13. A New Friend

"For a minute there I thought I had lost you. "

Kiersey laughed as she wolfed down the second helping of pancakes.

Ryan wiped his hands on a towel and turned toward her. He had a heaping dish of veggie noodles in one hand which he slid to her front on the kitchen island. The amazing smell of the food assaulted her senses all at once. She closed her eyes and breathed them in.

"You're going to make me seem like a glutton," she complained, although she was already sticking a fork in the bowl. She could see an assortment of vegetables, crayfish, meat and sauce sticking out of the heap, and the very fact that the smell hadn't roused her nausea egged her on.

Ryan laughed nervously and turned back to the gas stove. "You don't seem to me like someone who eats much." He turned his head to her for agreement. She nodded shyly.

He turned back to stir the contents of the pot. "Or has time to eat much," he added.

Kiersey was again struck by how much this younger guy seemed to read her like a diary