Page 32 of Hexes From Exes

Stephanie

Where did you even find it?

Rick

Internet

Stephanie

I still don’t understand how you have cell reception in hell.

Rick

It’s not Hell, it’s Anathamea. Hell is the opposite side of the realm.

Stephanie

Is that a joke?

Rick

Was it funny?

Stephanie

Anyway. I have a date with Cooper tonight. I’m inviting him over! Then tomorrow I have one with Diego. Can you make it?

Rick rolled his eyes skyward again, feeling a pit open up in his stomach. Tonight, Cooper would be coming over to her place, sitting on her couch, drinking her wine or seltzers. Then tomorrow, he’d watch her slog through a date with Diego, one of the exes who cursed her. Then it would be over. He would have the evidence he needed per the deal to lessen her punishment. Not that he needed anything else. Stephanie was wonderful. Sure, she worked too much, and she kept everyone at a reasonable distance, but who could blame her?

Rick felt a pit open in his stomach at the thought of not seeing her again. Who would he tell about his day? Who would ask him about the antics at the office? It felt like a piece of him was getting cut off.

Stop that, he thought. She was a human, he was a demon. That was the end of it.

Rick

Sounds like a horrible time, can’t wait.

“Hey Zed,” Rick said, popping his head over the top of Zed’s cubicle.

Zed jumped, angling his laptop screen away from him. “Uh, yeah?” he asked.

“What time are you leaving for the bars?”

Chapter Thirteen

At 5:30pm, Stephanie made it home. She left the office a bit earlier to prepare for her date with Cooper, feeling a rising wave of excitement. She’d wanted to text Rick some more about him, but she didn’t know what to say. If he were a human man, she could ask some reasonable questions, like what type of beer to serve or if she should make dinner or just order in? She knew what he would say – pasta and mojitos. The demon was consistent.

Would making food seem too desperate, too Suzy Homemaker? No, Rick would find it fascinating to watch her cook. He’d likely try to help and burn something in the process.

Would cooking set the expectation that she was going to stay home and cook and clean all day? Or would it show that she wasn’t just a workaholic and did, indeed, have some self-sufficient skills? Rick would have tried anything Stephanie ordered.

Stop thinking about Rick like he’s someone you’re dating, and not just a demon that’s supposed to curse you.

At 5:45pm, she decided that it would be less stress to order in.

At 6:28pm, she greeted the food delivery driver in the lobby of her condo and lugged the food and a case of local beer up to her room.

At 6:49pm, exactly 11 minutes early, Cooper knocked on the door to her condo.