Chapter 33 Edgar
EDGAR
The underground parking garage beneath the village wasn't exactly Edgar's idea of a romantic welcome venue, but he had to admit that Frankie and Margo had put a lot of effort into welcoming Angelica to her new home.
A massive banner stretched between two support pillars, reading "WELCOME TO THE VILLAGE, ANGELICA!" in letters that looked professionally printed.
"Oh, my God." Angelica's hand flew to her mouth. "They made a banner for me!"
"They're excited to have you here." Edgar turned off the engine, studying her reaction. Was she touched? Overwhelmed?
With Angelica, it was sometimes hard to tell. She could go from sentimental to practical in a heartbeat.
"It's so sweet." She was already unbuckling her seatbelt. "But I need to make something clear before they start planning my housewarming party."
Edgar barely had time to wonder what Angelica had meant by that before she was out of the car, running toward Frankie and Margo.
"Welcome!" Frankie pulled her cousin into a fierce hug. "You look amazing. How are you feeling?"
"As amazing as I look." Angelica accepted a bouquet of flowers from Margo with a bright smile. "I'm hungry all the time, and Edgar says that I can eat whatever I want and not worry about gaining weight. So, if you have food ready, lead the way."
Edgar hung back, giving them their moment.
"So," Angelica said, her tone shifting to business mode. "Before you two get all excited and later get disappointed, I need to be clear about something. I'm not moving here."
Edgar felt his stomach drop. They'd talked about this, and she'd promised to think about it, and he'd hoped she might fall in love with the village and the immortal community and wouldn't want to leave.
Frankie's smile faltered. "Why not?"
"I appreciate the welcome." Angelica gestured around the garage. "And I'm excited to visit and get to know everyone, but I have a business to run in LA, and clients who depend on me. I'm not giving up on my dream of owning a national nail salon chain just because I'm immortal now."
"Of course not," Margo said. "Nobody expects you to abandon your dreams."
"Good, because I'm not doing that." Angelica's chin lifted in that stubborn tilt that Edgar knew so well.
"That being said, I'm very interested in finding out whether there's a market for my services here.
If there's a good location for a salon and the immortal ladies are interested in regular nail appointments, I might change my mind about moving in here. "
Edgar felt his tension ease. Angelica wasn't rejecting the village out of hand. She was approaching it like a business opportunity. That was so like his pragmatic Angel.
"There's definitely a market." Frankie threaded her arm through her cousin's. "Most people here work from home, so they can take breaks and pop into your salon to have some fancy nail work done."
Angelica's eyes gleamed with that particular light that meant her entrepreneurial brain was firing on all cylinders. "It's a captive audience and built-in demand."
"You should put together a business plan," Margo suggested. "Present it to Kian—he's the boss here. He might be willing to loan you startup capital if he likes the concept."
"Kian?" Angelica frowned. "That sounds like a guy. I was under the impression that a goddess was in charge of this place. Edgar's been going on and on about her, saying that I have to meet her."
"Annani is like the queen," Frankie explained.
"She's the figurehead. Kian is like the prime minister.
He handles the actual day-to-day operations.
He's a genius businessman. Anything he touches turns to gold.
I also heard that he's great with investing.
Besides that, he also handles security, logistics—"
"Stop!" Angelica put her hand over her chest. "You had me at gold and great investing. When can I meet him?"
"Once you've prepared a business plan," Edgar said.
Frankie tugged on Angelica's arm. "Come on, let me show you around. You need to see the village before making business plans."
They headed toward the bank of elevators, Edgar trailing behind with Margo, who shot him an amused look.
"Angelica has always been super goal-oriented," Margo said. "She was like that even as a little girl."
Margo, Frankie, and Mia had been childhood friends, and Frankie had always been close to her many cousins, but chiefly to Angelica.
"That's one word for it." Edgar chuckled. "Angelica doesn't do anything by halves. She is so full of energy that I have a hard time keeping up, and that was true before she turned immortal. Now that she needs less sleep, I won't be able to keep up at all."
