The darkness at the edge of town

It's just coffee. The weather outside is pretty frightful, snowing and wet and cold, and Nick's huddled in a coat and scarf when he steps through the door of the place where he arranged to meet Rosie. He's got a pile of prospectuses for Barton under his arm; he's still trying to decide what course to enroll in for the Fall, and he's hoping that Rosie might help him narrow it down. He grabs himself a coffee, orders a pot of the kind of tea that he knows she likes best, and then he grabs them a table close to the window and settles down to wait. He strips out of his coat and scarf, pushes his sleeves up to his elbows and grabs the first course catalogue that's under his had.