The Pond was a small restaurant on the corner of a busy street. Metal chairs and tables were stacked up and chained to a wrought iron fence surrounding a patio looking out on the park across the way.

Jack approached the restaurant and pressed his nails into his palms as he looked through the large windows. He found Augie already inside, seated at a table right by one of the large windows. People passing by would be able to watch them eat. The thought didn't sit well.

He couldn't bring himself to ditch Augie or push him to switch tables. The questions wouldn't be worth it. At least there weren't any cop cars around.

He walked through the door, hoping for a "seat yourself" sign, but was greeted by the hostess.

"I'm here to uh… I'm meeting someone," he said, pointing to where Augie sat.

"Lucky you!"

Jack did his best to smile. He told himself his blush came off as a result of the cold. "I guess. Thanks?" He moved past her to the table and joined Augie.

The sidewalk was busy with plenty of window shoppers. He could do without a handful of them looking into the restaurant as they passed by.

Augie's attention moved from the window to Jack, and he lit up with a dazzling smile. "Kyle! You made it!"

"Sure did. Uh… I guess I wasn't expecting a table this close to the window. At least the heat works?" It wasn't much of a hint to move, and Jack couldn't come up with a more obvious reason other than feeling exposed and under everyone's scrutiny.

"I love to people watch, and the park is beautiful with the dusting of snow," Augie said as he looked back out the window.

"Yeah," Jack agreed as he looked out at the trees. Between the old street lamps adorned in red bows and garland and the frost-covered trees, it was a picture perfect scene. In the distance, he could make out a city worker on a ladder by one of the trees. "It looks like a Christmas card when they get all the lights up and we get a good snow."

"A Christmas card…" Augie nodded to himself as his eyes ran over the trees. "I can see that."

"Hey, uh… Augie?"

"Yes, darlin'?"

A flare of irritation came with the endearment. It was so impersonal. It wasn't about his blood, so Jack should be happy about it. "What was with yesterday?"

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"Oh, with Mr. O'Byrne?"

"Yeah. Him. You left in a hurry." For once, he wasn't the one acting weird and running away.

Augie shrank in on himself, and he shook his head in shame. "Oh, of course. I am so sorry about that. It has been a long time since I last ran into him. He is similarly afflicted."

"I guessed as much." Jack was at a loss for how to get the information he wanted. He couldn't just ask about what happened between the two without a good reason.

A waitress dropped by and took their orders, giving Jack a little more time to come up with a good follow-up question. Nothing too obvious or prying.

"Bad blood between you two?" he asked. It was an innocent question and standard curiosity. Anyone would wonder about Augie's reaction to seeing Kieran. He shouldn't have mentioned blood. He sipped at his glass of water and stared out the window. His mind kept repeating "blood" over and over.

"Not exactly. We ah…" Augie sighed and shook his head ruefully. "We used to be intimate with one another. It ended poorly, and words were exchanged. Some of which I regret speaking. I do admit I can be a bit reactionary."

Jack wanted to pry further and get a sense of how Kieran screwed up. Doing so would only prove to himself that he still held a flame for a stupid vampire. "That sucks," he said. He took another drink of water. He needed to work on his word choice. "Sorry to hear it didn't work out. Maybe it was a generational thing? If he's, like, way older or younger than you?"

And now he was fishing. He could easily come right out and say he knew Kieran as well, and that Benoit had mentioned her sweet Augustin's heart had been broken. Maybe they could even commiserate?

But then he would have to admit that he'd given a fake name. Silence was the only option.

"He wasn't as committed to us as I thought he was. Our last night together was over a beautifully romantic dinner. Everything seemed perfect. We... There were no signs that…" Augie trailed off with a bitter sigh and leaned back in his chair. He frowned at his reflection in the window. "He just...just barricaded himself in his little library and wouldn't speak to me. Told me to leave, so I left."

"Wow. That… Shit. That sucks." Knowing that Kieran went from hot to cold in less than an hour was all the proof he needed that he dodged one hell of a bullet. He didn't think he could handle that. Slowly losing interest? Sure. That happened all the time. People grew apart. Even a week of losing interest wouldn't be ideal, but it would be something. What Augie had described was not what he thought he had signed up for. No wonder Benoit hated Kieran.

Augie gave Jack a sad smile. "I'm fine. I've healed. Or so I thought. Seeing him again hasn't been easy." He shifted his gaze to the table, looking like a textbook example of misery.

"I bet." Jack could relate. Seeing Kieran again brought up too many conflicting feelings. "Sorry I brought it up."

"Again, I apologize for leaving so unceremoniously."

"No, I understand running away," Jack said with a quick shake of his head. He avoided Augie's eyes as the other looked up with a grateful smile. "Seeing an ex in the wild is hard."

Too hard. But still kind of nice.

He had a problem.

image [https://i.imgur.com/eZY0YUq.png]