Page 43 of The Devil She Knows
“Dramatic much? I hardly think making a few cake pops counts as making myself small.”
Daphne unstoppered a glass decanter and poured a full measure of ruby-red wine into a glass. “It’s the principle of the thing, Sam. You throw one cooking competition to make Hannah happy, fine.Whatever.What’s it going to be tomorrow? Are you going to spend your whole life capitulating to Hannah’s every whim and desire? Where does it end?”
“Nowyou’re concerned with principles?” Sam scoffed and shook her head. “I’m not capitulating and—You know what? Even if I were, Hannah doesn’t want me to be small. That cooking competition from hell was an anomaly. You concocted a scenario that would never happen if not for your interference. The Hannah I know can’t cook to save her life, and she wants to be with someone successful and exciting, not someone small.”
“Someone successful and exciting but not as successful and exciting as her.” Daphne swirled her wine and regarded Sam with a pitying smile. “Are you really going to light yourself on fire to keep someone warm who wouldn’t even bother to piss on you to put you out?”
Sam ground her teeth together, the fury that had smoldered in her chest stoked to life. “Don’t talk about her like that. You don’t know her.”
Daphne’s lips twitched and another spark of anger flared inside Sam at being mocked. “Doyou?”
They were together for two and a half years. They’d lived together, shared a life together, for two years. Sam loved her. “Of course I know her.”
Daphne took a slow sip of wine while staring steadily atSam over the rim of her glass. “You know what I think you could use, Sam?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”
“Right you are. But first, how rude of me. Wine?” Daphne dangled the decanter in the air, waving it in offering. Sam shook her off. The last thing she needed was to have a drink and for the alcohol to go to her head. She needed to keep her wits about her now more than ever. “Suit yourself.” Daphne topped off her own glass before walking a few steps and leaning against a midcentury modern media cabinet. A boxy retro television with two control knobs and bunny-ear antennae sat atop it. “I think you need a break.”
“A break?” Her brows rose. “A break from what?”
“You know.” Daphne shrugged, and, no, Sam didn’t know where she was going with this. “I think you’re getting so caught up in the minutiae of it all that you can’t see the forest for the trees. You’re clearly stressed. Pretty soon you won’t be thinking clearly. You won’t be good for anyone if you don’t take care of yourself.”
Sam was instantly skeptical. “What are you suggesting I do?”
“Maybe go on a vacation.” Daphne drummed a finger against her lips. “I’ve heard Reykjavík is nice this time of year. You could see the Hallgrímskirkja and grab a nice craft beer. Take a dip in one of those geothermal pools. Catch a glimpse of the northern lights, maybe.”
“Reykjavík?” Her brows rose. “Really?”
Sam didn’t know what Daphne had up her sleeve, but it reeked of bullshit.
“Why not? Sam.” Daphne set her glass down and crossedher arms. Any traces of humor had vanished from her face, her expression verging on grave. She stared beseechingly at Sam. “You have but this one precious life to live. Don’t you want to experience it to the fullest? See the sights and taste the food and—you could have a wholeEat, Pray, Loveexperience if you wanted. What’s stopping you?”
The question was rhetorical, but Sam answered anyway. “Coco would never give me the time off. I don’t have the money. I’d have to board Nacho and Pumpkin at the vet, and they hate that. My mom would have my hide if she found out I’d flounced off to Europe when I haven’t been home in over a year. Taking a vacation by yourself is overrated and lonely if you’re not an extrovert. Sightseeing is pointless if you don’t have someone to share it with. Should I keep going or do you get the gist?”
“You know what’s so beautiful about our friendship, Sam?”
Friendship? Don’t make her laugh. “You and I are not friends.”
“Sure we are,” Daphne chirped. “What is a friend if not someone who’s there for you? Someone who tells you the truth, even when it’s hard to hear. Someone who cares about your well-being. Someone with shared interests. You have problems and I have solutions, and I love that for us. You need someone to watch your cats for you? I can do that. I adore all creatures, be they furred, scaled, feathered, or three-headed. You want to take your mom with you on vacation? She can be on the next flight to New York tomorrow morning, and you can meet her at the gate.”
“I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you’re not offering to transfer your SkyMiles points to me.”
“If that’s what you want,” Daphne said. “Or you could fly private. Hey, novel thought! You could skip the flight altogether if you want. All you have to do is say the two magic words and you can find yourself in the finest accommodations that Iceland has to offer.”
The penny dropped and Sam laughed. There it was. “If you think I’m wasting one of the four wishes I have left on a European getaway, you’ve got another think coming.”
“Three.”
“What?”
“You have three wishes left,” Daphne said, “not four.”
No, that wasn’t right. “The deal was for six wishes.”
“Yes.” One by one, Daphne held up her fingers, three on her left hand, three on her right. She wiggled them at Sam. “You’ve used three, meaning you’re down to three.”
Sam most certainly hadnotused three. That wasn’t something she’d forget. “I wished that I was wealthy enough to give Hannah the life she desires and then I wished that I were a successful, wealthy, competent executive chef. That is two wishes, not three.Two.”
