"An hour late?" I asked.
"I didn't realise it had been that long."
"You didn't even message," I hissed at him, trying to keep my voice low enough that our brewing argument wasn't about to attract more attention than I'd like.
"My phone died," he said. "I'm really sorry, I thought I'd be here sooner..."
"Well, you weren't," I said. "Where even were you?"
"I was at Hermes' office," he said as he took a seat.
I stared at him, not entirely sure how to process what I was hearing. "You were in a meeting?"
"Kind of," he replied.
I rubbed my hand over my face. "This is exactly the problem we used to have," I murmured.
"What?"
"One of us would have a meeting that ran over, or there'd be something we needed to do, and then we'd end up doing this." I waved my hand at the table. "Late and without communicating at all."
"Bastet..."
I shook my head.
Unfortunately, a waiter chose that moment to appear by our table. "Good evening. Are you ready to order?"
"No," I said. "I won't be having anything." I pushed my chair back and grabbed my bag before heading out of the restaurant without listening to any of Ptah's protests.
I wanted to pretend that I was angry, but in reality I was just upset, mostly with myself.
Without realising I was doing it, I found myself heading over to Menhit's oasis. I could see why she liked it. There was a lot of peace to be had here, and I longed for that at the moment. I didn't know where I was heading within it until I came to a stop outside a large house.
Rustling sounded through the trees beside me, and I looked over in time to see a large lioness appear from between them. I didn't move, not worrying much about it. This was the god realm, I doubted there were any non-shifter lions walking around.
As if to prove my point, the lion transformed into my friend. "I wasn't expecting you," she said.
"You were right," I said. "We haven't dealt with any of our problems. I don't even know how to deal with them."
Menhit shrugged. "Maybe start with a conversation."
I snorted. "Hard to do when I walked out of the restaurant." I sighed. "He was an hour late, and didn't tell me about it. That's just how things used to be."
She gave me a pained smile. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, it's my fault," I murmured. "I should have known better."
"Maybe. But it's also okay to have messed up a little bit," she responded. "If you want to have a relationship with him, then you should talk to him about it rather than letting it fester."
"I know," I responded. "It's just hard when it's been something that's hung between us for too long. And it's not as if I was any better. I was just as culpable."
"Then talk to him," she repeated. "And set down some ground rules. There's no reason the two of you can't manage to talk, I would hope you're adults after several thousand years of life."
I snorted. "Maybe not, considering that I stormed out of the restaurant without eating anything. I'm starving as well."
Menhit laughed. "We can order something and talk more," she said.
"Thanks. I'm sorry to impose."
