Page 31 of The Nixie and the Frost Elf

"I'm sorry about Marnie," Lexi says. "I know she's joking, but it's still not nice to be threatened."

"Don't worry about it," I assure her. "I know that she won't actually go through with it. And I'm glad that you've got someone on your side."

"Not worried that you're going to be overtaken in my affections again?" It sounds like she's trying to tease me, but I can tell that she's genuinely worried about it.

"No, I'm not." I try to give her a reassuring smile. "I'd like to think that we can move on from that."

"I haven't really done anything to make you think that I won't run away again," she says.

"Not true." We step out of the way as someone comes past us. "You haven't run away from any of the fun conversations we've had."

"I hadn't really thought about that."

"I have." I smile at her again as we arrive at the pub that I know she's been wanting to eat at.

There's a lull in our conversation as we're shown inside and to our table.

"It's nice in here," she says as she stretches her legs out under the table, accidentally bumping them against my knees. "Sorry, the table's smaller than I thought it was."

"I don't mind being so close to you," I respond.

The server returns with our drinks and sets them down on the table between us. Lexi stares at her lemonade with a strange expression on her face.

"Are you okay?" I ask, concerned that she's upset by something.

"I'm fine." She bites her bottom lip, clearly not fine.

"But?"

"How do you know there is one?"

I shrug. "I've known you for almost ten years, even if we weren't in one another's lives for three of them, that's still a long time," I point out. "So sometimes, it's obvious when there's a but. So, what is it?" I reach over the table and take her hand in mine, running my thumb over the back of it.

Her gaze drops to the gesture, and she seems to relax.

"I've been thinking about the other night. When we...well, you know." She toys with the straw in her glass, clearly nervous about the conversation. I wish I could reassure her more about it.

"What about it?" I ask, a little nervous that she's going to say that she didn't like it after she thought about it. I know that's a risk, and I don't want her to do anything she doesn't want to.

She takes a deep breath and suddenly sits very straight. "I'd like to try more," she blurts out.

"Oh."

"If you want to," she adds quickly. "If you don't, then that's okay too."

"Sorry, I was just taken by surprise. I thought you'd want to take more time to think about it."

"I did too," she admits. "But I found myself thinking about it at multiple points, and wondering about what else might be fun to do."

I raise an eyebrow. "So you have a list?"

Her cheeks turn a darker shade of green, making my heart constrict. "Just some ideas. But if you don't want to do it, or you don't want to know, then we don't have to."

"I want to know," I say, completely fixated on her face.

Before I can say anything else, our starters arrive. Fried whitebait for Lexi, and paté for me. Her face lights up as she sees the tiny breaded fishes, and I know from many other meals with her that it means they're cooked well.

"Where were we?" she asks as she picks up one of the tiny fish with her fingers and dips it into the tartare sauce.