the delicate ball smashed to pieces on the tile floor.
Picking up as much as I could, I scanned the room for a good hiding place. With Lee waiting impatiently, I panicked. Lifting a few bath bombs, I put the pieces back in the basket and covered up the evidence.
The second I opened the door, Lee rushed past me. He didn’t even wait for me to close the door as he fumbled for his pants. Not wanting to see more of Lee than I needed, I shut the door and returned to the kitchen.
I joined Carson, feeling guilty for not immediately telling him about the bath bomb I’d broken, but I didn’t want to ruin breakfast for everyone.
I’ll tell him after, I decided, reaching for the plates. I wasn’t too worried about him getting angry with me, but that was a risk I wasn’t willing to take just yet.
We worked in silence as we both moved around the kitchen, an ease between us that shouldn’t have existed after such a short acquaintance. Lee returned as I placed the silverware on the table next to the plates.
“Do we even need silverware?” I joked as Lee joined me and claimed a seat at the table.
“I don’t.” Lee was more chipper than I would have thought him to be after what I assumed was a night of drinking and dancing. “I like to eat with these,” he said, giving me his best jazz hands. “Law will, though. He’s weird like that, eats everything with a knife and fork.” He leaned toward me and dropped his voice. “Even pizza,” he said as if sharing some deep, personal secret.
A man I’d never met, but assumed was Lawrence Klein, shuffled into the room. His dirty blond hair was wild around his head, his deep brown eyes were dull as he squinted at the light coming in from the windows, and his face was softer than I’d expected despite his strong jaw.
He glanced around the room with blurry eyes, grunted at Carson in greeting, and then made his way to the table. He took the chair next to Lee and then dropped his head onto the surface with a painful groan.
“You okay there, buddy?” Lee asked, his voice a bit too loud for Law.
“No,” he said, rocking his head to the side to glare up at Lee. “I think I’m dead.”
Leaving them to it, I returned to the kitchen to get everyone drinks. I looked around, not knowing where the glasses were. “Carson, where do you keep your glasses?”
He gestured over his shoulder toward a cabinet by the sink. “They’re over there. It might be better to ask what they want. I have milk and orange or apple juice in the refrigerator. There’s also ice in the freezer if anybody wants that too.”
“Ice?” I asked, wondering why anyone would want ice. All the drinks he’d listed would already be cold from their time in the refrigerator.
Carson shrugged as he grabbed the bacon and towel-covered tortillas to take to the table. “Some people like ice in all their drinks, even milk.”
“Who?” I was genuinely confused. Milk with ice? Wouldn’t it get watery as the ice melted?
“Law for one,” he said, turning away to unload the food-laden plates onto the table.
“Huh.” Still a little confused, I reached for the cabinet Carson had indicated. Law sure had some weird eating habits. “Hey, guys, what do y’all want to drink?” I asked as I pulled on the small handle.
My gaze landed on the contents of the cabinet, and the world receded in a blur.
The first thing I noticed was the mismatched pastel plates and bowls neatly stacked to one side. They were adult-sized, but there was something about them that signaled to my brain that they were different. It was as if someone had taken a child to a thrift shop and had asked them to pick out the tableware for a fancy dinner party. Lifting onto my toes to get a better look, I saw the top of the first plate had delicate flowers painted on the surface and wondered if each one underneath had a floral pattern too.
The odd assortment of mugs sitting next to the plates were ceramic and heavily decorated with flowers as well. My fingers practically itched to take one down. The basket holding the silverware was much the same. All of the spoons and forks were different colors and shapes, and none that I could see matched, but all of them were feminine with varying floral