“Was that as good for you as it was for me?” she asked with a grin.
“Definitely. You can ride me any time. In any sense of the word.”
“I’ll take you up on that.” But tempting as it was to think of picking her up and carrying her straight back to bed, he’d thought of something else they could do that day while he’d been swimming her around. Ever since he’d become a Dunkleosteus shifter, he’d gotten a lot of his best ideas underwater. And if they went straight back to bed, he wasn’t sure they’d get out of it till the morning.
“But not right now.” Norris climbed out of the pool and offered her a hand up. As he pulled her out, he said, “Can you excuse me for a moment? I got an idea for a present for you that I think you’ll really like. I just need to make a phone call to set it up...”
CHAPTER 9
Annabeth was wild withcuriosity. Norris had barely taken the time to get dressed before ducking into the garage to make his mystery phone call. (As usual, the power, wifi, and phone service had come back on at some point in the night.) She made coffee and waited for him to return, wondering about his gift. She’d love any gift from him, because it was from him. But the gleam in his eyes had told her he had something truly special in mind.
While he was gone, she thought abouthisgift. She’d put off getting presents for her family, as everything associated with Christmakkalistice depressed her, and the idea of forcing herself to select presents rather than enjoying the process depressed her even more. But when she thought about getting a holiday present for Norris, she was filled with pleasurable anticipation rather than dread. She wanted to get him something he loved because it would make him happy, and trying to think of what would make him happy made her happy.
She’d taken a few pottery classes, and while she’d never mastered the wheel, she’d enjoyed hand-building. Maybe she could sculpt him a ceramic Dunkleosteus! He’d be sure to love that.
Norris burst back in, the gleam in his eyes brighter than ever. “Come on. We’re going on a drive.”
“Coffee first?”
He shook his head. “Take it with you. This is, uh, time-sensitive.”
That did nothing to dampen her curiosity. Was he going to take her on a hot air balloon that had to launch in the morning? To catch a train to the countryside? Bird-watching?
Grabbing his mug and hers, she followed him to his car. As he drove through the city, making zipped-lips gestures every time she tried to get him to give her a hint, she tried to figure out what had to happen at around 11:00 AM on a Thursday. (Thursdays and Fridays were her days off from the coffeeshop.)
She was even more puzzled when he drove into a residential area, one of the many cookie-cutter suburban neighborhoods that surrounded the city. Some were populated by retirees, some by young families, and some by large numbers of college students crammed into a single house. Judging by the absence of parked cars and the total lack of signs of life, this one was inhabited by people with nine-to-five day jobs.
Norris pulled up at a small and rather unimpressive park, and beckoned for her to get out.
“Are we having a picnic?” she asked doubtfully.
“Nope.”
She followed him to a clump of sad-looking trees. As she got closer, she saw a group of workers hanging out. Then she recognized the Defenders, dressed in workmen outfits. All of them were there except for Tirzah and Ransom. Carter’s wife Fen was there too, even though she wasn’t a Defender, dressed to the nines and looking distinctly out of place.
For a moment, Annabeth was baffled. Then she realized what it had to be about.
