Page 127 of Red King
“Where?”
“In Melbourne.”
Her eyes go wide, and she sucks in a breath. “Australia? You’re kidding me. That’s on the other side of the world. We’ll be in totally different time zones.”
“I haven’t taken the job yet. I haven’t even been to the interview; I could fluff it.”
“You won’t!” She gives me a dirty look from over her mug. She takes a sip. “You’ll ace it. They’ll offer it to you,” she mutters. “I am happy for you.”
I laugh. “You have a weird way of showing it. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
“When is the interview?”
“I don’t know. I only just got the correspondence from them. The email was in my inbox when I woke up. There’s an online interview first. If I pass that, I have an in-person interview at their sister hospital in New York.”
“That’s exciting.” Becs smiles at me like she means it. “It’s just that I’m going to miss you, that’s all.” She sighs.
“I know that. I’ll miss you, too.” We hug awkwardly over the table.
“I’d better get going,” she tells me as we let go. “Please make moussaka again tonight. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.” She implores me with her eyes.
“Of course I can make you moussaka. I’ll go to the store and get everything we need.”
“Don’t worry about it if you have to go to the store especially.”
“No, it’s fine. I need tampons, unless you have some?” I lift my brows.
She laughs. “I’m pregnant, so no.” She shakes her head. “It’s one of the few perks of being pregnant.”
“Then I have to go to the store, anyway, so no sweat.” Of course, I would have gone, regardless. How can I deny a pregnant woman in need? I can’t.
“Yay. Since you made it last week, all I can think about is eggplant. I’m craving it.” She picks up her laptop bag and keys from the counter.
“You got it. You, my lady, shall have your moussaka tonight. I’ll make extra so that you can take some to work tomorrow.”
“You’re a godsend, Paisley.” Her heels clack on the wooden floor as she walks toward the door. “See you later.”
“Bye.”
The beagles run up to me and start bounding around. Cookie runs to the door and starts whining.
“You two will be the death of me,” I tell them. “What will you do when I leave? I haven’t even had my coffee yet.” I look at my mug, but I get a queasy feeling when I think about drinking it.
Yep, the cream must be turning.
“Okay, then.” I stand, and the dogs go wild. “I’ll take you. I could do with the exercise.”
36
Paisley
I look longingly at the Reese’s Cups but manage to walk straight past them. Yes! I can do this. I have great willpower.
I look down at my shopping cart. I have everything I need, including a box of tampons and some sanitary pads.
All I need now is the eggplant, and we’ll be all set.
I walk through the meat section. It smells weird and not in a good way. I sincerely hope they’re sanitizing all the fridges properly.
