Do you?” Morgan laughed softly. “I haven’t seen you freak out about anything. Except maybe about me paying for that dress.”
“Oh, I freak out about other stuff. Mostly Lila-related. As you found out.”
“I get it.” It was Morgan’s turn to take a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again to look down at Danielle. “I pushed too hard for something you aren’t able to do.”
The pain in her voice tore Danielle apart. Pain she’d caused with her own fear.
“I thought that too,” she said. “But I was wrong.”
Morgan’s brow furrowed. “Wrong about what?”
