SEEK And Find

Chapter 34

"Well, I can't say I've ever had waffles for dinner before."

Laughing, Elsa poured another generous helping of syrup atop her own stack as she said, "We bought the waffle iron and all this other stuff; may as well get some use out of it."

"Totally fine by me," Esmé chuckled as she helped lay things out on the table. "Anna, is that coffee ready?"

"Yep! Decaf, just as you requested!"

"Good." Jogging into the kitchen, she narrowly missed where Elsa was turning with her plate, causing them both to gasp and then smile at their good fortune. "Can't have breakfast without coffee, even if it is at eight in the evening."

Once they were all seated, they dug into their meal. It had been Elsa's idea; something to cap off their trip. That she had struck upon said idea while staring into the refrigerator at all the food that would spoil once they left was a mere coincidence, of course.

While they ate, they discussed all manner of things. Hans escorting Elsa was a favourite subject, though she quickly grew tired of talking about the "pompous ass" herself. Esmé spent a lot of time dodging their questions about who she went to see on the island. Anna, of course, ended up telling the other SEEK member a lot of things she'd already told Elsa about her home life, her hopes and dreams, and all that lay between.

"These are really good," she said, flipping through the sketchbook as Elsa and Anna did most of the cleaning up. They didn't want to leave too big a mess, since the next morning they would be flying away and leaving Esmé with most of what was left. Anna was beaming when she saw Elsa didn't have to scrape any of her waffles into the trash; she had eaten every bite. "God, how long did it take you to learn to draw like this?"

"Too long. Seriously, it's not like I just picked up a pencil one day and out came perfection; I work really hard at it."

"And it shows," Elsa said stubbornly, with just as much conviction as she had used ever since the topic trended in that direction.

"Stooop," she whined weakly. "I'm no da Vinci!"

Grinning, she flipped a couple more. "Well, I don't know about da Vinci, but you got skills, girl. Take it from me and Blondie over there — never give up on your dream. Ever."

"Look at the portrait of me. Isn't that one divine?! It's probably the only time I've seen a picture of myself that didn't make me want to throw up."

"ELSA!" Anna burst out, slapping her arm with a dishtowel. The diva only giggled, and Anna kept right on scowling in disapproval at her self-deprecating attitude.

"What portrait? This one of you holding the coffee?"

Looking around the corner, Elsa said, "No, the one a few pages before it." Esmé flipped back and forth several times. "What?"

"I don't see another one of you in here, sorry."

"That's impossible." Leaving the dishes, she stalked in there, wiping her hands on the yoga pants she had thrown on once they got back from their day in town. Picking up the pad herself, she flipped back and forth through several pages, before she discovered that there was, indeed, one missing. "What happened?! Oh no... oh no, no, that one was beautiful, where did it go?!"

But Anna was beginning to giggle behind one of her hands. When they both looked up at her, she picked up the backpack seated in the fourth chair and withdrew a thin, giftwrapped package. Without a single word, she handed it over to Elsa.

"What are you up to?" she asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion. But she still hefted it and turned it over in her hands. "You didn't. Tell me you didn't!"