Maelstrom Extra: Fickle Djinn

Kalila smoothed an imaginary wrinkle in her skirt. “I’ve changed my mind.”

Ricky didn’t take his eyes off the road. “About what?”

“The photo shoot.” She flipped down the visor and scowled at her reflection in the vanity mirror. “I don’t like this outfit.”

Ricky darted a glance her way, then returned to monitoring the traffic. The exit was easy to miss and they were running late. “You look fine.”

Kalila leaned back in her seat and pouted. “I should’ve worn something darker, something with less sparkle.”

“Well, it’s too late now.” He checked the lane next to him and moved over. “I had to call in a lot of favors to get you this opportunity, so I can’t reschedule. Besides,” he slowed down as he eased the Lexus off the freeway and onto the access road. “You asked me to buy you that outfit. You said it would be perfect.”

“I changed my mind.”

“So unchange it.” Ricky set his jaw and fixed his eyes on the cars ahead of him as if by ignoring her, he could forget he had a fickle djinn in the passenger seat. As they passed a series of small boutiques, though, she grabbed his arm and pointed.

“Over there. It’ll only take a minute.”

Ricky shook off her grip. “No. Now will you please quit the diva behavior? You look terrific. You always do.”

When they got to the studio, Kalila stalked into the building without so much as glancing his way, and ducked into the first ladies’ room she could find. Ricky waited outside the door, glancing at his watch and pacing. They were late. Her hair looked fine. Djinns didn’t need to use the restroom. What was she doing in there for so long?

Finally she stepped out, resplendent in black leather and red coral. “What do you think?”

“I think if you were going to conjure a new outfit anyway, you could’ve left off harassing me about it.”

“But the car trip was so boring. I had to do something to pass the time.” She slipped her hand into his. “Now come on. Let’s go see that photographer.”