Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
The next four days pass by in a blur of helping flood cleanup, Caleb working quietly with his laptop at Sugar & Salt.
I’m back to filling online orders, no sign of the octopi, and we’ve settled into an easy domestic bliss at home.
We share cooking and cleanup duty, with a sort of ease and competence and confidence that I never could have imagined fifteen years ago.
And the nights — the nights are full of his skin, his lips, his arms around me, and a sort of frantic feeling of time closing in on us as the waxing moon phase nears.
The ritual hangs over our heads, and the feeling that we’re catching up for lost time, every minute feels better, easier than the last.
And the longer I stay at Watchmere Light, cozy in Caleb’s arms in the little nest we’ve created together, the more I wonder if he does have the right idea about skipping the getting-to-know-you-again parts and diving into a lifetime together with eyes open and hands held.
But he’s not going to be living at Watchmere Light.
This isn’t real — our little habits we’ve formed now, him waking me up with the pistachio lattes, massaging my back and watching me comb my hair, snuggling close at night, easy lunches, and work — because the minute the ritual happens, it could all fall apart.
I sigh, tying a ribbon around a box and turning back to my laptop, wheels turning in my head.
Our grandmother’s on the first flight back up here to visit once her artist retreat ends, but at that point it’ll be the full moon, and the ritual will have passed, and we’ll know for sure — or I will know for sure — if Caleb will be scared off or not.
Then there’s the whole vision of the snake, the massive black bird, and the shattering glass bothering me too.
You know, small apocalyptic witchy things and future relationship problems.
I stare at the window, like maybe the answers will manifest between now and tonight. Caleb didn’t come with me to Sugar & Salt today. Instead, he’s back at Watchmere Light, finishing packing up the boxes of his uncle’s life.
He might be packing up and leaving again after tonight, too.
“Dammit.” I’m a mess.
I’m scared the ritual’s going to go wrong. I’m scared that he’s going to decide this isn’t what he wants after all, because tonight is not the cozy quirky witchiness he’s grown accustomed to.
I still want Caleb to be different. I want him to see me, all of me, and not run away. Wanting it doesn’t mean it will happen, though.
I flip the sign to Closed on the front door of Sugar and Salt, and Gunner’s nails click across the black and white floor as he greets me with a soft sound, rubbing his velvety ears against my knee and body.
“Hey,” I tell him. The mere pressure of his sleepy body against mine relieves a solid portion of my stress. “You have a good nap?”
“Yeah. You two kept me up all night again, so I really needed it.”
“You don’t have to listen,” I tell him, both amused and annoyed all at once.
“I can’t help it,” he says. “Not trying to listen to you two acting like absolute monkeys.”
“Gross,” I tell him.
“You’re the one doing it,” he says.
I laugh and head back to the counter, doing one last check to make sure everything is clean.
Posey managed to get my espresso machine up and running again, and it’s been strange to not come into work and make a latte right away, because Caleb’s been the one making them for me.
It hasn’t gotten nearly as much use this week because everyone’s been so busy picking up from the flood and catching up on work they missed while they were helping everyone else out.
I give the machine a little pat, head to the back, finishing up my closing chores by making sure that everything is put away, the fridges are closed, powers on, generators fired up just in case the town loses power if there’s another freak storm tonight.
“You’re stalling,” Gunner accuses.
“So what?” I tell him. He’s not wrong.
“Get over it.”
I blink. “You don’t have to be rude.”
“Yeah, really. You can’t put it off forever.” Gunner stares at me, like he’s daring me to disagree.
“I know that,” I tell him, “but I also own this business, and I have to make sure that if we cause something to happen tonight that I’m not going to lose everything in the fridges and all of my hard work out front, or that there’s going to be some kind of freak fire—”
“Stop,” he interrupts my anxious diatribe. His tongue lolls out. “It’s going to be fine,” Gunner says quietly.
“You can’t know that.” It comes out sharper than I meant.
“Don’t take out how weird you feel about Caleb with me. I’m not going anywhere, and if you get sassy with me, you face the consequences.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask, untying my apron and hanging it on the peg where it goes. “What are the consequences?”
“I will fart on you. In your sleep. Mouth open.”
“What the hell?” My nose wrinkles.
“Oh yeah, and I will absolutely eat something that makes them horrible,” he says. “Cheese? You bet. Milk? I’ll figure out a way to get it.”
“You wouldn’t,” I tell him.
“I would,” he says.
“Come on,” I finally tell him, giving up on arguing with the dog.
