Honor: a novella Read Online Free Page B

and her smile fell when she looked me over.  
    “I’m sorry. I was just talking to your boyfriend about how good the coffee is here.”
    I smiled. “He isn’t my boyfriend, but you are blocking my seat.”  
    When she realized what I had said, she moved and pulled a card from her back pocket. She handed it over to Osric. “I can show you all the good coffee places in town. You should give me a call sometime.” She winked and trotted away. I watched as Osric put the card down on the table.
    “I am sure she would love to show you a lot more than coffee shops.”  
    He grimaced at my comment, and even that was attractive. I wondered if I had not been with him if he would have taken her up on her offer. She was by most men’s standards a beautiful woman. I took a drink of the coffee and thought to myself: this isn’t as good as the trollop said .  
    He watched me with his amazingly blue eyes and, as if he was reading my mind, said, “It isn’t very good coffee, is it?”  
    I laughed. “No, it is not. I think your admirer might have been wrong.”
    “I have never been here before, I just thought we could try it—I don’t think I will be coming back though.”  
    When he said this I grew inquisitive. “Did you just move here?”  
    He shook his head. “With work I move around a lot. I moved here about three months ago.”  
    The thought suddenly hit me that he wouldn’t stay here long, and I didn’t like that. “Well, how do you like it so far?” I tried to act cheerful.  
    “It is nice here. I bought a house out by the river and started remodeling it. I am going to stay here a while and see how work goes.”  
    I knew the houses over by the river were charming older homes. “Congratulations! The houses over there are really beautiful.” I smiled at him.  
    “When I came across the house I had to buy it. It isn’t in the best shape, but it can be something really special. I enjoy what I do and I just thought it would be gratifying to turn it into something exceptional.”
    For the first time since we had met, I could see contentment in his eyes instead of the sadness that seemed to dwell there. I could not help but smile. As he smiled back, both of us seemed to be unaware we were sitting in a run down coffee shop, surrounded by people. We sat there and talked for hours, both of us oblivious of the time.  
    “We should probably go. It looks like they are closing,” he pointed out.  
    I looked around to see that all the chairs had been put on the tables and a waitress was sweeping the floor across from me. “I didn’t realize how late it was,” I told him. We got up from the table, and I noticed as we walked away, Osric left the card the brunette had given him.  
    Once we reached my apartment, he did walk me to the door, but made no attempt to kiss me. This made me think he was either trying to be a gentleman or was just not interested, and I hoped the hurt didn’t show on my face. I was turning the key to go inside as he called my name from the bottom of the stairs.  
    “Honor. Thank you for tonight. It was nice to have someone to talk to,” he said.  
    I smiled down at him. “I had a good time too.”  
    He started to walk away and I went inside. I shut the door and locked it. I stood there for a moment, lost in thought over the last two days. My phone beeped and I pulled it from my purse.  
    It was Lilly:  
    CALL ME FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!!!
    I laughed out loud, I would be making a lot of phone calls in the morning.

Chapter 6

    I woke up to see I had three missed calls: two from my mom and one from Lilly. I called my mom back first and answered all her questions, omitting the part about Osric following me to the downtown branch. I knew she wouldn’t be happy about that. We talked a bit longer about non-Osric things and made plans that I would come home for Thanksgiving. I called Lilly next, but she didn’t answer so I left her a message.  
    The day flew by fairly