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Or maybe she was to blame. She hadn’t exactly been warm and inviting when we met.
“You know,” Joe continued, tapping the table with a finger in time with his bouncing foot, “now that I think about it, I noticed Fiadh was acting strange the last time I met with her, just a few weeks ago. Not quite herself.”
Most fae didn’t have the pleasure of meeting with their king or queen in their lifetimes, sometimes never even getting a glimpse of one. Joe’s unique upbringing in Italy had always intrigued the queen, and he acted as one of her human world advisors.
“She’s not normally cold and dismissive?” I asked, recalling my all too brief meeting with the queen. Although maybe she’d intended her coldness for Colin and not the rest of us.
He chuckled. “Not at all. She is as bright as the summer sun in looks and personality.”
That was definitely not the same Fiadh I’d met. In looks, yes. I almost envied her long golden hair, but she’d basically thrown us out of her castle when we brought William’s shenanigans to her attention.
“Well, when we visited, she and Colin seemed to have worked things out,” I said.
“Veronica?” a familiar voice gasped out from behind the counter.
I cringed and glanced over, catching Isaac’s gaping face before he spun toward the opening that would let him exit the back. Isaac, as in the Morning Grind’s manager and my old boss.
I could only imagine how pissed he was that I’d ghosted him. Or had he ghosted me? I couldn’t even remember at this point. Too much had happened since then and was way more important than whether I still had a cover job.
Isaac rounded the counter’s corner and thundered toward me. He’d lost weight since the last time I saw him, and his clothes looked clean for once under his apron. I didn’t spy a single stain.
Instantly, Lena’s mug was back on the table, and she gripped a hidden knife hilt.
I placed a hand on her arm as she started to rise and shook my head. Isaac was a human and far from scary, no matter how much he tried to intimidate his younger employees.
“It is you,” he huffed out as he closed in on our table. “You’re alive!”
My eyes widened as much as his. “What?”
He sniffed, and a legit tear rolled down his cheek. “I was so worried you’d died, and we’d parted on such awful terms.”
Ah, crap.
“I’m sorry to drop off the face of the Earth like that.” Hey, it wasn’t too far from the truth. I stood and faced him, gesturing to his slimmer figure. “Don’t tell me you stopped eating because of me.”
Isaac barked out a laugh and pulled me in for a hug.
I blinked, caught unawares. The Isaac I knew was about as touchy-feely as Kit. I patted him on the back and extracted myself from his arms.
“I miss your humor,” he said, wagging his finger. “No, no, my new, much better half is helping me get back into fighting shape.” He pretended to box the air, almost dropping the towel tossed over his shoulder and scrambling to catch it.
That explained a lot. After his wife left him a few years ago, Isaac had gone into a downward spiral and gained a bit of weight and a bad attitude. This whole time, all he needed was a new girlfriend.
Who woulda thought?
Noticing the others at the table, he did a double-take. “Sorry to barge in, Joe. Had to see if I was hallucinating.”
Joe grinned. “I almost thought the same.”
Isaac gave Lena’s glowering face a curious but cautious smile before lifting a hand toward me. “Duty calls, but don’t be a stranger, okay?”
“I won’t,” I said, still feeling a bit mystified by his attitude change toward me. I was sure it wouldn’t last long once he remembered he hated me.
Joe checked his watch. “A new man, sí?”
“I’ll say.”
“Duty calls for me as well,” he said and stood. “But I’ll look into the issue we discussed. Discreetly, of course.” He smiled at Lena and took her hand. “It was a pleasure to meet a friend of Veronica’s, especially one as fierce as she is beautiful.” He kissed the back of her hand.
