I dropped my voice and murmured into her ear, “Do you know what a day collar is?”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “A reminder of who I belong to?”
“It can be,” I said, diplomatically. With one hand on her shoulder, the other on her back, I adjusted her body, turning her to the glasses stand so she could look at herself in the thin mirror. I met her gaze in the reflection. “I like to think of it as…a reminder that someone’s out there looking out for you.”
Ophelia touched the necklace. It wasn’t particularly fancy, but…it was a souvenir of our day together. That, I hope, meant something to her.
It meant something to me.
“It’s perfect,” she said. Her voice was quiet, reverent. She looked touched. She tilted her head towards me, chin lifted, those perfect, full lips inviting, and…
I wanted to kiss her.
I wanted to kiss her, right here, in public, and I knew she’d let me.
“Mr. Alex!” Kira said. “Look!”
Ophelia and I broke apart, turning our attention to the girl. She was holding up a stuffed sea lion. My mortal enemy. Back again.
I sucked in a breath through my teeth. “That’s the one you want, huh?”
She broke into a fit of laughter, and bleeding heart that I am, I pulled out my credit card.
We took a taxi home.
Squeaky curled up in Ophelia’s lap. Kira fell asleep in between us, clutching her plushy. The rocking of the cab knocked Ophelia out again, her head slumped against my shoulder.
The light caught on the emerald of her collar, making it sparkle.
My heart went tight.
Watching the three of them sleep made me wonder things I shouldn’t wonder.
Like,could this be real?
Could I actually have it all?
24
Phantom.Then.
It was late by time I got home.
I’d dropped Ophelia and the kids off with her sister. Not one to overstay my welcome, I took a cab back home. When I got inside, however, it hit me all at once how quiet my house was. There was debris from Friday’s club night. I made myself useful and went around the house, cleaning up and putting it back together. Washing sheets. Wrapping rope. I journeyed upstairs to the attic and knocked on Princess’s room, but even she wasn’t home.
I was starting to think that the wordalonewas less of an aspiration, more of a self-inflicted wound, when my phone buzzed.
[Text: Ophelia]
Liar.
[Text: Phantom]
?
She sent a picture. It was one of the (many) selfies I took with the kids on Ophelia’s phone while she napped.
[Text: Ophelia]
