Read The Place I Belong for Free Online

jabbed it through a slice of apple and a leaf of what she assumed was kale. She cast a surreptitious glance at Adam to find a smile playing around his lips as he continued his preparations. He was definitely not immune to their praise. That made her like him more, rather than less.
    She put the bite of salad in her mouth and felt a burst of flavors on her tongue. Adam’s minimalist description did not begin to encompass all that had gone into the dish.
    “You seem surprised.” His voice came from right beside her and held an undercurrent of amusement.
    “It’s, well, it’s more than a salad. You’ve done something to it .”
    He nodded and the amusement showed in his eyes. “That’s a good way of describing most gourmet cooking.”
    “I’m sure you’ve heard this before but it’s extraordinary,” Hannah said as she lifted another forkful to her lips.
    “I’ve also heard it’s extraordinarily awful,” he said with a wry smi le.
    “I can’t imagine that,” Estelle said, dabbing the corner of her mouth with her linen napkin. “Not only would it be untrue, it would be rude to say such a thing.”
    “Ah, but food critics aren’t being rude, they are being discerning,” Adam said.
    “Saving our less-developed palates from the assault of terrible dishes like this one.” Hannah pointed at the plate with her fork.
    Adam’s voice held mock sorrow. “You sound like one of them. That’s not a wig you’re wearing to disguise your true identity as a secret diner, is it?”
    Her hand went up to her sloppy ponytail, and suddenly she wished she had taken the time to remove the elastic and brush out her hair. She noticed Sonya had done so, her long, dark hair falling in glossy waves around her shoulders. “If I were going incognito, I’d come up with a better-looking wig than this one.”
    He shook his head. “It’s beautiful, like corn silk.”
    She slanted a peek up at him, thinking it was some sort of chef joke, but he was assessing her hair with focused seriousness. When she brought her gaze back to her dining companions, Sonya gave her an encouraging nod and Estelle raised her eyebrows with a prim little smile.
    “You can assault my palate again if you have another one of these,” Sonya said, chasing the last leaf around her plate with determination.
    Adam turned to whisk the empty plate from in front of the vet tech. “I see it’s time for the next course.”
    Relief and regret washed through Hannah as she quickly finished her salad. Adam’s attention was becoming too addictive; she didn’t want to feel so pleased by his description of her hair. It had sounded sincere, but so had Ward’s compliments and she’d found out how little they meant. When Adam cleared her plate, she deliberately kept her eyes averted from his hands.
    “Dr. Linden, how does Mr. Cahill’s parrot decide what to say?” Matt’s question was a godsend.
    “Well, when it comes to telling jokes, I think Mr. Cahill cues him, either verbally or with a gesture. Otherwise I think Pappy responds to the words and body language of the people around him. If he says something and you react in a way Pappy likes, he’ll repeat that in a similar situation.”
    “So you don’t think he knows what he’s saying?” Matt seemed disappointed.
    “Not really, no,” Hannah said. “His brain hasn’t developed in that way.”
    “Do you think dolphins can understand human language?”
    “There’ve been some interesting studies that seem to indicate they could learn at least some, but I don’t know enough about their brains to be sure. Why?”
    “It would be cool if we could talk to them,” Matt said.
    “Sometimes I think we should try to learn their language instead,” Adam said, startling her. She thought he was busy with the food, but his son’s voice seemed to have drawn him back to the table. “Their experiences and perceptions would be fascinating .”
    “They just use a bunch of clicks and squeaks,” Matt scoffed.