Page 89 of Moonlight Hearts

Soyer handed me my cup.He’d washed it out, leaving nothing to indicate what had happened earlier.A glance at the spot on the floor confirmed that he’d cleaned that up as well.

“Thank you,” I told him as I took the cup he’d offered, causing a subtle smile to stretch his lips.

“You’re done?”he asked, and walked up to the table.

“Yes, sir.”Jules kept his head down, but his shoulders were up.He didn’t look afraid of Soyer, it actually seemed like this was exciting for him, like an event.Maybe it was, given that Soyer didn’t host parties.

“You wiped this down?”

And Soyer, back in his Black Shuck mood, ran his index finger over the smooth and shiny surface of the table, inspecting it for any trace of dust.

“Yes, sir.”

I walked up next to Soyer and hooked my arm around his before he could think of dragging out his dust-seeking.

He sighed.“It’s fine.Leave us.”

And the four of them…bowed, then filed out of there.It was the weirdest thing I’d seen in a while, and there’d been several two-headed people at the diner these past two days.Also one octopus person.That one had been really weird.

When the door closed, Soyer reeled me in for a kiss.“Why don’t you go sit at the table?”

I pointed.“This really big table?”

“No,ourtable.I have to clean this one before I set it.Hmm.Would you like to fold the napkins for me?”

“Wow, there’s something I’m allowed to do?”

He gave me a flat look.“You may do everything.Except cook.Or pour yourself coffee.Amory, I’m not a greedy man.I don’t ask for much.Please grant me this.”

That had me chuckling.“Okay, I’ll do your napkins.You know, Rosa taught me how to do sea roses.I can do one and you can decide if we should go with those or just regular triangles.”

“That sounds lovely.You should get right to work.”

Soyer liked the sea roses.As it turned out, he’d ordered flowers for the table as well, and while he was stuffing his big pumpkin with a filling based on nuts from what I could tell, Jules and one of the helpers placed them on the table.

Soyer, of course, sent them away, only to adjust the flowers to his liking.It was oddly adorable.It showed he cared.It showed he was looking forward to this, maybe even more than I was.

He even allowed me to set the table, though he had a pretty detailed idea of what he wanted everything to look like, and he was absolutely shameless about adjusting the wineglasses and the forks, frowning a lot and keeping up eye contact while he turned plates that were perfectly symmetrical, though maybe not to his experienced eye.

Around four, my phone vibrated on the breakfast table next to me.By rights, Soyer shouldn’t have noticed, given that he had four pots going on the stove, one of them the cider that was filling the entire apartment with the scent of warming spices, cinnamon, cloves, and anise.Still, he turned, giving me a curious look.

I picked up the phone.“It’s Dwayne.”

Hey kid, you mind if the sitter drops Laura right at your place?Not quite done yet at the diner.Still setting up the Thanksgiving food for the staff.

I was relieved everyone working today would be fed.Not that they wouldn’t, not in the diner, but even if they didn't really celebrate, it wouldn’t have felt right not to share some of the celebratory spirit with them.

“Laura’s going to be early,” I told Soyer while typing out my answer.“Dwayne’s still busy.”

Sure, np.

“What has the world come to that guests are early?”Soyer indicated his not-holiday cookies.He’d moved them to a nice plate because he’d needed his cooling rack for two leavened loaves he’d kept in the fridge overnight and baked just before the massive pumpkin.“Feed her those.”

“Should I ask her if she thinks they’re Christmas cookies?”

Soyer rolled his shoulders but didn’t turn back to me.“You know you can do whatever you want, Amory.I’ll watch.What’s the worst that could happen, hmm?”

He was enjoying this.Not just playing with me, but alsothis.How people thought he was a scary guy was beyond me.