Page 54

Story: Her Vagabond Heart

So now here we were. I took a bite of toast, watching Grayson, wanting his attention on me.
“You know what’s amazing?”
“Mmm?” He was way too focused on whatever he was reading for my liking.
Holding my phone under the table so he couldn’t see it, I ran a quick search, then said, “The Dow just surged two hundred and fifty points because of the new tech merger announcements. It seems like the market’s really responding to the innovation sector’s growth, doesn’t it?”
His eyes shot to mine, wide with surprise.
I burst out laughing, then held up my phone, waving it at him. “Gotcha. Google is my friend.”
The dimple. Always with the dimple. He put the tablet down and picked up his coffee mug. “Cute.”
“For real though, having an appetite. Liking food again.”
“I’m glad.”
“Yeah, even if it is macrobiotic, all organic, gluten-free, whole grain…what else?”
“You left out steel cut.”
“What the fuck does that even mean?”
“It just means the wheat is cut, not rolled, so the oats are less processed and better for you.”
“That’s lame. I thought you were gonna say you pay someone to slice them with a sword. Like a samurai, you know?”
“Now there’s an idea.”
I fed a small piece of salmon to Patti, who was all snuggled up in my lap. She purred contentedly, her little pink tongue lapping at the fish. “Well, at least it’s Patti approved.”
He went back to his reports while I shared the rest of my breakfast with Patti.
Until the security system gave out an alert that there was someone at the front door. Grayson didn’t move, just continued scrolling through his tablet while sipping his coffee.
“Um, Grayson,”
“Yes, Stefania?”
“I think there’s someone at the door,”
“Is there?”
“Well, the security thingy just beeped,”
“I see.”
“Aren’t you going to, um, answer it?”
“Why don’t you answer it?”
“Me?”
“Why not you? Are your legs painted on?”
“What the fuck?” But he didn’t reply, just sipped his coffee and gazed at me, an enigmatic expression on his face.
The security system bleeped again. Grayson still didn’t move. “Fine, be that way then.” I shoved up from the chair.