“Flat or sparkling?” Dimitri held up one of each.
“Flat is fine.” Maybe she should have chosen sparkling. Flat felt too much like a metaphor.
As if Guido sensed her need for flight, he began a funny—and oddly soothing—story involving sparking water and a politician. Though not good at small talk, Nell had a good handle on no talk, being a former librarian and all. Imperceptibly she felt her insides begin to relax, and even managed to chuckle once. Dimitri kept the conversational ball rolling. When she finally found something to say, she looked at Dimitri and caught him looking at her with a weird look in his eyes. He masked it quickly, but it was too late. A prickle of unease ran down her back like a targeting dot. It was totally the moment for that shot to ring out.
Instead of a shot,
