Demi and Marina, 5:30
The woman standing before her wasn’t familiar in the least bit and while normally she could plastered on the friendliest of smiles and pretended (for a short while anyway) to be pleasant. Her ability to be cheery and happy whilst men she considered family sat rotting away in La Quinta, was in fact just a little on the thin side lately. Demi was just about to open her mouth to snap at the other woman as to how she knew her name, when Vic’s name followed shortly after and the pang in her heart distracted her enough from being snappish to this stranger.
“I am,” Demi finally answered once the ache in her chest had dulled. “Can I ask you, Marina, why exactly it is that Vic’s been talking to you about me?” A whole manner of possibilities had cropped up in the short time the two women had been staring at each other. Some of which were far more outlandish than others. “And I do hope it was only good stories he told.” She added, her smile tight around the edges and she fought to keep the emotion out of her voice as she thought about her adopted dad inside the walls of what used to be a hotel and not felt more like hell.