He follows me out the back door, and I lock it, knowing he’s right. I am absolutely stalling.
We set out for the beach and Watchmere Light.
Gunner’s panting by the time we get to the old lighthouse, and my hair whips around my face in the wind that smells like rain. Lightning forks across the sky, still distant enough that it’s a few minutes before we hear the roll of thunder.
Caleb’s truck isn’t in its usual spot. A pang goes through me at his absence, like a phantom limb, and I wonder how hard it will be if he leaves again.
No sooner have I thought it than an engine sounds, and gravel crunches under his tires as he rolls up.
I let myself stare as he gets out of the car.
A little ogling, as a treat.
“Where’ve you been?” I ask him by way of greeting. “The cake shop?” I smack his butt, and he grunts in surprise before laughing.
“Is that how you say hello?” he says.
He wraps me in his arms and gives me a long kiss.
“I was putting out orange cones and roping off the section of the beach. I figured you four wouldn’t want anybody wandering down here.”
I point to the ominous clouds in the sky. “I don’t think anyone was going to come out tonight anyway,” I say.
He follows my finger with his eyes. “Better safe than sorry.”
“Thank you.” I squeeze his side. “I should’ve led with that,” I admit.
“You should’ve,” he agrees. “But who am I if I’m not gonna use my coastal conservation gear for my personal gain? Also, I liked the ass smack. For the record.”
“Noted.” I pause. “And it’s for the whole town, not just for you.”
He gives me a long look that’s full of heat in a way that makes my stomach clench. “Yeah, but I get to reap a much more fun reward than they do.” He gives me another peck on the lips, and then he smacks my butt right back.
I dance away, laughing. “If you play your cards right,” I say, but the words come out stilted.
Caleb frowns, and I settle back in his arms. Seabirds call to each other overhead, and I lean into him, listening to the rush of waves on the shore.
He rubs between my shoulder blades gently. “I know you’re scared, but I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay,” I say. If he wants to live in this fantasy for a little while longer, there’s no harm in that. The only true test will be how he reacts when we are done setting the ward.
A second later, my sisters drive up and pour out of the car like a three-ring circus, full of chaos. Fig flutters over Rose’s head, Oatmeal skitters like a long white noodle across the ground behind Posey, and to my surprise, a very fat raccoon climbs out of the car behind Hazel.
“Gang’s all here,” Caleb whisper conspiratorially. He squeezes my hip.
“More like the clown car.”
“You ready for some serious magic?” Hazel calls out. If she’s nervous as I am, she’s not showing it.
“You didn’t tell me that you got a familiar.” I’d guessed, but seeing the hugely overweight raccoon is still strange.
Hazel gives me a long look. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay,” I say.
“That’s fine. We have other things to take care of,” Posey says. She puts a hand over her mouth and whispers loudly to me, “Hazel’s familiar is an absolute menace.”
Rose nods in agreement as Hazel staunchly ignores them both. The raccoon in question scratches it’s butt.
I clear my throat. “Your ankle is feeling better?” I ask her. I haven’t made time to see them since the first day we helped clean up the flood.
“Much,” she says. “Just a nasty sprain. Still bruised, but it’s fine.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I tell her.
“I have lasagna in the oven,” Caleb says his arm slung around my shoulder, “I picked it up from Nonna’s, along with a bunch of garlic bread and some cannoli, and—” he pauses for dramatic effect. “Chocolate chip cheesecake.”
“Yes,” Rose tells him. “No matter how Ivy ends up dumping you, I want you to know that you’re still welcome to feed the rest of us.”
“Geez,” I say. “Out of pocket.”
Caleb just laughs hysterically, a little too loudly if you ask me. I glare at him.
“Well when I’m your brother-in-law I’ll make sure you don’t go hungry,” he says.
“He is — no — we’re not getting married yet—” I stammer. Fuck me.
“What?” Posey screams. “You’re doing what?”
“He’s just joking,” I tell them.
“He’s so not joking,” Hazel says, looking between Caleb and me. “I just don’t think you’ve figured that out yet.”
“Whatever,” I say to them.
“Yeah, you better listen to her,” Caleb says seriously. “She gets pretty angry if she hasn’t eaten.”
“I ate lunch,” I tell them.
“No, you didn’t,” Caleb says.
“She probably had some crackers in between cooking and closing,” he says.
“That is exactly what she did,” Gunner says.
“I told you, I know you pretty well.” He boops me on the nose.
I throw my hands up. “Let’s get this started, okay? Let’s just get it over with.”