Page 85 of Johnny

“I need you to get me on the island.”

“Right.” I plant both hands on my hips. “To find your girlfriend, Charlotte Kane.”

“She’s not my girlfriend—”

“Oh, excuse me. Your not-sister-in-law. Right. And you just said… you. Need. Me. Not the other

way around. So I don’t know why you’re having this stupid childish freakout, but get your shit

together, mister. I’m the one who’s not in the mood for it, OK? I was the one locked in a dungeon and

left to die.”

He points to his chest. “Yeah, and I saved you.”

“I didn’t ask you to save me. So if you’ve got some kind of deep-rooted hostility for Prince

Charming, that’s on you, not me.”

We stare at each other for a moment.

“Well… you can’t wear flip-flops to the private dining room. Especially ones with giant plastic

flowers sprouting out from between your toes. They have a dress code. Surely you understand a dress

code?”

I point a finger at him. “Just for the record, I have never made a dinner reservation in my life. I

grew up on an island. I have never even been outside the general vicinity of the Caribbean Sea. I’ve

never been to America. I’ve never been to Mexico. And while I was technically in Cuba, once, I’m

pretty sure being stranded alone on a yacht forty miles from shore when I was nine while everyone

else went to Havana for a meeting doesn’t really count. Making a dinner reservation has never

entered my mind. Now, if you’d like to know how to rearrange the DNA of a rat and make it live

forever, I’m your girl. So I’m not playing Rapunzel. I’m not Snow White looking for a kiss. I’m not… any of those other helpless, airhead princesses looking for their fucking prince. I’m just a sheltered

science nerd, OK? So relax. All of your unintended grand gestures are now officially unnoticed.”

Again, we stare at each other.

“Well,” he says, breaking the silence. “You need shoes.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Let’s get me some fucking shoes.”

“Great. Let’s go.”

He turns in place a few times, trying to get his bearings, then points to a path. “The boutiques are

that way.” And we resume walking.