Page 65 of Rest In Pink

I looked around for Kitty.

“You want in on this, too?” I said to Raina, and she said, “Why not?” I waved to Kitty, held up two fingers, and pointed to Vince and Raina and then my plate.

Kitty nodded and went to work.

“Where’s Bill?” Vince asked and then added, “The oldest busboy in Ohio,” for Raina’s benefit.

“He quit.”

“She’s working alone?” Vince asked.

“She hired two high school kids—” I began, and then a high school girl was there with two more coffee mugs and a pot of full octane roast.

“Sun?” I said, recognizing the female half of the babysitting team that had taught Peri to cheat at cards the other night.

“Hi, Liz,” she said, putting mugs down in front of Vince and Raina. “You guys ready to order?”

“Already did,” Vince said. “Good for you for finding gainful employment.”

Sun poured his cup. “It’s supposed to be until September, but Kitty pays minimum wage, and she lets me teach Mandarin here in the afternoons.” She switched to Raina and poured her cup. “And the food here is great and we get to have all we can eat. I’m thinking of staying full time. What good is a high school diploma anyway?”

Molly and Vince started to protest, but I laughed. “You told your parents that to give them a heart attack, right?”

“They get too smug. Gotta keep ‘em on their toes.”

Raina leaned forward. “What’s your major?”

“High school doesn’t have majors,” Sun said. “But I’m computer science all the way.”

“Excellent choice,” Raina said, and Sun looked at her likeWho asked you? Which seemed to bounce off Raina with no effect.

“I’ll bring your food as soon as it’s done.” Sun looked at the tablet Raina had put on the table. “Word of advice, don’t use the WiFi here. Anybody with any skills can hack in.” Then she went back to the counter.

“She’s kind of touchy,” Raina said to Molly, who grinned back and said, “She’s a teenager; they pretty much come that way.”

“What’s going on?” Vince said. “Why is Kitty open for breakfast and hiring high school kids?”

“She has two mortgages,” I said.

“No, she doesn’t,” Vince said. “She used the insurance money from her husband’s death and paid cash to buy this place.”

“Well,shethinks she has two mortgages,” I said. “That’s good enough for me.”

Belinda got up and came over, pushing her luck big time.

“I’m Belinda,” she said, beaming at Raina. “Welcome to Burney. I was just telling Liz that you and Vince are quite the couple—”

“I’m gay,” Raina said to her. “Huge lesbian. I shag only girls. Queer as a rainbow, honey. Spread that around.”

Belinda was torn between shock and ecstasy that she had such good new stuff to tell, so she stumbled off, thinking as hard as it was possible for a brainless bot to think.

Raina looked at me. “That should take care of that.”

“You didn’t have to,” I said. “Vince and I are not exclusive.”

“As I told you before, we sure as hell are,” Vince said, cutting into my waffle. “Unless you’ve been seeing somebody behind my back.”

“When would I have the time?” I said. “Or the need? You are the best, baby, why would I settle for less?”

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