Page 107 of Horn in My Side
Jasmine dashed back to the counter and picked up the phone.“Fantastic Tails and Magical Scales, this is Jasmine speaking.How may I help you?”
“Greetings, Jasmine,” said the heavily accented female voice on the other end.“May I please speak with Mal of Urduk Horde?”
“I’m so sorry, he’s not in today.”
“I see.When do you expect him back?”
“Not until tomorrow, maybe?Would you like to leave a message?I can write down your number and he can call you back.”
“It’s rather urgent,” the caller emphasized.“But I suppose this would be the fastest way to communicate with him.All right, please do take a message for me.”
Jasmine grabbed a pencil and a piece of paper.“What’s your name?”
“Grok of Harvik Horde.”
“And what’s your message?”
“Please tell him that I would like to confirm he got our email since he hasn’t responded ...”
She scribbled on the paper.“Yeah ...”
“And that could he please reply as soon as possible if he wants to accept the job.”
“Uh-huh.”Scratch, scratch, scratch.“And which job is that specifically?”
“The new historical center.”
“The new—” Jasmine froze, the tip of the pencil stopping in the middle of writing the “w”.“I—excuse me?Did you say the historical center?Theorchistorical center?”
“Yes.Why?Has he bid on other historical centers?”
“No, no.None that I know of.”She bit her lip.“Uhm, okay, I’ll make sure he gets this message.”
“Thank you.”
Click.
Jasmine wasn’t sure how long she’d been standing there with the phone against her ear, but the monotonous dial tone was still droning when she snapped to her senses.Her stomach clenched tight, and her chest contracted, preventing oxygen from reaching her lungs.
Mal got the job.
And apparently, he’d known about it for some time now, but hadn’t told her.
What happened to their promise to be honest with each other?
She gripped the edge of the counter, a wave of dizziness washing over her as the blood rushed to her ears at a breakneck pace.
Wait, she told herself.Don’t jump to conclusions.There had to be a good explanation for this.What if he’d missed that email and hadn’t known all this time?
Unlikely, considering how much he’d been on his phone this past week.
“Calm down,” she muttered.“There has to be—”
Ding ding dong!
Her head whipped to the door, but before she could greet the customer, her stomach swooped when she saw who it was.
Mal strode in, holding up a white to-go cup in his hand.“Had to take a break.Figured you could use a cup too.”
