The only thing that made this even remotely bearable was that it appeared he’d also stood up his friends. By thirty minutes. And counting.
“Well,” Paradise said as she sat back in her bench seat. “I’m starved. How about we order and hope he shows up?”
“Works for me.” Craeg opened a menu. “The cold makes me hungry. Plus, is anyone else smelling the cheeseburgers?”
As the female stared expectantly across the table, Helania wasn’t sure what to do. “Is there any chance Boone could be hurt?”
Although given that he’d told her he was off rotation? He was probably not seeking medical attention for a war wound.
“You mean hurt from being out in the field?” Craeg said from behind the laminated picture of a Reuben sandwich and a piece of pie, the front page of the menu. “You don’t have to worry about that. We’re all equipped with locators when we’re out engaging. But he’s off rotation. He’ll be here any second. I know it.”
Well, at least she knew he hadn’t lied to her about that.
Paradise nodded. “I think Craeg’s right. Let’s order and go about our business. He will show up. What do you say, Helania? Eat with us?”
The sense that she couldn’t breathe came over her, and she looked out the window again. Except just as she opened her mouth to nothank-you things, Ruth approached them.
“Still waiting for one more?” the waitress said. “Want some coffee to pass the time? You turned me down last time, but I’m feeling lucky tonight.”
“Actually, I’m ready to order.” Craeg put his menu down. “But females first.”
“Well, now, there’s a gentleman.” Ruth winked at him and took out her order pad. “Who wants what?”
Everyone looked at Helania.
She took a deep breath and pictured herself going back to her apartment alone. To sit and wait. And see what had happened with Boone.
Clearing her throat, she pushed the mug of untouched coffee to the center of the table. “I’d actually prefer some hot chocolate. I guess I should have thought of that before the coffee came. And I’d like two eggs over easy with white toast and bacon—a double order of bacon.”
“I’ll take that java off your hands,” Craeg said.
“It’s cold,” Helania warned.
“Caffeine is caffeine.”
Helania smiled weakly and pushed the mug farther in his direction.
“They have cream and sugar, if you like.”
“But none of that weird stuff,” Ruth interjected.
As the waitress went through her spiel about the evils of lactoid alternatives, Helania wondered what she was going to talk to Boone’s friends about. And as another couple settled into the next booth and laughed loudly, her old fear of not being able to hear properly came back.
Lips, she told herself. She could always read their lips.
While Paradise and Craeg ordered, she resisted the urge to wipe her brow. Under the table, her heel started bouncing and her palms sweated—
“So, tell us how you two met,” Paradise said. “Boone’s always so quiet, and we want details.”
Helania blinked and shook herself back to attention. Ruth was gone, the menus cleared, and Craeg was halfway done with the mug of cold black coffee.
“Ah . . .” The idea of going through everything about her sister and the slain female made her upset stomach worse. “At Pyre’s Revyval.”
“Oh, that club.” Paradise linked an arm through her hellren’s. “I didn’t know Boone was into that kind of stuff. He mostly stays to his own, but you’d think it would come up. Then again, even though it turns out we’re distantly related, I never knew him before now. He stayed away from society.”
“You’re an aristocrat, too?” Helania blurted.
The female laughed and popped the collar on her plain fleece.
“Hard to believe, right?”
Not if you go by those cheekbones, Helania thought.
“Boone and I are like fourth cousins or something.” The female shrugged. “But then everyone’s related to each other, aren’t they.”
“I’m quiet, too.” Helania flushed, and wondered why she felt the need to bring that up. “In case you haven’t noticed.”
Craeg spoke up. “Nothing wrong with that.”
“I agree,” Paradise tacked on.
Helania looked across at their relaxed shoulders and their open, welcoming faces. “How did you two meet?”
“We both joined the training program,” Paradise said. “But even before we did, as soon as he came through the door . . . I knew he was the one for me.”
“Same over here,” Craeg agreed. “And listen, don’t worry about this late thing. Boone is a stand-up guy. He always does the right thing, shows up when he says he’s going to, takes