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His norency exit, and the waitress orked the night shift jerked her head in that direction

Which was her way of saying, Hey, good to see you again Your favorite spot’s open, and I’ll bring you your coffee ASAP Oh, and glad you brought the ith you this ti on, the lack of cheerful interaction was a serious bene

He and Mary took their seats Coffee was served in heavy ot the banana creaot a second fork for saht out on the Formica tabletop Just in case, you know, reception was bad in the pocket of his leather jacket

They sat in silence, that cell with its unlit screen between the all y into it

Mary sipped her coffee Left that fork where it was on the folded-up paper napkin From time to time, she looked around at the mostly empty tables

"You knohat I like about this place?" she murmured

"The pie?" he said between bites Which were all texture, no taste tonight

"Well, yes But it’s so bright in here Usually, at night, everything is dim I never really noticed this until I caht-is-day, day-is-night thing Like, for some reason, humans tend to make the insides of all restaurants dih, it re the day"

"Do you resent the changes?" he asked, wiping his mouth "You know … in your life?"

"Not at all" Her eyes swung over to his "I have you, and thatbetter"

"Not in this situation with Bitty, it doesn’t"

"Nothing could ht"

He pushed the banana cream plate aith half the slice still on it He didn’t knohy he’d ordered the da fan of bananas, and even with the crunch of the graham cracker crust, there was a uniformity of texture between the custard and the crea

It was the reason he couldn’t do key li, wasn’t he If he was debating desserts in his head

"You didn’t like that?" Mary re new"

Yeah, ’cuz this was a night to expand your horizons Or od who required you to override your gag reflex as tribute

"I’ve been here to eat so"For years and years And I never thought it was going to be part of our story, you know?"

Because sure as hell, he was going to re now and what he was eating and how Mary looked until he was dead

"I know exactly how you feel," she murmured