Page 29 of Size Doesn't Matter

He smooched at the phone and hung up before I could get a word in edgewise. Slowly, I sank down onto the couch and let my phone drop into my lap. I had to be happy for Nico however this new relationship turned out. I couldn’t give him what he wanted in the end, but perhaps this orc could. Perhaps he would even fall in love with Throkhan, whoever he was, and I would one day find myself attending a wedding between the two.

Or, more likely, it would be another fling he grew tired of after a month or two before moving on to a newer, more interesting monster. I tried my best not to let my thoughts about Nico grow bitter, but it was difficult when he could move on so easily and I was left to pick up the pieces of our shattered relationship alone.

My heart hadn’t been broken before but it was now, and it was Nico who’d stomped directly on it and shattered it into pieces without even realizing where he was stepping.

25

NICO

My first date with Throkhan was going well so far, even though I couldn’t stop thinking about my conversation with Cyrus at the beginning of it. I worried that I was too distracted throughout the date, but apparently I was good enough to get invited back to Throkhan’s place.

“Are you sure?” I asked him. “That’s a lot to commit to on the first date.”

Throkhan shrugged his massive shoulders. “Why not? Don’t you like having fun?”

I smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

It was tough to decline something as tempting as this, I took him up on his offer and got into his car with him, hoping his home was at least half as nice as Cryus’.

“You mentioned that you’re a logger, right?” I asked, settling into the passenger seat that was almost too big for me.

“That’s right.” Throkhan nodded.

“Cool. So, how long have you worked in the logging industry?”

“My whole adult life,” he answered as he pulled onto the dark highway, driving past rows of trees along the sides of the road. “My daddy worked in the industry when I was a wee lad, so I grew up learning the business.”

“How interesting.”

“I’m thinking about getting out of logging, though,” he continued, “but I’m not sure what else I would do.”

“Why, is it not profitable enough?”

“No, the trees still pay well, but I’ve been having to deal with some real nightmares over the last few years. Y’know the Librarian?”

“Yeah, of course. I signed up for the matchmaking service like you, remember?”

Throkhan grunted. “Their cousin, Sylvan Lockwood, is some sort of tree-lover, I think. He’s been protesting at all of my major sites for at least five years now. There’s something wrong with him, I’m telling you.”

“Sylvan? Isn’t he engaged to Irving Scott?”

“Who?”

“Oh, never mind. He’s just a professor who teaches at the local university. I know him through Cyrus P. Cartwright, another professor.”

Throkhan shook his head. “I’m not familiar with either of them.”

“I dated Cyrus for a little bit,” I explained. “He’s an orc, too. Nice guy, but a little too soft-hearted for me.” I chuckled and Throkhan followed it with a hearty laugh that shook the whole car.

His laugh faded and he grew worryingly serious. “I can’t stand people like that, especially my own kind. A professor, though – you’ve gotta expect that from one of them.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Yeah, I guess so. Hey, how far are we from your place?”

“Close, very close.” He turned onto a quiet, empty road and pointed. “See that house just over the hill?” I nodded. “That’s mine.”

“Ooh, it’s nice. Did you have it custom-built?”

He puffed out his chest. “I built it myself.

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