“We could,” he takes another deep breath and laughs as he lets it go. “But we’d never leave.”
“Shock and Arc would come get us eventually.”
“And then they’d be stuck too.” He draws his thumb along my lip. “Margot would wind up kicking us out. Can you imagine the four of us standing in the parking lot, holding our clothes against us, kicked out ofMargot’s?”
I smile against his lips. “You’re right. Too dangerous. Better not chance it.”
But what I mean is,let’s go do our last errand so we can go home.
And I think he knows it. He gets me back in my seat, but before we go, he asks for my bag.
Carefully unzipping the frankenbunny’s back and getting the bottle out, he cracks it open, breaking the safety seal.
When he pours them out onto his palm, they’re a pale pink disc. “They don’t look like the one I took before.”
“They’re not. This time, it’s exactly what they said it was going to be.”
“Okay. I guess we’ll find out how well they work tomorrow.”
He nods instead of telling me we’ll be fine. I don’t love that, but he doesn’t tell me it’s going to go poorly either as he pulls out of the parking garage.
Less than five minutes later we’ve parked again and walk into the zurgle cafe hand in hand.
The same woman who waited on Mary and me last time is working today.
“Hello again!” She looks past us both and then scowls. “I was hoping you’d have a friend for me to meet.”
“Not this time. I woulddefinitelycall ahead before I just dropped by with a lion.” I laugh as I stop at the counter, looking at the case of pre-bagged zurgle treats.
“Did you find out how old he is?” Paisley leans on the counter and honestly… She sounds stressed.
Something about how pushy she sounds makes me lie. “No. Still a mystery.”
Zurgles swarm around Risk, sniffing and crawling up him soliciting pets, and he gives in to their demands.
“Can I get a bag of those ones?” I ask, pointing without touching the glass. They look the biggest, and they’re shaped like cute Earth fish.
She pulls the bag from the case, watching Risk like she’s never seen zurgles react like that.
“Is something wrong?” I look at him too.
“No, I’m just wondering how I’m going to keep all of them from trying to go home with you. Theylikehim.”
I hum an agreement, smiling. When she looks at me funny I ask, “Is there a reason they shouldn’t like him?”
“They probably smell Kissu.” Risk plucks a tiny pink one from his shoulders and snuggles it before telling it, “I have to go now, go play.”
There are some reluctant chirps among the purring, but they do as they’re told, after they each get one last bit of love.Scattering into the cafe, they disappear under tables, up into the catwalks overhead and off to beds, content.
The waitress looks concerned, but she rings up the treats and takes the payment Risk transfers and tells us to have a good day.
“That was weird,” I whisper, even though we’re outside and half way back to the car.
“It was.”
I’m glad I’m right about that, not just being paranoid.
“There was a large collar behind the counter,” he tells me. “Did you see it?”
