Page 358 of The Spider Queen
“I got a text that said you’d met someone and had taken off for a trip around the world. And that you’d check in from time to time, but were going to try and unplug.”
“That bastard,” I said automatically.
Her eyes narrowed. “That bastard who?”
“Were you worried?” I asked, dodging her question for the moment.
“Damn right I was worried.” She took a seat on the couch, her leather bag next to her. She reached into the outer pocket and pulled out her phone. She pressed a few buttons and then handed it to me. “Scroll through those photos.”
So I did, my eyes widening. There were dozens of pictures of me at different famous monuments. Eiffel Tower. Colosseum. The Great Wall.
I handed the phone back to her and then took a seat in the chair. “I’m hungry. Are you hungry?”
She blinked. “I could eat.”
“Chinese?”
“Okay.” She looked confused and bereft—equal parts angry and glad to see me.
“I don’t have a phone. Can you throw in our order?”
“Let me guess, you’re missing your wallet too?”
“Yes.”
“What the hell happened—”
“I’ll explain over wontons,” I promised, wondering how I was going to tell my best friend—myhumanbest friend—that I’d fallen for the Prince of Darkness. How I’d been bound to him. Won my freedom. Fought a Cyclops.
You know, the norm.
“It’s odd timing,” I said once she put the phone away.
“What is?”
“You were coming to the shop just as I arrived.”
“I come to the shop every day to make sure it’s all still standing. And tend to the business mail. But the doors have been closed for a while.” She leaned forward, placing her elbows on her knees.
“I’m dying here, Stella,” she said in exasperation. “I don’t understand what happened. I knew you wanted to travel, but it came out of nowhere and you just—you left without saying goodbye, and it felt personal, and I’m so mad at you I can’t breathe, but I’m also so happy you’re back.” Her words whooshed out of her in a run-on sentence.
The buzzer buzzed.
“I’ll get it,” she muttered.
She buzzed up the delivery guy, gave him a few bills, and then firmly shut the door. She took the two brown takeout bags to the kitchen table and began removing containers. I grabbed the plates and some napkins.
We ate in silence for a few moments. I nearly moaned in rapture. I’d missed my favorite Chinese takeout place. It felt so completely normal, eating takeout with Herron.
“Before we get into it all,” I said, reaching for more beef and broccoli, “I want to hear about you and what I’ve missed in your life.”
“Nothing,” she stated. “Blaze works all the time, you ditched me, and I thought about getting a cat.”
“You did not.”
“I did too.”
“Youhatecats,” I pointed out.
