No trouble on your end after last night?
CASSANDRA
Only the normal amount of trouble I am.
Why?
HELENA
Your husband didn’t find out about your excursion?
CASSANDRA
Oh that.
I haven’t talked to him.
I don’t think he heard anything.
Oh… come to think of it, she had mentioned a small apartment in Queens. Tiny, but the way she liked it. Were theyseparated? They’d have to be recently so if she wasn’t used to attending things without him.
HELENA
Glad we didn’t get you in too much trouble.
CASSANDRA
Ah, you know me. I’m always trouble.
Sorry about everything with Linyue and your family.
HELENA
It’s fine. I had my fun. Time to get back to work.
Take care, Houdini. I’ll probably be hard to get a hold of while I’m deep in the trenches.
But I hope everything goes well for you.
CASSANDRA
Do what you need! Just don’t forget about me.
Kingmaker and I are going to be out here changing lives until I sail over the wine-dark sea and return.
Where did she get off being so romantic? Why was it always the ones you couldn’t have who knew how to be romantic?
Well… she wasn’t a bad person. It was probably for the best we broke it off early and with only good things between us. So I indulged in a reply back.
HELENA
May swift winds bring you safely home, Odysseus.
I’d only just sent the text when I saw someone waving at me from the corner of my eye, and I looked up and quickly hid the text log like a guilty secret, turning my phone face-down, when I saw Estelle come around the bar and towards me, smiling with a note of concern in her eyes. She was dressed casually today, ina loose Dior sweater and a baseball cap, which meant she was probably out and about just for fun.
“Hey, babe,” she said. “What are you doing lurking in a secret back corner? Crime? Can I join?”
“Sorry, crime ring’s full,” I said, sliding my phone into my bag. “Just had a meeting here a minute ago. What, are you stalking me now?”
