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Willow: Alana is bringing snacks. Can I bribe you with snacks?
“She’s trying to bribe me with snacks now.”
Pollux sighs again. “Because of course she is. Would you prefer if I went with you?”
“No,” I state, too quickly. “I’m an adult. I can eat snacks and look at books without a chaperone.” I might even go into the smut section and become even more of a skank. He doesn’t know me.
“Pity,” he murmurs. “I miss you.”
I didn’t dream last night. Probably because I subconsciously wasn’t ready to see him again. But I still saw him yesterday morning. “It’s only been one day,” I mutter.
“After a lifetime without you, one day is too long.”
My heart flips. I wet my lips and rub my chest with my free hand. “Dinner…?” I say, stupidly.
“Dinner?”
I close my eyes. “Would you like to go out to dinner. With me. Sometime soon. After I spend some time with Willow and Alana and eighty-seven percent don’t get murdered?”
“One hundred percent don’t get murdered. Thirteen percent spend time with a serial killer.”
“Thank you for the clarification.”
He makes a low sound. “Words, dearest. Even over the phone, I can taste the way they cause your soul to touch mine.”
I wince. “Sorry. That was an accident.”
“Just be careful.”
The way I want to Kay, Dad him is powerful, but I refrain as I hang up, force myself to stand—much to Chai’s protest—and message Willow back.
Kass: Sounds like fun! What time should I meet you there?
?
I have never been to Page Turner before, and the moment I step inside the shop, I do not know why. It’s lovely. It’s the kind of place I’d be happy to come to by myself. Whenever Zahra and I go to Barnes and Noble, she heads straight to the manga section, taps every series she’s read online, relays a mini review on each, then says she’s hungry and needs a snack at the cafe.
Where, inevitably, she’ll come away knowing the barista’s backstory and about twenty different points of local gossip.
After letting the still atmosphere of Page Turner ease something deeply wound up inside me, I find Alana and Willow hovering around a display table boasting an elegant stack of the same fantasy book. New Release and New York Times Bestseller signs hover above the gorgeous arrangement.
“It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen right at this exact moment,” Alana whispers, reverent.
“I agree fully.”
“Are you also experiencing the feminine urge to purchase every copy and create a display table in your home?” Alana asks.
Willow looks up, meeting her eyes. “I am indeed also experiencing that feminine urge. I wonder. Should we act on it?”
“That depends. Do you have my brother’s bank card in your purse?”
“I most definitely do have Ollie’s bank card in my purse.”
Their eyes spark—united mischief—before Willow notices me. “Oh.” The frenzied plotting glint tames into something absently casual. “Kass. Greetings. Come make bad decisions with us.”
Grinning brilliantly, Alana holds out a granola bar. “Snack.”
“Alana remembered too late that Faerie food takes time to be perceptible to humans, so her ability to bring promised snacks was limited.” After the explanation, Willow disregards me in favor of picking up the fantasy book and flipping through the pages.
