“Because if this is going to take a while, I’m going to be late dropping you off at your house and getting to my appointment.”
“I did not ask to be taken to my home.”
“Where then?”
“The antique store will suffice.”
I frowned. “The one right next to the second-hand clothes shop?”
“Does Ordinary have another antique store?”
No, it did not.
“You’re into antique shopping now?”
“It is a mildly pleasant way to pass the time.”
“Tea cups, right?”
“I believe I was explaining what convinced me to come to Ordinary. Would you rather I explain my requirement for tea vessels? The thickness of china I prefer? The pattern and age?”
“No, I would very much not like to listen to you talk about china. Please. Go on. What was one thing that convinced you to come to Ordinary?”
“Whipped cream.”
I let that sit between us. “Whipped cream? That was…that was nowhere close to what I thought you’d say. When did you have whipped cream?”
“When you ordered that ridiculous drink you then assured me was coffee.”
“At the casino? But you had already called and told us you wanted to vacation in Ordinary. You’d already made up your mind.”
“No, Reed Daughter, I had not.”
“Okay, back up. So you heard about Ordinary and decided to look into it, so you called us?”
“Yes.”
“And when I brought you the contract to sign, you didn’t listen to the rules, or that you’d have to put your power down, or any of that, you just saw that pile of whipped cream and chocolate and coffee and thought, ‘Yeah, I need a vacation’?”
“No. I listened to the rules. I listened toyou, Reed Daughter, and then I watched. You bought for yourself plain coffee. You bought for me a…confection. Something you thought I would not understand was not coffee. You were testing me.”
“Hey, it was coffee. For the price I paid, it better have had coffee in it. And it wasn’t only a test. I was…I don’t know…teasing you I guess. It was such a frilly drink, and you looked so serious. I thought it would cheer you up.”
He was silent for a few moments longer than I expected.
“Than?”
He cleared his throat, and I was certain it could not have been emotion that gave his voice that roughened edge. Still, it sounded an awful lot like emotion.
“What you should know, Reed Daughter, is that whipped cream, a frilly drink, and the woman who ventured to buy that particular beverage for the god of death because he looked serious, is the reason I entertained the actuality of setting my power down and vacationing in this very small town, on this very small world, in this very small universe.”
“Oh.” I nodded, not quite sure how to take that all in. “It wasn’t just you wanting to kill Lavius?”
“It was you, Reed Daughter. You who shine bright. I would not have you underestimate the regard in which we gods hold you.”
I suddenly couldn’t speak. All I could do was swallow and, strangely, try not to cry.
“It was also wanting to kill Lavius,” he added.
