Mummies & Daddies (WAYHAUGHT)

Chapter 27

The restaurant Nicole had chosen was fairly quiet, the couple escorted to a table near the window, the waitress handing them menus once seated. "Welcome to the Blackberry," she said. "Your first time?"

Both nodded.

"I'll leave you to look through what we have. Any drinks?"

"I needed this," Waverly said, gazing around the space.

"It was either here or Ricky's. I thought you'd like the view."

Waverly's attention moved to the rolling landscape of the park, spotting the troughs of brightly coloured flowers, along with a large carved totem pole standing proudly near the entrance.

"There's only a few with vegan options," Nicole continued. "Probably more in Chicago."

Waverly returned to the menu, scanning the selection.

"I bet we could dine out every single night in a different restaurant."

"I'll have the rainbow salad. You?"

"I could put my things in storage until we're ready to get a bigger place. Most of it's still in boxes anyway."

Waverly remained silent, forcing a smile she knew wouldn't fool Nicole had she been paying attention.

"Calamity will need time to adjust," Nicole added, still studying the menu. "She's used to having a whole house to herself."

"Can we not talk about it," Waverly said, looking away as Nicole eye's met hers.

"Is everything okay?"

Waverly rummaged in her bag, pulling out an email she printed off before leaving, passing it to Nicole. Reading the short message she handed it back, waiting for Waverly to say something. "I can't. I'm not ready."

"The university only wants to know you're coming back, that's all."

"It says they contacted Robert."

"So what? Waves, you've done nothing wrong."

"Other than lie to them about being sick. Oh, and being under investigation for a crime I didn't commit."

"Exactly. Didn't commit. As in, not guilty. So what if you lied about having-"

"I lied," Waverly interrupted. "They'll know I lied about having what Wynonna told me to have. Robert will have told them I'm not in Egypt. I ran away from the project and now the FBI are after me."

"Would you mind if I had the wild sockeye salmon burger?"

"What? No, have what you like. What do I do?"

Nicole put down the menu, taking a few moments to think through the options. "Okay, okay, if it was me I'd contact the university, tell them what happened in Luxor and you returned home because of that."

"What if I email?"

"That too. They just need to get a date from you. There might be questions and some finger waving. Yes, you might need to explain in more detail, but they'll understand. Trust me."

"What if I put my studies on hold until all this has passed?"

Nicole looked directly at her. "Tell me what are you afraid of?"

"Nothing. Can we drop it?"

"Tell me. I'll make you eat all your salad if you don't."

Waverly glared, picking up the menu again, pretending to read it.