Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
It was Tuesday, and we’d open at three in the afternoon, an hour from now.
I stood right by the large window of the Moonlight, and apart from a slight dark blue tint, nothing from this side suggested that the new glass was blocking out unwanted curiosity, but it did.
When Soyer and I had arrived, he’d let me walk right along the outside of the diner, and while our logo was now a prominent feature, the glass itself was perfectly mirrored.
“Satisfied?” Soyer asked from behind me.
I turned. “Yup. You didn’t say a word about the elevator.”
I pointed. The restroom area had been redesigned, so there was a third door now that had a prominent Staff Only sign. It hid an elevator that apparently went right down to the underground, which was exceedingly cool.
Soyer looked annoyed. “Are you surprised? Look at you, all starry-eyed about the possibilities.”
“What, me? Starry-eyed?”
“Hmm. You’re not fooling me.”
I shrugged. “It was really obvious, wasn’t it? I should’ve realized we’d need a way for people to get up here.”
“Amory, I like to think you not thinking things through means I’m a good distraction, and I quite enjoy that.”
From behind the counter, Rae groaned. “The energy, bosses. People want to eat here.”
“Huh?” I craned my head to meet their eyes.
Soyer clicked his tongue. “Our energy is no one’s business.”
Rae wiped the counter that much harder. “That’s what I mean. Thus, keeping it away from people would—”
“Thank you, Rae.” Soyer took my hands in his. “Your server is kicking me out. Are you good here?”
I gestured toward where Ben sat in his customary place, but meaning the back too. Thaeros, Levi, and Ant were organizing stuff there. Dwayne had baked and done some other kitchen prep much earlier in the day, and Kasey was getting ready to fry things.
“I think we’re overstaffed, actually.”
“Good. That means you can take it easy.” He squeezed my hands. “Do that. Enjoy this.”
“I will. When are you coming?”
He gave me a most mischievous look. “When I feel like it, my heart. I do hope you’ll have time to miss me, but I’m not actually sure you will. I’d love to get a text from you though.” He turned. “Ben, any issues, you call right away.”
“Yes, sir.”
I frowned. The writer wasn’t going to be able to come in today, and I felt bad for Ben. Soyer realized and grumbled with amusement.
“Ever the worrier, my heart. Try not to have too much fun.”
“You just told me to enjoy it.”
He cocked his head. “I did? I think I misspoke.” He kissed my hands, then let me go. “I’ll see you later.”
The elevator was on a timed system, and apparently Hawthorne’s security also had cameras in there. Considering there wasn’t a lot of space and there’d been a time constraint for finishing construction, it was pretty remarkable that there was an elevator at all.
The only downside, at least for the reopening, was the size. It fit six people, less if they had two heads, wings, a tail, or other non-standard proportions. Even so, when I checked the big clock at three twenty-eight, we were almost full.
I was behind the bar handing Duncan and Lynn a menu each. Duncan sighed.
“This was such a pain, you know. We had to drop by Foster’s.”
Lynn beamed at me. “He’s annoyed because I made him look through their collection of knobs and handles. For my kitchen cabinets.” She opened her bag and pulled out a set of ceramic cat head handles. “Here, look, aren’t these cute?”
I picked one up, only slightly distracted by the two-headed person taking the chair next to her.
“They’re really unique. Are they handmade?”
Duncan groaned. “Not you too.”
Lynn looked at him flatly. “You gave this man a plant when he moved—a plant!—and now you complain he has taste?”
“The plant is really thriving,” I told him. “I usually forget to water it, but Soyer’s great about that.”
“Huh.” Duncan scratched his head. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“Do you collect poisonous plants?” one of the heads from the person next to Lynn asked. They looked… Their eyes were like a goat’s, and they had horns. The other head was human, male-looking, and he gave his non-human head a frown before craning to see Lynn’s menu.
“Oh, sorry. There you go.” I put my last menu in front of him—them. “I’m not sure the peace lily is poisonous. It was just a housewarming gift.”
Lynn pointed her cat doorknob at Duncan. “Wouldn’t it be fun if the gift you gave him were actual poison?”
“Peace lilies do contain poison. Nothing that would kill you if you just chewed on it though,” the non-human head said. The human head cleared his throat. “Sorry. We overshare sometimes. We’re bio lab techs. But for real, don’t eat that peace lily.”
