Duncan’s eyes blinked; he stood a little straighter and taller; and his eyes drifted off into eternity.  He was having a moment of epiphany.  This was the moment he had realized something.  You could tell sometimes when his brain got stuck on an idea and was starting to ignore everything else, or just let words drift past him.  He had had one of those moments when Aliyah told him how much he was missing out on horror.

She should have expected this.

His eyes locked squarely on her chest.  He drawled slightly, “Well, I wasn’t so much worried about you getting scared by horror movies.  I was more worried by me…”  Still staring.  Then mock flash of genius.  “Then again, maybe horror wouldn’t be such a bad idea.”  A slow wolfish grin spread across his face.  “Yeeeahh …. Could be worse things.  You could pat ME on the back and tell me it was going to be okay while I bury MY face.  Oh yeah, I could be convinced.”  He was laughing a little.

“The Wedding Planner.  Talk about a choice title.  Freud would have loved us.  You know, I thought Gary was going to have a stroke when I ordered my omelette this morning.  To be honest, I had nothing planned until the moment I started going over the menu.  I was a trainwreck until that moment.  Turned it into the best breakfast of my life.  Not one I’ll ever forget.”

The arrival of the pizza was one of those unwelcome interruptions that he was forced to endure.  And he started to offer to take care of the bill, then remembered she had used his card.  He growled a little.  He always growled when he was frustrated.  It was just one of his quirks.  But he was smiling about it.  Again she had been a step ahead of him.