Page 38 of Just One Look
She tried to think of an answer, but couldn’t. He said, “Elizabeth. Listen to me. There’s no giant scoreboard keeping track of your actions, and nobody’s going to strike you down for not getting everything right. You don’t have to get in touch with them if you don’t want to. How does that hurt anybody? How would they even know you’re there? You’re not snubbing them on the street or something. Anyway, have they been in touch withyou?”
“No, but …”
“Exactly,” he said. “Do what you want. And what youwant,clearly, is to go out with Lovely Luka.”
“He’s not lovely,” she said. “He’s fairly … hard and ferocious-looking, but not always. Like a bird of prey, but possibly a nice one. Very confusing. Whereas Marko looks all dark and dangerous, like a pirate. Arealpirate. Scary. Luka looks like … I don’t know what. His face sort of crumples up when he smiles, and he looks older than thirty-three, although his body doesn’t. His body’s pretty perfect, medically speaking. Exceptional functional fitness. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.”
“He looks like a real-live man,” Jordan said, “instead of a Ken doll, and that’s scary.”
“Yes. No. He went out with mystepsister.”
“You know what?” Jordan said. “I don’t think you really care about that. I think you liked him the first time you met him, you like him better now, and you’re trying to convince yourself there’s something wrong with that.”
“Ugh. Why did I call you? It’s justdinner. Unromanticdinner. I called you to find out what to wear, that’s all.”
“OK,” he said. “Then … Oh. Wait. Clement’s home. Got to go.”
“Wait,” she said. “I—”
“Sorry. He’s got that thousand-yard seen-too-much surgeon stare. I’ve got to go. You’ve got this. Text me what happens.”
The phone went dead. It was … She checked. Oh, no. Six-thirty. And she still had zero idea what to wear. How to act. What to do.
Oh, great.
Return of the Wolf Child.
