Kat
Kat was halfway through her first coffee when Tom walked into the Bubble and Squeak. He was wearing that leather jacket, and his hair was the right kind of messy.
Come on girl, focus!
“Hey,” he called from the doorway.
It was silly, but she still felt a little flutter every time she saw him. Maybe it was because they worked opposite shifts, but every introduction was like a welcome surprise.
“Morning, Tom, how did you sleep?”
“Not great, but I got enough to make it through my shift tonight. How are you? Must be running on fumes?”
“Nah,” she lied, “I only need a few hours, anyway. I’ll catch some more sleep later.”
She kept yawning, sure, and hoped all that foundation was hiding her raccoon eyes. But this was her ask, and even if she wasn’t feeling even half awake, she’d push through.
“Good,” he said, sitting opposite her. “Are you okay if we leave after you’re done?”
Right, they were on the clock. No time for pleasantries.
That’s a shame.
“Of course, I’ll finish quick.”
Tom raised a hand and smiled.
“No rush. I have hours before my shift starts.”
“Still, we have a lot to do. Lucy was helpful, but there are a lot of gaps we need to fill.”
“Like what?” he asked, leaning on his elbows.
“Well, she said that one drawing was a binding ritual, but it’s also incomplete somehow, so we need to figure out why.”
“Does it really matter if it’s wrong…none of it is real, right?”
Kat wondered how close she wanted to play this…the more time that passed, the less sure she was that Rodney was just crazy.
“Right, but it’ll still show us how deep Rodney dove into all this…also, there’s the other side of this.”
“What he was trying to bind,” Tom said, wiping his tired eyes.
“I thought you got enough sleep.”
“Enough sleep…not enough coffee.”
Kat looked around the nearly empty cafe.
“Well, we’re already here.”
“Well,” Tom said, looking at the time on his phone, “you make a good point. But I am always late…”
“I mean, you’re with the boss’s niece; hard to get much safer than that.”
She wondered if she was pushing him, but the smile spreading across his sleepy face said everything she needed to know.
“Nowhere safer in the whole world,” he said, eyes twinkling. “So what’s that you’re drinking?”
“Caramel Macchiato. Just a warning, though, it’s pretty sweet.”
“I like sweet.”
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