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"Good morning, Mistress Frankie and Master Dagor." Bob grinned, flashing his metallic teeth. They were just two convex strips of metal with grooves etched into them to mimic the look of the real thing. "What can I serve you today?"
"Two Bloody Marys and two bags of pretzels, please." Frankie leaned over the counter and scanned the various snacks. "Unless you have something more nutritious to offer."
"Peanuts are a good source of protein." Bob reached with one of his long arms to snatch them off the overhead conveyor. "I also have roasted edamame beans, another good source of protein."
"We will take both," Dagor said. "Two of each."
"Of course, master." Bob put four bags on the counter and then reached for two glasses to mix the Bloody Marys.
Frankie tore into the roasted edamame bag and shook some into the palm of her hand. "That should do it, right? Since it's nutritious and all that."
Dagor chuckled. "I'm not an expert on human dietary needs, but I doubt Bridget would approve."
Frankie shrugged and shoved another palmful into her mouth.
"Your drinks are ready." Bob pushed the two tall Bloody Mary glasses toward them. "Enjoy."
"Thank you." Dagor took the drinks and turned around to scan for a good place to sit. "Shade or no shade?" he asked.
He was wearing his sunglasses, so the bright sunlight wasn't a problem, and he wasn't concerned about skin cancer either. That wasn't the case for her, though.
Frankie had forgotten to put on sunscreen before leaving the cabin, and she needed to stay out of direct sunlight to protect her skin. Once she turned immortal, if she ever turned, she could do whatever she wanted and not worry about the consequences.
"Shade," she said.
"Thank you." Dagor rewarded her with a smile. "I prefer shade, too."
"So why didn't you say anything? It's not all about me, you know."
"I'm trying to be a gentleman." He walked over to a table with an umbrella opened and put the drinks down. "It's my job to take care of your needs to the best of my ability."
Huffing out a breath, Frankie sat down on the chair he'd pulled out for her. "It's my job to do the same for you. Next time you have a preference, please let me know. It might work for me or not, but at least I won't choose arbitrarily without taking your needs into consideration."
Dagor smiled. "Is that part of the list of things you wanted to talk to me about?"
She had forgotten all about it.
On the way to the ruins, she'd promised to give him a list of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors, but with all that had happened since, it was no wonder that it had escaped her mind.
"I don't really have a list," she admitted. "But if I had one, this would be on it. We need to learn as much as we can about each other, and the only way to do so is to be open about our likes and dislikes. We will have to figure out things as we go, and if you want, you can take notes."
Dagor was the type of guy who would actually do that. He liked everything neatly organized in the appropriate boxes, and anything that was out of place bothered him. She was willing to bet that he was a neat freak and added that to her own mental list of things she needed to learn about him.
"I keep it all up here." He tapped a finger over his temple. "So far, I have two items. One is to never leave you sleeping without letting you know in some form where I went and when I will be back. The other one is to express my preferences if I have them. Anything else that you can think of?"
"Many things, but since I can't think of them off the top of my head, we will have to address them as we go." Her gut clenched with what she was about to say next, but her expression was firm. "Hopefully, we will have plenty of time to do that on our trek through Tibet."
His eyes widened. "You want to come with me?"
She shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "You can't abandon your mission, but I can postpone my beta testing internship or perhaps assist in some way remotely." She grimaced. "Regrettably, I'm not a girl of independent means, and I need a way to earn a living while we are searching for the missing pods."
For a long moment, he stared at her as if she had grown a pair of horns. "You don't need to worry about money while you are with me, but finances are not the main problem with your very generous offer."
Frankie hadn't planned on blurting out her idea to Dagor before she had a concrete plan, and she blamed her impulsivity for that. "Finances are important to me because I don't want to be completely dependent on you for every purchase I make. That will just not do. But other than that, I see no problem with me joining you on the mission. Gabi is going, so it's not like you can't take civilians with you."
"You are still human, Frankie. And even if you start transitioning soon, it will be weeks before you are ready for a grueling trek."
So that was his problem. She was a weak human, and she would hold them back.
