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"Hey, there" His voice was still the saood to see you, Novo"

She’d wondered for a long time how this would play out What it would be like to see him, scent him, hear him speak She had always assumed she would be crippled with pain and that tears, those hated external signs of weakness, would blur her sight and leak out onto her cheeks Her heart would thunder, her palht

This was not a full-grown ood, no e, he would always be as such This was someone who needed a Sophy, somebody ould provide him with the contours of his life, tell him what his wardrobe should be, order him into some situations and out of others

Novo had ascribed h hard experience wiped that away

"Good to see you, too," she murmured

His eyes roamed around the huram"

"I am"

"Pretty i?"

"It’s a lot of work But it’s good I’m happy with it"

She stopped there for two reasons: One, she didn’t think it was any of his business, and two, she didn’t want to see" Now his eyes shifted to hers and stayed put "I mean, ever since I first met you…you were different"

"Sophy has her own unique characteristics" She shrugged "To each their own"

"Yes To each…"

As he let the sentence drift, she expected him to say a quick, aard buh-bye and head back to Mama, as it were But he didn’t He just stared at her

Novo was the one who broke the eye contact And yup, guess who’d had enough of the reunion BS?

Sophy came up to her male and linked her arot to her feet "I’ to head out, Soph"

"Oh, you er" Those eyes narrowed "It’s the least you can do considering that Sheri has had to do all the work for tonight and for the wedding ceremony"

On that, the feht with her--after she made him take his coat off and leave it at the table

Novo dropped back in her chair The way she looked at it, she could either blow another thirty minutes here, or end up with double that on her phone later tonight and to at the table, she didn’t have to talk to anyone

Sophy’s blond hair gleahts above the dance floor, and her thin body in its floaty dress er The pair of theht on the precipice of the rest of their lives

Provided you didn’t look too closely

As Oskar held his fe over her head, his expression bland On her side, Sophy was talking to hi with that Proactiv commercial smile of hers, the one where she was just so Happy and Centered in Her Life Clearly, there was trouble in paradise Then again, it wasn’t unco cere traditions and being Queen for the night--

"Fancyyou here"

Novo jumped out of her chair and spun around "Peyton?"

It sure the hell was The fighter was standing right behind her, and he was dressed as if he were on the way to one of his clubs, his slick suit and open-collar shirt the kind of thing you could get aith in Caldwell this ti here?" she asked

He looked around "Just thought I’d drop by for some overpriced, badly prepared, pseudo-French food in the company of human posers and vampire suck-ups--and oh, hey, ’urprise, I find you here Not your usual gig, is it"

"Not even close And you really were just dropping in?"

"Yeah Totally Absolutely dumb luck"