“Of course I know this book. This lady works in my field.” I forgot it existed, though. Maybe I’ll flip through it and send some ideas over to Ali.
“Oh.” She looks a little dejected.
“I never got the book, though.”
She looks up again.
I shrug. “Just read her academic papers. But now it’ll be cool to look through it.”
She makes a noncommittal noise and looks back at her book. The book may as well be upside down, the cursory way she’s flippin’ through it, but her posture is more relaxed.
“Thanks for the random shit, Annie,” I say cheerfully, before walking around the car and getting into the driver’s seat.
Annie grunts.
I take another sip of the latte. “Still seems pretty gift-like, though.”
Her hands clench into little fists. “I was trying to thank you, okay?!” she finally bursts out. “It’s kind. A kind thing to do. To get you a latte and a book.”
Oh boy. This is some real good shit. She’s red as a freakin’ tomato and I’m pretty sure I can hear her molars grinding together.
I grin. “I knew you’d try to kill me eventually, but never thought in a million years Annie Li would try to kill me with kindness.”
“Believe me—when I kill you, it won’t be with kindness.”
I can’t help myself. I bust out laughing.
Annie rolls her eyes.
I pull out of the driveway.
“Thank you,” she says after a long moment, so soft I almost miss it.
“For giving you a hug?”
She doesn’t answer until we pull onto the highway. “For not leaving me,” she finally says to the window. “And you didn’t just hug me. You held me together,” she murmurs.
I blink.Broken Annie Li?
Forget Mount Olympus. Forget Jon Snow. I am The Whole Freakin’ Wall. A jillion feet tall and a gazillion miles long, made of solid ice, constructed with magic and defending the Annie Realm against everything scary and dangerous and painful in the north. I have a sudden and distinct urge to throw a largerock and roar and pound my chest like a fuckin’ gorilla and protect this new,soft and vulnerableAnnie Li at all costs, baring my damn teeth at anyone who dares cross her. Complicated, be damned.
“Anytime,” I finally respond.
We don’t say another word to one another until an hour into our drive, when I look over and see that Annie is again crying and trying to hide it.
My heart sinks. “What’s wrong?” I’ll take him or her or them or it on in a heartbeat.
Annie glances over and sniffs. “No unsolicited ‘honey’s’ or knee touches?”
“You just called them unsolicited for a reason, sweetheart.”
She shakes her head, but I see a smile out of the corner of my eye. I ignore the way my chest puffs up.
“What are you crying about?” I try again.
She gestures at the book open in her lap. “It’s beautiful.”
“What’s so beautiful it made you cry, Annie Li?”
