When she started rambling, including far too many words about how they could sit in silence, Hank felt some regret towards his choice. Reaching for his water, almost picking it up before remembering it was empty, he nodded along. “All the Light We Cannot See,” he answered, flashing the cover of the book. “I was trying for a change of pace. Something historical but it’s hard to do, surprisingly, without reading only stories of Jewish people hiding in various places and when one’s great grandma did that to survive it’s something one wants to read for fun.”
The book was still about World War II but best Hank could tell it was a different side of the war. Still, he wasn’t in love with the book and that’s why he was reading it over lunch rather than devouring it before bed or something.
“That’s where I’d be,” he said with an uncomfortable laugh. Looking to the back the restaurant, trying to find anyone, he looked back. “At this point I think ordering a pizza would go get you food faster and would be hilarious.”
Avery listened to him and nodded almost surprised he was acgtually engaging in conversation, most people just smiled awkwardly at her until she stopped talking “I’ve heard of it but I haven’t had the time to actually read it. Is it good so far? I know what you mean though, it’s interesting how many takes there are on the subject and so many different ways each story takes place. I could never even imagine.” She took a moment to think of all the documentaries she watched, “although war history is probably one of my favorite things to learn more about, I found these podcasts from Stuff You Missed in History Class that I am pretty much obsessed with as of late.”
Her gaze went to the diner, she happened to see at least one waitress running around but not having enough courage to try to get her attention. Giving his idea a laugh, the idea sounded almost plausible. “Dollar,” she said before realizing someone who wasn’t an expert in Avery logic probably wouldn’t understand. “Otherwise means like a joking bet, like when you’re a kid and someone offers you a dollar to stick your tongue to a frozen pole.” she smiled at him shaking her head at herself, “it was something my friends and I used to say to one another about almost everything, but explaining it seems like we were just weird.”