Nikki had explained about the road to Cas while they were waiting on their breakfast and before Liz and Juliette emerged from the back room. Juliette went to talk to one of the groups in a booth while Liz joined Sylvia behind the counter, apparently under the impression that with all those people, Syl must need help. Nikki heard her tell Liz, “They’re just waitin’. On what? You tell me.”
They were halfway through Syl’s hash browns (which were excellent as these simple things go) when the hubbub around them ceased abruptly and the screen door slammed behind Roger and DJ with all the subtlety of an exploding cigar at a wake.
“Who’s that?” Cas asked.
“The main event, I think,” Nikki said, nodding. “Looks like the gang’s all here. That’s Roger Ellis, the counterculture’s favorite local lawyer. I bet he’s the one Juliette Rose has been waiting for.”
“And the woman?”
Try as she might, Nikki could see nothing in Cas’ eyes but dispassionate curiosity. She should have looked deeper. “I don’t know her. She’s new. Must be Roger’s latest girlfriend.”
“He have a lot of them?”
“They come and go like winter wheat, as my Gramps used to say.”
“Striking. Not pretty exactly but…striking.”
“That’s what my Gramps used to say about women with faces like horses. Either that or ‘handsome’.”
“No, not handsome. There’s nothing male about her.”
“Interested?” Nikki asked dryly. “That your type?”
“I don’t think I have a type.”
“What about Juliette Rose? She’s drop-dead beautiful and you barely glanced at her.”
“I saw her. Too hard. Bossy. Likes to have her own way.”
“You got all that from a glance?”
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
“In my opinion, yes.”
Cas shrugged. “It’s not difficult. Most beautiful women are used to getting their own way in everything by the time they’re twelve. Spoiled rotten brats, my grandfather used to call them. And he was right. Them and me? We don’t get along.”
“You know, some people consider me beautiful.”
“You’re different.”
“Not beautiful?”
“Not greedy. You don’t expect everything to be handed to you on a plate, and you wouldn’t take it if it was.”
That may read like a compliment but it didn’t sound like one and it didn’t look like one. He said it in the flat, bored tones of someone relating a fact so obvious it shouldn’t need comment, all while he was looking at another woman. It was at this moment that Nikki finally discovered what it was about him that attracted her.
He didn’t lie. Ever. About anything.
In high school, that had been…odd…and decidedly unnerving. They had all taken what she now realized was honesty as arrogance, an attempt to hurt. That flat tone sounded like condemnation when what he said was negative and an insincere attempt at flattery when it was positive. But they’d all been wrong, including her. Knowing this didn’t make her any less uncomfortable. More, if anything. There was something mechanical about it, something as cold as brushed steel. It wasn’t human.
She didn’t quite know what to do with this revelation or what she thought about it. Honesty in all things could be mighty hard to be around. For the moment, she put her insight in a brightly colored box with a red tag on it and shoved it into a closet way in the back of her mind.
“You’re staring,” she said.
“Oh. Sorry. It’s just that she’s…striking.”
“Yes. You said that three times.”
“You’re not jealous?” She couldn’t tell if he was genuinely surprised or teasing her.
“Me? Nah. Not yet….”
“Good. Because I…like you. A lot.” And he blushed.
“You’re blushing!” she exclaimed, shocked and – as long as we’re telling the whole truth about everything – somewhat pleased.
“No I’m not.”
“Yes you are. Your cheeks are all pink and there’s a bright red stripe down the middle of your nose. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a male over the age of twelve blush.”
“I’m not blushing. It’s hot in here. All these people.” He turned quickly away from her and looked at the booth where Roger and DJ had joined Juliette Rose. “Are they going to tell us what’s going on?”
“I don’t think they have any choice. That’s what everybody’s here for.”
