He shrugs. “Does the crippling anxiety I’m developing count? Because I have a feeling that is going to stick with me for a while.”
I open my mouth as I try to formulate a response but then suddenly James’s eyes land on something behind me. “Ooh, sweets!”
And just like that the moment is past and James is digging in his pocket looking for more change. Apparently, Hook has a hefty coin purse, although that probably shouldn’t surprise me since he is a pirate, because it isn’t long before James and I are both snacking on caramelized apples.
Ahead, a canal cuts through the street with an ornate bridge crossing over it. James starts across it but then stops and leans over the railing, seeming to think that this is the perfect place to finish his caramelized apple.
“It’s on a night like this where you can almost forget all your worries,” he says dreamily as he looks out over the sparkling waters of the canal.
I glance at him out of the corner of my eye. “I definitely admire your ability to compartmentalize.” Everywhere I look I’m reminded of just how wrong this all is. I should not be able to see this or look at that. I should not be eating a caramelized apple on a bridge over a canal in a beautiful world lit by lanterns and filled with melodious laughter.
Because this world shouldn’t exist, but I’m trapped in it anyway and heading at a breakneck pace toward an early and untimely death.
James moves his hand; it takes me a moment to realize that he is moving it in the shape of a square. “As long as everything can stay in its boxes life is manageable.”
“And what happens if those boxes spill over?”
“They don’t,” James says his eyes too serious for us to be having a conversation about made up boxes. “I manage every aspect of my life to make sure that everything stays in its box.”
I press my lips together as I turn back to the water. Am I in a box? James’s correspondence to me had the ability to completely ruin my day, but what if he never spared me a second thought except for when he was doing work with the script?
It seems a bit wrong, a bit callous, but I don’t know why I should feel this mad. I shouldn’t take it personally. James is a control freak. That’s all.
“So, you having to kill the prince later…”
“It’s in the box,” he says tersely. “I kindly ask you to leave it there while I enjoy my evening.”
“Another box?”
He nods. “Precisely. Now you’re getting it.”
So that’s two boxes I’m in then. And when this is all over, what? He shuts the box completely? He is the only person I will ever be able to talk about this whole situation with, what will I do if he does that?
But then I realize it’s ridiculous of me. I’m assigning more importance to him in my life than he clearly gives to me.
“Maybe people don’t appreciate being stuck in boxes, James,” I grumble as I push away from the railing. I turn but draw up short when I find myself looking into a pair of furious, stormy blue eyes.
It’s the pirate lady from earlier. Someone who must be none other than Wendy Darling, former lost girl and now first mate on Captain Hook’s ship. Also, the broken angle of a love triangle since she has canonically loved Hook since she set eyes on him. Back when they were both just lost kids.
And probably not a person who would appreciate me informing her that the man she loves has been replaced by my producer.
“What exactly is this,James?” Wendy demands, her eyes narrowing. “I thought you said you would deal with the siren, not take her out to get treats.”
