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I literally snorted out loud at that. “Hardly.”
Amy dunked her finger into the whipped cream crowning her coffee, and licked it thoughtfully. “I guess I don’t really understand. If Thierry’s the one who’s a consultant for the Ring, why do you have to travel with him all the time? Sorry, I guess I just miss you.”
I reached over to grab her hand. “I miss you too. And I…I don’t have to. I mean, I don’t have to do anything. But I want to. Thierry’s job for the vampire council is to deal with vampire issues, making sure they don’t escalate into something really messy. And I help him whenever and however I can.”
Her eyes widened. “Messy, how? You mean, dangerous?”
I chewed my bottom lip as I considered how much I wanted to share with her. About the vampires, ghosts, witches, demons, and other supernatural things that go bump—and sometimes thud—in the night. And, quite often, also in the day.
I waved a hand. “You know, just bureaucratic stuff. Nothing really dangerous.”
Her expression relaxed. “That sounds incredibly boring.”
“It is,” I lied. “So very boring.”
A long silence fell between us, and I watched as a shadow fell over Amy’s previously bright expression. “By the way, I’m furious with you,” she said.
Damn. I knew this was coming. “Why?”
Her eyes narrowed. “How could you get married without me by your side? Especially in Las Vegas! You know that’s always been my dream.”
This was true. For all the years I’d known Amy, she’d had a dream of the tackiest, most extravagant wedding in history. With extra feathers and a gigantic bucketful of sequins and rhinestones thrown into the mix.
“Was your dream being by my side at my wedding or getting married by an Elvis impersonator?” I tried to quip.
Her suddenly steely glare said it all.
I cringed and spread my hands. “I’m sorry. It happened. It was the right time and the right place—mostly, anyway. And no one else was there other than Thierry and me.”
Amy’s glare didn’t dissipate. “It’s because I don’t really like him, right?”
I finally returned the expression with a glare of my own. “No. But I can’t say that didn’t cross my mind. I know you don’t totally approve of him even after all this time.”
“I can’t help it. He’s too old for you. By, like, six centuries. And he’s too grumpy and serious. And he’s already married!”
“Divorced,” I corrected.
She shrugged. “They were married for a million years.”
“Not a million,” I grumbled. A “million years” seemed to be Amy’s go-to measure of time today. And this was far from my favorite topic. Yes, Thierry had been married to his sire Veronique, an absolutely gorgeous vampire, for about six centuries. It was a loveless marriage of convenience and many misunderstandings and infidelities (mostly on her part). Which was the super short version, of course, but still 100-percent true. For the record, I actually considered Veronique a friend now, even if she was a handful-and-a-half of drama.
Amy sighed. “Ever since you met Thierry last year, you’ve lost, like, half of your delightful, whimsical personality.”
I bristled. “I am just as delightful and whimsical as I ever have been. And FYI, your husband isn’t much younger than Thierry.”
She raised her chin. “We’re not married anymore.”
For a moment, I was sure I’d heard her wrong. “Wait, what? You and Barry… you’re separated?”
“Divorced, actually,” Amy said bluntly. “It was a mutual decision two months ago.”
It took me a moment to compose myself. Barry and Amy had been a lust-at-first-sight thing and gotten married at the speed of light, throwing out the term “soulmate” like romantic confetti. He’d sired her on their first date, which I was still pissed off about. I mean, most civilized people waited until the third date before making any literally life-altering decisions, didn’t they?
My sire had been a blind date from hell who hadn’t even asked if I wanted to be a vampire before he single-handedly upended my entire life. And then he’d had the audacity to get himself killed by vampire hunters literally five minutes later.
The jerk.
May he rest in peace.
