“How could you tell? I’d better be the first person they call for babysitting. Of course, if they’re smart, they won’t because I’ll spoil the little cubby rotten.”
“You’re good with kids,” Elias said.
“Why, thank you.”
“You like them.”
“Uh, kinda goes along with being good with them.”
“How about your own?” Elias said softly.
“My…own?”
“Well. Ours. But you’d be doing the heavy lifting.”
Wren’s heart lit up. “You saying you want kids? Little Lion cubs of our own?”
“Yeah. That’s what I’m saying.”
“I do, too.”
After that, Elias stopped brooding completely.
“No, you can’t make me.”
“Wren, come on.”
“I amnotgoing in there. I value my life too much.”
“Wren.”
“Barbie.”
Wren watched her bestie roll her eyes. So did the receptionist—sorry, the concierge—in the fancy new building. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Barbie from the moment they walked through the door.
More like from the moment Barbie pushed Wren practically kicking and screaming through the door.
“I already spoke with him, Wren. He’s going to apologize profusely, and then Serge will be giving you free acupuncture sessions for the rest of your life.”
“The rest of my life? So I’ll get half a session then.”
“Stop it. We’ll go together and he can work on both of us.”
“Wow, I had no idea you were into murder-suicide.”
“Nothing’s going to happen. The fire was a freak accident in an old building.” Barbie spread her arms and took in the three-story atrium, the huge windows, the ugly, expensive art on the walls. This place is sonice.”
“Serge is ready for you now,” the concierge said. “I’ll take you to his studio.”
“Thank you,” Barbie told him, much to the man’s pleasure.
They followed him down a hall filled with ambient light. The sound of windchimes and rain came from some unknown source.
“This looks like the tunnel to the afterlife.”
Barbie ignored her.
“I smell smoke. Do you smell smoke?”
