Thanks again to all of my reviewers! I'm having so much fun writing this story, and I'm glad you like it!
A few minutes later there was another knock on the door and Meryl glanced up, wondering if Milly had forgotten something. She stood up and put her hand on the knob, "What did you forget this time…" Meryl trailed off as she looked up at the priest. He was cleanly shaven, suit pressed, eyes twinkling, and she swallowed as a smile came to his face.
"Expecting someone else?"
Meryl shrugged, turned around a bit too fast and it made her dizzy. But when the blood returned to her head she went and sat down at the table. "No, just thought that Milly may have changed her mind and decided to tell Mr. Vash she wouldn't go out to breakfast with him."
Wolfwood snickered, "Still playing I take it?"
Nodding, Meryl took her coffee cup in her hands and looked at it disdainfully, it was cold. She glanced at the priest, "You want some coffee? I'm going to make another pot."
"Sure," he sat down at the table and waited patiently as she measured out the ground coffee and turned on the coffee maker. Meryl didn't want to look at him, his words were still on her mind from yesterday, and truth be told she hadn't gotten any work done since then. She typed, but everything she wrote was nonsense and when a paper was finished, it was dumped into the waste basket. It was nearly full now. A chair squeaked and after a soft cough Wolfwood said, "You been thinking about my offer?"
Meryl's heart started to beat in her chest. Suddenly it occurred to her that she was completely alone with him now. This wasn't like the night before where they were in a public place, this was a private hotel room. She bit her lip and tried not to spill the coffee as her hands started to shake as she poured. "I think I'll manage to break them up on my own, but thank you for the offer."
"If they're out together today than whatever your first plan was didn't work very well, did it?" Wolfwood chuckled and leaned back in his chair as Meryl turned to hand him a coffee mug. He looked down at it, and then up at her with those deeply mysterious eyes. "You ready for plan B?"
Swallowing, Meryl sat down in her chair, pushed her typewriter to the side and when she felt she'd composed herself enough she looked up at him. "Plan A will work."
"What was it?"
"Milly has until Vash leaves May City or she'll be fired."
Wolfwood sipped his coffee and tilted his head to the side, "You think if she likes this game so much that she won't tell Needle Noggin that?"
Meryl's mouth dropped open and she swore under her breath. The priest was thoroughly impressed, and he was about to say something when Meryl glared at him, "They'll stay here forever unless we do something."
"Indeed," the priest mused. He smiled mischievously, "So we have to get them to leave. It won't be easy either because if Vash is enjoying this as much as the big girl, then he could find a way to stay as long as he pleased. The trick is, we need to find a reason they can't stay here any longer." He sipped his coffee as Meryl thought about the possibilities. After a moment he set his mug down and leaned across the table, "We need to find a way to get the people of May City to make him leave."
"But there aren't any outlaws within ten iles of here after you shot them all two days ago," Meryl said, her mind going over all the possibilities. "Although the heads of the contest aren't happy about what you did, the sheriff was pleased to finally have proof of something corrupt during that contest and other people in the town like him just fine."
Wolfwood nodded, "So he's made a few friends. I can deal with that. You ready to hear my plan?"
Meryl sat for a moment looking at her coffee and then raised her head. "Okay… What do you propose?"