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We stare at each other, our thoughts the same. What now?
On the one hand, I should probably be running as far and as fast as I can from this bizzaro situation, but on the other hand, he’s cute and sort of fun. Okay, the murder mystery debacle landed me in jail, but when was the last time I had a Friday night like that? Oh, and on the third hand, he’s a prince. When will I get another opportunity to date a prince?
I suppress the urge to fist pump the air as her thoughts tip the scales in my direction. I decide to push my luck. “Can I treat you to some breakfast?” She tilts her head to the side, thinking. Seeing a stack of pancakes in her thoughts, I add, “IHOP, perhaps?”
She beams at me. “You read my mind.”
Yup, I did.
“Let’s take my vehicle,” I say.
At the same time, she says brightly, “I’ll drive!”
Recalling how she nearly killed a man yesterday, I say, “I need to practice driving in LA traffic. We’ll take my Jeep.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t get into strange cars with strange men on the first date.”
I give in with grace, shuddering at the thought of getting into a car with her behind the wheel. “Sure, you drive.” Wait… “Has there been many of those?”
We walk toward the parking lot. “Men or first dates?”
My hackles rise as I think of Vanessa with other men. She’s so beautiful, of course she would attract suitors. “Both.”
“Lots of one and very little of the other.” She sends me a mischievous look as she skips ahead.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She’s talking in riddles and I’m strongly reminded of Brenna, the second reincarnation of my mate. She had a mischievous streak as well. I’d thought for sure she would be safe from death, having placed the immortality amulet around her neck as soon as she agreed to take it from me, but I learned that immortality doesn’t necessarily equal a long life. Accidents can still happen. She died in a fire.
My next mate popped into existence within hours of Brenna’s death.
“I’m great at first dates, but not much after that. I don’t have time for hookups or boyfriends.” Vanessa’s cheerful voice pulls me from my morbid thoughts. “What about you?”
A shot of jealousy goes through me and I have to push it back. Vanessa lives in a time and place where dating multiple men is acceptable. “I’ve had… dates, I suppose you can call them, but nothing lasts long term.” As always, when I spend time with a reincarnation of my mate, my feelings become jumbled and confused. I’m with this mate, focused on her, the bond telling me she’s the one… yet the memory of the four who came before her crowd my head. I feel disloyal. To them. To her.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I realize we’ve stopped and I force the others from my head, focusing on Vanessa. I give her a reassuring smile. “Hungry for pancakes, that’s all.”
She beams and unlocks her car, waving me around to the passenger side. I open the door and look at the interior skeptically before jamming myself in, grunting as my knees hit the glove box.
She reverses out of the parking spot with the confidence of a woman on death row with nothing left to lose and rockets out of the lot, heading toward the highway.
I brace myself against the doorframe as she forces her way into an IHOP parking lot and hurtles into a spot that isn’t really a spot, but a small piece of pavement between a tree and a garbage bin. Cheerily, she hops out of the car and waits expectantly as I unfold my body from the metal prison.
She strides toward the restaurant, leaving me to follow.
“Vanessa!” Inside, a woman whose name tag reads Cherise folds Vanessa into her arms and holds her against generous breasts. “It’s been ages, girl. Where’ve you been hiding?”
I follow in bemusement as we’re led to a booth near the kitchen. Sliding in, I’m about to ask Vanessa how often she comes to the pancake house when the kitchen door swings open and a large male with a bushy mustache steps out and beelines toward us.
He hugs Vanessa, picking her up off her feet. “Long time, no see, Red!”
“Calvin,” she says warmly, hugging him back. “I’m sorry I haven’t been in lately; I’ve been so busy!”
“Of course you have.” He beams at her as she sits across from me. “You’re the most talented actor of your generation. You have people to see, places to go, awards to collect. You’ll have hordes of fans following you around in no time, screaming for a picture.”
It sounds like my worst nightmare.
She laughs. “Can you tell the casting directors all that? They haven’t gotten the memo about me yet.”
