Page 74 of Heart of Stone

Did I have to tell him about that? The angel and the devil? The stupid, childlike subconscious that had been ruling me lately?

I couldn’t think of a time when I’ve ever felt more foolish in my life.

I looked over at the mug on the nightstand and peered inside at its contents. It was an amber colored liquid with a lemon floating in it. I picked up the mug and took a whiff of the concoction. It smelled like herbal tea. I slowly took a hesitant sip and had to force back a gag at the sickly sweet taste.

What the hell is this stuff?

It certainly wasn’t anything that I kept in the house.

However, after a moment, my parched taste buds recognized that it was in fact something from my kitchen. It was brewed chamomile tea with a ridiculous amount of honey. The lemon was probably to help me detox. Having finally realized what I was drinking, I greedily threw back the entire mug, my mouth and body desperately screaming to be hydrated.

Surprisingly, my rolling stomach settled after only a few moments, allowing me the strength to climb out of bed. I grabbed the bottle of aspirin and went to the kitchen to get more of Alexander’s miracle elixir.

When I entered the kitchen, I found a loaf of bread waiting for me on the counter.

Dry toast.

Alexander must have left the bread out for me. And, as promised, there was more tea waiting for me in the refrigerator. I smiled at his thoughtfulness, but his actions made me feel even more ridiculous.

I thought about how to handle the events of last night, as I put two pieces of bread in the toaster. My brain felt fuzzy and putting my thoughts in order was a struggle.

I owe him an apology for sure, but I definitely don’t want to call him.

There was no way I would be able to have an actual conversation with Alexander after my irresponsible drunken behavior. After the way that I had acted last night, I was sure that he’d want to cancel our plans for this evening, however tentative they may have been. I had to come up with a way to give him an out, as he was probably just trying to be nice in his note.

I needed to be realistic.

Why would the sophisticated Alexander Stone want anything to do with a boozing twit like me?

I wanted to just send him a text, but that seemed too impersonal for some reason. Then I remembered that he had programmed his email address into my phone.

Maybe an email would be better.

In an email, I could say a bit more, and maybe even make a joke about my embarrassing angel and devil revelation. Then I could give him the opportunity to bow out gracefully.

The bread popped from the toaster, and the smell of it provoked a hungry growl from my stomach. Skipping the butter as Alexander had suggested, I placed the dry toast on a plate and went back to my room. Once there, I sat at my desk and fired up the laptop. On the screen was the agreement that I had written up the night before.

Probably no need for that now.

But I saved the document just in case. Once it was saved, I archived the document into a folder and exited out of the screen to open my inbox.

TO: Alexander Stone

FROM: Krystina Cole

SUBJECT: My Apologies

To The Devil On My Shoulder,

Thank you for taking care of me last night, but I must apologize for being such a lush. I am not in the habit of losing self-control the way that I did and I hope that you do not use last night as a reflection of my true character. But, either way, after my behavior, I would completely understand it if you wanted to cancel our plans for this evening.

Sincerely,

Krystina Cole

I thought my words were apologetic and tactful all at the same time. I gave him the chance to withdraw his invitation, without sounding too pathetic.

Perfect.

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