Even though I’ve made a valiant effort not to talk about him, it’s clear I still am. It’s kind of hard when he’s a big part of my life right now.
“Maybe online dating is your problem. I think I should set you up again.”
My eyes widen. “I’d rather go out with the water guy a second time.”
“Claire,” she says, whining my name. “Colin was a mistake. I own that. But I know plenty of other cute guys I could set you up with that would be perfect for you.”
“You said that about Colin.”
“Please?” she begs.
“No,” I say, definitively.
“I’ll tell my mom to make you some ghorabieh if you give me another chance.”
“Are you bribing me?”
“Yes, I am,” she says.
She knows I’m a sucker for the almond shortbread cookies her mom sells at her bakery. Maybe I should consider . . . No. No more setups.
“It’s not going to work this time.”
She sighs. “I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy,” I say. “Plenty of people are happy all by themselves.”
“True,” she says. “But I don’t think you would be.”
We stare at each other for a beat, her words hitting their mark.
“Wow,” I finally say. “You let someone go to therapy school for two semesters, and they think they know it all.”
A laugh bubbles out of her. She grabs the remote and points it at the screen. “Are we gonna watch our show?”
“Yes, please,” I say, snuggling back into the couch.
That’s the thing about Sam: she knows just how far to push me.
She presses “Play,” and the opening credits toKingdom of Flame and Moonlightappear on the screen. We’re watching it a second time because we haven’t been able to find anything else that’s as good, so we just started it over. We’re already halfway through season one.
Sam and I are fangirls now. If I didn’t have to go to FableCon for work, I’d drag her there in costume to join the rest of the crazed fans. But alas, I’ll settle for babysitting the stars instead.
A half hour into the show, my phone beeps from inside my purse. I grab it to see I have a text from Tessa.
Tessa:Thought you might want to see this
She sends a link, and when I click on it, it takes me to a fan page dedicated to Kaelric and Elora.
It’s just a snapshot of the quote from River, and above that it saysAre they getting back together?
The post already has twelve thousand likes and nearly two thousand comments. I quickly scroll through, my eyes catching on words likereconciliationandstill in love.
I shake my head at my phone. I suppose I should have expected this, even if River’s post didn’t allude to anything romantic. But people will mostly see what they want to see.
I’m sure it will be fine.
Chapter 11
