Love Beyond Words (City Lights, #1)(11)

Natalie examined the box, noting the device was state-of-the-art. “Thank you.”

“The least I could do.”

She smiled, basking a little in the idea that he cared enough to buy this for her. “It’s very thoughtful,” she said softly. “Not quite as clever as threatening menacing brigands with steamed milk, however.”

“No, I suppose not, but infinitely more practical.” He laughed, much more at ease now. “‘Menacing brigands.’ I suspected you had a sense of humor but wondered if I would ever get to see it.”

Natalie turned her plate in little half-circles. “Well, you never spoke to me but to order coffee. There’s not much room for comedy between the order-taking and the change-giving.”

“You’re right,” Julian said. “I never did. Speak to you more, I mean. I should have.”

“It’s all right. I’m quiet. I have exactly two friends and if they saw me sitting here talking to an actual person, they’d wonder if I’d lost a bet.”

“I’m glad you’re sitting here, talking to me,” Julian said, that enigmatic smile whispering over his lips again, and then gone. “It’s my fault, though. I’ve been coming in for over a month. It’s just that…”

She leaned forward. “Yes?”

“It’s very easy to fall into certain patterns, especially if one is prone to such things.”

“Routines of solitude,” she said.

“Yes, exactly.”

Another silence fell and grew long, threatening to undo their progress. Natalie decided to be bold. Her eyes fell to Julian’s closed composition book, two-thirds of its pages now used. She could see where the paper had been written upon and where it was still untouched.

“How is your writing coming along?” Natalie asked and then added as lightly as she could, “Whatever it may be.”

“I…yes, it’s coming along fine.” He smiled thinly and sipped his coffee.

“That’s...good,” she said. “You know, most writers I see in here tap away on a laptop. Not many still use pen and paper.”

“I’m old-fashioned. Or perhaps it’s another routine begun when I was a child that I haven’t yet been able to break.”

“Doesn’t seem like it needs breaking. Although your hand might have other opinions.”

He laughed. “Yes, my hand complains at times. But after ten years, it’s used to the abuse.”

“Ten years?”

“Longer, actually, now that I think about it. I had a teacher in grade school who bought them for me to…uh, to keep me out of trouble. Anyway, I notice you’ve always got a book going when it’s slow here,” he commented. “You’re an avid reader, I take it?”

“Oh, gosh yes,” she replied. “After bills, food, and school, my money goes to books. Sometimes I feel like I read too much, but I figure it’s better than television or poking around online.”

“There’s no such thing as reading too much.”

“My friend Liberty would disagree.”

“Liberty?”

“Liberty Chastain. One of my two friends. Massage therapist by day, cabaret performer by night. She’s always telling me I need to get out more and not spend so many Friday nights curled around a book.” She laughed shortly. “Yikes, that makes me sound like a hermit. Compared to Liberty I guess I am. She’s quite...memorable.”

“So are you.”

Natalie glanced up to find his eyes beholding her intently. She coughed and hoped the light was too dim for him to see her blush. “No, no. I’m just…I like books,” she said lamely, and fought the urge to run away and hide.

Julian’s smile set her at ease. “Yes, your Friday night company. So, who would that be?”

“Oh, I adore John Irving, Annie Proulx…Octavia Butler is lovely. Oh, but none can hold a candle to Rafael Melendez Mendón. If I had to choose a favorite, it would be him by a mile. Have you read him?”

Julian leaned back in his chair slowly. “I have.”

Natalie clapped her hands. “And?”

He sipped his coffee, shrugged.

“Oh, come on! If you’ve read him, surely you have some opinion of his work? He’s too important for indifference.”

“I wouldn’t say I was indifferent…”

“There are few things in this world I love better than the writing of Rafael Melendez Mendón. To the uninitiated or the unappreciative, I feel obliged to at least try to convert. I’m reading his latest right now for the third time. Coronation. It’s just…miraculous.”

Julian smiled thinly. “That’s a quite a hefty compliment, but there’s always room for improvement, don’t you think?”

“Not for him.” She shook her head. “Sorry, but I adore Mendón and get swept up just talking about him. I have all of his books and have read them ten times over, at least. I’ve read Above twenty times...” She picked at her croissant, realizing how crazy that must sound. “Liberty is right, isn’t she? I’m hopeless.”

“I’d say you’re pretty far from hopeless. There are worse things one could do with their time than read.”