Page 35 of Silent Shadows

“Please tell me it’s open.”

“I’m sure it is.”

She looks at me hopefully over the rim of her mug.

And for reasons I cannot explain, twenty minutes later we’re sitting across from each other in a tiny desert diner while an exhausted waitress refills our coffee.

The silence between us isn’t awkward.

Which feels weirder than awkwardness would.

Daisy scrolls her phone while I skim a local newspaper someone left behind at the counter.

Our breakfasts arrive at the same time.

Eggs. Toast. Potatoes.

I glance at her plate. Then at her.

“Huh.”

She looks up. “What?”

“I just expected you to order something more… LA.”

Her eyes narrow instantly. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t know. Avocado toast. Activated charcoal smoothie. Ethically sourced moon yogurt.”

She laughs despite herself. “Moon yogurt?”

“It sounds like something you people would eat.”

“You people?”

“Podcast people.”

“That’s not a real demographic.”

“It absolutely is.”

She shakes her head, cutting into her eggs. “I don’t think desert diners have activated charcoal. But for the record, avocado toast is good.”

“I never said it wasn’t.”

“You implied it.”

“I implied judgment.”

“Which is different?”

“Yes.”

She rolls her eyes and reaches for the hot sauce at the same moment I do.

Our hands bump.

A tiny whisper of contact.