Page 13 of Starfall

“Your friend Orla read it to me over the phone while I showered.”

She laughed. “That sounds like something she would do. She’s doing well?”

“She is.”

Emery relaxed in relief. “Good. I wasn’t sure.”

“Don’t you wonder about her mother?”

“No. She’s fine. We are connected until she linked to another. It isn’t much of a tether.”

“You can just survive with that?”

“Sure. It doesn’t take much out of me, and what it does is easily replaced.”

He pulled into the restaurant parking lot. “Will you explain how?”

“Feed me, and I will tell you anything.”

Rowen came around and helped her out of the vehicle. “I will bear that in mind.”

She smiled and stepped down, ending up against him for a moment before she pulled back. “Sorry about that.”

He grinned. “Don’t worry. I have plans to be much closer.”

“Whoa. First, you have to feed me.”

“Fair enough. Let’s go in.”

Chapter Three

The place was crowdedfor lunch, but the hostess saw Rowen’s head above the crowd. “Rowen, come on.”

Rowen put his arm around her and smiled. “Hold tight. This place is popular.”

She was held tight to him as they moved through the crowded tables to a booth in the back corner where there was a little more room to breathe.

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