Page 17 of Time for You
Getting Henry settled had been quite the ordeal. He was freaked out by everything—the digital alarm clock, the microwave, the fridge—and that wasn’t even touching on the fact that he thought she and Ellie might be sex workers when he discovered they lived on their own. It would have been nice to have Vibol around to manage Henry, but he’d already turned his phone to Do Not Disturb by the time they got back, and Ellie had pointed out that a disgruntled Vibol who got dragged out of bed to deal with a time traveler probably wouldn’t have been very helpful.
“He’s from the Victorian era; he’s not a caveman,” Ellie scolded.
Henry, who had been sitting on Helen’s plaid couch, jumped to his feet. “My ladies,” he said, tipping his head forward.
“How’d you sleep?” Ellie asked.
“Quite well. Twenty-first-century mattresses are spectacular.” He followed them out into the hall and back to their apartment, still looking rather dazed.
“I sent an SOS to our friends, so they’re coming over soon,” Ellie explained. Daphne had hoped everyone would get there immediately, but Vibol had just woken up, Michelle was at the gym when Ellie texted911, and Brittany was just leaving her hot paramedic crush’s apartment, having finally succeeded in her monthlong flirtation campaign. Theyall lived in the same apartment building as Ellie and Daphne, though, so at least they’d all get there quickly.
“I got a text from Dean this morning, and he says you kidnapped a time traveler?” Vibol said, walking in without knocking. He stopped and looked at Henry, taking in his outfit—he had redressed himself in the suit from yesterday—with wide eyes. But his outgoing nature won out over his clear skepticism.
He held his hand out to Henry, who stood stiffly beside Daphne. “Vibol Law. Nice to meet you.”
Henry shook his hand. “Henry MacDonald. Are you also a doctor?”
“Emergency Medicine, just like these ladies.”
Henry shot Daphne a dry look. “You don’t object when he calls you ladies?”
“It’s different,” Daphne gritted out.
“Vibol,” Henry said, mulling over his name. “Are you from the French colonies in Indochina?”
Vibol pulled a face. “He really is from the nineteenth century, isn’t he?” he said to Daphne. “It’s, uh, not a colony anymore. And I’m from Massachusetts, but my parents are from Cambodia.”
“Oh, my apologies. I’ve met a few sailors from your parents’ part of the world. My business does a lot of trading.”
Vibol nodded and leaned his hip against their countertop. “So what’s the plan? How do we get Mr. Empire back to his time?”
“We didn’t have much of a plan yet,” Ellie admitted.
“Maybe we should ask Michelle?” Vibol said.
Michelle was an OB-GYN resident, and the smartest one of their whole group. Vibol also happened to have the world’s biggest crush on her, a fact that everyone except Michelle knew.
“Why are we asking Michelle?” Brittany asked as she let herself in. “Vibol finally gonna do it and ask her out?”
“Shut up,” Vibol grumbled.
Henry frowned. “Do you lot not lock your doors? Is that unnecessary in the future?”
Brittany stared at him. “The—future?”
“He’s a time traveler,” Vibol said cheerfully. He either had accepted Henry’s story surprisingly quickly or had decided to believe it for maximum chaos. Either was plausible with him.
“A time traveler,” she repeated dully.
“It’s a long story,” Daphne said.
Ellie opened a bag of tortilla chips and passed it to Vibol. “It’s really not. Daph ran him over with her bike, and it turns out he’s from the past.”
Brittany looked at all of them suspiciously. “Are you fucking with me?”
“We’re not,” Daphne sighed.
Still frowning, Brittany stuck her hand out. “Dr. Brittany Spiers.”
