I thought about it. 'Yeah, I guess he is.'
While I waited for her, I looked over at a nearby mirror. Maddie was still going strong with her new cute and stylish self. She'd gotten a haircut too, the layering of which made her face appear delicate and lovely. The slacks and sweater, though simple, looked sleek and elegant on her.
By contrast, I looked kind of like the ugly stepsister. Oh, I still had the nice figure and pretty face born of shape-shifting, but I'd thrown on jeans and an old coat, not really concerned with high fashion today. I also hadn't bothered to shape-shift my hair. I'd simply brushed it into a high ponytail. Most telling of all was my face. I wore as much grief as Vincent. There was a hollowness to my eyes that startled me. It counteracted all the other beauty of my features. Glancing back at Maddie, I realized she was the hot one today.
When we finally hit the road to the airport, traffic was as horrible as I'd expected. I-5 was at a standstill, and with my luck lately, there was probably an accident up ahead to compound the rush hour and holiday mess. Sighing, I settled back into my seat.
'Okay,' I told Maddie, desperately needing distraction. 'What's the report? What adventurous things have you done? I'm pretty sure you've more than met your quota.'
'Well,' she began. 'There's the new clothes, of course. You've seen a lot of them, and I own more lingerie than I ever have in my life. I was always kind of afraid of it, but there's so much cute stuff out there, you know?'
'Yup. I sure do.'
'I got a bunch of high heels too. I'm still kind of learning to walk in them, but I'm doing okay, I think.' She groaned and looked like the snarky feminist writer she was. 'I feel like…well, like a girl.'
I smiled and looked at the cars ahead of me. All the variables were in place for an accident, so I had to be careful. In this kind of stop and go, people tended to cease paying attention and fall into a lull. That was how cars got rear-ended. It was also an oddity that Seattle drivers had trouble driving in the rain.
'You seemed fine in the heels to me. What else have you done? Other than shopping?'
'I signed up for a judo class.'
'You did not.'
'I so did,' she said, laughing. 'It was the craziest class I could think of. Besides, I can finally get back at Doug after all those years he used to pull my hair.'
'Well-deserved,' I said. I moved over to the farthest lane, with the futile hope that it might move a fraction faster. 'Anything else?'
'Mmm…well. I started looking for my own place.'
'That's a good idea.'
'And checking out flights to some places I've always wanted to see.'
'Another good idea.'
'And I slept with Seth.'
I nearly drove into the median.
'What?' I said, jerking the wheel back to my own lane. Maddie had her hands stretched out protectively. 'Did you say Seth?'
'Yeah…'
'Seth Mortensen?'
She sounded incredulous. 'Of course. Who else?'
It was one of those things that was so ludicrous, I couldn't even fully react. It was like saying, 'Hey, did you notice the earth just exploded?' It wasn't real because all the rest of the data in your known world said it was impossible. My brain wasn't going to bother processing it yet. Wasted cells.
'How…I mean, what…' I shook my head. 'Explain.'
I could see by her face that she was dying to. This was what had been bursting in her in my office yesterday.
'Well, two nights ago, I ran back to the bookstore after closing because I'd left something. I saw Seth out in the parking lot. He'd been out somewhere and was coming back to get his car.'
'Somewhere' was my apartment. That had been the night of the fight.
'Anyway,' she continued. 'He looked kind of down, and I remembered what you'd said about taking risks. Plus, he still owed me the date, right? So, I asked him out for a drink, and he said sure.'
I tried not to drive into the median again. 'He didn't drink, did he?'
'No, not alcohol. But we stayed out really late, and we had a great time. You can't even imagine how great he is to talk to. He comes across as shy, but once you get to know him…' She sighed happily. 'He thinks like I do too…wants to do all sorts of things, go places…Anyway, the place finally closed, and he asked if I wanted to go hang out at his place for a while.'
I couldn't even look at her now. 'Seth…asked you back to his place?'
'Well, if we went back to mine, we'd have to hang out with Doug, and we just wanted to talk more. And we did…except, well, after a while…we stopped talking. And one thing kind of led to another.' She exhaled, like she still couldn't believe it herself. 'I never do things like that. Not so soon. But, well, he's a nice guy, you know? And I wanted to do something adventurous…'
No, no, no. This really wasn't happening. This was a dream. This was Nyx getting back at me for not helping her. She was sending me a nightmare, one I hoped I'd wake up from soon.
I didn't realize how long I'd been quiet until Maddie hesitantly asked, 'Georgina? You still with me? You don't think…you don't think I was too easy, do you?' There was fear in her voice, fear of my disappointment and disapproval.
'Huh? No…no…of course not.' I took a deep breath. 'So, um, it was good?'
'Oh, yeah!' She gave a nervous giggle. 'I can't believe I'm even talking about this. But, yeah, Seth's a great lover. He's really attentive.'
'Yeah, I imagine he would be.'
'God, I can't believe this happened.'
That made two of us. 'What's going to happen now? Was it…a fling?' After all, what else could it be? Seth was with me, right? I had no reason to be upset. I'd given him the go-ahead to get sex elsewhere. In fact…I had told him to that night. If he wanted to sleep with her, that was fine. But obviously, it meant nothing. It had to be a fling, right?
Right?
'I don't know,' she admitted. 'I hope not. I really like him…and it was so great. I feel like we really connected…like the auction hadn't just been because he felt sorry for me. He said he would call and we'd go out again sometime.' Once more, she turned timid and unsure. 'You don't think…you don't think he's the kind of guy who'd just say something like that and not mean it, do you?' She was the Maddie I'd known before, the one who looked up to me and wanted my guidance. The one who didn't trust men.
I stared ahead and decided maybe the heavens were weeping for me now. After several moments, I finally said, 'No, Maddie. If he says he wants to go out, he means it. That's the kind of guy he is.'
CHAPTER 24
I knew I was going to live forever, but sometimes I had a hard time really understanding how long forever was. During that ride to the airport, however, I got a taste of what eternity might feel like.
Maddie spent almost the entire time talking about Seth. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only time she didn't was when she stopped to check her watch and ponder whether we would make it on time. I knew we would make it on time because I would stop the car and carry her on my back before I'd risk her missing her flight and needing to ride back with me to the city. Once she'd decided we were still okay with time, it was back to Seth. Seth, Seth, Seth.
I'm pretty sure there were only about three people in the world I wouldn't have suspected of fucking with me if they'd come telling a story like this. Unfortunately, Maddie was one of them. She was telling the truth. It was written all over her, and something in me—maybe the part that really understood how serious the fight between
