Senseless by Mary Burton

you’d be at school now.”
    “I’m sick. King said I could stay home with him and Merlin.”
    “Merlin?”
    “The cat,” King said. “Bobby and I went out and got cat supplies.”
    “You’ve caught it? ”
    “Not yet,” King said.
    “But we will.” Excitement sparked in Bobby’s eyes.
    When she’d been a kid, she’d never missed school. Her mother had seen skipping as akin to waste. And one of her mother’s old admonishments rose in her before she caught herself. Let the kid have a day with the kitten.
    Bobby glanced up from his bagel. In the morning light she could see a sprinkle of freckles on the bridge of his nose. “King says Merlin eats like a horse.”
    King glanced toward Eva as she shrugged off her jacket. “Merlin eats more than you do.”
    Eva smiled. “That’s saying a lot.”
    “Remember when you first tripped through my front door?” King spoke easily, as if they’d broken bread a thousand times before. “You ate all the leftover meat loaf I had.” He looked at Bobby, his lips twisted into awry smile. “Drank five glasses of milk—nearly a half gallon.”
    When she’d showed up at King’s she’d not eaten much for a couple of days. The bus ride from Richmond had stretched from the expected two hours to four thanks to traffic snarls. The thick air on the bus coupled with constant stopping and fears of returning home had twisted her stomach into knots. But when she’d arrived at King’s and smelled his meat loaf her stomach had growled with hunger.
    Eva sat on the stool next to Bobby and spread cream cheese on her bagel. “These are great, King. I love fresh bagels.”
    “I never met anyone that didn’t like bagels. Glad I got extra.” King kept his tone even and light as he continued to chop. Both pretended this was just another day and this kid who had just dropped out of nowhere belonged at the edge of the table eating a bagel.
    “Good call.” She took a couple more bites. “So what’s on the menu for tonight?”
    King laughed. “Potatoes. Wings and the usual burgers and chili dogs. Good bar fare.” The pub had a limited selection but “the eats were good and cheap,” as King enjoyed saying.
    “Let me know what you need done today. I don’t have any subpoena deliveries.”
    “That reminds me, that Luke fellow called. He wanted to know how the delivery went. He also said the cops called asking if you had a job last night.”
    Garrison had wasted no time. “I’ll give him a call back.”
    King tossed her an annoyed glance over the top of his half glasses. “I don’t like that fellow.”
    Refusing to engage in an old argument, she popped some bagel in her mouth. “He’s okay.”
    “He puts you at risk. Tosses you the worst jobs he has on his books. Almost as if he wants you to find trouble.”
    “They are the best-paying jobs.”
    “Because nobody wants them, Eva. And,” he said, lowering his voice, “he’s a little too well acquainted with you. ”
    “What’s that mean?” Bobby asked.
    “He wants to date Eva,” King said.
    “He won’t,” Eva said. Life was complicated enough right now without a man mucking it up.
    Aware that Bobby was studying their volley of conversation as if it were a tennis match, she shrugged and tossed the kid a smile. “I’ll buzz him this morning.”
    King swallowed his retort when he caught Bobby’s gaze. He grunted and lapsed into silence for several minutes before saying, “So how did your errands go this morning?” He didn’t mention the fire, mindful of Bobby.
    “Fine,” she said, glancing to the boy who still stared at them both, trying to figure them out. “Didn’t pick up anything new. ”
    “Really?”
    She inclined her head toward the kid. “I might try back later. ”
    King grunted, clearly not happy. “Maybe tomorrow. ”
    Eva tore another piece of bagel but didn’t eat it. “I can go today. ”
    He shrugged his big shoulders. “No rush. That reminds me,” King said. “You got a letter. Came