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No, not a few minutes. A lifetime.

Chapter20

Jake

She has yetto look at me. She’s hiding behind the menu, but I doubt she’s actually reading anything since it’s upside down. I don’t like the way her friend left without saying anything. I want to believe Lynn is trying to give us a chance to be alone away from the police station. And as much as I like the idea of having Ava all to myself without any of the investigation crap between us, I worry about her distracting me from what I need to do. I believe her and yet a small part of me still doubts the whole thing.

You don’t have to let a dog bite you in the ass to know it has teeth.

My grandfather’s voice sounds in my mind as clear as if he’s standing next to me. That’s something he used to say to me often. I haven’t thought about it in years. Ava snorts a laugh and drops the menu. She looks past me, and I follow her gaze, half expecting to see Grandpa walking between the tables. I look back at her in time to see her flipping the menu right side up.

I cross my arms over the table. “Something funny?”

She blushes. “Yeah, me trying to read the menu upside down.” Her gaze flicks over my shoulder again, but I resist the urge to look.

My mind is playing tricks on me. This whole situation with the missing women and Ava’s psychic abilities has me on edge. I came here to get away and relax, and that’s what I’m going to do. “Find anything vegetarian?”

She goes back to looking at the menu. “I did. Thanks. You know what you want?”

What a loaded question. You, in my bed. “Yeah.”

The waitress comes back with water glasses. “Ready to order?”

I tilt my head at Ava.

“I’ll have the veggie quesadilla. Can you add guacamole, please? Thank you.” She tries to give the menu back to the waitress, who’s smiling at me and ignoring Ava.

The waitress looks vaguely familiar. I glance at her name tag.Renee.

Not a name you see every day. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”

Her hand goes to my shoulder and stays there. “Yes, we had one class together, freshman year of high school. I moved away, but I’m back now.”

I reach for the water glass and her hand drops.

Ava waves the menu at the waitress. “You can take this now, thanks.” She smiles, but it’s the smile a dog gives you just before the bite.

I take Ava’s menu and mine and hand them back to Renee. “I’ll have the steak and fries. Cooked medium, please.”

The waitress leaves, and Ava watches her. “I don’t think she likes me.”

“What makes you say that?”

The look she gives me suggests I’m a dozen crayons short of a twelve-pack box. Another thing Grandpa used to say. Her presence is making me think of him. For a moment, I could almost swear I smelled his aftershave.

“She didn’t look at me once.”

“Maybe she’s shy?”

“There was nothing shy about the way she was looking at you.” She picks up the water glass and her lips wrap around the paper straw.

My imagination paints X-rated pictures in my mind. My stomach clenches and I shift in my seat. I swallow and clear my throat. I want to ask her if she’s jealous, but this is a line I can’t cross. I should not cross. Oh, fuck it. “Jealous?” I laugh to make it sound like a joke.

Ava sets the glass down. “If I were your girlfriend, I might be jealous. But that’s not the point. She doesn’t know what kind of relationship we have. We could be friends or lovers. And her behavior was deliberate. She’s not shy, she was coming on to you.”

She’s right, but I’m not ready to concede yet. “Maybe she’s friendly?”

Ava laces her fingers and props her chin on them. “Is she shy or friendly?”