Page 67 of Tell Me Why
“Did you find something good?” he asked, looking up as they came in.
“It’s beautiful,” Isabella said. “I think that you’ll find it acceptable.”
“Won’t have parties like Viella, I expect,” he said, “but we’ll do what we can.”
He was happy.
This surprised her.
He’d been sullen and closed and distant since they’d gotten to Nashville, but this morning he had a sense of play to him that Tina seldom found in him under any circumstance.
“Your Tina is cagey about sleeping in a coffin,” Isabella teased.
“She still thinks she’s human,” Tell answered.
“She’s too old for that,” Isabella said.
“I’m too rich to break her of it,” Tell said.
Isabella snorted.
“You should get her tucked into her bed,” she said. “She’s going to wilt, soon.”
Tina didn’t like them talking about her like that, and it made it all the worse that Isabella was right.
“This is progressing,” Tell said. “I have four candidates coming in tomorrow to talk about what equipment they want to have access to.”
Isabella nodded.
“He won’t wait forever. Make sure you get started and start showing progress as soon as possible.”
“Very soon,” Tell said, coming to steer Tina back out of the room. “Progress very soon.”
“They don’t havethe best taste in decor, but they do have good taste infabric,” Tell said as he picked up the pajamas from the dresser and made to carry them into the bathroom.
“Isabella warned me today that this could take years,” Tina said, feeling out what he was willing to discuss. He didn’t flinch.
For whatever that was worth.
“Patience,” he said. “I need you to be patient.”
And, whether because Tina really was done or because he had nothing else to say, that was all he said for the rest of the day.
“I didn’t knowwhat you wanted,” Tina said as Tell walked through the apartment.
“You did fine,” he said. “Isabella wouldn’t have brought you to one that was going to be worse off, for us. They’ll have access to the video in the elevator and they’ll have a man on the stairs, so unless I’m willing to climb the building, they think they’ve got us pinned in, here.”
“So I can actuallytalk?” Tina asked, and Tell laughed.
“That’s been killing you, hasn’t it?” he asked.
“Profoundly,” Tina said, going to open the refrigerator.
It was empty, but there was something comforting about having a fridge, again.
“We’ll have groceries delivered in the morning,” Tell said.
“What are youdoing?” Tina demanded, turning to look at him.
