17. Char
17
CHAR
Betty shook her head. “I don’t believe in love, Todd. You know that.”
He looked tormented. “What do I have to do to get you to believe? To trust me? I love you, Betty. With all my heart.”
“But you said you could never be with me. That you could never be with one woman. I heard you telling Ronald.”
For a minute, he looked like she’d slapped him. Then he shook his head.
“You must not have listened long enough. I told him I could never be with any woman, not a single one, except for you , Betty.”
She looked into his silver eyes, and everything came back. The walks at night under the full moon. The feel of his hand in hers, his tentacles wrapped around her waist. Was she really going to throw it all away because of a misunderstanding?
N aomi laughed, her voice hoarse. “Tentacles? Did I miss something?”
It was Wednesday morning, and she’d finally been discharged from the hospital. But she wasn’t doing well. I’d driven her home, gotten her propped up in bed, and brought my laptop over for her to read.
She usually reviewed my works in progress, so this was familiar. I just wished the circumstances were better.
“Oops. I’ll change that.” Shit. I was way too distracted. Worried about Naomi…and everything else.
Jess had called me Tuesday morning from work to say she was safe. Gravod was watching her like a hawk. She told me about her encounter with Thylor, that he didn’t seem that bad to her. It sounded like she had a lot more to tell me, but she was waiting until we got together on Friday to say it in person.
Meanwhile, Ryoch had been sending me texts, making sure I was safe. He was worried Thylor might come after me next, so he had guys coming over to watch my house. For the most part, I didn’t notice them. And then some hot-as-fuck man would randomly walk down the sidewalk, and I remembered.
We were going out again on Saturday. Three more days. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was smitten.
Okay, yeah. I was.
I’d started imagining a future with him. Not a clear one, or an easy one. Was I going to marry an alien? Have alien babies? What could our happily-ever-after possibly look like? I didn’t know.
And I couldn’t think about any of that when I had a sick friend to take care of. Naomi was done reading, so I moved the computer to my lap.
“Can I be honest with you, Char? I kind of hate Todd.”
I laughed. “Oh god, me too. I talked to my editor yesterday, and she said, ‘Throw in a miscommunication! That’ll fix it.’ I had to retcon the story so that the horrible things he said meant something else. But I hate miscommunications as a source of conflict.”
“He’s kind of irredeemable anyway.”
“Right? He’s awful.”
And if I hated the character, my readers were going to see through that, just like Naomi had.
She shrugged. “At least he’s a secret billionaire.” Her words were getting slow, and I could tell she was ready for a nap. Sure enough, her eyes fluttered closed.
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.
I sighed and stared into space, ideas flitting through my head for revisions that fixed the Todd problem. This path, that path, how they lined up, how I could bring it together. But all I could see in front of me was Naomi, and none of that mattered.
One thought had been nagging at me for a while. Ryoch was a doctor, and a member of a technologically advanced species. So advanced that they could travel through space and set up identities on another planet. Could he help Naomi?
It wouldn’t hurt to ask. I closed my laptop and tiptoed out to the living room. The book I’d been reading the last time I was here, My Peculiar Date , was still on the coffee table. I huffed. Those tentacle scenes weren’t realistic at all.
I sat with the book and pulled out my phone. Ryoch had texted.
Can’t wait to see you on Saturday.
Damn. I wished it was sooner. Was this what dating a doctor was going to be like? I appreciated that we each had our own lives, but I wondered if he would always be working these kinds of hours.
I typed a reply, deleted it, and tried again. Self-editing and overthinking, as usual.
Me too.
That worked. Just enough, not too much.
Minutes passed, but he didn’t reply. I started reading. I’d made it to the epilogue, in which the happy couple had a bunch of tentacled babies, when he texted back.
I hope you like chocolate.
Well, fuck.
It was getting harder to pretend I wasn’t falling in love.
I was working at home on Friday when I got a call from Jess.
“Hey, Char. I need to postpone our meet-up tonight.”
“Oh, okay. When do you want to get together?”
“Um, I’m not sure. I made a big decision.”
“What’s that?”
She was silent for a second, and then it came out in a rush. “I’m going to tell Gravod I want to go with him to Vytaris. I love him. It’s the only way.”
“Whoa, whoa. Slow down.”
“I know we have a lot to catch up on.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Two main points. One, they really don’t belong here. Earth is a technological backwater to them, like living in the dark ages. And they have to stay shifted all the time, basically live in hiding. Two, if any of them wants to start a family, now the kids have to stay shifted all the time. It’s just not good, Char. It doesn’t work.”
Was she serious? She wanted to go to Vytaris?
“Didn’t they think about all this before they came here? I mean, I get your points, but they must have been okay with it.”
“Yeah, they were fine with it because they were desperate. They thought they’d always be alone. Has Ryoch explained that?”
“He told me about the xa’xan thing. It sounded fucked up.”
She was right, they were desperate. Shit . I was starting to feel uneasy.
“Yeah, fucked up, exactly,” Jess said. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and the best possible solution is if all the human mates agree to go with them back to Vytaris.”
“Do you want to go, Jess? To another planet?” I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. “Okay. I’d be lying if I said the thought hadn’t occurred to me. But it’s extreme. So much worse than moving to another city for a guy. Interstellar travel?—”
“I know, I know. But can you imagine? Space? Visiting other planets? It would be amazing, Char. This is some crazy, cosmic, fated mates shit. You feel it too, don’t you?”
I didn’t want to say it.
“Yes. I do.”
That admission made her pause. Jess knew my history, knew I was cynical about true love. She understood how hard this was for me.
“Listen,” she said, her voice gentle. “This decision is the right one for me, but maybe it’s not for you. I’m sure Ryoch would stay on Earth and make it work. Just, think about it. Please?”
“I’ll think about it. You don’t know if Gravod will agree, though. Do you?”
“No, I’m talking to him tonight. I’ll keep you posted. And then we’ve got to get together soon.”
“Yes, we do.” I sighed. “Let me know how it goes.”
She promised to call again soon, and we hung up.
My mind raced. Was I really contemplating this? If I went to Vytaris…
I’d be dependent on Ryoch, for everything. What about my career? My friends here? I didn’t have any family I would miss, but I had a life.
Jess made some good arguments, though. It was impossible to imagine how I could be with Ryoch on Earth and live a regular life. Have kids. I’d never considered having children with anyone I’d dated before. This was new territory.
I’d see him again tomorrow. Tonight I could spend some extra time with Naomi, then get a good night’s rest.
Hopefully, it would all be clearer in the morning.