“I’ll make you breakfast. Now, Tor –”
He was digging through the fridge (which held milk, Diet Coke, regular Coke, bologna, American cheese, condiments and nothing else) and he didn’t even look at me when he interrupted, “I’ll need new clothing. I do not want to wear the other me’s garments.”
“We’ll go to the mall. Now, Tor –”
He looked down at me and he was grinning and looking weirdly happy so I snapped my mouth shut because it was a good look.
“So, you’re going to cook for me?”
“Uh… sure.”
“Do you have eggs in your world?”
“We do, but I don’t have eggs in my apartment. I’ll have to run to the corner market.”
He let me go and turned to the door, stating, “I’ll go.”
I stared at his muscled back. Then I cried, “Tor!” and followed him. When I hit the living room, he was crouched by the open TV cabinet and reaching in. “What are you doing?”
His head tipped back so he could look at me. “I assume in your world, like my world, vendors expect payment?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Then I need coin,” he said, pulling out a wad of fifties and looking at it. “Paper. Unusual,” he muttered and looked at me while straightening out of his crouch. “King Baldur prints paper funds. It’s worthless. It’s printed at vast amounts beyond the gold and silver in his reserve. He expects tax payment in coin and trading in paper. This way does not work and his people are becoming restless.”
That was fascinating but I was more focused on him using Cora’s money.
“Um… maybe we should leave that money where it is. I’ve got a twenty in my wallet. I’ll give you that,” I told him and started to my purse.
“You will not,” he stated firmly, I stopped and blinked at him.
“So, what are you going to use? You can’t get a job at a fast food joint and make enough to buy us breakfast in time for said breakfast.”
“Cora’s money is our money. We’ll use that,” he told me.
“No, actually, I think we should figure out what’s going on with it and not use it. It isn’t ours.”
“She owes us,” he declared.
“How?” I asked, confused.
“I don’t know. I just know she does.”
“What?”
He walked to me. “Cora, whatever is happening, to you, to me, is her doing. I know it. This blue mist, this is at her command or her request. I don’t know if she has the situation under her control or if it has started controlling her. Unless you study under an apprentice for years and pass exams, it’s against the law in my world to practice magic. It’s against the law because it’s very dangerous. I know that Cora has not done this. What I also know is that, whatever is happening, she’s behind it. So, if she has earned this money, through nefarious means or not, she owes it to us. And furthermore, you, as my wife, do not pay for your keep, except…” he paused and grinned, “with a kiss.”
“Tor –” I started to remind him I actually wasn’t his wife and to ask about this apprenticing magic business (I knew they had wizards or something in his world!) but stopped when he bent in and brushed his mouth to mine.
When he lifted up, he started to my bedroom.
“Tor!” I snapped.
“I’ll dress, go to this store and be back in a minute.”
“Tor!” I repeated, my voice rising and I stomped to the bedroom doorway.
Tor had his back to me and was whipping off the towel. I saw his sculpted, fine ass and decided, what the f**k? He wanted to use Cora’s money? I’d let him.
Then I ran to the kitchen.
* * *
When Tor got back from the market, he brought with him eggs and a packet of bacon.
However, considering he carried three bags in each hand, I knew he bought much more.
“Jeez, did you buy everything in the store?” I asked as I followed him to the kitchen.
“This store is curious. Everything is wrapped. You cannot see the wares you’re buying except, in some cases, through little windows. How do you know all is as it should be?” he asked, pulling out a box of donuts then a bag of chips then out came a gargantuan candy bar.
“You just do,” I told him. “If it isn’t, it’s against the law, I think. False advertising or something.”
He turned his head to look at me.
“Curious,” he muttered, pulling out a stick of beef jerky.
Oh boy.
“I’m taking a shower,” I announced.
At my words, slowly, his head turned to me, his eyes unfocused and directed at my body, then they lifted to mine and he smiled.
It was wicked.
I ran to the bathroom and when I got there, I locked the door.
* * *
After breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast and donuts), I took Tor to the mall.
This was a bizarre experience.
I had figured it would be fascinating to him and he’d be looking around, wide-eyed and amazed.
But like everything else, he took it in stride and acted just like a man. He strolled through the corridors with his arm around my shoulders and followed me through the stores intent on one thing: getting his clothes and getting the f**k out of there.
I guessed Tor wasn’t into shopping.
He took wads of the other Cora’s cash with him and we bought him jeans, tees, shirts, underwear, socks, pajama bottoms, boots and running shoes. We also bought him a money clip, a comb, a brush and an electric razor (the last being the only thing he showed even the slightest bit of interest in).
We were loaded down with bags, him carrying the heavier ones, and headed back to the car when I noticed something strange.
People were staring at us.
If they were simply staring at Tor, I wouldn’t have been surprised. He was a big guy, he had a scar, not to mention, he was hot. But they weren’t just looking at him (well, some of the women were). They were looking at us.
I was trying to figure out why when Tor spoke.
“Your clothing yesterday, love, I must say, was not to my taste. But today, what you’re wearing…” I tipped my head to look up at him to see he was looking down at me. “Your hair,” he went on, “what you’ve done with your face. I like it.”
I quickly looked away.
I’d gone all out telling myself it was because I missed my stuff and anyway, we were going to my folks for dinner that night so I had to look nice. The truth of it was, I had planted myself firmly in denial to the fact that I’d dressed for Tor.