I tilted my head. Was she for real? "Because we have the metabolism of basically a cheetah? We can and should, if I'm being perfectly honest, be eating on a pretty constant basis."
Was this why she was so damn pale? Tiny blue veins were present in her neck. Peering closer at her, I discreetly took a long inhale.
Cherry was possibly the first werewolf on the damn planet who was anemic. "Who taught you to eat this way?" I asked as I eyed my steak longingly.
"Oh we all do," she said like it was totally normal to be a complete freaking weirdo. My thoughts went back to Maron.
"So, is it because something happened with the genetics?"I asked hopefully.
A tiny little frown appeared in the middle of her brow. "Genetics?"
My hopes sank. "Yes. Was there a flaw that reduced or eliminated your craving for meat?" Except for on her fingers? What kind of person wanted to arrange meat, yet had an aversion to eating it?
"Goodness no!" she said and laughed her glass-breaking laugh. "We crave it all the time. It's about discipline, Sterling."
And iron deficiency, I thought. "Ah, I see," I said, though I did not see even a little bit.
"I'm so glad! I'm fifth-generation Pescetarian, though I only eat fish twice a week."
I took an enormous swig of my wine and, not for the first time tonight, I wished it was whiskey. "The rest is salad?"
She nodded.
"So no beans or rice or anything like that?"
Cherry stared at me in horror. "All those carbs? Never."
I shut my eyes for a moment and my life sped past me in a slideshow of never ending salads and a thin Cherry raising waif-like children. I needed to shake myself out of this. This was what I asked for and this was what Portia had sent me. While I wasn't expecting all the weird food habits, I could tell just by sitting with her she would be a biddable wife.
But could I live with her raising our eventual children with her ridiculous food aversions? I had one more question.
"What about dairy?"
"As in cheese?" Cherry shuddered.
"Yes. Like Parmigiano-Reggiano. On top of angel hair pasta mixed with sundried tomatoes?" I didn't hate vegetarian dishes. I just liked them stacked with a big slab of meat on the side.
Cherry gave me a weird look. "I've never had a bite of pasta in my entire life."
Heaven help us all. This woman had never really lived.
I looked down at my plate and spent the next fifteen minutes quietly pondering my future. Cherry never spoke again. I was afraid of what I would do if she did.
I walkedthe odd sometimes Pescetarian woman back to her car and kissed her cool cheek. If I didn't know better, I would have thought she was a vamp. Though Maron seemed about thirty degrees warmer than this woman did. Once I got back in my car, I turned on the heater to ward off the chill in my skin.
Freaking Portia. I shook my head before I flipped on the radio, put the car in reverse, and drove home.
Once I made it to my apartment, I went straight to the bar above my kitchen island and poured myself two fingers of bourbon. Not even taking a moment, I kicked the drink back and felt the burn all the way down to my stomach. Cherry was the kind of woman I thought I wanted, but she was about as interesting as reading the back of a toilet paper package.
But Iwantedboring. I wanted someone to leave me alone, but also appease my parents. I wasn't ready to settle down, but I certainly didn't want to be forced into some odd arranged marriage with an Italian family I'd never heard of. This was the easiest way to get them off my back.
I could not stop thinking about Maron, though. It had to be guilt over the way I treated her. Maybe if I apologized to her, it would get it all out of my system and I could better embrace the chilly world of Cherry and her dietary challenged family. It didn't even bother me that Maron was a vegetarian anymore. Not after seeing my date. Maron appeared to have no aversion to any foods other than bloody cuts of meat. Plus she had a weakness for dairy so that softened a spot in my heart for her. I couldn't imagine what would happen if I ate pasta in front of Cherry. She might go into shock.
I needed to buy that woman a fainting couch. It would probably get regular use.
I poured myself another drink and decided to just let this play out how it would. I'd gotten what I'd asked for and I was being a brat about it. I'd talk to the guys in the morning and see what they said.
My friends sucked.The second I walked into the building, they started grilling me about both of my dates. When I told them about the disaster with Maron, they perked up with interest. When I told them about Cherry, I'd expected them to perk up with even more interest, but both of them gave me disgusted looks and questioned me on whether she was really what I wanted.