Margo chuckled. "Is that why you waited so long to induce her?"
Edgar's smile faltered.
Everyone was asking him that with an undercurrent of accusation, and he was tired of having to defend himself.
So he wasn't perfect. So he had insecurities after being dumped by Jasmine. So what.
"Angelica is not intimidated by any of this," Margo murmured. "I can't believe that she's already planning her business expansion instead of still processing the shock."
"She processed it by throwing things at me," Edgar said dryly. "Once that was out of her system, the practical side kicked in."
As they stepped out of the elevator into the glass pavilion, Angelica stopped and gasped. "Oh, my gosh! Look at this place! It's like a fairy tale!"
She followed Frankie out the sliding door and took in the village with sharp, assessing eyes.
"This is so freaking beautiful," Angelica gushed. "How many people live here?"
"About eight hundred," Frankie said. "The village was built in several phases, and you can't see all of it from here. It's larger than it looks. Also, not everyone here looks human, so be prepared to see some people who are different."
"The Kra-ell." Angelica scanned the area, probably looking for one. "Edgar told me about them. Tall and skinny with bug eyes and fangs. Scary looking."
"I didn't say they were scary looking," Edgar protested. "They just take some time getting used to."
"The best place to look is in the playground." Margo pointed toward the village square. "Let's start at the café, though. It's the social hub of the village. Next to it is the office building and the clinic."
Angelica pursed her lips. "I don't see a place suitable for a nail salon, but I guess it could be done from a residential home if that's permitted."
"It is," Frankie said. "The Perfect Match development department, where Margo and I work, is housed in residential homes. Do you want to take a look?"
"Sure, I would love to."
As Frankie redirected them from the café toward her workplace, Angelica turned to Edgar. "You said you would take me flying on the simulator you helped design."
He wrapped his arm around her middle. "It would be my pleasure, Angel. But we will need to put our names on the waiting list. There is a long line."
Angelica chuckled. "That's because it's free. The owners need to start charging for it."
Frankie rolled her eyes. "You are such a capitalist."
"I'm not. You people live in a commune."
She wasn't entirely wrong, but the thing was that the village was mostly one big family rather than a group of unrelated people living in the same area. A family lived by different rules.
"Oh, wow." Angelica looked at the interior of the house that had been gutted and reconfigured into a modern workspace. There were multiple computer workstations, large drawing and idea boards covered in sketches and notes, and comfortable seating areas for brainstorming sessions.
"This is amazing," Angelica said. "You two run this whole operation?"
Frankie pulled out a chair at one of the stations. "We are part of a team, and we are by no means the most important ones, so no, we don't run it. But we love working here. It's incredibly rewarding. You should try one of the romantic adventures with Edgar."
"I would love that." She looked up at him. "Would you?"
"With you, of course."
Angelica examined one of the drawing boards. "Put me down for something romantic. Somewhere Edgar and I can rekindle our romance." She cast him an accusing look. "You spent months lying to me about being immortal."
Edgar winced at the pointed reminder. He'd apologized repeatedly, but Angelica wasn't the type to let things go easily. She'd forgive him eventually, but not before extracting maximum guilt first.
"Done," Frankie said, pulling up something on her computer.
They spent another hour or so touring the village and ended back at the café to enjoy cappuccinos and pastries.
"Ready to see my place?" Edgar said after Margo and Frankie had left to start working on the dinner they were all supposed to share later.
"Yes, I am." She stood up. "Is it far?"
"Nothing is far in the village. The farthest is a twenty-minute easy walk."
"Will Morris be there?" She slipped her hand into his.
"Maybe. He doesn't share his schedule with me, especially since I was practically living with you for months."
She glared at him. "I assume that Morris is not the pig you described him to be, so I would stop asking to see your place."
"He's actually a nice guy, but he is a slob. I told him I'm bringing you over today, so I hope he tidied up a little."
They found Morris in the kitchen making coffee.
He looked up with curiosity, a goofy smile spreading over his face. "Hello, Angelica," he said, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. "Edgar hasn't shut up about you for months." He offered her his hand. "I'm Morris."
