Page 18 of Always Say Yes to a Dragon

Az’zael’s grin faded, and his hands twisted together in an oddly human gesture. “Everything at City Hall is well in hand. I can afford to take off for a few hours.”

“Right, I’m sure you’ve got everything managed.” My face flamed. The list of thingsIhad to do between now and eight piled up in my brain. I shouldn’t have changed my mind about seeing him tonight, but he’d kept up his end of the bargain, so how could I backout now?

His lips thinned. “But I’m sure you must be busy as well. I’ll see you at eight?”

“Yeah. See you at eight.” The words echoed in my ears.

After switching shifts with Maya and running by the clinic in a daze, I dropped by my mom’s. I had a few hours before I needed to get ready to go to Az’zael’s place, and even though there were ten thousand other things I should do to prepare for my “date,” I hadn’t seen Mama since Saturday.

Instead of trotting up to her door, I sat in my car in front of her apartment building, my phone clutched in my hand. Then I pressed thetransferbutton and paid off an entire credit card. I glanced at the number in my checking account. Still way higher than I’d ever seen before today. I took a deep breath, my heart pounding in my throat, and paid off another card.

I slumped back in my seat and tried not to cry. Relief warred with anxiety. Over half the money Az had given me, gone with a few taps of my finger. But those cards had been hanging over my head for months, keeping me awake as I tried to figure out where else I could work, how I could cut my expenses, how I was going to keep from drowning, and now they were gone.

When I’d gathered myself together, I trudged up to Mama’s apartment and knocked on the door. I had a key, but Dwayne hated it when I let myself in. Mama opened it and stepped aside so I could enter.

“Hey, baby. What’s the occasion?” She motioned me inside.

I looked past her head to the thrift-store curtains on the far wall—I’d been taller than her since I was in the sixth grade, though our coloring and features were similar.

“Just wanted to see you.” I stepped into the living room like I was moving through molasses, my limbs weighing a thousand pounds each. It took what seemed like years for my feet to carry me to the same broken-in couch that had followed Mama from apartment to apartment for the last fifteen years. I dropped into a well-worn dip in one cushion.

I just agreed to be a sugar baby.

Mama had moved in here with Dwayne a few years ago, but it looked like every apartment we’d lived in together. Cramped. Run-down. As clean as Mama could make it and with as much cheer as some curtains and a few thrift-store pictures could add.

I stared at the picture of the Pyramids of Giza hanging across from me. Mama had always wanted to visit. Maybe I could afford to take her on a little vacation now. Not to Egypt, but a nice weekend at the beach.

“You okay, baby?” Mama’s voice broke through the static playing in my head.

“Yeah.” I licked my lips. “Sure.”

She snorted. “Course you are.” She bustled around in the kitchen, then returned with some sweet tea.

I took a glass, staring at it.

We sat in silence for a long moment.

She broke the silence. “You have any luck finding a subletter?”

I shifted in my seat. I’d briefly tried to find someone to take over my lease so I could find somewhere cheaper, but nothing had panned out. “Uh, no. Don’t think I’m going to have any luck with that.”I don’t have to worry about rent anymore.Hot and cold raked over my guts, and I prayed it didn’t show on my face.

Mama clucked her tongue. “That’s too bad. Why don’t you tell me something good instead?” We’d played this game all throughout mychildhood whenever one of us got down about money. She was a single mom, and my deadbeat sperm donor rarely paid child support. Money had been a constant worry, but she’d always tried to find a silver lining.

There is ten grand sitting in my bank account.The words piled up behind my lips. But I couldn’t own up to how I’d gotten the money. “I picked up some more shifts at work.” I’d need to explain the influx of cash somehow.

Mama sniffed. “Work isn’tgood, it’s life. Tell me something good.”

“I had a nice cup of coffee.” I turned to look at her, making eye contact for the first time. “One of those real fancy ones. With oat milk.”A dragon bought it for me.I dropped my gaze.

“They make milk out of oats?”

“Yeah. Somehow.” It was all the rage these days.

She blinked. “Why…?”

I shrugged. “Some folks can’t drink milk.” Usually, having a guy order for me felt controlling, but the way Az’zael had thought of every option felt indulgent.

“Youcan drink milk.” Mama drew herself up, like my being lactose intolerant would have reflected poorly on her abilities as a mother.

---