“The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference.”
“Right? Seriously, she’s interesting from a medical or psychological standpoint. Because the mental gymnastics that woman has to go through to convince herself to stay with a man who is so clearly not over his ex would get her a gold medal.”
“I want to see these posts,” I say and Delphi pulls the Instagram profile. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction because she wasn’t joking when she said this woman is intimidated by her.
“She just seems so angry,” I say, watching a video of her flipping off the camera. “I kinda feel sorry for her.”
“I do too. They’re using the timeshare I bought, but ultimately didn’t want in the divorce settlement, to go on their honeymoon. And he couldn’t even buy her a ring until he got settlement money from me. The guy is a huge loser and she thinks she got the prize.” She raises her eyebrows. “She’s not a werewolf either.”
“Oh shit. I hope they don’t have kids.”
“Nah, she’s too old.”
The waitress comes back to take our orders, and now it’s my turn to talk about my loser ex. I give a cliff notes version of what happened with Ryder. It’s bonding, sitting here talking about the people we trusted most in our lives who ended up hurting us more than anyone ever could.
“We should do this more often,” she says when we’re wrapping up.
“We should,” I agree. “Things are a little crazy right now after what happened the other night.”
Her face grows somber. “People are the worst.”
“They are.” I stir my iced tea with my straw, not talking as I get a good feel for her. She’s scared about what happened, and curious if we know who leaked the location. “The VC is really good about making bad things work for them, at least.”
“Hah, for real. Xavier was made out to be a hero.”
“He was, like seriously. He risked himself to diffuse that Sunburst. He could have gotten really hurt or…or…worse.”
“Awww, I see that look in your eyes. You guys are really cute together. And please tell me it was the Eras Tour.”
I laugh, almost forgetting that I told her we met at a Taylor Swift concert. “If that’s what you want to believe, sure. We even wore matching sparkly outfits.”
“That makes it so much more believable,” she tells me, raising her eyebrows.
“Totally.”
We pay for our food and then leave, pausing once we’re outside. The sun feels glorious today, though standing here under it makes me realize how powerful and dangerous it really is.
And how we cannot survive without it.
“I’m going to do a bit of shopping,” Delphi says. “You’re welcome to join.”
“I should probably head home. A homeless man was found dead last night and I’m waiting for the coroner’s report. Hopefully it’ll be in my inbox when I get home.”
“You’re a little odd. I like that.”
“Uh, thanks?”
She laughs. “You’re welcome. We’re glad you’re here, Wren. And by that, I mean the pack. Xavier and Theo…they’re scary.”
“They are,” I agree. “Oh, this is kinda random, but my, uh, sister-in-law gets invited to all sorts of cool places.”
“Mabel,” Delphi says. “I follow her on TikTok.”
“Perfect, then you know. She’s been wanting me to go to some restaurant with her so I can eat the food and give a review. I would prefer not to eat alone, so you should tag along. I think the place opens soon and we’ll get VIP treatment.”
“Really? That would be fun!”
“I’ll text you,” I say and then she hugs me goodbye. I get into the car feeling good. Never did I ever think it would take getting kidnapped and forced into a marriage of convenience for me to finally make friends, but hey, that’s some silver lining, right?
