Chapter 12 Daphne
Chapter twelve
Daphne
I am useless.
I spent all morning reading every magazine the lodge has to offer. Most of them are so out of date that it was more like a look into recent history than pop culture. Which isn’t to say wasn’t interesting to me.
After a while, I hobbled down to the lobby and made myself a cup of complimentary tea. After scraping the last dredges of honey out of the bottle to the soundtrack of my growling stomach, I realize I might be hungry.
I didn’t eat dinner last night at Ted’s for obvious reasons, and the lack of food must finally be catching up with me.
I really don’t want to impose on Andri anymore than I already have, so I make a plan to sneak down to Ted’s.
It’s not really that far of a walk from the gondola stop, so I’m sure I’ll be fine.
Removing my glasses, I also shuck the date dress from last night to the ground and get into the steamy spray of water. And despite my aching ankle, it feels amazing. The dirt I didn’t realize was on my knees and palms swirls down the shower drain, murky and brown.
God, I must have looked like a mess last night, and this morning, while I was pleading with Andri for a job. No wonder he shooed me off. I dump the contents of one of the tiny hotel shampoo bottles into my palm and work it into a lather.
A shower, a good meal, and time to figure out what in the hell I want to do with my life will do me good. The last thing on that list might take a lot longer than the first two, but I’m working as quickly as I can to turn this mess around.
My hand blindly grabs a towel from the bar right beyond the shower curtain. I wrap myself up tightly and step out, feeling like a new woman.
That’s when the realization hits me, I don’t have any of my stuff.
No toiletries, no clothing, no unbroken shoes…zilch.
I turn my nose down to the dress around the ground, and in the cold fluorescent light of the bathroom realize that I’d be back at square one if I put that on.
It’s at this moment that I realize I will once again have to impose on the kind yeti who’s already rescued and housed me.
My damp feet pad over the dark green carpet to the phone beside the bed. I pick it up and hit the front desk button. It rings, and in the middle of the third ring, it connects.
“Hallow Hill Ski Resort, this is Andri speaking, how can I help you?” His voice is more professional than I’ve ever heard, but you can still pick up on its warmth through all the formality.
“When aren’t you helping me?” I laugh nervously.
“Everything alright, Daphne?” His tone switches to one of concern.
“Yeah, totally, just the tiniest of a predicament here—I grabbed a shower and I was planning on heading down to Ted’s but—”
“I would be honored to join you for lunch!” He sounds excited as he cuts me off.
“Oh, I mean, that’d be nice…but it’s not really why I called.”
I can hear him groan on the other end of the line.
“I didn’t mean to invite myself, you can say no if you were planning on enjoying a lunch on your own,” he course-corrects.
“No, really it’s fine. I’d love to grab lunch with you. But I hopped in the shower before I even thought about the fact that all my stuff is still at the cabin. I’m not sure I’m ready to face Gerald right now, but I can’t leave the room naked.”
There’s a gulp and it sounds like something hits the ground and shatters.
“Are you okay, Andri?”
“Oh yeah, sorry, just bumped a corner and lost my coffee mug—I can one hundred percent go get your things though. Give me like ten minutes.” He doesn’t wait for me to respond, and the phone clicks before the dial tone plays.
I can only imagine how Gerald is going to react when Andri comes to collect my stuff, and honestly, I’m glad I won’t be there to see it.
After twenty or so minutes of me sitting on the bedside, wrapped in a towel, I hear the rap of knuckles against the door. I click off the TV and peer out the peephole, even though I know full well and good who it is. When a blue smile fills the lens, I crack the door open and stick my face out.
“You’re a lifesaver, I hope it wasn’t a big deal!” I reach an arm out to grab my suitcase from him.
“Not a problem at all—for me anyway,” he chuffs. “I tried to grab everything that I thought might be yours, I might have missed one or two things, but Jerkald wasn’t too keen on me being in there.” He smiles at his new nickname for my ex-fiance. I can’t say it’s not a fitting one.
“You really do keep saving my ass, don’t you?” I say with one hand on my suitcase and one holding the towel tightly to my chest.
He just stares, a proud smile creeping across his lips.
“Well, let’s avoid a repeat of me flashing you.
Wait here, and I’ll throw something on.” I close the door quickly but see his face drop a little all the same.
He’s probably embarrassed that I even brought up that encounter…
but if we’re gonna be seeing a lot more of each other, better to be upfront about it, I suppose. I am staying in his hotel, after all.
I flip over the top of my luggage and take stock.
There’s a good chunk of my nicer clothing missing, and no hair tools to speak of.
But what sticks out most of all is what’s there.
The diamond ring that Jerkald gave me sits in its open clamshell box.
It seems as though it’s been deliberately placed.
I can’t imagine that Andri would do that, but I don’t know why on earth Gerald would either. He can’t possibly want to work things out after he told me that he’s been cheating on me since the start of his relationship—could he?
Some fucked-up part of my brain that craves the security Gerald can give me fights what my heart knows is right.
