Belong To The Night. Cynthia Eden

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СКАЧАТЬ so friendly. She smiled, she chatted, but the walls were definitely there. She didn’t want anyone getting too close to her and they all knew it.

      So, doing something he’d never done before in the ten months she’d been here, Tully sat down at the table with Jamie. She glanced up from the book she was reading, blinked at him, and went back to reading. He had to fight hard not to smile. What could he say? He admired her restraint to not even try and figure out why he was sitting down with her.

      “Mornin’, Miss Jamie.”

      “Hey.”

      “How are you doing?”

      Her eyes lifted from the book and focused on him. After a moment, she pushed the book away and relaxed back in her chair. “I’m doing fine. Would you like to join me for breakfast?”

      “Why, that is mighty kind of you. I think I’ll do just that.” He motioned to the waitress and she came over. “Your morning special, darlin’. Easy on the grits, though.”

      “Coffee?”

      “Please. And juice.”

      She smiled. “You’ve got it, Tully.”

      The waitress walked off and Tully focused back on Jamie. She was still watching him, smirking.

      Resting his arms on the table, he asked, “So what are you reading? Fiction or nonfiction?”

      “Non. History.”

      “About?”

      Her smirk turned into a grin. “The Donner Party.”

      “Those are the people who…”

      “Ate each other. Yeah.”

      “That’s what you read while you’re about to have breakfast?”

      She shrugged. “I used to look at crime scene photos over a pastrami on rye at the diners back home. Doesn’t bother me.”

      “All right then.”

      The waitress returned and placed a mug next to Tully and poured him a cup of coffee before leaving the carafe.

      “What else do you do when you’re not working?” he asked politely.

      “Watch TV.”

      Tully sipped his coffee after blowing on it. “I don’t even have a TV. Don’t see the purpose.” He placed his coffee down and for the first time since he’d met her, he saw a look of confusion and horror on her face.

      “What’s wrong?”

      “You don’t have a TV? How do you live without a TV?”

      How do I live? “Easily. It’s never been a necessity to me.”

      Jamie shook her head, her face conveying her disgust at his sentiment without her saying a word.

      Tully laughed. “Of all the things that go on in this town, that’s the one that bothers you?”

      “Yeah. Yeah, it does. That’s crazy talk.”

      The waitress placed a plate of food down in front of Jamie. She immediately reached for the hot sauce and completely saturated her fried eggs with it.

      “You know, I can’t help but notice you could be having this same breakfast at your hotel.”

      “Yeah, but then I’d end up fighting with Mac rather than eating, and I really want to eat.”

      “She’s fittin’ in nice,” Tully remarked as the waitress placed his food down in front of him. The special came on a platter and could easily feed two or three full-humans. But he wasn’t full-human and the elk he’d taken down last night had already worn off. “I see she’s coaching the girls’ softball league this season.”

      “Yep.”

      “While Seneca has become assistant coach for the junior and varsity cheerleading squads and Emma’s teaching that tax and accounting class over at the senior center.”

      Jamie lifted her head, a piece of toast gripped in her hand. “Uh-huh.”

      “And even Kenny has volunteered her time over at the library to help upgrade the computer systems and help the kids learn basic computing.”

      “Your point?”

      “I guess I was just noticing that you haven’t really involved yourself with the town.”

      “Really?”

      “Not that you have to, of course. Just sayin’ that sometimes it does a body good to know you’re helping others. And the more you help others, the more comfortable you’ll feel here.”

      She raised her forefinger. “Hold that thought.” Then she leaned back in her chair, her arm reaching toward the table of males behind her. As soon as she moved toward them, they jerked back from her. They were cheetahs, used to bolting from bored lions and startled bears, so they moved really fast. Especially now.

      Jamie pointed her finger. “Mind if I borrow the ketchup?”

      The older male, watching her close the entire time, grabbed the ketchup from the table and carefully handed it over to her. Once she had her hand around the bottle’s neck, he snatched his hand back. They all waited until she’d turned back around before they settled back into their seats and went back to their conversation as if nothing had happened.

      “So what were you saying about me feeling more comfortable around here?” she asked as she poured ketchup onto her hash browns.

      Tully shook his head and went back to his meal. “Nothin’.”

      Jamie walked down Main Street, her book tucked under her arm, which was actually the latest Stephen King novel but she’d held the faint hope her lie would make Smith go away—he didn’t.

      What, exactly, is that dog up to?

      For a good forty minutes, she’d watched him devour two platters of the diner’s special and go on and on about…she didn’t even know. People in the town. The town’s history. She had no idea why he was telling her all that nor did she care. She enjoyed not knowing these people’s business, shame they couldn’t seem to be the same way. But she did hope to lead by example.

      Was he trying to get her to feel something specific? What did he think that would change? Would she make them less nervous if she were like Mac, helping their brats with their curveballs and chatting with the moms after practice? The thought made Jamie shiver in disgust. She loathed children. She’d loathed them when she was a child, and that feeling hadn’t changed in thirty-two years.

      She was nearing her SUV when she walked right into someone. She immediately grabbed the person before they could hit the ground, but they lost control of their bags of groceries, apples rolling across the pavement.

      “I’m sorry,” Jamie immediately apologized. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

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