Constance Verity Saves the World by A. Lee Martinez

Author:A. Lee Martinez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saga Press

17

Although she would never have admitted it to anyone, Connie didn’t feel safe until she reached dry land. It was only when she was a few hours from the ocean that her head finally cleared.

Larry suggested she take a break after the ordeal of her last mission, and she almost refused. That instinct to hurl herself into the fray was so strong, even knowing he was right. But some rest wouldn’t hurt, and Siege Perilous would be fine for a couple of days. If things got really bad, they had her number.

Neither Byron or Connie felt like cooking. They went to an Italian place with soft lighting and a fair amount of authenticity, which was to say that the piped music was operatic and there was a mural of a gondolier on one wall. There was also another of a bullfighter from when the place was an authentic Mexican restaurant, which did challenge the tenuous illusion. But Byron had heard good things, so Connie gave it the benefit of the doubt.

So far, Connie and Byron had talked about nothing important—the weather, her flight, his job. They smiled and laughed and pretended they weren’t avoiding the subject of her latest adventure. It might have worked, but Connie’s life was mostly adventure. She didn’t have a lot to talk about beyond that.

She scanned the menu, listening as Byron went into the latest bit of office politics. “. . . so, Barbara says to Gene that she doesn’t appreciate him getting extra breaks just because he smokes. And Gene shoots back that he gets his job done and what does it matter how many breaks he takes? You can imagine how she took that.”

Connie nodded. “Sure, sure.”

Although she couldn’t. She had a hell of an imagination, but she’d never had an office job. Byron’s stories made her increasingly glad she hadn’t. Navigating a nine-to-five job seemed every bit as perilous as jumping into mysterious transdimensional vortices but with none of the satisfaction of saving the day.

“Sorry, I know it’s boring,” said Byron.

“It’s your life. I’m not bored by it.”

He closed his menu, folded his hands under his chin, and smiled skeptically.

“Okay, so it’s a little boring,” she admitted, “but I like boring.”

He stared into her eyes with that slight smile.

“Not that I’m calling you boring,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Just your job. Not that it’s bad that your job is boring. Not that you think it’s boring.”

“It’s a little boring,” he said.

She exhaled with relief. “Oh, thank God. I love you, Byron, but I don’t know if I could do it.”

“I’m pretty sure you can do anything.”

“Everybody has their limits.”

She took his hand. She needed these moments, few and far between recently, where the world wasn’t on the verge of exploding. The siren song of the ocean depths couldn’t compete with this.

She needed Byron. Not because he was ordinary, though that was a nice perk. She needed his stability, his steady intelligence, his reassuring hand on hers.

The server appeared with drinks.

“One iced tea, one diet cola,” he said curtly.

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