I can’t keep this damn rock, and I don’t want it—or him—in my life any longer.
But I deserve a day or two without having to deal with that asshole.
So, I click the red velvet box shut and tuck it into one of the zippered pockets that line the interior of my bag.
I’ll mail it back to him tomorrow and be rid of this weighty stone once and for all.
I grab a pair of baby blue sweats, the nicest thing left in my bag and throw them on.
Taking my one and only hair tie from my wrist, I throw my damp hair up into what I’m sure looks like a rat’s nest atop my head.
Add some fuzzy socks, my snow boots, and I’m as good as it’s gonna get given the circumstances.
I grab my cards and phone out of my evening bag and open the door. Despite me taking what must have been at least ten minutes, Andri is still standing in the exact same spot waiting for me.
“Hey! We match,” he beams pointing at the palm of his hand. And he’s right, the outfit I picked out is the same color as his blue skin. It must really tickle him to see, because that grin is back.
“Hmph,” I muse. “Must be a subconscious thing, we might be spending too much time together.”
“No, I don’t think that’s it,” he says a little weirdly before offering me his hand.
Something about that damn soft fur-covered limb, and the kindness Andri has shown me, has my heart skipping a beat. As soon as my hand touches him, he whisks me up off the ground, and my feet dangle as he holds me once again like the bride I won’t be.
“Hey—I can walk!”
“Sure you can, but you shouldn’t—you’re healing.”
My protests aren’t going to get me far with this snowman today, I see.
“I don’t want to be a bother, though.” I push my glasses up my nose, my frames having been jostled by the lift.
“You’re never a bother, and besides, I’m really strong.” He waggles his eyebrows down at me. He is really strong because he carries me as if I weigh about as much as a house cat.
“You don’t think people will think it’s strange you’re carrying me everywhere?” Despite my initial shock, I can’t say I hate the feeling of being cradled against his broad, warm chest.
“You think a snowman carrying a human is even going to make anyone in this weird little town bat an eyelash? You just missed when we had a feral werewolf on the loose,” he jokes.
“A werewolf? Isn’t that kind of dangerous?” I stiffen at the thought of a monster like that, so out of control.
“I mean, at first. He’s actually a good guy, just struggling with being freshly turned is all. Everyone deserves a little grace when they’re at their worst.”
“So is that what this is, you giving me grace?” I arch a brow up and look at his chin.
“No, because you’re not at your worst…you were put in a shit position by a shit man, none of that was your fault.” He stops walking and waits for my response.
“Oh—okay.” I don’t know if I believe him.
When we arrive at the gondola down to town, the same fairy from before beams at us. I swear her green eyes glow with some kind of mania as we enter the cab.
“Hi Andri,” she drawls, eyes flitting between our faces.
“To town,” he says somewhat sternly. I can’t pick up on the subtext, but I can tell there’s something I’m not privy to happening.
“Hi,” I squeak out.
The faerie nods and hits the lever that sends us descending the mountain.
The tension between those two grows, and I can’t help but let my word vomit take the place of the silence.
“I bet you’re surprised to see me being carried around by Andri here, right?” I ask.
She cocks her head to the side with that same devious smile. “Well, actually—” but she’s cut off by a zap of gold sparkles that appear to shut her mouth.
I blink twice just to make sure I’m not hallucinating. The fairy doesn’t seem surprised. If anything, she seems annoyed and looks at Andri, her shut lips pulled into a taut frown. I swear Andri chuckles under his breath, and he’s quick to whisk me out of the cab.
“Um, maybe I’m just an ignorant human, but what the heck was that?”
“Fae magic, I think. The fairy folk are bound to their bargains.” He stops at the crosswalk, looking both ways before we head to Ted’s.
“Oh.” I still don’t quite grasp what just transpired.
When we get to the door, Andri doesn’t put me down.
Instead, he swivels and pushes the silver door open with his back.
When we turn around, I swear the whole diner, monsters and humans, has eyes on us.
A hush falls over the usually conversation-filled diner.
I don’t think Andri notices the attention we’re receiving, or maybe he doesn't care.
But the show we're putting on is also second fiddle in my mind to something even more pressing. I scan the restaurant for one face in particular, Gerald’s.
Luckily, I don’t see him anywhere—and that’s how I’d like to keep it.
When we get to the only open booth, on the far side from the door, he finally gives up on carrying me. He’s so gentle when he does I don’t even feel any pain in my ankle, that is until I try to move it.
As I hobble and slide into the seat, and the reason I need to be carried is revealed, the other restaurant patron’s curiosity is satiated. The background chatter returns, and I’m happily no longer the center of attention.
The same faun waitress comes over, and I half expect her to take our order, but instead she beams at me.
“I’m proud of you, I want you to know that.”
“For what?” I seem to be in a constant state of confusion today.
“For kicking that asshole to the curb!” she says with a hand on her hip. “Now what can I get y’all to eat?”
“Blueberry pancakes,” I tell her with a wide smile.