Page 10 of Hiding In the Dark (The Righteous 4)
He led the way to a booth in the back and loved the fact they were the first customers. It meant the coffee would be fresh and the food would arrive fast. His stomach gave a loud growl as they sat, and Zumi giggled at the unsightly sound.
“How can I help you?” Larry rounded the corner, head down and pen and pad in hand. He lifted his head, and when he did, he smiled wide. “Kes, you son of a bitch. How the hell are you?”
“Good, Larry, hanging in there. You know how it goes.”
“Yeah, I do. Who is this?” Larry eyed up Zumi and then looked back at Kes like he had a secret to tell.
“Zumi here is a friend. We are both in need of your all-you-can-eat buffet. I don’t see it set up.” Kes looked around, realizing that the entire area that used to hold the mass of metal trays was missing.
“Sorry, Kes. Business has been slow.” Larry lifted a large shoulder, his face showing the stress of his words. “We had to stop doing the buffet. We were throwing too much out.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It is what it is, you know. Everyone has had a tough go of it lately—we’ll get through this bad patch, we always do. So enough about my sad story, what can I get the two of you?”
“Do you have waffles?” Zumi asked, her voice soft.
“Sure do, and since you’re a friend of Kes here, I will do them up with the fruit explosion topping.”
Zumi’s eyes lit up, and as hard as she was trying to hide it, she was excited. “Like real fruit?”
Larry laughed, his baritone voice booming in the confines of the four walls. “Yes, real fruit, and I’ll bring you both milk and juice.”
“The usual for me, and get her a side of bacon. She needs the protein.” Kes leaned his forearms on the table as Larry retreated to the kitchen.
“Kes, can I ask you a question?” Zumi mimicked his pose so it looked like they were in serious negotiations. Heck, maybe they were.
“What kind of serious question?”
Her small shoulders lifted and fell, her raven curls framing her face. “I wanna know how you ended up out here. Like, you just don’t seem….” She stopped and sighed. “I guess I don’t see you as one of us, you know? You just seem like you’re just be hanging with us.”
Kes turned so he could lean his back against the wall and lift a foot onto the bench. He busied himself with tracing the pattern on the plastic tablecloth as he thought about what Zumi had said. The images that he tried hard not to think about bubbled under the surface of his mind.
“Sometimes, Kid, there is ugly in this world, and sometimes there is this whole other fucking level. One that rips out your soul if you let it.”
Eyes that were far wiser than eyes in a nine-year-old’s face should be blinked at him. “I live that every day.”
Their eyes locked. Her calm and yet oddly challenging expression made him want to squirm in his seat.
“Here we go,” Larry said, saving him from having to try and explain himself to a kid that couldn’t understand the horrors that he’d seen. He prayed that she never would.
“Oh my god,” Zumi squealed and stared at the mountain that had been placed before her—golden waffles and piles of chopped fruit topped with strawberry sauce and whipped cream. Kes and Larry both laughed at the expression on her face.
“Nowthatis the face I like to see on my customers. If you need anything else, just holler.”
Kes nodded as he picked up his fork and knife to dig into the steak and eggs, trucker-style breakfast, but it was the kid across the table and her unbridled enthusiasm over a waffle that made him smile.
His phone vibrated in his coat, and he was tempted not to answer, but he yanked it out of his pocket to see the word “Crosshairs” glowing back at him.
“Shit, be right back.” Kes stood, not even sure if Zumi heard him over her loud moaning with each bite. He stepped out onto the street and hit talk but didn’t bother to say anything. He had to give Trev credit—he waited a whole three minutes before his annoyed voice came through the line.
“Kes, I can hear you breathing. Why are you not saying anything?” Trev asked, and Kes could easily picture the exasperated face Trev was undoubtedly making on the other end. It was way too much fun getting under his skin.
“‘Cause I didn’t have anything to say.” He smirked, loving to poke the bear.
“A ‘hello’ or a ‘hi there, old friend.’ I’d even have settled for a grunt since it’s you.”
Kes smirked. “You still knew I’d answer, didn’t you?” he asked, listening as the breathing on the other end of the phone got louder. Back in the Sandbox, he would’ve had his ass in so much trouble for that kind of backtalk. He would’ve been scrubbing a latrine, polishing boots, or doing a thousand burpees by now. Being able to snap back was one of the very few great things about being back.
