Page 67 of Shifting Tides
I glanced at the waitress’s name tag. “No thanks, Vicky. I’m not hungry.”
She gestured to the pot of coffee she was holding. “Coffee?”
Persistent, wasn’t she?
I feigned a smile, trying to be polite in my dismissal of her. “No, thank you. I don’t drink coffee. Maybe check back when myfriendarrives. I’m sure he’ll love some coffee.”
Vicky gave a slight frown as she moved on to the next table a few feet away.
I really hated being out in public, especially during the day. But Caesar didn’t trust meeting me in private or at night, so here I was.
The bell attached to the entrance door chimed, drawing my attention to the newcomer.
“Finally,” I grumbled, watching as Vicky approached Caesar. The man’s brown hair was untidy, resembling a ruffled mess of feathers so like those he wore in his shifted form.
During their brief interaction, Vicky glanced my way with uncertainty and a little trepidation, then pointed at me.
I heard Caesar say, “Thank you,” before he headed for my table.
“I see you still have a way with people, Julian,” he said as he sat down across from me.
I snorted. “I see your timing still hasn’t improved. You’re fifteen minutes late.”
“Sorry. It’s not like I could just fly right into downtown Chicago.”
“I suppose,” I conceded, then dropped my voice to whisper, “But it’s not like I could order human food and pretend to enjoy it. I’ve been bugged five times, Caesar. By five different waitresses!”
“It was a long day at the school,” Caesar said with a sigh. “It’s been a series of long days actually.”
Vicky approached with her steaming coffee pot, pretending I wasn’t sitting at the table. I returned the pretense.
“Wouldyoulike some coffee, sir?” she asked in an overly sweet tone.
Caesar quickly slid over the mug that was set on the table, and she poured the dark brown coffee in. “Thank you very much.”
She smiled widely, seeming overjoyed to be useful.
I risked a sideways glance and found her looking at me. “As for you…”
“I’m good,” I said with a wave of my hand.
Vicky looked back at Caesar. “I’ll stop by in a few minutes to check on you, okay? It’s dinner time, and we’ve got a daily special that will knock your socks off.”
“Thank you, Vicky, you’ve been very helpful,” Caesar replied. “The coffee is just fine right now.”
“You’re very welcome,” she said, glancing once more at me before walking off to help a family that had just entered.
It wasn’t her fault, really. Humans could always sense what I was. Even with a pound of makeup to rosy up my pale skin, there was no hiding the monster beneath.
“Is it really so hard to show a bit of kindness,” Caesar teased as he took a sip of the coffee. The smell made me gag a little.
I set my jaw. “The world hasn’t been too kind to me, so yes, sometimes it is.”
Caesar studied me for a few seconds, then shrugged. “Fair enough.”
“Now, what was so important that we had to meet at this dump?” I asked, eager to get down to business so I could leave this den of temptation. “Your text sounded quite urgent.”
Caesar set his mug back down on the table, fingering the sides of it restlessly. His brown eyes were heavy, and the wrinkles in his forehead seemed deeper than I remembered seeing the last time we met. He looked older than his twenty-six years, which was ironic because I would always look younger than my hundred years.
