“What are you going to order?” Drina asked Stephanie, no doubt to change the subject.
“A club sandwich and fries with gravy on the side,” Stephanie answered promptly.
“Hmm. I guess I’ll get the same,” Drina decided, closing her menu.
“You eat?” Harper asked with surprise.
“On occasion,” Drina said with a shrug. “Besides, we can’t make Stephanie eat alone.”
“No,” he agreed on a murmur, lowering his gaze to his menu again and looking to see what a club sandwich was before announcing, “I’ll have the same.”
“So,” Stephanie said once their waitress had left with their orders, “if you guys are both so old and both from Europe, how come you’ve never met before?”
Drina appeared surprised by the question and chuckled. “Sweetie, Europe is a big place. I’m from Spain. Harper is from Germany.” She shrugged. “It’s like suggesting someone from Oklahoma should know someone from Illinois just because they’re from the United States, or that someone from BC should know someone from Ontario because they’re both in Canada.”
“Yeah, but you guys are immortals and as old as the hills. Don’t immortals hang out together, or have a secret club, or something? You’d think you’d at least have met each other before this,” she said, and then added, “Besides, I thought you guys move around every ten years or something. You haven’t always lived in Spain, have you?”
“No,” Drina admitted wryly, and shrugged. “Egypt, Spain, England, and then Spain again. Mostly Spain, though.”
“Why?” Stephanie asked curiously.
“My family is there,” she said simply. “And until recently, women didn’t exactly wander the world on their own. They were expected to stay with family for protection.”
“Even immortals?” Stephanie asked with a frown.
“Especially immortals,” Drina assured her dryly. “You have to realize that we have it drilled into our head from birth not to draw attention to ourselves or our people, and an unattached female on her own would definitely have drawn attention through most of history.”
“Oh, right,” Stephanie murmured, and then her gaze shifted to Harper. “What about you? You aren’t a girl.”
The words brought a wry smile to his lips. After a day of being considered “one of the girls,” it seemed that, at least Stephanie, was finally acknowledging he wasn’t. . if only for this conversation.
“I traveled more than Drina appears to have. I was born in what is now Germany, but have lived in many European countries, not England and Spain though. I’ve also lived in America and now Canada.”
“So, if it weren’t for Drina’s having to help look out for me, you two might never have met.”
“Perhaps not,” Harper acknowledged, and found himself thinking that would have been a great pity. Drina was an interesting woman.
The food came then, and Harper turned his attention to the sandwich and fries placed before him. The brown sandwich, pale sticks, and brown gelatinous liquid in the small bowl on the side didn’t look particularly appetizing. Harper had been a chef when he was much younger and felt presentation was important, but the food smelled surprisingly delicious.
Curious, he picked up his fork, stabbed one of the fries, and raised it to his lips, but paused when he saw Stephanie dipping hers in the small bowl of thick liquid on the side of her plate. Emulating her, he dipped his own fry in what he supposed was the “gravy on the side,” and popped it in his mouth. His eyes widened as his taste buds burst to life. It was surprisingly good, he decided, and stabbed, dipped, and ate another before picking up half his sandwich and taking a bite of that as well.
“Aren’t you going to finish your fries?” Stephanie asked.
Seeing the way the teenager was greedily eyeing her plate, Drina grinned and pushed it toward her, saying, “Go ahead. I’m done.”
Stephanie immediately fell on the remaining fries.
Drina watched enviously as the girl gobbled them, almost sorry she’d given them up. But it had been a long time since she’d eaten, and she simply couldn’t fit another bite in her belly. She’d been pushing it to manage half the sandwich and fries.
Her gaze slid to Harper and she noted that while he’d managed perhaps three quarters of his meal, he was slowing. His stomach wasn’t big enough either.
“You should go out tonight.”
Drina glanced to Stephanie with surprise to see her pointing a fry at her as she spoke.
“Seriously. It’s been decades since you’ve gone out socially. You work and visit your family and that’s it. You really need to get out and have some fun.”
“I have fun,” she assured her defensively.
“No you don’t. I can read your mind, remember? You used to love to dance, but you haven’t been dancing since those Gone-With-the-Wind-gowns were all the rage.”
Drina bit her lip, wondering what the girl was up to now. She actually had been out since then. She had a couple of good female hunter friends back in Spain, and they often went to an immortal club called Noche and danced the night away to relieve some of the stress of the job. She didn’t doubt for a minute that Stephanie had read that from her mind, so she was up to something. Again.
“You should drive into London tonight and hit a bar and just let your hair down. Dance your feet off. It would be good for you.”
“I can’t drive,” Drina reminded her dryly.
“Then Harper should take you,” she shot back with satisfaction. “He needs to get out as much as you do. He hasn’t gone anywhere in more than a year and a half except a couple of times when Elvi and Victor pretty much dragged him out.”
Harper stilled, midchew, his expression becoming alarmed. “Oh, I don’t know-”
“Yeah, I know, you’d rather hide in the house and go back to nursing your wounds,” Stephanie interrupted. “But look how much better getting out today has made you feel.”
Harper blinked.
“I really think it would do you both a lot of good. It’s certainly better than acting like a couple of turtles.”
“Turtles?” Harper asked with a frown.
“Yeah, you immortals all pull into yourselves and hide out at home rather than even consider a social life.” She shook her head. “Seriously, I know you all have this thing about life mates and all, and I know you two aren’t life mates, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, does it?” She glared from one to the other, and then said, “If anything, it should free you up to have more fun. Drina, you’re too old for Harper to read, and you’re also too polite to read him, so you could both relax around each other. On top of that, because you aren’t life mates, you won’t be all worried about impressing each other and can just relax and enjoy each other’s company and have some fun.”
She let that sink in, and then sat back in her seat, and announced militantly, “Maybe it’s because I’m new to this, but I plan to date like crazy before I settle down with any life mate. And you two should as well. You’re both lonely and miserable. What can it hurt to go out and let your hair down?”
Drina stared at the girl, amazement sliding through her. Stephanie was frighteningly brilliant. By saying they weren’t life mates, she’d just cleared the way for Harper to agree to an outing. And by saying that age was the reason Harper wouldn’t be able to read her, she’d eliminated the possibility that he might try to read her, find out he couldn’t, and panic. She’d basically just cleared away any protest Harper might come up with for spending time with her and freed him to do so if he wished without feeling guilty that he was enjoying himself when Jenny was dead.