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"I’m kind of surprised she was openly involved with someone asn’t Nordic," he said An outside castal was considered the saured she would’ve been put in soe"

"Her?" Val’s earlier levity returned "Hell, I don’t think she’s ever dated a Nordic guy At least not as long as I’ve known her"

"But she’s still got Nordic citizenship Seeood terms"

"Apparently not as"And as long as she’s not uy she really likes as s about that bothered Justin One was that Mae had lied about her inability to be with someone like him The other was the subtle assuuy she really liked She was still off-li to his pride relass and offered the;torians realize they wereanother party

"Thanks for the hospitality," Val said, standing up She touched his cheek "I’ll have to repay you soave Justin a wink as she sauntered out Dag started to follow and then turned back "Leave your girl hanging for ot a call fro her off--this tiain"

"Thanks for the parenting tip"

Dag grinned and left with Val

Justin stayed at the table and poured another glass There was a stor he hadn’t experienced in a very long tiulped down half the bourbon and slammed it on the table

He felt like an idiot

It hadn’t seeet any weirder Apparently, he rong Looking back on everything now, he felt sick thinking about some of his behaviors

You’re sick because you’ve been drinking too much, like usual, said Horatio

I’ic love story locked inside her How long does it take to get over so like that? I knew she was sad in Panama I could see it, but I went for it anyway I shouldn’t have

You didn’t know And you were drunk then as well, said the raven

Magnus was kinder You didn’t act alone She went for it too, and she was sober

Why? asked Justin

Because woested he didn’t entirely understand that And you were sad too Like calls to like

My life has improved since then, Justin reflected Well, kind of But hers got worse I knew she wasn’t thrilled about an irregular assignment, but I didn’t knoas a punishant and presu her a hard time over what happened between us, just because I was offended she wasn’t drooling over me I’m as shallow as she claims

When the ravens didn’t deny it, Justin stood up on unsteady legs "I’ to see her"

That’s a bad idea, said Horatio as Justin went inside

It wouldn’t be my first, Justin replied

A check in the mirror showed he was presentable His clothes were neat and unwrinkled Every hair was in place He didn’t even look that drunk

He could feel the ravens’ incredulity at that last thought

He double-checked Mae’s address and then caught the purple line don A transfer took hihborhood, an older but upscale district ell-established trees and pretty brick buildings Mae lived in a town house with cherry trees out front, and he paused to admire it as he stood outside It wasn’t quite as sleek as his last apartment had been, but it was still the kind of place he should’ve ended up in, rather than his sister’s house He really needed to fix that and move to the city

He braced hi to stay cool in the flood of anxiety and eagerness filling hi to say, but if he talked to her, they could fix things He needed to make sense of all of this, to understand why--