Agatha presses her hands to the armrests. I stand and put one hand on the push bar before she can try anything. She relents without a fight, which tells me the morning has cost her more than she will admit.
"Behave," I tell her, as the nurse takes the handles.
She makes a sound that is not an agreement.
"I always do."
The nurse wheels her through the door and it swings shut, leaving me alone with my thoughts. My thoughts are not good company.
Maddie's heart isn't for sale. I know that. I've always known that.
I sit back down in the inadequate chair. Around me the room goes on: the gnome at the desk, the naga couple, the empty row where the pixie child was orbiting twenty minutes ago. Everything exactly as it was.
I put my elbows on my knees.
The question I should be asking Maddie hovers at the back of my mind like a wasp around a sugary treat, dangerous and relentless.
Are you willing to leave everything else behind and come with me?
I have not asked it. I know I have not asked it because I already know the answer. Or I think I do.
What will I do if she says no?
Chapter Fifteen
Maddie
Ican'tbelieveI'mon an ice cream date with Demetrius Thornwood on a Tuesday evening. I know it's what normal people do, but it doesn't feel like it should be normal.
Just casually strolling down the street with a billionaire. Nothing to see here, just little old Madison Berwick, strutting her stuff with one of the world's most desirable bachelors. It almost feels like some supermodel is about to jump out from behind a bush and snatch him from me.
Not that I say anything. Demetrius doesn't even seem to notice when we walk down Main Street and Mrs. Kowalski spots us from across the road and makes a face that can only be described as a woman receiving a vision from the heavens.
It's that dramatic.
I look straight ahead. I eat my two scoops of black cherry. I pretend I didn't see the elderly gnome clutch her literal pearls and cover her mouth with her hand.
"You're making that face," Demetrius says just as I take another lick.
"What face?"
"The one where you're arguing with yourself."
I point my cone at him. "This is just my face. Better get used to it."
"It's not. You did the exact same thing when you were trying to decide whether to order two scoops or one."
"I ordered two, because no one in their right mind is satisfied with just one."
"I ordered one scoop."
"And you see my point."
I take a very deliberate lick of my double scoop.
He watches me and the corners of his mouth lift in a genuine, unguarded smile that takes my breath away. I can't have enough of this Demetrius.
The Demetrius of old. The Demetrius that smiles and jests and isn't concerned with governing a small empire.