"All good things, I hope," Angelica said, shaking his hand. "Because he lied about you and said some nasty things."
Morris winced. "Yeah, he told me. It's not easy keeping this place a secret. I'm sorry that he had to lie to you."
"He didn't have to. He could have told me the truth a long time ago." She cast Edgar another glare.
"I've apologized profusely already. What else do you want me to do?"
Morris cleared his throat. "Nice to finally meet you, Angelica, and welcome to immortality."
"Thanks. It's been weird."
"It gets less weird with time. You get used to it." Morris grabbed his coffee mug. "I'm heading out to visit a friend and give you two some privacy."
"You don't have to leave," Angelica protested.
"Oh yes, I do." He winked and headed out the door.
She turned to Edgar. "Did I scare him off?"
"Probably." He pulled her into his arms. "When he gets to know you better, he will realize that your bark is much worse than your bite"
"Sometimes, I'm too much." She fit against him perfectly, her head tucked under his chin, her arms wrapped around his waist. "No wonder you waited so long to commit to forever with me."
"I love you, Angel," he said softly. "I love everything about you, from your big mouth to your sweet kisses and from your barbs to your soft whispers. I love your extremes, the hot and the cold, and the way you do everything big."
"That's sweet." Her voice was muffled against his chest. "But you still have a lot of groveling to do before I fully forgive you."
"Will investing in your salon chain buy me forgiveness?" Edgar pulled back to look at her face.
Angelica laughed. "You don't have enough money for that. A single location might cost fifty to a hundred thousand dollars to start, and that's on the low end. To build a chain, I'd need millions."
She was right, and Edgar felt the familiar sting of inadequacy about his finances. He was a young immortal, so he hadn't had centuries of accumulating wealth and investing it wisely.
He was well paid as the clan's helicopter pilot, but he hadn't been thrifty with his money.
He liked expensive toys, fancy restaurants, and living in style.
He had never understood those who saved and lived modestly.
He'd lived like someone with unlimited funds because he'd assumed he had unlimited time to build wealth if he ever desired it.
"I don't have millions," he admitted. "I don't even have hundreds of thousands. I've been terrible at saving money."
Angelica frowned. "Aren't they paying you for your piloting services?"
"They pay me well, but I spend most of it." Edgar ran his hand through his hair, embarrassed. "I never thought about the future because the future seemed so far away."
"How much do you have?" Angelica's tone was matter-of-fact, not judgmental. "Roughly?"
"Maybe fifty thousand dollars in savings." Edgar felt heat climbing up his neck. "I'm not rich, Angel. I'm a fifty-three-year-old immortal who lives like a twenty-five-year-old human, because in my head I'm that young."
Angelica was quiet for a long moment, and Edgar braced himself for disappointment or scolding.
Instead, she started laughing.
"What?" Edgar felt defensive. "It's not funny."
"It kind of is." She cupped his face. "Edgar, you're this amazing immortal being with incredible abilities, and you're broke because you like expensive toys. It's cute in its own ridiculous way."
"I'm glad my financial irresponsibility amuses you."
"I'm not making fun of you." Angelica's expression sobered.
"It just makes you more real, you know? More human.
I was feeling a little intimidated by this whole immortal thing and finding out that you are much older than I am and all that.
Knowing that you're terrible with money makes you less scary. "
"I'm not scary."
"You have fangs that come out when you're aroused. You're a little scary." She kissed him. "But I love you anyway."
"I don't have much, but whatever it is, it is now yours. You could invest it for both of us. You're brilliant at trading stocks and managing money. You'll grow it faster than I ever could, and it can become seed money for the salon chain."
"You want to give me your entire savings?" Angelica looked shocked. "Edgar, we are not even married yet."
"We are mated, which means more than marriage, and I want to invest in our future."
Angelica's eyes were suspiciously bright. "That's so sweet. I don't know what to say."
"That must be a first for you."
"It is." She sniffled. "I love you so much."