Lynn let out a hoot of laughter. “Oh, this is delicious.”
“The peace lily really wouldn’t be,” the non-human head said.
I looked at Duncan, who seemed in desperate need of some lunch. “I really like the lily.”
“Thanks. Can I get the fries with the dips?”
I nodded. “Sure thing. I hope wait times keep low. Lynn?”
“The rye sandwich with the beetroot hummus.”
“A really healthy option,” said the non-human head. “I’ll have that too.” The human head rolled his eyes. “Well, I want fries. Drowned in ketchup and mayo, please.”
Then they frowned at each other. At least that was how I read the expression on both faces.
I didn’t see the flowers at first, but the lady who was delivering them made straight for me and caught my eye through the glass of the cake display case. She waved at me, so I looked up.
“Yes?”
She pointed at the oversized bouquet in her arms. “I have a flower delivery.”
People were looking. Not everyone had eyes in the places you’d typically expect them, but they were all looking. My cheeks heated.
“They’re for the staff?”
She sighed and shifted the bouquet in her arms. “No, just for you.”
I nodded. “Hold on.”
I quickly plated the peach pie and brought it to the two-headed patron at the counter, one of the heads still in lively conversation with Lynn. I then wiped my hands and stepped around the counter where the woman met me.
“We have chrysanthemums and camellias. Lucky those were in bloom. The cherry branches are about ready to bloom once you put them in water. There’s also some winter jasmine in there. We tied it all up with red string. Please don’t remove the string when you put them in water.”
“O-okay.” She handed me the bouquet, which was so big that Ben had to lean to the side to avoid getting whacked over the head with flowers. “Um, thank you.”
“There’s a card.” She pointed. “We tied that to the cherry branch.”
“Right. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She put her hand on her belly and moved it in a circular motion. She wasn’t wearing very tight clothing, but unless I was mistaken, she was pregnant.
“Ma’am, do you want to sit?”
She looked amused. “Ma’am? Already? Time flies. I’m fine. They’re all easy pregnancies.” She looked around. “I like the colors here. It’s a rare flower color. They all reach for the sky because they’re curious about the blue, but they never quite get there.”
Half my mind was busy trying to figure out what to put the flowers in. “Who’s not reaching the sky?”
The woman looked at me with the fondness you’d expect in a grandmother’s face. It didn’t quite fit her, but then again, it wasn’t entirely foreign to the lines of her face either.
“The flowers, Amory. They’re always reaching for what they cannot have. The more stubborn they are about it, the more certain you have to be when you cut them. You understand that?”
“Uh, I think so. But I won’t cut these.”
“Nor remove the string we bound them with.”
“No. I think I’ll have to go find a bucket for these. Are you sure I can’t get you anything?”
“Very. We’ll come by when it isn’t as crowded. Have a good day.”
“You too.”
She headed back to the elevator, and I was left standing there. Ben was still leaning out of the way of a big flower that had orange in the center. The color faded to red at the edges, which made it look like small flames, and of course that reminded me of phoenix fire.
“I’ll go get you a bucket from the back.” Ben slid off his chair and headed through the swing doors.
“’Scuse me, coming through.” Thaeros was behind me, a laden tray in their hand.
“Right, sorry. Lots of flowers.”
Thaeros made a big face at the bouquet. “Are we friendly enough for me to ask if he’s sending flowers to compensate for shortcomings in other areas?”
I chortled. “You can ask, but I’m not answering that.”
“Fair enough. I’ve been given flowers many times, but not like this.”
I shifted them from one hand to the other. I wasn’t sure what Soyer had been thinking, sending me this big a bouquet.
“Not this many, you mean? Or by delivery?”
“No, reeking of love. All I ever got were flowers speaking of lust.” In a lower voice, he added, “You’re lucky.”
He headed away to feed our hungry patrons, and Ben came back a few seconds later, not with a bucket but with what looked suspiciously like a kitchen pot. I frowned at him.
Ben shrugged. “Kasey said this was okay. It’s the spaghetti pot, he says, and he doesn’t need that.”
I nodded. “He runs the kitchen. Can you put that on the counter over there?”
Ben helped me navigate the magnificent blooms and the pot onto the corner of the counter.
