“Are you and David . . . no! Separated?”
“I wish I could say we’ve separated, but I don’t think David is ever coming back.”
“Whoa, wait a minute.Davidleftyou?” Well, knock me over with a feather. David worshipped the ground Liz walked on. Or so I’d thought. “But you were, like, The Couple. You guys just got married!”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know,” she said dryly.
“Sorry, I’m just shocked. I’ll shut up now.” I really was a jackass, wasn’t I? Way to make a girl feel worse.
“Trust me, I can hardly believe it myself,” Liz said with a sad smile. “Things were perfect between us when I was human. I thought we’d be together forever. Everything started to fall apart after I became vampire.”
“In what way?”
“For starters, David has always wanted to be a father. You know that I’ve never been too wild about kids, right? I don’t hate them, but I could take them or leave them.”
“Right. We’re on the same page about that one.” I’d pretty much resigned myself to not having children, being with a vampire. Things might change, though, now that I’d been ditched by Robert.
Liz said, “Back when David and I first started dating, I was undecided about getting involved with him because of the kid thing. I mean, hereallywants kids. Every time I’d interact with akid out in public—like say hello or something—I swear I could feel him sizing me up as a mother.”
“Weird.”
“Totally,” she agreed. “But then as I grew to love David, I started to change my mind. It wasn’t that I necessarilywantedkids. But I figured, hey, if it happens, it happens.”
“Sure.”
“But now that I’m vampire, I can’t have kids—it’s physically impossible, right? And it doesn’t upset me in the slightest. It might even make me happy. Like I said, I was on the fence about having kids anyway.”
“But David is bothered,” I gathered.
“Bothered isn’t a strong enough word. He was beside himself when I told him I could no longer get pregnant.”
“What did he think—that you were going to have a vampire baby? How the hell would that even work? You’d have to put blood in its bottle.”
Liz twisted her lips to one side of her mouth. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Maybe he figured it was a problem that would go away if he ignored it long enough.”
“Except my inability to make babies will never go away. It’s outrageous that David would fool himself into believing this was something that would just—” she raised her arms to her side and cocked her head “—work itself out.”
I asked, “You told David about the no baby thing prior to your wedding, right?”
“Of course! I wanted him to enter the marriage fully aware of what he was signing up for.”
“Then this one’s on him, isn’t it?” I pointed out.
“I suggested adoption and even fostering, but he wasn’t having that. He said being an adopted kid these days was hard enough without having a vampire for a mother.”
“Ouch. That’s harsh.”
Liz sighed. “There were other things, too—things maybe David hadn’t thought through before we got married. In all fairness, living with a vampireishard.”
“You’re telling me.” Sourly, I added, “Looks like I won’t have to worry aboutthatany longer.”
“It ain’t over till it’s over,” she said halfheartedly. “Your situation still might resolve itself.”
I pursed my lips and gave her a dubious look. “Just like yours might.”
“Touché.”
