Frost's Touch (Book One of the Eternal Warmth Trilogy)

XVIII. Open Windows

XVIII

Open Windows

     The smell of grease and meat filled the air that Iana’s lungs took in. The diner was half filled, but busy with tables in large groups of seven to ten people, mostly teenagers.

      She was sitting across from her Dad, who was wringing his hands nervously on the table top, occasionally looking around the diner for something he couldn’t find.

      Iana wished Jack was here, but she understood why he couldn’t be here. She remembered his words right before she left earlier this morning.

      “If I don’t let my touch go, I get restless and everything builds up inside of me. If I get triggered with all that cold energy, you’d be experiencing a small ice age. It’d be kind of weird that Kansas had ten inches of snow three days after the Spring Solstice.”

       Back in the diner, Iana was confused how after all her years of being alive, she never knew she was born on the first day of spring.

       The waitress broke both Iana and her dad out of their thoughts.

       “Hi! My name is Cindy! I’ll be your waitress today! Is there any appetizers you would like or any drinks while you wait for your food?”

       It was quiet for a few seconds, then her father looked up, and smiled sadly at Cindy.

       “Sorry, uh, I’ll have a coffee. Black, please,” her dad said, and Cindy wrote down his choice, turning to me.

       “Raspberry lemonade, please, and an order of cheesy fries.”

      Cindy wrote down the order, and fluffed her hair, smiling sweetly at Iana’s dad, and walked away. She looked to be in her late thirties. She had dirty blond hair, warm brown eyes, and looked Irish.

       Iana leaned forward over the table, “I think she likes you.”

      Her father’s eyebrows quirked up, and so did his mouth, “really,” he asked.

       She nodded.

       But the look in his eyes when he looked at his daughter was pity.

       “Daddy,” she sighed, “why haven’t you found someone else?”

       “I-I,” he stuttered, “I thought you wouldn’t like it. That you would think I tried to replace Chelsea.”

        Iana’s eyes watered up, and she placed her hand on her dad’s, squeezing gently.

        “You can never replace her Dad, but it doesn’t mean you can’t find another. It’s not what I think, or what makes me happy, it’s about what makes you happy. I’m not marrying the girl.”

        Her dad laughed at that, “so you’re okay if I, ask Cindy for her number, and maybe take her out?”

      Iana made a face, “only that for now.”

      He laughed again, “okay. Mother.”

      She narrowed her eyes at him, before breaking out into a smile.

      Cindy came back, and as she did, Iana’s father straightened his back more in his seat, and he pointedly looked at his daughter before turning to Cindy to retrieve his drink.

      “Here you go sweetie,” she said to him, carefully placing his drink in front of him and placing creamer and sugar beside the mug.

      Iana’s drink was placed in front of her along with the plate of cheesy fries.