Page 10 of Time After Time

“Jean, she wants to get married, have children,” Tanya cuts him off. “She worries…you know…that it’ll be too late and she won’t be able to….”

Have children? My blood surges. She wants a baby? The idea of her being pregnant…with another man’s child…it’s a hot poker through my eyes.

“And LASIK is going to help with that?” Jean shakes his head.

“Well notonlyLASIK…actually”—Tanya sighs elaborately—"it’s got nothing to do with LASIK, well it does and…it doesn’t. It’s more about getting her out and about, dating, putting herself out there. She datedthatmusician jerk a year and a half ago.”

Jean is old-fashioned when it comes to economics, but not when it comes to his daughter being married off to eligible bachelors, as Tanya wants, thinking life is another version ofPride and Prejudice, he gets hisfeminist back up. “Ember’s marital status is no one’s business but Ember’s.”

Calypso is about to say something, but I squeeze her shoulder in warning.

Tanya is family, and she can argue the point with Jean, but even she won’t because she heard the steel in his voice. He’ll tolerate it, regardless, because she’s Margot’s sister.

But Calypso is a veritable stranger. And they know that just because I brought her over for a holiday doesn’t mean a damn thing. I made sure Calypso knows that, too, but I’m getting the impression that she did read more into this trip than I intended.

She’s a bedmate and good company. We’ve been seeing each other for a few months now. I thought we’d make it at least until next summer. Now, I’m not sure we’ll make it past the flight home to San Francisco, especially after she unsheathed her claws and took a swipe at Ember.

“Why don’t we see if Margot needs our assistance?” I rise, pulling Calypso up with me.

She looks baffled but lets me lead her out of the room.

“You’re a guest,” I tell her as soon as we’re alone in the empty dining room.

She cocks her head, confused.

I hold her gaze. I don’t want her to misunderstand what I’m about to say. “Please don’t get into familial discussions about Ember or anyone else.”

“Excuse me?” She’s incredulous.

“They are worried about Ember, so they talk about her and to her. Margot and Tanya want her to get a new wardrobe and haircut or whatever. Freja wants Ember to just be happy. Aksel wants to protect her. And Jean wants everyone to shut the fuck up about his youngest daughter’s love life.”

“Or lack thereof,” Calypso quips.

I control my temper and continue as if she hasn’t spoken. “What we don’t need is you interjecting yourself?—”

“I was just trying to be helpful and?—”

“—into that spectacle,” I ignore her cutting me off. “It wasn’t particularly nice of you to pile onto the ‘let’s bitch about how Ember looks’bandwagon.”

She’s taken aback.

No doubt.

I’m usually polite and deferential. I don’t ever get angry or even irritated. Even now, as I’m talking to her, I’m calm and controlled. I could just as well be asking her how she likes her lamb cooked.Pink in the center?

“You don’t have to be rude, Ransom.”

“Not being rude, Cali, just telling you the way things are in this house.”

“You were short with Tanya. You’re a guest, too,” she throws back at me.

So, maybe I shouldn’t have asked her to join me.

I don’t like how childish Calypso is behaving. How quickly her insecurities surface, like now, when shestomps her feet like a teenager, instead of agreeing that she’d been out of line.

“I am family. You’re not.” I pause, let that settle in, and then, before she can respond, I smile, throwing her off. “Why don’t I find a glass of Bordeaux for you? The Rousseaus have an excellent wine cellar.”

She doesn’t quite know how to respond. She swallows. Nods.