The Cold Breakfast Bride novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Sweet in Public

I poured two coffees.

I set one in front of her and held the other.

"Who's the second one for?"

"You," Linnea said. "Sit with me. I think we got off on the wrong foot."

"Which foot was that? The one in my bed?"

The trucker two stools down choked on his hash browns.

Linnea laughed.

She wrapped both hands around her cup.

The Luna ring caught the neon light through the window.

"I came to say congratulations," she said, nice and clear, for the whole counter. "On the reopening. And on the baby. I mean it, Jess. A baby's a blessing."

"Thank you."

"Cordell's thrilled. He's already talking about the nursery."

"He can talk about it at his house."

"Oh, he will." She sipped. "This is lovely coffee."

The waitress stood at the end of the counter chewing her gum very slowly, the way she did when she was memorizing something.

Linnea leaned toward me across the chrome.

Her voice dropped below anything the humans at the counter could hear.

"When that pup is mine," she whispered, still smiling, "it's going to call me Mama. And I'm going to make sure it never once hears your name."

My wolf went flat against my ribs.

"You'll go back to frying eggs for truckers," she went on, so soft and so sweet.

"That's all you ever were. Cordell said you smelled like a grease trap in bed."

Every wolf at the counter heard it.

I saw a hill wolf at booth three put his fork down.

Linnea sat back and smiled at the room again, pink and pretty.

"Anyway," she said aloud. "I just think it's so brave of you. Doing this alone."

I set my coffee down.

"How did you find out?"

"Find out what?"

"About the baby. You told Cordell. How did you know?"

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