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Altair turned his head toward her.
“Good morning,” she said.
He moved his arm to look at her. “Morning.” His voice was a barely understandable croak.
Nova stood up. “I’ll get you water,” she said.
She went to the kitchen and drank a full glass of water herself first. She felt alright, she really hadn’t drunk that much. Just enough to make her tipsy.
Enough to make her horny.
She refilled the glass and returned to the bedroom. Altair still lay in the same position she’d left him in.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, feeling a little bit responsible for his current state.
“I hate alcohol,” he said.
“Drink this and take a shower,” she said, handing him the glass of water. “It will help.”
He took the glass and slowly drank it down.
“What…um…did…what happened last night?” His face darkened in embarrassment.
“Nothing. You told me all your embarrassing secrets, then fell asleep.”
“And you decided to join me?”
“You asked me to.”
He looked at her disheveled clothes. “But we didn’t—“
“No.”
He nodded, though she wasn’t sure if he was happy or disappointed.
“So my brazen honesty hasn’t made you change your mind about me? You’re still not ready to be my wife?”
She had changed her mind about him, but not in the way he wanted. She decided it was best to only answer his second question.
“No.”
He didn’t look too disappointed. That was the answer he’d expected. Instead, he wore the determined expression of someone up for a challenge.
“I’ll go take that shower now,” he said, getting up.
She left the room to give him privacy and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. She decided on eggs as a safe bet. She’d observed how Altair scrambled the eggs and cooked them on a hot pan and felt confident that she could replicate the process.
Altair didn’t talk much while they ate. She was glad he didn’t comment about the food, it hadn’t turned out exactly like he’d done it. It was edible, but not particularly tasty.
He started to look a little better with each bite, and the better he got the more he returned to his old cool and distant self. It was better that way, she told herself. He could keep his walls up, she would keep hers, and they would get through this somewhat unharmed.
Except she knew that no matter what happened, Altair wouldn’t come out of this unharmed. When she left, her betrayal would be one more abandonment to add to his list. It wouldn’t matter that they never got physical, he would be devastated, and once again, alone. And for the first time, she felt bad about that.
* * *
Nova was glad to find out that she had a delivery for Brent and Mak’s mom that day. She didn’t know if a meeting was planned, they never told her these things in advance, though a lot of the meetings did tend to fall on her delivery days. But mostly, she wanted to see how Mak was doing and if he had any news about his brother and Neil.
She saved Mak’s mother’s house for last, so she’d be free to hang around longer and arrived in the late afternoon.
