Page 26 of In Your Wake

“Potato leek soup and tuna sandwiches.”

“Extra pickles?”

“Obvs,” he replies as if insulted, and sits down on the dark green couch, taking out the plastic containers and placing them on the tiny wooden coffee table. The incredible scent of his mother’s cooking fills the small room, and my stomach grumbles as I join him and settle in to eat.

“How’s your mom doing? I’m sure she doesn’t like the cut in hours.”

With the low check-in rate, I’ve had no choice but to cut down on employee hours, and Carina, our cook, is no exception. But it’s not like I can have the staff wandering around twiddling their thumbs, either.

Zayne hands me a spoon. “She’s fine, don’t worry about it. Declan’s been keeping her busy. And she’s been making soups,” he says, pointing to the food. “Loads of soup. She’s selling it at Bagel and Bayou.”

“That’s good.” I smile, slipping a spoonful of said soup into my mouth and moaning with delight. “As long as she makes it, I’ll be here to eat it.”

We sit in silence, but Zayne’s penetrating gaze doesn’t lift from his bowl as he stares at the concentric circles he makes with his spoon.

“Speak your mind, Zee.”

He licks the spoon, then points it at me. “Are we not going to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” I ask, feigning ignorance.

“Mitchell Adams was in here, following you around. And you haven’t said a word about it.”

Soon after Mitch left last night, I felt like my blood was on fire and my heart was about to burst. While Zayne was busy on a phone call, I used the distraction as an opportunity to dodge his questions, but that didn’t stop his incessant texts later on.

“There’s a reason I didn’t answer you last night,” I say.

“But I’ve brought you your favorite food, so…”

“Ah, this is a bribe?”

“Not a bribe, per se,” he teases. “Come on, girl. Spill.”

“There’s nothing to spill. He’s in town to see his dad and for the brewery’s opening.”

Zayne drops his head to the side. “Then why did he come here with you?”

“He didn’t come with me. We took separate cars,” I correct, stabbing my spoon through the air at him, but Zayne rolls his eyes.

“Right, cause that’s what I meant. Something is going on between you two. Something you don’t want to tell me about.”

“Wow Zee, how very observant of you,” I reply, deadpan.

“And the fact that you won’t tell me makes me want to draw my own conclusions.”

“Draw away.”

Zayne lifts his bowl up, stirring his soup like a witch gazing into a cauldron. “Mitchell, the Mitchell, the onetime love of your life—”

“Whoa, he was never the love of my life,” I interrupt, but he ignores me and keeps going.

“Is back in town for a limited time. He’s here to see his father, but his parents own this hotel. I overheard him say something about money and repairs.” His lips curl into a slow smile as he looks up at me with wide eyes. “Aha, the answer is revealed. He wants to fix this place up, but you’d rather he jumped off a cliff.”

I frown at him, my jaw unintentionally falling slack. “How the hell do you do that?”

“What can I say? I have a gift,” he replies with a shrug. “Sounds to me like his offer is exactly what we need. Why are you against it?”

Stalling, I scrape the bottom of my soup bowl, then tip it up to my mouth to get every drop. “He’s had years to help, but he never bothered. Never even asked about us. He doesn’t care about anything other than himself.”