While it was the bushiest of bouquets Soyer had ever sent my way, I couldn’t argue that it looked beautiful here.
The colors were fire colors—reds, oranges, and yellows—and some of the flowers came with their own scents, which mixed with coffee and the sugar from the whipped cream of our milkshakes.
Ben crossed his arms and looked at the bouquet. “Takes me back to that first delivery.”
I grinned. “Right. I thought you’d mistaken the apartment number.”
“You looked very surprised when I told you I hadn’t. Sir.”
I slapped his arm. “Oh, stop.”
He glanced left and right, then leaned in close enough to whisper in my ear. “I’d never heard of him doing anything like sending anyone flowers, ever. I was almost convinced it was a prank until you opened the door.”
“Really?” I was whispering too. Not that this was gossip.
Ben nodded. “Obviously I couldn’t tell anyone. But…” He checked again to see that no one was watching us. “…I was the first person to see you. the first of our kind.”
He smiled like this had been a point of pride for him for too long, like he’d been aching to share this.
“What did you think of me?”
“Hmm. That I’d just woken you. And that you were very confused.”
I smiled. “Yeah, right on both counts. Oh, there’s a card there. Can you get it?”
I pointed, and Ben easily grabbed the card. He had a few inches on me and could reach much more easily.
He handed me the little envelope and went back to his usual spot. Like all of Soyer’s cards, this one was fancy. It was silver embossed, with a crescent moon that shimmered in the light.
I wanted to open it right away, but I wasn’t going to do that here.
People weren’t outright staring at me, but still.
The human head of that two-headed person next to Lynn was taking a photo of the flowers and largely ignoring me, and Rae, Thaeros, Levi, and Ant had actually divided up the tables among them, leaving me with the counter.
I caught up with Rae where they were putting together an order of drinks.
“Hey, I’ll be in the back. Just a quick break. Can you—”
“Yeah, yeah. We got it. This isn’t anyone’s first grand opening.”
“Well, it’s everyone’s first except yours and mine.”
They petted my head, which made me sort of flinch awkwardly. “There, there. Go take a break. We promise we will not be talking about anything related to the holidays.”
I knew then that I probably shouldn’t leave Rae unsupervised around any kind of holiday, but the temptation was too great. I mumbled a quick thank-you and headed back to Dwayne’s office.
Once there, I sat in his chair, got the letter opener from its drawer, and very carefully opened the envelope. The little card inside was stamped with a silver moon also, no surprise there. I flipped it open and started reading.
Amory,
When you smile, my heart feels lighter. Did the flowers make you smile?
Your greatest admirer,
Soyer.
I read it three times. Then I pulled my phone from my apron and called Soyer.
“Amory. Would you like to be done early today?”
“No. Soyer, I don’t remember if I smiled when I got your flowers.”
“That’s not good, Amory.”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to pay attention. It’s a really big bouquet, you know.”
There was a small pause. “I may have splurged.”
“Oh. Thank you for the flowers.”
I heard him move, then chuckle. “You’re quite welcome. But it appears I have to give you more.”
“You don’t, actually. I’d rather have you.”
There was a very long pause on the other end. Then I heard it as he exhaled, slowly. “Who told you to be so fucking sweet, my heart?”
“I’m not. I’m just saying. Sorry if I shouldn’t have.”
“It’s like you escaped from a candy store, that’s how sweet you are. Very well. Far be it from me to deny my lover anything. I’ll be by soon.”
I couldn’t help myself. That got me incredibly excited. “Really?”
“Yes. You know what you have to do?”
“Make sure there’s a slice of cherry pie waiting for you.”
He snorted a laugh. “Yes, that would be nice. But first and foremost, you’ll have to kiss me. Will you, Amory?”
“Okay. Although I thought you wanted to see me smile at the flowers.”
“Well, I’ll accept that as a bonus.”
“You’ll have to come sit at the counter though. People’re at your table.”
“It’s my table, so people have no business being there when I want to sit at it.”
He said it like that was perfectly reasonable too, and maybe to him, to the Black Shuck, it sort of was.
“But I’m taking care of the counter, so if you sat at the counter, you’d get me.”
“Someone drives a hard bargain. Fine. I’ll have my sweet treat at the counter. And, Amory?”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t forget to smile at the flowers, my heart.”