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the cover of any girly magazine.
    He knew his mom worked here as the cook. He also knew that she had been the one to make the blueberry muffin on his plate. What he didn’t know was where he was supposed to sit to eat it. Every table in the place was filled. He saw the man sitting with the laptop on his table and walked toward him, keeping an eye on the other people in the dining area as well.
    “ Excuse me, mister, can I sit down, please?” Nothing. Whatever was on the computer had the guy’s full attention. He tried again. “Mister. Do you think it would be okay if I eat my breakfast here?” The guy didn’t move except for his fingers over the keyboard.
    Jack looked around the room again and decided when the man by the door winked at him, Jack was going to sit with this guy and nobody else. Maybe the guy was too busy to notice one kid anyway. He put his tray down as quietly as he could and sat across from him. He was pulling off the paper from the muffin when the guy’s phone went off.
    ~~~
    Alex looked at the kid across from him. He didn’t say anything, but watched him finish unwrapping his muffin and then fold the wrapper into a neat square before he picked up his knife. Alex watched as he cut the thing into four pieces before he spoke.
    “ Usually people wait to be invited before they sit down. Of course, I could be wrong about the way things are done in this part of Ohio, but I don’t think so.”
    “ I tried, but you didn’t hear me. I asked you twice. I have to catch the bus in a bit and you can hog the table back up if you want.”
    Alex raised a brow. The kid had a smart mouth on him, that was for sure. Now he was taking the knife and cutting the muffin’s four pieces into four more, all in precise sizes. When he was finished, he laid the knife across his plate and put his paper napkin on his lap.
    “ I could have sat with the lady with the eight hundred kids, I guess. But I was afraid she’d gather me up with the rest of her brood and I’d be gone for a month before she noticed me.”
    Alex looked over at the woman with the four children. They were very rowdy and loud and Alex thought the kid was right in thinking she’d never notice him. One of her children was on the floor asleep and the woman just kept talking on her cell phone.
    “ And you picked me because I have no kids? For all you know, I could be waiting on someone.” He didn’t know why he didn’t just tell the kid to get lost, but he was enjoying himself too much.
    “ You were too absorbed in whatever you’re doing on your computer to notice a kid. I doubt very much you were waiting on anyone. Even if you were, how do you know they didn’t already come and leave because you didn’t notice them?”
    Alex had to bite the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing at his answer. “That still doesn’t mean…what about that guy by the door? Why not go pick on him?” Alex didn’t like the way the guy was looking at them, but decided he wasn’t going to say anything.
    “ You mean the guy who looks like a pedophile? I think I saw him on the news last week.” The kid turned and looked at the guy in question. “Yeah, I think he’d murdered like seventeen people before he disappeared off the face of the earth. No, you were my safest bet.”
    Alex threw back his head and laughed. “You’re all right, kid. My name is Alexander. And you would be?”
    “ Not telling you who I am.” The kid picked up his tray as he stood. “Thanks for the use of your table, Mr. Alexander. You can go back to your work.”
    “ Wait. You can’t go.” The kid quirked a brow back at him. “What I mean is the guy, the pedophile, he might follow you. Let me at least walk you to the bus stop. If you don’t trust me, you can…you can ask the owner of this shop about me. She’ll vouch for me.”
    The kid looked at the man by the door that had stood when he did. Alex wasn’t sure how he was going to do it, but he wasn’t going to let the kid walk