Page 50 of The Perfect Secret
Mike stepped behind the counter and poured two cups of coffee. His movements were spare and precise. He whistled while he worked, like some oversized dwarf waiting for Snow White. He pushed a cup across the counter and raised an eyebrow toward her. As she walked over, he slid a metal creamer and a bowl of yellow and white sugar packets toward her. She side-climbed onto the stool and fixed her coffee.
“So,” he said.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
“I’m Hannah, by the way.”
“I know. Jeff talks about you.”
“Oh.” Her face heated.
He nodded.
“So…is he working today?”
“Are you asking because you want to see him, or because you want to avoid him?”
“Tell me again who you are?” She looked at him through lowered lashes as she stirred her coffee.
“Mike. He didn’t mention his sister being hard of hearing. Or forgetful.”
“I’m not. I’m trying to figure out why you’re asking such personal questions.”
He leaned his elbows on the counter. “Because I look out for him.”
“Yeah, my brother needs a lot of looking after.”
He turned and wiped the spotless counter with a rag. “Less than you think.”
“How would you know?”
“Because I’m also his sponsor.”
Hannah froze, the wind knocked out of her as if she’d been punched in the stomach. Except Mike hadn’t moved from behind the counter and no one else was there. This guy was her brother’s sponsor?
He folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow. “Which surprises you more—that I’m his sponsor or that he has one?”
Her face heated again as she recognized the truth in his question, and at how easy it was to read her. “Both, I guess.”
He shrugged. “Well, you’re honest at least.”
“You seem to think you know me.”
“Only from what Jeff has told me.”
“What did he say?”
“You sure you want to know?”
She wiped her palms on her knees and glanced around the room before she returned her focus to Mike and nodded.
“He said he betrayed you by being an addict. You don’t believe he’s clean, or that he’ll ever be. He’d like to make amends with you, but you won’t give him an opportunity.”
That her brother cared enough about her to regret his treatment of her was something she’d have to examine another time, in private. “And how, exactly, does that show you know me? Did you form some mental picture of me in your mind based on his description?”
Mike gave a half-smile. “You’re just like him, you know.”