“I’d love you at my house, Maci. But my father is there right now. I’m so glad you look okay today.”
I felt okay. Better than I should have, considering the situation. I sipped my coffee. “This is awesome. Thank you.”
He squeezed my foot at the end of the bed. “You are so welcome.”
Seven
They waitedin the kitchen for me. It took me ten minutes to find it. I was pretty sure there were thirty rooms in this crazy huge house. If I hadn’t heard their voices, I might have never found it. I could see the headlines now…“Girl Lost in Big Mansion, Never Seen Again.”I smiled at my own stupid thoughts.
“You’re doing it wrong.” Ace sighed. “Seriously,that’show you make scrambled eggs?”
“This is how everyone makes scrambled eggs.” Caesar sighed. “If you make them differently, you’re doing it wrong.”
I grinned. “Hi.”
They both turned to regard me and smiled almost simultaneously. “Hi,” they said together.
“Eggs look good.” I approached slowly, and my stomach grumbled. I guessed I was hungry. I almost never noticed anymore.
“Told you.” Caesar grinned, winking at Ace. “Come. Sit down. Ace, you want some?”
“Of your poorly made eggs? Absolutely not. I ate some very good ones before I left my house—over easy. I would love to make you some sometime, Maci.” Still, he sat next to me at the counter when I sat down.
I took his hand in mine, admiring the way his hand looked so much bigger holding mine. He stroked his thumb over my palm. “I don’t think I’ve ever had eggs over easy.”
“Well, we need to correct that.” He kissed my cheek. I grinned at him. Affection seemed so easy for Ace. Like his eggs. “I’ll make them for you tomorrow morning.”
I swallowed my anxiety before I took a bite of my eggs. “I don’t know if I can put Caesar out two nights in a row.”
Caesar sat on my other side. “It wasn’t putting me out. I loved it. You’re welcome to stay here whenever you want. In fact, I hope you will. Feel free to move in.” He spooned some eggs into his mouth. “Except on the rare occasions that my father is here. Then stay away, Maci. Please stayfaraway.”
“Isn’t your father the mayor?” The way Caesar spoke about his dad went in direct contrast to the way I pictured the mayor.
“That’s what they tell me.”
“Hey,” Ace said, taking my attention. I knew I was being misdirected, and that was fine by me. I’d pretend I hadn’t been, and I wouldn’t ask. “Do you want to watch a movie tonight?”
That sounded like an amazing idea. “I do if you do. I mean…is that okay? I know there were problems yesterday.”
“We’ll do it here.” Caesar smiled. “The trouble is going out in public and only recently, so we’ll watch a movie here. Unless you had big plans, Ace, to take her to the theater, in which case I can shut up and let you.”
He shook his head. “We’ll all watch a movie here. Get everyone and do it together. It’ll be fun. We haven’t done that in a long while.”
The eggs were warm in my mouth, and I closed my eyes to savor the taste.Wow. I lifted my lids. “These are fantastic.”
They stared at me, both of them, and I had no idea what either of them were thinking in that moment. I set down my fork. “Did I do something weird? Weird number one for the day, and I don’t even know what it is.”
“No.” Caesar pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You didn’t. I’m so glad you like the eggs. I’ll make them for you every morning. After you try Ace’s really bad ones, that is.”
Ace laughed, throwing back his head. “Okay, maybe you cook better than me. Fine, I concede. I didn’t have your teacher. I’ll take you out to eat after work, Maci? Then we’ll come back here and watch the movie.”
“Sounds good.” I continued to eat my eggs, and they dug into their own. I still wasn’t sure what to make of them having stared at me, but maybe it was that I’d looked so odd in that moment and they just didn’t want to be rude about it. I wished I’d spent more time studying people and less time trying to figure out how to get away from them.
I thought I had time to figure these things out, but now these guys had entered my life who were my friends but alsonotnormal friends. So were they more? Were they less? Was I ever going to understand what exactly had happened?
Why I liked it so much?
I finished, and Caesar grabbed my plate. “Hey, who taught you to cook? The one that was better than Ace’s.”