Unknown
Hawk.Please tell me you didn’t just wake up.
The reply was instantaneous and clipped.Like its owner.Lilian glared at the offending message but typed back.
Of course not.You caught me in the shower.
Unknown
Shouldn’t you be managing that bookshop of yours?
She could hear the judgment in that sentence.It was nine o’clock on a Monday, and she wasn’t buried deep in numbers and receipts.
The store is closed on Mondays.
As she waited for a reply, she saved his contact in her phone.This time with a name:Tyrant Prince.
Tyrant PrincePerfect.Then today would be as good a day as any for us to get some work done.
Lilian stared at the text for a long time before she responded.
Today?
Tyrant Prince
Not really.
A pause of three dots and then:
Tyrant Prince
Are you?
Lilian looked down at her coffee mug and slippered feet.Mondays were usually her recovery day after working the faire.She’d planned on stopping by the shop, but not until much later in the afternoon.After a slow, lazy morning.
She sighed.This was her fault.She’d been the one to ask Hawk for help, and now here he was, willing and eager.Much to her surprise.It wouldn’t look good to bail on him when he was the one offering help.
No.She wrote back and sent him the address to her bookstore.
Tyrant Prince
You’re about thirty minutes away.Is it okay if we meet up around noon?
Considering it was already nine o’clock, noon sounded great.It was enough time to open the shop and try to organize a few things before he arrived.
Sounds great.
Then after a moment of thought, she added:
Thanks.
She wasn’t a total monster.
Tyrant Prince
See you soon.
Hawk showed up at exactly noon.His being punctual did not surprise her in the slightest.Seeing him in a purple K-State shirt and cargo pants did.Lilian took him in, half convinced it had to be a trick of the light.
