Operation: Marauder

Chapter 3

Zoey glanced at her watch again, fingers drumming on the pink laminate table of their go-to diner. Jack was supposed to meet with her half-an-hour ago. Usually, if he had to bail on her, he called, but today there had been no such phone call, so she assumed that he would show up. . . eventually.

Things had been really good this week. They had their movie night on Friday, caught up all day Saturday--then he left suddenly that night and she hadn't heard from him since. Until last night. He called, apologizing that he hadn't been in touch and he wanted to see her before she headed into work today.

Well, she technically started in twenty minutes. Carlisle knew she was having breakfast with Jack, so he wouldn't mind if she was late as long as she came in to work on Rowan's SUV. At this rate, though, Zoey was all set to order and eat in her office.

Lidiya stopped by with her pen and pad, ready to take her order. The woman had been working in the diner longer than Zoey had been alive and loved her job, but Zoey still felt bad that she had to wear the most hideous, outdated yellow dress to work every day. She'd shoot herself if she had to wear anything that didn't have steel, jeans, or leather to work. 

"The usual, Lid," Zoey ordered, doing her best to not show her agitation. It wasn't Lidiya's fault her brother was always late. "Extra bacon."

She glanced at the empty seat, guessing the source of her agitation. "Jack not coming?"

"Doesn't appear so."

The bell at the diner door went off. Jack came flying through and dove into the booth seat opposite Zoey, gasping for breath. "I'm so, so sorry I'm late, but you'll never believe where I've been."

"What do you want, Jack?" Lidiya asked, clearly taking Zoey's side on punctuality.

He didn't pick up on her tone and smiled sweetly at her. "French toast. Extra bacon. Please."

She turned wordlessly for the kitchen.

He rolled a pair of blue eyes to the ceiling and back. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"No, she's had to deal with me for the past hour. You're late, Jack." She loved her brother to the moon and back, but he had certainly developed some of the most annoying traits from their dad. Punctuality being one of them. Choosing the job over her was another.

He slumped. "I know. I know."

"So, where have you been?" she demanded, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Oh, um. . ." He scratched the back of his head, eyes taking a keen interest in a stain on the ceiling. "I can't tell you. Classified."

Classified. Classic Jack.

"I hope it was worth it."

He leaned forward, hands on the table, eyes wide in his excitement. "It absolutely was. Trust me, if you knew you wouldn't be so mad. I wish I could tell you, Zoe, I really do."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore." This was not how she wanted to start her morning and if she wasn't careful, this mood would transgress through the rest of the day and she didn't want that. She needed to have a clear mind when she was working on Rowan's vehicle. She was going to start building the part in the blueprints he had given her. She'd never seen anything like it and had absolutely no idea what it did or why he wanted such a strange device in his SUV, but hey, he was paying for it, all she had to do was build it.

Jack ruffled his fluffy black hair, thinking of ways to move things forward. "Okay. Um, how have things been going? You said you got a new client?"

She much prefered this topic, and grinned at him. "Yeah, he wants me to beef up his Land Rover. It'll be a fun project."