Page 77 of Destined for Shadows
Cori glanced Bartol’s way, expression concerned, then turned back to Hayden. “Uh, yeah, maybe.”
“Seriously. You’ve got my number, so give me a call,” the human said, taking his credit card back and giving her an earnest look.
She smiled weakly. “I’ll think about it.”
They spoke for another minute before the man left. Bartol was so tense from keeping himself still and not attacking that it took a while after Hayden departed before he could move again. By the time he did, Cori had gone off to the supply room. Bartol found her in front of a large, square metal box with buttons and a small screen on it.
“I just need a few minutes to start the autoclave. After that, we can work on closing the shop,” she said with her back to him.
“What is an autoclave?” he asked.
Cori pressed some buttons. “It sterilizes my equipment, so I can reuse certain metal parts with other customers.”
“I thought you always replace the needles.” She’d mentioned something about that before, and how it helped prevent spreading infection.
“I do,” she confirmed. “But there are other parts I can’t afford to replace every time, so I put them through a sterilization process. Hospitals do the same thing.”
Bartol would have to take her word for it. He appreciated cleanliness more than most, but in this modern age they took it to another level he’d never imagined. “What do you wish to do about dinner?”
She finished with the metal box and turned toward him. “Think we can grab pizza?”
“I could eat that,” he agreed. In fact, it was one of his favorite meals.
“Good.” She gave him a smile that made him feel like he was the only man in the world. “We should be done here soon and then we can go.”
His previous anger fled. It occurred to him then that Cori might have been polite to Hayden earlier, but the human man was gone and she would go home with Bartol. The trouble with that was he didn’t know what to do with her there. Either he’d have to take Melena’s suggestion and try harder with Cori, or he’d have to make himself let her go. He wasn’t certain which option would be more difficult for him.
