"You're weirdly resistant to eating it."
Kieran's laughter blended with the music drifting through the bar, and something warm settled beneath my ribs.
Tomorrow morning, I'd be standing in front of cameras. Tomorrow morning, my life would change. Tonight, though, I was sitting across from a twenty-one-year-old education major who didn't know who I was, arguing about birthday cake. For the first time in weeks, I wasn't thinking about tomorrow at all.
Mara appeared beside our table before either of us could continue the debate.
She glanced at Kieran's barely touched dessert and shook her head. "I've never seen someone work so hard to avoid free cake."
"I've had at least four bites."
"Three," I said.
Kieran looked at me. "You're counting?"
"You made me invested."
Mara laughed. "I don't know what happened while I was gone, but I'm glad somebody's making progress." She turned toward me. "Can I get you anything?"
I realized then that I'd been sitting there for nearly half an hour without ordering so much as a drink. "A beer would be great."
She nodded before looking at Kieran. "What about you? Ready for another whiskey sour?"
Kieran hesitated.
I recognized the look immediately. It was the same expression I'd seen from rookies pretending they knew exactly what they were doing.
"I was thinking about it," he admitted.
"Have you eaten anything besides cake?"
His eyes narrowed slightly. "Mara."
"What? It's a fair question."
Kieran glanced down at the plate. "I had lunch."
"That wasn't the question."
I watched the exchange for a second before opening the menu she'd left behind.
"Are they still serving food?"
"Kitchen's open another hour."
I slid the menu toward Kieran. "Pick something."
His eyebrows lifted. "You buying?"
"You can pay me back by finishing the cake."
The smile that spread across his face arrived slowly, as though he couldn't quite decide whether to be amused or suspicious. "That sounds like a scam."
"It probably is."
A few minutes later, Mara walked away with an order for fries to share, a burger for Kieran, and a sandwich and a beer for me. The simple act of ordering food made the evening feel different somehow. Less like two strangers making conversation and more like two people settling in.
A man wearing a sweater covered in blinking Christmas lights wandered past our table carrying a tray of drinks.
