Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

Alan's head on my right leg as he slept curled up under my trench coat. I tugged the phone out, saw it was the house number and answered it.
    "Just noticing you and my car are missing," Aunt Lilia said. "Everything all right, Lukas?"
    "I think so," I breathed. "At the ER. Mallory's probably okay and Alan's asleep next to me, that's why I'm quiet."
    "Do we need to cancel today?" she asked as shadows ran over the windows of the waiting room. It was one of those days, looked like, with high-flying fast-moving clouds that would be perfect for the mood Alan wanted at the graveyard.
    "No, I don't think so," I told her. "I think Mallory will just want to go home, though."
    "Get Alan some coffee before you wake him up," Lilia commanded, "and give Mallory my love when you see her. If it looks like you won't be back here by eleven, go ahead and pick up some ice cream before you head back." Lilia tended to overestimate her cooking skill, but she wasn't delusional about it, so she'd entrusted Alan's birthday lunch to a local sub place that would deliver about noon. The cake she'd made herself, though, as well as the snickerdoodles that were probably about to go in the oven.
    "Aye aye, Captain."
    "The rank is 'commander,' smartass. And watch it, or I'll have you keelhauled. Love you, Lukas. You make me proud." She hung up. I put my phone away and tried to think of a way to get coffee for Alan and also for me without waking him up first.
    He was getting makeup on my jeans and I didn't care. Mussed and tousled and asleep, he still looked amazing. I wanted to… damn it, I wanted to cuddle him. I remembered in time that touching him in his sleep was off limits. I dragged my mind back to my coffee quandary and chased it around a bit, then Mallory appeared in the doorway from the exam rooms.
    She looked furious. Her hair was more mussed and her makeup more smeared, but she still looked a lot better than when I'd last seen her. She waved off a doctor who was trying to tell her something and stalked across the room to us barefoot, her stiletto heels dangling from her hand.
    "Alan, babe, wake up," she said, ruffling my hair as she did. "Get me out of here before I scream, guys."
    "Gladly," I said. Alan sat up blinking. He tried to hand me the trench coat but I shook my head. Grabbed my backpack and we headed out, Mallory still barefoot. October spat a gust of cold wind and Alan slipped the coat around Mallory as I unlocked the car.
    "Lukas, please take us to Billie Jo's," Mallory said as Alan helped her in. "I need coffee and the least I can do is buy you two breakfast."
    "How do you feel?" Alan ventured from the back seat where he sat alone for once.
    "I have a splitting headache and murderous rage," Mallory answered, "but that's a hell of a lot better than I could be feeling thanks to you, sweetheart."
    "I'm sorry I didn't—"
    "Don't you dare."
    At nine a.m. on a Sunday, Billie Jo's Diner was nearly empty because it was a favorite of the college crowd, not the church crowd, and most of the eats-at-diners college crowd wasn't up yet. We took a booth in the back and Alan and Mallory went to the restrooms to, I assumed, mutter separately about how awful they looked. When they came back Mallory's makeup was repaired and Alan's was gone, and three steaming cups of coffee sat on the table. Alan grabbed one and slid it around the table to sit beside me. Mallory dumped cream and sugar in hers with a hand that shook a little, and then shoved the fixings at Alan.
    "The doctor told me I was drugged," she said, her voice low. "But I don't remember anything. Alan, please tell me what happened."
    "Nothing," he said, his hands wrapped around his own coffee. "You weren't out of my sight for even a second after you started acting tipsy."
    "Did you see who did it?"
    "No, and I'm—"
    "You shouldn't have to watch my drink, Alan. I should be able to handle that much myself." She tossed her hair back and glared at him. "Stop it. You saved me, you must have. And then you called in the cavalry." She nodded at me. "Thank you, Lukas."
    "What kind of a jackass wouldn't answer a call like that?" I asked. Mallory gave me a tiny smile. The waitress came and Mallory ordered fruit. I got bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Alan ordered stuffed French Toast with a side of pancakes. The waitress made an amused face and promised a selection of syrups.
    "Alan, tell me what did happen," Mallory said when the woman had moved away.
    Suddenly Alan fixing his coffee was the most