Page 70 of Once Upon a Curse for True Love
The sauce was definitely burning now.Donatello switched off the burner, glad for the excuse to turn his back on her while his mind raced to salvage the more important things going up in smoke in front of him.He was trapped between the instinct to fix this for her and the cold reality that he couldn’t—at least not without one of them giving up something.
“I’m being realistic.”The words came out tight, barely controlled.
“You’re over-simplifying.This is my life we’re talking about.My career.My future.And you see it in black or white.Should I just give up on everything I’ve worked for because you’ve decided your job takes precedence?”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” he insisted.“I’m pointing out the facts.One of us has to choose, and I don’t see why it should be me when I’ve been at SMPD for years.”
“Right, because seniority is all that matters,” she spat.“Not talent or opportunity or what might be best for both of us long-term.”
“And you’ve decided that what’s best is for me to walk away from the only career I’ve ever known?”Donatello couldn’t keep the edge from his voice.“That’s rich coming from someone who’s had this job offer in their lap for what, a few hours?”
Andromeda’s eyes narrowed dangerously.“At least I’m willing to consider all our options instead of making unilateral decisions.Has it occurred to you that maybe there’s a middle ground?That we could find a way to make this work?”
“There is no gray area with non-fraternization policies.That’s the whole point.Itisblack and white.”He ran a hand down his face, tired.“Look, I’m not saying your career isn’t important.But other tech jobs won’t require us to sneak around or break up.”
“Same as the many positions in law enforcement,” she countered.“But you’re not even considering those, are you?”
The truth was, he hadn’t.The thought of leaving SMPD made his stomach twist.The department was more than a job to him—it was his identity, his purpose.Walking away from it would’ve been like severing a limb—unthinkable and excruciating.
Andromeda shook her head, the disappointment evident in every line of her beautiful face.“To you, it’s a straightforward choice—you or the job.But you’re asking me to choose between two parts of myself.”
Donatello clenched his jaw.He wanted to argue, to make her see his side, but the words wouldn’t come.
“Well,” he said finally, his voice strained, “when you put it like that, you’re making it very easy for me to see which way you’re leaning.”
She stared at him, hurt flashing across her face before it was replaced by determination.“And you’re making it very easy for me to choose.”
Before he could respond, she turned and walked out of the room—out of the house.Out of his life?
Donatello stood alone in the smoke-choked kitchen, surrounded by the remains of the lunch they’d never share and the echo of words he already regretted.The warmth he’d felt when she’d come home had curdled into guilt.
He’d handled that conversation all wrong.Had he given her an ultimatum?The Andromeda he knew and loved would never back down from a fight, especially not one this important.
And now she was gone, angry and hurt, while he stood in a too-quiet kitchen that echoed with emptiness, wondering if he’d just made the biggest mistake of his life.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Love in the Time of Bureaucracy
ANDROMEDA
Andromeda stormed into her house, slamming the door behind her with enough force to make the picture frames rattle.Hot tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.The nerve of that impossible man, expecting her to sacrifice her career as if it were nothing more than a hobby!She flung her bag onto the couch and stomped to the kitchen, yanking open the freezer with such ferocity that several ice cubes leaped to their deaths on the linoleum floor.Right now, her only comfort came in a carton.
“Your entrance lacks only thunder and lightning to complete the melodrama,” Quill observed from his perch on the kitchen counter, tiny quills bristling with curiosity.“I take it the reunion with Detective Malatesta was less than idyllic?”
Andromeda ignored him, scooping a generous heap of midnight ice cream from the container—dishes were for people whose boyfriends hadn’t given them ultimatums.The magical dessert swirled with constellations of sweetness, tiny stars twinkling in the dark blue base.She marched back to the living room and collapsed onto the couch, feet tucked under her, curling up like a wounded animal.
“Are we not speaking today?”Quill waddled after her with remarkable determination for such tiny legs.“Or has some hex rendered you mute?”
Andromeda had already brought her familiar up to speed on King’s offer that morning when she’d gotten home to check on him and spent a couple of hours on the couch, staring at blank space and wondering what to do.
“He wants me to turn down the job,” Andromeda admitted.She stabbed her spoon into the ice cream with unnecessary violence.“No discussion, no compromise.Just, ‘Sorry, Swan, you can’t take it.’”
Quill climbed onto the coffee table with a series of grunts and huffs that would have been amusing on any other day.
She pressed her lips together, fighting the wobble that threatened to betray her.“He just assumed I’d turn it down.Like his career automatically trumps mine.”
Quill’s tiny face scrunched in sympathy.“I warned you that pursuing romantic relations with your legal supervisor was ill-advised.”
