It was a lot, so right now I needed all the normality that a day at work would bring.
Only a part of me wasn’t ready to just drive away from him this morning. Not when I hadn’t seen or heard my…Odem up and around.
Why would their Goddess, or any deity, choose me to be the mate of someone who was supposedly destined to save the world?
How did you get to Dragon City. You can say it. We already know.
No, no they didn’t, because I barely remembered anything aside from being sick with dread and so anxious I didn’t stoplooking in the rearview mirror even after I’d reached the city limits, always expecting to see the eyes in the sky…
Yeah, no, no, no I was not going to think about them or why they’d pursued me so far. I’d done nothing to draw their attention, and yet every time I’d gotten settled somewhere, every time I’d believed I’d outrun them, they were always there.
Terrifying.
Raven could keep her nightmarish vision. It had taken months to stop having ones created from those eyes. I could barely look into my own in the mirror as I finished applying glittery lip gloss. It was time to go anyway, so I grabbed the keys to the Jeep and tried not to get lost on my way to the kitchen. I’d spied a pack of strawberries in there last night and took them with me to eat on the way into town, since I had no desire for more diner food after the burger I’d had last night. I’d have scarfed a plate of oysters if there had been any left, or a bowl of creamy garlic mussels like the ones that had run across my social media feed when I’d scrolled through it this morning, but the fruit would have to do for now.
I’d never craved seafood this much, so it had to be the eggs that were causing it.Eggs.Out of everything, that was the part that had my flabbers gasted the most. That there were eggs growing inside of me that would one day hatch into little dragon babies like the ones I’d already met. They were also the only children I’d been around for an extended period of time, unless I counted the ones people brought into the diner. I avoided whatever section they were seated in because babies were messy and loud.
Oh my god I was going to have to learn how to change diapers.
Thoughts of spit up stained clothing and food bits in my hair were swirling through my head when I parked behind the diner, a whole thirty-five minutes early for my shift.
Hell no.
Not with how many cars were parked in the parking lot when I pulled in. I was not clocking in one second early. Putting the Jeep in reverse was the only option, but where to go to kill time? I popped the last strawberry in my mouth, then headed to the library just to see if they had any books on pregnancy and what I could expect, though I knew it would be different with eggs.
It couldn’t be that different though, right?
Aside from when Odem had dragged me inside the building, I’d never stepped foot in the new library. Shit, how was I supposed to find anything in this place? I didn’t have time to browse all these titles. With three people in line at the help desk, that wasn’t going to do me any good either, then I spied a computer with a sign over it saying card catalogue.
Perfect.
With three minutes to spare before the start of my shift I left the library with a stack of books and a shiny new library card that I tucked in the Jeep before heading in.
“Well now, I wasn’t sure if you’d make it in today after all of the excitement yesterday,” my boss, Mable, who was also the owner of the diner, said when I stepped through the backdoor and into the kitchen.
“At least the town was entertained,” I muttered.
In hindsight, it was humiliating for everyone to know my business. I’d just wanted witnesses because I’d expected Odem to deny being with me or being the father of my baby. Twins had not been on my mind when I’d gone screeching through town searching for him.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” she said.
“It wasn’t intentional.”
“That doesn’t mean that you don’t get to celebrate the new life you’ll be bringing into the world.”
“Lives,” I replied. “I’m carrying twins.”
“Oh, honey that’s great news. But if that’s the case, do you really want to keep coming in here? In no time at all you’ll be showing and after that it will just keep getting harder and harder to waddle around the dining room. You already threaten to beat people with ketchup bottles or wing them at their heads as it is. I’d hate to see what you’d do to our customers when you’re closer to delivering.”
A laugh bubbled up, spilling from between my lips. “Probably impale them on chair legs."
Her laughter made me laugh harder, until we were draped against one another overcome by a fit of giggles.
“Hey, if you’re going to stand there laughing in front of us at least share the joke,” the cook called out.
“I’m going to be the meanest pregnant person on the planet,” I said, laughing until my sides ached. “I had to search for books at the library, just to understand pregnancy better.”
“A-at least you didn’t resort to Google.”
