Dante pointed at the door. 'Good night, succubus. Sweet dreams.'
CHAPTER 14
I worked an evening shift that day and had made plans to have lunch with Maddie. She and I had worked several shifts together in the last week or so, but things were getting so crazy at the store that we hardly had a chance to talk anymore.
'Well, aren't we the rebels?' she said when the waiter set two margaritas on the table. We were at the 'unholy' place Peter, Cody, and Hugh had tried to lure me out to a few nights ago.
'Nah,' I said, licking the edge of my glass. Salt and lime juice were proof of God's existence. And tequila was proof of Satan's. 'We don't work for three more hours. We'll be sober by then. Besides, I'm your superior, and I say it's okay.' We clinked glasses and drank up.
'I feel like I'm boring,' she told me halfway through our meal.
'Not true.'
'It is. I don't do anything with my life.' She held the glass by its stem, swirling the contents around and around. 'Doug goes out every night, either to practice or party or whatever. Me? If I'm not at work, I'm home writing articles or watching reality TV.'
'What do you wish you were doing instead?'
'I don't know. There are lots of things I've thought about. Skydiving. Travel. Always kind of wanted to go to South America. But it's hard, you know? Those kinds of things force you to break out of your comfort zone.'
'There's no reason you can't do those things. You're smart and capable, and I think you're braver than you give yourself credit for.'
She smiled. 'Why are you such a cheerleader for me?'
'Because you're awesome.' The truth was, I was starting to realize, Maddie reminded me of myself when I'd been mortal. Not entirely comfortable with my body (I'd been insanely tall). Not always so adept socially (my sharp attitude had gotten me in trouble a lot). That version of me was centuries gone, but a kernel of it would always be within me. I gestured the waiter over and shook my glass at him. 'Hey, Josh. Can you hook me up?'
Josh the waiter, who looked too young to drink, took the glass with a grin. 'You bet. Same thing?'
'Yep. Although…I hate to tell you this, but it was kind of weak.'
Josh adopted an offended air. 'Was it? I'll yell at the bartender immediately. Maybe I'll make him come over and apologize on bended knee.'
'No need,' I said magnanimously. 'Just have him add an extra shot this time.'
He gave a gallant bow and winked. 'As you command.'
Maddie groaned when he was gone. 'See? I could never flirt that way. Certainly not with jailbait like him.'
'Sure you can.'
She shook her head. 'No. I have the worst luck with men.'
'How is that possible? You're always saying funny things to me.'
'You're not a man. And I'm not afraid of you,' she explained.
'You're afraid of Josh the waiter?'
'Well…no, not exactly. But I just get so self-conscious. All flustered and stuff.'
I leaned forward and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. 'Trade secret. Everyone's self-conscious. Act like you aren't, and you'll be a superstar.'
Josh brought me my margarita. I thanked him with more flirting while Maddie looked thoughtful.
When he went to check on another table, she sighed. 'Did you know that I've only ever slept with two guys?'
'So?'
'So, I'm twenty-nine! Isn't that sad?'
I thought about my track record. No point even trying to count. 'Just means you have standards.'
She grimaced. 'You haven't met the guys.'
'So find a good one. Plenty of them out there.' I had a weird flash of déjà vu to past conversations with Tawny.
'Not that I've seen. Well, except maybe Seth. He's one of the good ones.' She sighed. 'He still hasn't mentioned our date.'
'Hasn't he?' I'd have to get on him about that.
'Yeah. Unless babysitting his nieces counts.' She shrugged. 'It's okay. Like I said, I know he just did it because he felt bad. I appreciate the gesture. Oh hey, I overheard Seth saying something to Doug about how you wanted a Christmas tree. Are you having trouble finding one or something?'
I groaned. 'Not that again.'
'So…you don't want one? Or do you? You seem like the kind of person who would.'
'Honestly? I'm indifferent.' I shook my head. 'It's something my friend Peter started, then he told Seth.'
She cut me a suspicious look. 'You know, you sure seem to hang out with Seth a lot.'
'Hey, you can be friends with nice guys too.' I had no idea why I still felt the need to keep my relationship with Seth a secret. Some instinct told me it was the right thing to do.
'Too bad,' said Maddie, finishing her own margarita. 'I bet he'd treat his girlfriend like a princess.'
'Yeah,' I agreed wryly. 'So long as that princess doesn't mind a mistress. Sometimes I think his writing will always be his first love.'
To my surprise, Maddie didn't laugh or look outraged. 'Well, I think that's the price you've gotta pay if you want to be with a man like that. It might be worth it.'
Now I became pensive, wondering if this was true. Was I too hard on Seth and his distractibility? When lunch wrapped up, we walked back—not too tipsy—to the bookstore. I nudged Maddie as we stepped inside.
'Okay, here's the deal. In the next week, I want you to do three adventurous things.'
She looked startled. 'What kind of adventurous things?'
'I don't know.' I pondered, thinking I might be drunker than I'd suspected. 'The adventurous kind. Go out clubbing. Wear red lipstick. Doesn't matter. All I know is that there's going to be a pop quiz later, okay?'
'That's ridiculous. It's not that easy,' she said with a scowl, turning away. 'You can't just make something like that happen.'
'Did I just hear you tell Maddie to go clubbing?' Seth's voice asked a moment later. She was already halfway across the store, and I doubted she'd take me up on my challenge. Too bad. I turned around to face him.
'I'm helping her live life.'
'By drinking in the middle of the day?' he teased.
I pointed upstairs. 'Don't you have a book to finish? I'll talk to you later. I have important things to do.'
I felt only a little bad about dismissing him, seeing as we had dinner plans and would see each other later. He wandered off to write, and I threw myself into my work. Someone was home sick, so I got to be out amid the holiday shopping frenzy. Maddie worked a register beside me, and I was pleased to see how cheery and charismatic she was with customers.
When closing time came, I stopped in front of the newspapers, looking for…well, I didn't know what. But I hadn't forgotten about that poor drowning victim. I wondered if there might be more about him—or more about anything that might help me figure out what was happening to me in my sleep. Sadly, the headlines offered no insight today.
Seth and I drove to Pioneer Square for our late dinner and unsurprisingly couldn't find parking. We ended up several blocks away and were freezing by the time we entered the restaurant. The trek was worth it, though. This place was one of my favorites, serving up Cajun food spicy enough to chase away the winter chill. With gumbo and étouffée, it was hard to brood for too long.
We'd almost finished dessert when my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number.
'Hello?'
