Page 40 of Chasing Infinity

“Morning, Noah,” Addison chirps when I make it down from the apartment in the morning. She’s looking especially chipper today. I wonder if it's due to our conversation last night. I know she still has questions, and we still have a ways to go before everything is smoothed out, but it felt nice to justtalkto her last night.

I give her a sideways grin, take the mug of coffee she offers me, and slide into the last seat at the counter. “Good morning. Sleep well?”

Addison nods. Her eyes are bright as she gazes at me. “Better than I have in a while.”

Grace is watching our interaction from the other end of the counter, looking suspiciously between the two of us and our cheeky grins. “What the hell is up with you two this morning?”

I smirk into my coffee mug but leave Addison to talk her friend down. “Nothing. We just had a good talk last night.”

Despite it being the whole truth, it doesn’t ease Grace’s suspicions in the slightest. She looks put out as she goes back to her task. “Sure. If that’s the story you want to go with.”

Addison places a plate of sausage, scrambled eggs, and an English Muffin in front of me. After giving her an appreciative smile that makes her blush, I watch proudly as she hurries around, taking care of business. She runs this place like a pro, managing multiple tasks simultaneously and never missing a beat. Parks has definitely built herself her own legacy here with this little diner.

I observe her as she takes care of her customers, greeting everyone by name. She’s got the small-town diner aesthetic on lock, hitting every one of the checkboxes that make a place like this successful. Everyone who walks in that door is happy to see her, and she reflects that energy without flaw, her face lighting up with a grin that makes her eyes sparkle.

The stool next to me screeches against the flooring as it’s pulled away from the counter. I look over my shoulder and find Charlie Sullivan sliding into the seat beside me. I bite my muffin and frown at him as I realize this is becoming a regular occurrence. He says good morning to Addison and Grace and orders his breakfast before turning to look at me.

“Morning, Lockwood.”

“Sullivan,” I greet him. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

He shoots me an annoyed look. “I can’t just sit here for breakfast?”

“Nope,” I reply, my lips popping around the word. “You must have ulterior motives for being this close to me.”

He laughs but doesn’t deny it. “Eli and I were going to go to the range today. I need to get some practice in, and Eli’s tagging along just because, but I wondered if you might want to join. Figured you could probably use the practice too.”

I blink at Sullivan a few times, contemplating his offer a minute before nodding. “Yeah, I do actually need to get down there. What time are you all going?”

Charlie glances down at the watch on his wrist. “Say an hour or two? I’ll finish my breakfast and then get Eli and swing back around here.”

“Perfect,” I nod again and brush the crumbs off my hands. “I’ll need to get a few things from the apartment, then I’ll be ready.”

Addison arrives and places a plate down in front of Charlie, offering him a friendly smile. “One order of biscuits and gravy.”

Sullivan tips his head gratefully and then starts into his breakfast. I stay in my seat next to him, finishing up my coffee and muffin, running through my mental file of our mission.

“So, Sully, any news from the home front?” I ask him. Since Addison got sick, I haven’t had the chance to check in with him. I could use a progress report.

Charlie looks at me out of the side of his eye and then shakes his head. “Not much. Your dad is a professional at keeping things under lock and key. It seems like I’ve got ears everywhere, but I haven’t heard a thing. Not even a whisper.”

“Anything else on our friend Orville?”

He presses his lips together and shakes his head briskly. “Nada.”

I exhale, frustrated. This is proving to be a wild goose chase. How the hell am I going to get what I need when every lead we find turns out to be a dead-end? I glare down at my coffee mug, trying to think of something that I can do to edge things along. It’s like this whole operation is at a standstill right now—either my father is waiting for us to make the first move, or we’re too busy grasping at straws trying to find something that isn’t there.

My father is intelligent, and I conclude that I’ll have to get three, if not five, steps ahead of him if I’m going to win this game—it’s simply a matter of how to get ahead.

“I can hear your mind working from over here, dude,” Charlie mutters in between bites. “You’ll give yourself a brain hemorrhage if you keep that up.”

“There’s gotta be something that we’re missing. Something that we haven’t considered yet that’s the key to all of this.”

“We’ll get there. Don’t rush it. Things will fall into place.”

I frown at him. “I’m not sure I like your can-do attitude about this. There may not be an official deadline but I'd like to get this wrapped up sooner than later. There are actual lives at stake here, you realize that?”

I've been back in Willow Heights for nearly a month now at this point, which in the grand scheme of things, is hardly any time at all. And yet in that month we've hardly made any headway.

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