Outrageous Fortune-Errant Freight Book One

Chapter 23

To Jinna, stepping inside Kit's Diner after so long outside was like being slapped in the face with a warm blanket; a blanket redolent with the scents of spices, maple, and bacon.

A glance to her left showed Rory's brown eyes widening with appreciation, but she'd never known Rory McCabe to be shy around food. Where he put it, she'd no idea, because he had the physique of a scarecrow.

And right now the scarecrow was shaking off the rain, so she stepped out of splash range and turned her attention to the diner and considered it pure luck there were no other customers in the place. The tables and booths on the left side of the room were empty and bussed, and the counter, with its rotating stools, gleamed under the overhead crystal lamps.

Better still, she saw no sign of Sol, the diner's owner.

Both circumstances meant Rory would have the chance to dry off and stay as long as he wished.

"Banking holiday, luv," Luis, the day cook, was shedding his apron as he came around the counter, the prosthetic leg he'd earned during the battle of Santandar putting a slight hitch in his step. "Been slower than sap in Treicember, so Sol sent Rian home and told me to head out when you came in."

"You're not planning to leave Jinna alone for the night, surely?"

"Ignore him." Jinna sent Rory a look before slipping out of her coat and hanging it and the umbrella on one of the hooks provided for the purpose. "What's on the special's menu?"

"There's the butternut squash soup on the stove. Fixings for Keeper's sandwiches and plenty of batter left for griddle cakes." As he spoke, Luis studied Rory, who was trying to shake the water out of his boots.

Though built like an aurochs driver, Luis preferred his partners on the thin side. The better to feed them up, he'd explained to Jinna once.

"I've already swabbed the kitchen," he continued, "filled the condiments, and done what dishes we had, so you'll not be at wit's end with the closing."

"You're a queen's dream," Jinna told him.

"A burden," Luis said, "but somehow I manage." He grinned and, with a last appreciative glance Rory-wards, flung on his coat and stepped out into the night.

"Nice fellow," Rory commented, giving up on the boots and vigorously scrubbing his hands through his hair.

Jinna shook her head at his obtuseness and looped the apron over her brown kimono blouse. As she reached around to tie the apron back, she felt a little quiver from within and let out a gasp.

"What is it?" Rory asked, already at her side. "Are you not well? Maybe you should sit down."

"I'm fine." She sidestepped his efforts to push her towards the counter stools. "It's nothing. Well, not nothing, it's the baby. Here." She grabbed his hand and pressed it over the swell of her belly.

He blanched, and the pallor set off the bloodied abrasion at his temple, causing Jinna to regret the impulsive gesture.

Then the flutters increased, and his expression went from shock to warmth and his palm against her side relaxed.

Under the twin pressures of the child within and the man without, Jinna experienced a long, slow turning of her heart.

Then the flutter subsided and, in a breath, the light in his eyes shuttered, and his hand fell away.

"That's—grand," he said, stepping back. "Liam would have loved it."

Which Jinna knew to be true. Liam would have loved it. He'd already loved everything about becoming a father.