Seaside Christmas_A Sweet Romance by Stacy Claflin

Author:Stacy Claflin [Claflin, Stacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-11-06T08:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

Cruz watched the crackling fire as he waited for Talia to return from fixing her hair in the bathroom. He thought she looked beautiful either way, but on the way in, she'd seen her helmet-pressed hair in a reflection and had been horrified. It had been adorable.

She sat across from him in the booth, still tugging at her hair. "This is the best I can do."

"You were gorgeous before, and you still are now." He smiled, unable to help himself.

Pink crept into her cheeks and she started to look away, but didn't. "How can you be so nice to me?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, you know. We didn't exactly get off on the right foot, and—"

"And nothin'. No more feeling bad about before, okay? We obviously come from two different worlds, but I'm glad they collided."

Talia's mouth gaped a little, almost as if she was going to say something, but she didn't. Her lips formed a slow smile. "Crashed with a thunderous roar is more like it."

He laughed. "Still, I wouldn't have it no other way."

"Me, neither."

The waitress came over. Cruz recognized her. Jessie, one of his sister's old friends. "Can I take your order?" She glanced up. "Oh, Cruz, hi." She fumbled with her pad of paper. "Haven't seen you in years. Sorry about Sophia."

Cruz sighed. He didn't know which was worse, being the tattoo artist freak who was trying to destroy the town or always being viewed as brother to the dead girl. Why was it so hard for people to see he was a person? These people had all known him his entire life. He realized the awkward silence. "Thanks. How are you doing?"

She shrugged. "Just waitressing, really. You guys want the soup of the day? Half off."

"What is it?" asked Talia.

"Portobello mushroom soup with blue cheese toasties."

"That's a mouthful," Cruz muttered. He turned to Talia. "Order whatever you want."

"The soup sounds good," she said.

Cruz didn't want a fungus in his soup. "You still got that minestrone one?"

Jessie nodded. "Always. It's our most popular."

"I'll have that. Can we get sourdough bread, too?" He glanced at Talia. "Or we can get something else. Whatever you like."

"Cruz has gotten that as long as I can remember." Jessie told Talia and giggled. "Mom put me to work as soon as I turned twelve, and he's ordered that every time."

"Sourdough sounds perfect." Talia smiled.

Jessie scribbled notes on her paper and darted away.

"So, you like sourdough bread?" Talia asked, grinning.

"Creature of habit." He shrugged.

"I like to try new things. I get bored easily."

"Now who's the surprising one?" Cruz teased.

She arched a brow. "You think I'm boring?"

"Hey now. That's not what I said. It's—"

Talia laughed. "I'm just joking. I didn't think you'd be so easy to rile up."

Cruz joined her laughter and by the time they settled down, Jessie came back with their food. "Any hot chocolate? Fresh cider?"

"Mmm," Talia said, "cider sounds wonderful."

Steam rose from the soups. Cruz didn't need anything else to burn his tongue. "I'll just stick with my water, yo.

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