"What was that?" Mortimer asked quietly.
"She pointed out that, after you turn me, I would still have ten years to try to find them life mates. She said I was just afraid, and I think-no, I know now she was right."
"Afraid of what, Sam?" Mortimer asked with quiet concern. "The pain of turning?"
"No ... Although that's scary on its own," she admitted on a wry laugh. Her voice was more serious when she added, "But really I was afraid that you would wake up one day and realize ... well, that I'm just me," she finished helplessly.
"I don't understand. I know who you are, Sam. What-?"
"I know, but-This is silly, but, while I'm smart, and hardworking, and basically nice, I'm not ..." Sam's voice was slightly embarrassed as she said, "Well, I'm just not some sexy, gorgeous vamp type of gal who can hold the attention of a guy like you for eternity."
"Honey, you're beautiful. I-"
"I look like Olive Oyl, Mortimer." The words burst into the air on a breath of exasperation, as if she thought that should be obvious.
Cale tore the now-empty bag from his mouth and glanced to Bricker with confusion, his voice a bare whisper as he asked, "Olive Oyl?"
Bricker removed his own bag and explained in a hushed tone, "Popeye's girlfriend." When Cale continued to stare at him blankly, he rolled his eyes. "She's a cartoon character; dark hair, huge eyes, and spindly as a stick figure. Sam is-"
"Honey, I have eyes. I know you look like Olive Oyl."
Bricker stopped his explanation on a low curse and squeezed his eyes closed briefly. He then turned his head back toward the door, muttering with disgust, "You old guys are so bloody smooth. Honestly."
Cale would have liked to argue the point, but really, even he-who hadn't bothered with women in what seemed like forever-knew Mortimer's words had been the wrong thing to say. Obviously, Mortimer realized it too because he began to babble, "I mean, you're beautiful to me. I love your smile and the way your eyes twinkle when you're amused or teasing and-"
"But I still look like Olive Oyl," Sam said in tones that made it obvious she wasn't impressed with the man's efforts to save the situation.
"Not really." There was a distinct lack of conviction in Mortimer's voice, but it was stronger when he added, "Look, honey, the point is, I don't see you through rose-colored glasses. My love isn't based on some shallow fantasy image of you, and I'm not going to suddenly wake up one day and notice you have knobby knees."
"Knobby knees?" she cried.
"I-No," he assured her quickly, sounding a bit panicked now. "No, of course they aren't knobby. I just mean I know exactly how you look. I do see you, and you're what I want, not some silly fantasy like Jessica Rabbit was."
"Jessica Rabbit?" Sam echoed with disbelief. "You had fantasies about Jessica Rabbit? A cartoon rabbit?"
Cale's eyebrows rose at that. He'd been alive a long time and had fantasized about a lot of things, but never a cartoon rabbit.
"Well not as a rabbit," Mortimer muttered, sounding a bit chagrined. "And not as a cartoon character. I wasn't really-I mean, I didn't want to hook up with her or anything. She was just a representation of the type of woman I thought I might end up with."
"Voluptuous and sexy," Sam suggested.
"Exactly," Mortimer said, sounding relieved.
Cale didn't need Bricker's groan to tell him that was possibly the stupidest thing the man could say. Dark hair, huge eyes, and a stick figure didn't suggest voluptuous and sexy to him.
"Mortimer," Sam said, her voice hard, "I'm neither voluptuous nor sexy. If that's what you want, why spend eternity with me?"
"Honey, you are sexy. You're smart, and brains are really sexy as hell."
"Right," Sam snapped, obviously not buying that line.
"Gad!" Bricker barked.
When the younger immortal leapt off his stool and hurried toward the dining-room door, Cale followed. He entered the room on the other man's heels, his eyes moving with interest over the couple peering toward them with surprise.
Bricker's description of dark hair, big eyes, and spindly as a stick figure fit Sam, Cale decided. It was probably also the most unattractive way to put it. The woman did have dark hair, but only in that it wasn't blond. There were tints of light brown and even red in her hair that made for a lush, almost auburn. As for her eyes, Cale had always found large eyes an attractive feature, but they did tend to dominate this woman's thin face. He suspected they would be lovely if she had a little more meat on her to round her cheeks out a bit. Actually, the woman could have done with a little more rounding everywhere. Her body was on the point of being emaciated. It made him wonder if she didn't have some ailment of the thyroid or something.
He shifted his gaze to Garrett Mortimer then, but barely got an impression of fair hair and a muscular body before Bricker paused before the couple, and snapped, "For cripes sake, you two! What are you doing? Sam, you love Mortimer, and he loves you, and that's what he's trying to tell you, he's just too stupid to get it out right. But he loves and wants you just the way you are." He shook his head with disgust. "You should be secure in that knowledge by now for God's sake. The two of you have been going at it like a pair of bunnies for months, with no sign of letting up."