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“Where are you going?” But I couldn’t be bothered to respond to him. I couldn’t be bothered to make a sound.
I was going to the shower where I could wash it all away—and hopefully, I’d awaken tomorrow with a better sense of the future.
One that didn’t involve Andres England.
Chapter 16 - Andres
Odd how much space could develop between people who were standing right next to each other. Ever since Sadie had gotten out of the hot tub last night, she’d shoved a wall between us. Being close in such abrupt increments assured me that she would drop it eventually, but it made me wonder what I’d done to cause it.
Good sex couldn’t bethatintimidating. And I didn’t take Sadie to be a complete novice. She probably wasn’t used to men pleasuring the way I did, but that didn’t seem good enough reason for her to run off directly after making love.
The thought persisted through the morning and distorted my routine as I urged Sadie to hurry through breakfast. We were going to be late for the local tour I’d booked, and I didn’t want either of us to miss the opportunity. I didn’t know when it would come about again.
Curious but mute, Sadie followed me to the elevator. She was sporting a pleated skirt with a collared pink top and tennis shoes. Each step she took made her high ponytail bounce into a curl. It made me long to brush my fingers through her hair like I had last night after she’d fallen asleep.
Such sweet rapture came when she rested. Everything melted away from her face, stress disappearing into the ether where it belonged. The poor dear had no concept of relaxation. She probably never took a day off in her long.
Not like I was one to talk. I’d worked through just about everything worth mentioning. Illness never stopped me, though I rarely got ill enough to be bed bound. The slightest cold couldn’t have caused me to stop. Sadie seemed to do the same things, but for different reasons.
I couldn’t imagine what it was like struggling through independence with parents who were making decent money living nearby. Were they so frugal that they couldn’t help their daughter? Or did she have trouble asking for help?
Something about the Turners had put me in a strange mood during the luncheon. Yes, they’d welcomed me and made me comfortable in the polite sense of the word, but their smiles and poses were practiced. I would have considered them in the midst of performance had I not been so occupied with mine.
But maybe that was how families who were together for a long time acted. How would I know? It wasn’t like I had a father to speak of. Mom hadn’t bothered to marry anyone, or even date, so I had her to myself. Just me and my mother were against the world without siblings or babysitters. She did everything. It was my turn to do everything now.
Sadie caught my arm. “Andres?”
“Yes, dear?”
“The elevator doors are open.”
Indeed, they were. I led her into the lobby and past the gaping fireplaces. On the curb, our car waited for us brought by the valet. I tucked her into the passenger seat and hopped in, peeling carefully away from the curb when traffic allowed me onto the road.
She quietly adjusted her seatbelt. “Where are we going?”
“For a surprise.”
“Why can’t you tell me?”
Flat tone and all this morning, huh? She must have woken up a few times during her sleep. She sounded tired.
I reached for her hand. “What’s the matter?”
“I just want to know where we’re going.”
“To see the animals.”
She slowly opened her palm and accepted my hand. “You’re taking me to a zoo?”
“Well, it’s not quite azooin the traditional sense of the human world, but it’s similar.”
“Please, tell me it’s not a circus.”
I growled. “Most certainly not, sweet Sadie. Those places are disgusting for animals. No, we’re going to an underground circuit that keeps creatures who have gotten lost in this dimension.”
“That still doesn’t sound great.”
Traffic thickened when I turned off on the road for the supernatural zoo. If Sadie ended up hating it, that was fine, but I figured it would be nice for us to do something out of our usual routine.
