Page 98 of Seduced By the Mermen
“Okay.” Annabelle gives me another squeeze.
“You can talk about it now.” Nico’s eyebrows dart up.
“No, she said we’ll— Rather, Marlee and I will talk to her about it tomorrow.” Annabelle nods.
“If you don’t mind?” I squeeze my niece’s hand. How I ever got so lucky to have two amazing girls in my life, I’ll never know.
“I don’t mind. We don’t mind. Right, Nico?”
“Indeed.” Nico’s chest puffs out, and he bows his head to me in good night.
“Thanks for letting me in.” I wave to them as they drift down the hallway on their side of the apartment.
“Night Auntie,” Eros says, throwing Annabelle over his shoulder.
I stifle a laugh and head down the opposite hallway. I love being with Annabelle, but I’m with Marlee on this one: Annabelle and her pod mates need their privacy. No matter how much Annabelle says it’s not a big deal that we’re here, it is. Not that I’m going to rush into tying myself to another man just to move out. I did that once, and it didn’t work out that well.
I stop by Marlee’s door, but the light is off. On a whim, I continue down the hallway and knock on the mechanicals door.
“Who is it?”
“Me.”
“Me who? Come on in, Mom.”
The door squeaks open, and Marlee’s sitting on the floor in a nest of blankets, a tablet on the old trunk. There’s so many things I want to say, fromyou’re going to end up with a bad backtoyou’re going to strain your eyes. But I leave it all unsaidand sit down next to her crisscross applesauce, putting my head on her shoulder.
“Oh no, you got dumped? Does Nico know? Do you want him to kill them for you? Oh, I can’t believe I just said that. I’ve been working on a mafia story, and I’m on the dark side of things. Wait, do you need ice cream? I’m sure we could figure out a way to get you ice cream. Or at least some decent chocolate.”
I should stop her. But I’m smiling, listening to the sound of her voice vibrating through her chest. It’s been her and me for so many years. Just the two of us. Every day, that’s all I thought of. I wrap my arm around her shoulder. “They didn’t dump me.”
“Oh, oh. That’s good. Right? That’s good.”
“Yeah, that’s good.” I don’t lift my head.
“Wait, then why are you here?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh, the talk. Did they pop the question?”
“No. Nothing like that. I was going to talk to you and Annabelle about it tomorrow, but... Zion has asked me to go to London with him on a work trip.”
“That’s funny.”
“No, I’m being serious.”
“No, it’s funny that there’s a Dorian place called London.”
“Mar?” I lift my head from her shoulder and hold her blue eyes. “London, England. Double-decker buses, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace.”
“What?” Her eyes widen. “You’re going to leave the Veiled City. Walk on land?”
“Only if you’re okay with me going.”
“That’s... shit, Mom. Whoa. Are you going to go? You have to go.”
“I kind of want to go. But only if you’re okay with me going.”
