Chapter 5
Jess looked down at her plate, amazed at her appetite. She’d only left a few pancake crumbs, a smear of maple syrup, and a burnt end of turkey bacon on her plate. The restaurant was fairly empty, what with it being a Wednesday and the day after Christmas (thank God this joint served breakfast all day).
A couple sat on a little platform that converted to a stage when the restaurant had open mic nights and folk singers performed. They leaned close to one another and talked in low voices. They were children, really, probably students at Loyola University, playing hooky from their homes to play house on campus through the holidays. The boy’s dyed black hair fell in a luxuriant lock over one eye. He was dressed all in black, with combat boots. The girl couldn’t have been less like h
