Prison Chic #1st book of the Chics series (EDITING)

Chapter 37

“I used your shirt. Hope you don’t mind.” She said skeptically but Julian could hear the shyness in her voice before she turned around and continued what she was doing.

“Nop. It looks better on you.” Julian said in his sleepy voice, and sat on one of the stools behind the island. He had to fight the urge to march inside and hug her or kiss her, but this view was more interesting. If the smell didn’t betray him, he was going to eat the first delicious breakfast in four years.

“So you cook?” Julian said to her back. She looked so tiny like this in his shirt.

“Mmhmmm.” She said adorably without looking at him. She was so focused. So cute, Julian thought.

“So girly.” He mocked and saw Joanna turn around abruptly and look at him with wide eyes. “Baby, you know that I know that you are a girl, right?” he chuckled and she narrowed her eyes at him before she turned and flipped one of the pancakes.

“My dad used to cook.” She said.

Oh, crap.

“Oh.” Julian said, afraid to approach the subject. It was too sensitive and for some reason he thought her father’s subject was more delicate than her mom’s.

“I used to cook all the time, before I went to prison ofcoarse.” Joanna continued nonchalantly, her back to him. “It’s way cheaper than eating outside.”

“Ahha.” Julian tried to remain uninterested, “Your cousin is a lawyer, why couldn’t he take care of you?” but ofcoarse he couldn’t stop his curious mouth.

“I can take care of myself.” Joanna said mildly.

“Right, the-Joanna-trade-word.” Julian said and rolled his eyes.

Joanna turned and looked down at him, her expression blank as she said, “Yeah.” And turned back to work.

Julian decided to stop pursuing the subject, not only because her expression freaked him out, but also because he might not eat if he did. Joanna was about to finish as she assembled the plates and placed the pancakes on them. She scooped some scrambled eggs and added them to the plated next to the pancakes. Once she was done, she grabbed both plated in one hand and the maple syrup in the other.

“Look at you, so practical.” Julian said admiringly and beamed when he succeeded in achieving a shy smile from Joanna Blake.

“I worked a lot in diners and bars.” She said, scrunching her nose. Julian took his plate and looked at it for a moment relishing the sight of it before he grabbed the fork and started ravishing the food. He heard Joanna giggle beside him as she started eating as well.

Damn, it was good.

____________

“Sir, could I talk to you for a minute?” Hank said seriously after he marched to the prison librarian desk when he made up his plan.

“Morales? What’s wrong.” The librarian, Young Lee, said.

“n.. nothing sir. I just want to discuss something.. About the new book shipment that arrived three weeks ago.”

“Yes, what about them?” Lee said.

“Well, they need to be assorted in the library data base. And since you are too busy, I thought I might help you with it.” Hank said quickly in one breath. There it was, his plan to gain access to a computer, no questions asked.

“Oh, right.” Lee said, his forehead creased as he thought about it. “To be frank with you, Morales, I do need help. It’s a troublesome job, and you are the best man for the job.” He beamed at him as if he was relieved by Hank’s proposal.