“I haven’t,” said Rurik so fast that it made Liberty laugh. He cleared his throat. “I mean, I still want to kiss… Anyone want pie?”
Liberty snorted. “How about pie and a kiss?”
Rurik’s eyes widened. “That. I want that!”
Chapter Seventeen
It was all Liberty could do to hold on to the cackle wanting to break free from her at the eager expression on Rurik’s face.
“Is pie and a kiss an option?” he asked, somehow managing to appear even more hopeful as the waitress appeared as if by magik.
“Can I get y’all anything else?” asked the waitress.
“Pie!” shouted Rurik so loudly that the woman stepped back fast.
She touched her chest. “Sweet Jesus, I knew our pie had a good reputation, but I’ve never seen someone so excited about it before.”
“I ain’t so sure that’s what the commie is worked up about,” said Bill, earning him a grunt from Rurik.
“What kind do you want?” asked the waitress. “We’ve got cherry, pumpkin, and blueberry on the menu today.”
Bill grinned from ear to ear and then waggled his bushy brows playfully. “Liberty Bell, I bet he picks cherry pie.”
Her eyes widened at the innuendo. Had Isobel been present, she’d have jumped all over the chance to make a similar joke.
“I do not like pie,” said Rurik in a deadpan voice. “This is for Liberty. I just want the…erm…pie sounds great. Cherry please.”
Bill laughed. “Told ya.”
“Pumpkin for me please,” said Liberty, wanting to move off talk of cherry pies.
Bill nodded. “Same for me and for my buddy here.”
Gus blew more bubbles.
The waitress stared at him a second and then shook her head, walking off as she mumbled about how weird college students were.
Liberty set her attention on Rurik. “You don’t like pie? They’re one of my favorite things to bake. Apple is my specialty.”
Gus paused in his bubble blowing but kept the straw in his mouth.
Bill lit up. “You know how to bake?”
“I do,” said Liberty. “There was a point in my life I thought about opening a small baked goods shop, but life sort of demanded I do something else.”
“Why are you wasting your time in that bullshit cogwheel of higher learning they call a university?” asked Bill. “You could be baking. Not being brainwashed. Don’t believe nothing they tell you, Liberty Bell. The government controls them all. I got brainwashed once. Sucked.”
“I’m working on a PhD in molecular genetics and microbiology.” She took the napkin from her lap and set it on the table next to a partial cup of soup and what remained of the half sandwich she’d eaten.
Bill glanced at Gus for a minute or so and then back at Liberty.
“But you don’t like what you’re studying there?” asked Bill, sadness evident in his voice.
“No. I do. Kind of,” she said, fixating on the napkin as she began to pick at the edges. “I’ve always been good at science and math. And it’s important I learn as much as I can in the field of genetics.”
“Why?” asked Bill. “If you don’t love it, you shouldn’t do it.”
She sighed. “Sometimes, you do what you have to do. This is one of those times. I need to know more about myself. Genetics is the key to unlocking the mystery of…um…mankind?”
She nearly cringed, having come close to divulging more about herself than was safe.
“What more do you need to know about yourself or mankind?” asked Bill before lifting his empty plate and licking a crumb from it. He then eyed the crust of her sandwich. “You gonna finish that?”
She shook her head.
He snatched it off her plate and shoved it in his mouth. The act reminded her of a frog catching a fly.
Rurik laughed so softly that she nearly missed it.
She stared at his profile again, as had happened a lot since she’d found herself having a late lunch (or early dinner, depending on who you asked) with him. He was so incredibly handsome that it was hard to believe anyone came made that way. Yet there was a certain sadness around his eyes that made her want to hold him before trying to right all the wrongs in his world.
Rurik caught her watching him.
She smiled. “For as annoyed as you pretend to be with your father, you think he’s funny too.”
“He’s not my—”
“Liberty Bell,” said Bill, cutting off Rurik as Gus returned to bubble blowing. “Think you could bake me and Gus an apple pie? We love it. It’s our favorite.”
She nodded. “Of course. Anything else you like?”
“What are our choices?” asked Bill.
She shrugged. “Sky is the limit.”
Bill fixed his gaze on Rurik. “Son, you are to marry her this instant or you’re grounded.”
Rurik’s lips twitched. “I’ll see what I can do about that. She’d need to agree.”
Gus stopped blowing bubbles in his milkshake. “She will.”
Liberty went ramrod stiff in the booth. “I will?”
Gus returned to his bubble making, paying her no mind. He was incredibly peculiar but seemed harmless enough.
Liberty toyed with the napkin once more, hoping to avoid talking anymore about marrying Rurik, mainly because she had a feeling she would totally say yes if he asked.
Her cell phone rang, and Bill lifted her bag, which was next to him on the booth. He handed the bag across the table to her, and she fished out her phone. When she saw it was Isobel calling, she debated on answering. Knowing her friend would worry if she didn’t pick up, Liberty hit the accept button.
“Hey, girl,” said Isobel. “Where are you? I went home, but you weren’t there. I’m now back at the university because another server went down. I thought you needed a ride up here. Didn’t you have papers to drop off to Pistachio-Pecker-Head Pasternak?”
“I did, but it’s handled. I walked up to school and now I’m, erm, having lunch
