Grimacing, she accepted the spoon he offered and dipped it into the liquid to take an experimental mouthful. With the memory of Father Joseph's soup in her mind, she took a rather small spoonful, but was pleasantly surprised. It was good.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Cream of cauliflower and cheese." Greg raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?"
"It's good," she admitted. "I don't think I've ever had this before."
He smiled, but merely concentrated on eating.
After a couple of spoonfuls of soup, Lissianna tried the sandwich and found that rather good as well.
"Smoked Montreal beef and mustard on rye " Greg informed her before she could ask what the sandwich was.
"It's good, too," she admitted, and they both fell silent as they ate. Lissianna finished long before he did. After years on a liquid diet, she simply didn't have the capacity for a lot of food in her stomach. She barely managed half her soup and less than half of her sandwich. What she didn't eat, Greg finished for her. Surprisingly enough, the food did make her feel a little better. More awake at least as they emptied the garbage from the tray into one of the bins, then set it on the stack of trays on top. They wandered the Path for a while after that, ending in the furniture section of a department store.
"This is just about the ugliest couch I have ever seen."
Lissianna started to chuckle at Greg's horrified expression which just made his eyebrows rise. "You don't agree?"
"Oh yes. It is ugly," she assured him. "I'm just finding it amusing that our tastes match so well."
He smiled wryly. "I know. At first, I thought you were just agreeing to be agreeable."
Lissianna's eyebrows rose, and she said, "I'm not Meredith."
"I know," Greg said apologetically. "I stopped commenting for a while to try and catch you out, but you still liked and disliked the same things I did. I guess we just have the same taste."
"Classic," Lissianna murmured, and when he arched an eyebrow, she explained. "I like timeless classics. Solid colors and timeless styles rather than patterns and styles that show their age after a while. I also like comfortable, cushiony furniture."
Greg grinned and nodded. "Classic. I wouldn't have known to call it that, but it's what I like, too." His gaze slid past her shoulder and he grimaced, then took her arm to urge her forward. "Rabid salesman closing in."
"Rabid?" she asked with amusement.
"They're all rabid," he said dryly, as they hurried to the safety of the escalator. "This one looks a little more eager than most."
Lissianna glanced back the way they'd come as she stepped onto the escalator, and felt her expression freeze as she spied the man in the dark suit hurrying after them.
"What is it?" Greg asked, glancing back as well.
"That's not a salesman," Lissianna gasped, then caught his hand and began to hurry down the moving stairs, apologizing as she bumped other passengers on the escalator in her hurry.
Greg didn't argue or ask questions. He tightened his hold on her hand and followed, adding his own apologies to hers as they fought their way to the bottom of the escalator.
Once at the bottom, Lissianna didn't pause to glance around, but hurried for the exit.
"He's still following us," Greg said, as they weaved their way through the crowds milling through the Path.
Lissianna began to move a little faster, only now sending out the thought to those before them to move out of the way. The fact that she hadn't from the start was a sign of her exhaustion.
"What are we doing?" Greg asked several moments later when Lissianna suddenly turned into the movie theater, dragging him behind her.
Lissianna didn't waste the energy explaining, her mind was occupied controlling the ticket takers as she led Greg past them. Several matinees were playing and she read the audience emotions as she passed each door, pausing abruptly when waves of building anxiety poured out at her from behind the doors of theater three. Greg followed without comment when she started inside, waiting until they were seated to speak.
"A movie?" he asked with disbelief, as they sank down in their seats.
"A scary movie," Lissianna corrected, glancing back toward the door. "Their anxiety will cover ours. I told you fear broadcasts, and he can just follow our anxiety. But with everyone in here reacting to the movie, I hope he'll just bypass us."
"Oh." Greg glanced back toward the door as well, then asked, "Who is he?"