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“I’ll work on that during my next meditation,” Ellie joked. “Now, do you want to see the menu or…?”

“Do I have a ‘usual,’” Rebecca asked curiously.

“You do.”

“I’ll take that, then. It’ll be interesting to see what it is.”

“Coming up. Also, don’t look now, but…” Ellie placed her hands on the table and leaned even closer, lowering her voice to barely above a whisper. “Joslyn Cohan is over in the corner. Writing!”

“Did you ask what she was writing?” Cass asked, matching Ellie’s silly stage whisper.

“Of course not! I don’t want to interrupt her. All I’m doing is making sure her iced coffee is never empty.”

Cass peeked around Ellie. Sure enough, their favorite author was huddled in the corner of the diner, typing away on her laptop. Cass squinted but couldn’t make anything out on the screen. “Tell me you’re getting a little look-see on what she’s writing when you’re doing the refills.”

“I would never!” Ellie looked at Cass indignantly, then grinned. “I’ll tell you later. Don’t go over there!” With that, she was off to get the couple their food.

“Like I’d go over there and intrude,” Cass puffed out a whoosh of air. She turned to look over her shoulder and saw Ellie staring back at her, doing the ‘I’m watching you’ thing with her hand. Cass held up her hands innocently and laughed.

“She seems nice. And funny.” Rebecca sipped her tea. It was perfectly made, solidifying the fact that Ellie knew her very well. ‘We’re all very close.’ Rebecca had never had close friends before. Not even growing up. “I wish I could remember.”

“Don’t worry, babe… uh, Becca. You will.”

“Everyone seems very confident about that. I wish I were.” Of course, Rebecca didn’t miss the ‘babe’ slip-up. How could she? It made her insides all… tingly. She watched Cass over the rim of her mug, curious about the chocolate milk. Rebecca couldn’t remember when she last had chocolate milk. Not that that was saying much these days. “How old are you, Cass?” she asked suddenly.

“Nope.” Cass stirred her chocolate milk with a straw. She always loved getting chocolate milk from here because Ellie made it with a milk chocolate bar instead of the powder. It was always topped with chocolate shavings, too, which was an added bonus.

“Excuse me?”

The words only held a fraction of Mistress’s strength. Even so, Cass was happy to hear the bit of heat coming from Rebecca. It made her backside itch to be spanked, but they’d get there again. Hopefully.

“The age thing? We’ve been there before. You tried to use it as an excuse not to date me.” Cass smirked. “I won. I ain’t giving you a second chance to overturn the win!”

Well, if they’d had this discussion before, it would have meant Cass was way younger than Rebecca. That was a first for her. Samantha was older and more experienced, which was what Rebecca was used to. Then again, maybe that was why this relationship with Cass worked. At least Rebecca assumed it was working.

“Aunt Wills wouldn’t tell me either. That in itself is telling.”

Cass pushed her chocolate milk aside and leaned her elbows on the table. “I don’t like saying age is just a number. I’ve kinda come to the understanding that saying that negates what everyone has been through. But think of it this way. In your mind, you’re what? In your twenties now? You feel that age because you think you’re that age. So, I guess to me, age isn’t the issue. Your mindset is. My age doesn’t matter, Becca. What matters is we’re two consenting adults who enjoy each other.” Quite a bit.

Rebecca sipped her tea as she contemplated Cass’s outlook on things. She supposed it was true enough. “Fine. No more about age.”

“Thank you!” Cass laughed.

“They look like they’re having fun. Rebecca is laughing.” Ellie stood on her tiptoes and peered out the small window of the door that separated the kitchen from the dining area.

“Did she remember you?” Blaise positioned a rose into the arrangement she was trying to perfect.

“No. I’m not going to lie; it stung.” Ellie smiled when she saw Rebecca’s reaction to eating her lunch. “She still likes my food.”

“She has amnesia, El, not… whatever it’s called when you can’t taste food.”

“Ageusia,” Ellie provided.

“How in the hell do you know that?”

“I’m married to a doctor. Ooo, I’m going to insist Rebecca has a piece of my banana cream pie. Gotta go!”

“Wait! Don’t forget to scoot them my way when they’re done there. I have a special arrangement just for Rebecca.”