Move the Sun (Signal Bend #1)(39)
In the center of the room was an oblong table made of cherry or mahogany. It had a lustrous finish, like all of the wood she’d seen as she’d found her way into this room. He was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. When she’d come around the corner, he seemed to be simply staring into space. He turned now and smiled broadly as she entered. “You look good, Sport. I’m thinking there’s nothing you look bad in.”
She liked wearing his t-shirt. She swam in it, but she still felt sexy wearing it. “Well, orange is very much not my color. For future reference.”
He winked. “Better stay out of trouble, then.” She didn’t catch the joke at first, then— oh, orange jumpsuits, got it—she rolled her eyes.
“Cereal’s in the left cabinet, bowls and cups in the right. There’s milk in the fridge and coffee under the window. Help yourself.”
She could feel him watching her as she crossed the room and got out a bowl and a cup. She put them on the table and then turned for some cereal. When she opened the cabinet, she squealed.
Isaac jumped in his seat behind her. “Fuck! What?”
“Oh. My. God. You have Cookie Crisp? Chocolate Chip Cookie Crisp? I love Cookie Crisp! I haven’t had any in years.”
He laughed. “I have a thing for cereal. I don’t cook, and if I’m too busy to hit the diner, I’ll just have cereal. I like the sweet shit for when I’m stoned.”
“I like the sweet shit for when I’m breathing. Oh, this just makes my day!” She brought the box to the table and filled her bowl until it mounded above the rim.
“How are you gonna get milk in there?”
“Watch and learn, watch and learn.” She went to the fridge and pulled out a glass bottle of milk. Then, in the system she and her girlfriends in middle school had perfected, she slowly poured milk into the cracks and crevices left by the little cookie wafers. She got plenty of milk in the bowl without displacing a wafer.
Isaac nodded. “Impressive. If you love that shit so much, why don’t you just buy yourself some?”
Lilli sat at his beautiful table and tucked into her bowl of delicious decadence, feeling relaxed and happy. With her mouth full of cereal, she shrugged and answered. “Don’t know. Wasn’t breakfast at our house, and I never think of cereal when I’m at the store.” She swallowed and filled her mouth with more scrumptious morsels.
He laughed. “You’re f*ckin’ cute, you know that?” He stood and got himself a bowl, then reached for the Cookie Crisp and milk. Lilli resisted the urge to bat his hand away from the box. It was his, after all.
As they ate, Isaac watched her, his sideways smile planted on his face. Then, when they were done, and, still grinning, he’d watched her drink the milk from the bowl, he put the dishes in the sink and said. “Okay, Sport. Time to talk.”
Suddenly, Lilli felt a great deal less relaxed and happy. She waited for him to sit back down, and then she started, “Isaac, about what you said—”
He held up his hand to stop her. “We shouldn’t start there. We should start someplace else.” He stood again and left the room. When he came back, he was holding a small sheaf of white printer paper. “Let’s start here.” He laid the sheets in front of her and sat back down.
Lilli looked down at a print-off of an article from the online edition of The Stars and Stripes, the newspaper of the US Armed Forces. The first page showed the headline: ON THE FAST TRACK: BLACK
HAWK PILOT, YOUNGEST WOMAN TO REACH O-4 RANK. There was a photo of Lilli, in her flight gear, her helmet under her arm, standing next to her copter. The caption read, simply, Maj. Lillian Accardo.
Fuck.
CHAPTER TEN
Isaac watched Lilli read the headline of the article about her and waited for her reaction.
He’d had some time to process the information he had. He’d been shocked at first, then a good deal more suspicious. As he thought about it, though, he couldn’t see the threat. What he’d learned of Lilli over the past several days didn’t jive with some military intrigue focused on his club or his town. What had happened between them the night before had only strengthened that understanding. So now he was simply impressed.
Bart, genius geek that he was, had managed to find a crack along the sides of that wall. He still couldn’t get through it, so Isaac had no idea what the f*ck Lilli was doing in Signal Bend, but he had this, and so he had her name. Bart was working on getting more of her history, but Isaac was hoping that he would now hear it from Lilli herself.
She turned and said, “How long have you had this?”
Understanding why it was an important question, he answered, “Yesterday. After I left your place. That call I got? Was Bart.”
“What else do you know?”
“For now, that’s it. Bart found that article. He’ll be looking for more, of course, but not till tomorrow.
I’m hoping he won’t need to bother. Will he?”
For a full minute or more, Lilli just stared at him. He could almost see the gears turning; he just didn’t know where they were headed. Finally, she cleared her throat shifted sideways in her chair. “You have plans today? That phone going to go off and interrupt us?”
“No plans. Shit shuts down on Sundays, for the most part. That phone rings, it’s an emergency. My other phone rings, I’ll ignore it. We talkin’?”