She nodded.
“Mo leannan, means… It’s just his pet name for me.”
She said, “I don’t know if he’s coming back, it didn’t sound like it, but it did sound like you meant a great deal to him.”
“Cooper said he sounded pissed, that he was gone for good.”
She shook her head. “He sounded really scared about you, and like his heart would break. He was desperate, that’s the word I would use. But he had to leave, desperate but forced to go, that’s how he seemed.”
I nodded. “Thanks, that helps. That makes me feel a teeny weeny bit better. He did still leave me, even if he had reasons, even if he’s got important things to do, and he didn’t say goodbye.”
She held out the bag of cookies.
I shook my head.
She said, “I watched my friend get kidnapped and it was freaky. I still can’t get it out of my mind. I’m at school today thinking, ‘I watched my bestie get kidnapped and time travel is real’ — how do I deal with this information?”
“Yeah, how are we the only people in the world who know it’s real?”
She said, “I don’t know, it makes no sense. Now I’ve got a new thing to freak out about, you really saw Torin murder people?”
“I didn’t actually see it, he just told me about it. He killed some of the most murderous asswipes in the history of the world and we are all better off. Does that help?”
“Yeah, it does help. Do you forgive me for not calling the police when you were kidnapped? I couldn’t figure out what they would do because of the whole time travel thing. I was so worried you wouldn’t come back and then they would ask, ‘why didn’t you call the authorities?’ And I would have to say, like, ‘because time travel,’ and they would be like, ‘that’s not an excuse, dumb-ass.’ You’re not mad, right?”
“Nah, I’m not mad, I don’t know how you would explain it.”
“Good.”
She looked at me seriously, then asked, “So where did you two kids sleep? You’re saying inns, and so I can imagine that those have quaint rooms, with rules about unmarried people. So I assume you had your own bedroom, because of a relationship, that we must talk about next. And in my imagination the room looks like something out of Pride and Prejudice, maybe with a canopy and a beautiful bowl to wash your face… Then the dashing Torin stops by your room in the ‘morn’ and knocks twice and calls in, ‘Mistress Lexi, are you up?’ And you say, ‘Yes, coming!’ And then he gives you his arm and…”
Her voice trailed off. “Close?”
“No, not at all, except the bowl, maybe.”
She whispered, “You slepttogether? Was it so hot?”
“No, we didn’t, it wasn’t like that, but we shared rooms. When we slept in the first inn, he slept on the floor beside the bed, and he um… he held my hand so I wouldn’t be frightened.”
“Ohmy, that might be even hotter.”
“The next night, we stayed in a wayside, and it was cold and all of our clothes were wet, so we were basically naked. He was totally naked…”
She fanned herself. “Torin was totally naked, near you, you couldseehim?”
“It wasn’t the first time. The first time he undressed on the side of the river and strode in to bathe. I saw all of his, you know, his everything.”
“Holy cannoli.”
“Yep, absolutely, it’s pretty breathtaking.”
“But you didn’t make any moves, and he didn’t, either?”
“He didn’t. He just had to hold me to keep me warm, and we just happened to be nude. He held me, and it was… good. I’m just not sure he likes me that way.”
She scoffed. “Of coursehe likes you that way, you’re a beauty, how could he not? And it sounds like you were the perfect combination of lovely and… and I’ve seen how he looks at you. God, you’re so dumb sometimes.”
“Thanks, that’s helpful.”
