“Can I get you anything else?” the waitress asked some time later.
Grant knew he had been there for quite a while already and didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself. He was about to ask for the check when he spotted a small group across the way.
“Just a refill for my coffee and the check,” he told her.
“That must be quite the interesting book,” she replied.
“Fascinating,” he told her with a wink that sent her scurrying off with a giggle.
She returned a moment later to top up his coffee, dropping off the check and fluttering her eyelashes at him a bit. He nodded in her direction, noting the wounded look she cast toward him as she retreated once again. It made no difference to him. She wasn’t his type. Far too much makeup and far too little meat on her bones. He liked a woman with curves he could tour slowly with his hands, fingers, lips. The thought of it sent a little shiver along his spine. It had been a long time now.
He kept his eye on the entourage across the street, his interest hidden by the book that he had not read one word of in the past two hours, despite having appeared to be reading it intently. Soon, they began to make their way toward him, heading into the coffee shop they so frequently visited when in town. He pretended not to notice as he carefully assessed each of them.
Two women and three men. The women and one of the men went inside while the other two remained outside, watching the streets about them carefully. One cast a glance in his direction and then away, obviously discounting him as a book nerd in a suit. At least he had pulled that off, from the looks of it. He made no motion to move just yet. They would come to him soon enough.
“I’m so looking forward to a day of shopping! I haven’t bought new things in forever and not grown up things at all. It’s going to be so much fun,” the younger girl was gushing.
“Yes. You need to quit dressing like a twelve-year-old fence painter. You’re going to need to dress the part if you are going to get into a good art school next year.”
“I know, Amanda. I can’t tell you how much all of this means to me. Aspen has always taken good care of me, but he has no clue about being a girl.”
“You’re not a girl anymore. You’re a young woman and a beautiful one at that. He’s just going to have to get used to you not being hidden behind coveralls and caps, Mouse.”
“Elizabeth,” the young girl replied, taking a seat across from her at the table.
“Right, Elizabeth. I’m sorry. I’ve gotten so used to everyone calling you Mouse.”
“I suppose so. Everyone will get used to it now that my adoption is final. I am glad they let me change it. I never cared too much about being called Mouse, but it was better than Eunice. I don’t know why my biological parents would name a kid that. I like Elizabeth much better.”
“You should. You picked it and it’s on all your paperwork now.”
“Where are we going to go first?” the girl asked.
Grant pretended to be oblivious to their conversation, despite their close quarters. The men, including the one that had gone in with them, were all back out on the sidewalk now. Only the three of them sat in the little open table area right outside the front entrance. They always sat here. Rather than trying to interject himself into the conversation, he just waited for one of them to notice him. It was only a matter of time and if it didn’t pan out, he had a plan B to get their attention without it appearing he was putting any effort into doing so.
“Need another top up?” the waitress asked, stepping back out to check on him.
“No. I’m good. Thank you,” he replied, not raising his head from the book.
She was still pouting a bit as she turned toward the two women and checked on them. They, too, waved her away and continued their conversation, but something was different now. They knew he was here and he could see the younger one casting more than just a passing glance at the book he held in his hands. Bingo.
“Are you an artist?” she asked.
Grant pretended not to hear her, acting as if he was too engrossed in the book to notice she had spoken. She was quiet for a minute, going back to her conversation with the other woman. He waited a few more moments and then lay the book down carefully beside him and pulled his wallet free. Laying several bills on the table with the check, he sat a nearby sugar bowl on top to weight it down and replaced his wallet in his jacket.
“Excuse me,” she said again, this time waiting until she had his attention.
“Yes?” he replied in what he hoped sounded like a friendly tone.
“Are you an artist?”
“Oh. No. I’d like to be, but I’m not sure I have any natural talent. That’s why I got the books. Maybe it will help.”
The other woman looked up at him. The girl had called her Amanda, but Grant had already known who she was. Amanda Lowery, wife to be of Aspen Lowery, VP of the Silver Wolves. The younger girl would be the one they called Mouse, the one he had adopted recently, despite her being an adult now. It would seem she had chosen to change her name to Elizabeth as part of the process. He’d have to make a note of that.
“You are trying to draw faces?” she asked.
“Trying being the operative word,” he laughed.
“I could help you,” she said.
“Elizabeth!” the other woman said.
“What? I’m good with faces,” Elizabeth shrugged at her.
“Not with a stranger you just met in a coffee shop,” Amanda cautioned in hushed tones.
“She’s right you know. I could be a serial killer,” he said.
“I wasn’t implying,” Amanda began to say.
“I know you weren’t, but you are right,” he replied, turning back to Elizabeth.
He couldn’t help but note how attractive she was. Her long wheat colored hair hung well past her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes scrunched up a bit as the sun bore down on them. Her lips were full and pouty. She wore little makeup, possessing a natural pale ivory tone that gave her a porcelain complexion. She appeared no worse for wear from her recent attack, but he couldn’t really assess the full extent of any injuries she had gotten in the fray with her limbs hidden beneath a heavy coat.
What he could tell was that he was attracted to her in a way that would do him no favors in accomplishing the job he had been sent to do.
“I will let you ladies get on with your afternoon,” he said.
Elizabeth smiled at him bashfully, pulling at his core in a way he chose to ignore. Amanda smiled politely and nodded as he stood up. The library card slipped free of his book and landed perfectly by Elizabeth’s foot as she said her goodbyes. She watched it trail down in a feathery spiral and bent down to retrieve it, glancing at it as he tucked the art book back into his book bag.
“It was nice to meet you too, Grant,” she told him with a broad smile.
Bingo.