Chapter 13
Bastet
It was hard to believe I'd never been to the most popular restaurant in the god realm, but I supposed it was to be expected considering I'd spent so little time here in the past few centuries, and it had all been with the foolish idea of avoiding Ptah.
Now that I'd reconnected with him, it seemed silly to think that I'd spent so long trying to make sure we weren't in the same place.
Then again, I didn't know that he wanted us to try again until a few days ago.
I leaned forward and picked up my glass of water, looking around the restaurant for any hint of Ptah. It was already twenty minutes past the start of our reservation, and I was trying to stay calm about that.
A small voice echoed in the back of my mind with a reminder of what Menhit had said. We'd broken up for a real reason, and this was one of them. Something would come up, and then one of us would be late to a date. Or we wouldn't show up at all.
I pushed the thought aside. Things were different now. This wasn't the same situation as it had been a few thousand years ago. I'd changed, he'd changed, and our relationship was different as a result.
I took a sip of my water. There was going to be an explanation for this. I had no idea what it was, but I was certain he'd tell me when he got here.
All around me, people were happily dining with their companions. I was reasonably sure that I recognised some of them, but I didn't stare, not wanting to make anyone uncomfortable, or wanting to invite the same in response.
I let out a sigh. That could be me enjoying the company of my date. Instead, I was sitting at the table with only a glass of water and some breadsticks.
I pulled out my phone, noticing that it was now half an hour since he was supposed to have arrived.
And yet there were no messages from him.
I sighed in frustration. This wasn't the perfect second date that I'd imagined it being.
I typed out a quick message to Ptah and dropped my phone on the table.
I could be annoyed that he hadn't messaged me, but that was no excuse for me not doing the same.
Another twenty minutes passed, and I started to wonder whether it was worth leaving and going home. I was certainly tempted to. But no. What was fifty minutes to an immortal?
That didn't stop my annoyance from building. He couldn't even message to tell me that he was running late?
I was almost ready to get up and leave when the man I was waiting for finally walked through the restaurant door. To his credit, he looked upset about the fact he was late, or that could be about something completely different.
"I am so sorry," he said as he reached the table.
I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat. "You're sorry?" There was no hiding the annoyance from my voice.
"I didn't mean to be..."
"An hour late?" I asked.
"I didn't realise it had been that long."
"You didn't even message," I hissed at him, trying to keep my voice low enough that our brewing argument wasn't about to attract more attention than I'd like.
"My phone died," he said. "I'm really sorry, I thought I'd be here sooner..."
"Well, you weren't," I said. "Where even were you?"
"I was at Hermes' office," he said as he took a seat.
I stared at him, not entirely sure how to process what I was hearing. "You were in a meeting?"
"Kind of," he replied.
I rubbed my hand over my face. "This is exactly the problem we used to have," I murmured.
"What?"
"One of us would have a meeting that ran over, or there'd be something we needed to do, and then we'd end up doing this." I waved my hand at the table. "Late and without communicating at all."
"Bastet..."
I shook my head.
Unfortunately, a waiter chose that moment to appear by our table. "Good evening. Are you ready to order?"
"No," I said. "I won't be having anything." I pushed my chair back and grabbed my bag before heading out of the restaurant without listening to any of Ptah's protests.
I wanted to pretend that I was angry, but in reality I was just upset, mostly with myself.
Without realising I was doing it, I found myself heading over to Menhit's oasis. I could see why she liked it. There was a lot of peace to be had here, and I longed for that at the moment. I didn't know where I was heading within it until I came to a stop outside a large house.
Rustling sounded through the trees beside me, and I looked over in time to see a large lioness appear from between them. I didn't move, not worrying much about it. This was the god realm, I doubted there were any non-shifter lions walking around.
As if to prove my point, the lion transformed into my friend. "I wasn't expecting you," she said.
"You were right," I said. "We haven't dealt with any of our problems. I don't even know how to deal with them."
Menhit shrugged. "Maybe start with a conversation."
I snorted. "Hard to do when I walked out of the restaurant." I sighed. "He was an hour late, and didn't tell me about it. That's just how things used to be."
She gave me a pained smile. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, it's my fault," I murmured. "I should have known better."
"Maybe. But it's also okay to have messed up a little bit," she responded. "If you want to have a relationship with him, then you should talk to him about it rather than letting it fester."
"I know," I responded. "It's just hard when it's been something that's hung between us for too long. And it's not as if I was any better. I was just as culpable."
"Then talk to him," she repeated. "And set down some ground rules. There's no reason the two of you can't manage to talk, I would hope you're adults after several thousand years of life."
I snorted. "Maybe not, considering that I stormed out of the restaurant without eating anything. I'm starving as well."
Menhit laughed. "We can order something and talk more," she said.
"Thanks. I'm sorry to impose."
"Don't worry about it. I like the company," she promised.
"Even when you live somewhere like this?" I waved my hand around the oasis.
"I live here because it's beautiful," she responded. "And peaceful. Not because I don't want to see other people."
"Oh."
"So, dinner?" she asked. "Because I'm hungry too."
"Sure." I took a step towards the house in front of me.
"Wrong way," Menhit said.
"Oh, I thought that was your house," I responded, gesturing to the building in front of me.
"No. That's the guest house," she said. "Not that it's ever been used. When I built it, I imagined that there'd be someone who wanted to live in the oasis too. Not with me, but a neighbour, but it's never happened."
"I'm sorry." I looked over at the house, feeling a surprise draw to it. "This would be a lovely place to live."
"I'm glad you think so. Maybe I'll be able to convince you to join me." My friend flashed me a genuine smile.
"Maybe." There was a part of me that wondered if that would be possible.
Though I supposed it would depend on how things went with Ptah when I attempted to talk to him about what happened tonight, and whether it was going to be possible to see a future for us.
Otherwise, I might be going back to avoiding everything to do with the god realm and Ptah again.
But I didn't think so. I wanted to be back in this life, even if things didn't work out with Ptah.