Chapter Thirty #2
“Before or after I knew about your fetish?” he asked.
“It’s not a fetish. It’s a preference.”
Nate strolled up to the bed, sat on top of the covers, and leaned over her until his lips were a breath away from hers. “The way you go on about my choice in clothing edges on fetish,” he whispered.
The fresh scent of soap mixed with Nate filled her nose and made her shiver.
They had fallen asleep in each other’s arms every night since .
. . but Nate hadn’t so much as kissed her briefly.
The way he touched her, at least when he was awake, was mindful and soft.
Like he was afraid she would break if he held her too tight.
Except in his sleep. There his arms held on as if she were a life raft and he’d drown if he let go.
“My obsession has little to do with the sweats and everything to do with the man in them.”
“Is that right?” he whispered, smiling.
She brought her hand to his face and looked him in the eye. “I won’t shatter, you know.”
He dropped his forehead against hers. “I know,” he said on a sigh. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He ran his thumb over the fading bruises on her face.
She slid her good leg down on the bed, and carefully maneuvered the one wrapped in yards of elastic bandaging to stabilize her foot to follow.
Luna did everything she could to stop her wince when her foot caught on the blanket and shot pain up her leg.
She felt Nate flinch.
“Like that,” he said.
Maybe she would shatter . . . a little.
“Maybe it is too soon,” she agreed.
He pressed his lips to hers, but instead of deepening that kiss, he settled next to her, dropping his cheek onto her chest.
Scooting down until she was flat, Luna held him close and enjoyed the soft motion of his hand drawing up and down her leg.
“It kills me to see you in pain,” he told her.
“It feels worse at night,” she admitted. “But it’s getting better.”
“If I had just gotten here a few minutes earlier—”
“Stop,” she interrupted his thoughts. “You kept things from getting worse. Focus on what you did do, not what you couldn’t change.”
Nate squeezed her.
Luna ran her fingers through his hair. She thought about what he’d said in the kitchen, about how he regretted not squeezing the trigger. Hair on her arms rose with the thought. “I’m glad you didn’t kill him,” she said quietly.
Nate stiffened.
“If you ended up in jail, or—”
Nate lifted his head from her chest. “It would have been justified. He was strangling you.”
“But we would have had to defend you, and there’s no telling what the courts would say. Or my mother in that asshole’s defense. It’s better this way. We both know that.”
Nate offered a non-convincing nod and drew away long enough to slide under the covers and pull her into his arms.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you again,” he swore.
She smiled. “Are you going to be my personal bodyguard?”
“If I have to.”
She liked the sound of that. Her eyes started to drift closed. “You know . . . eventually you are going to have to go home,” she said.
“I know. But not tonight.”
“Not tonight,” she agreed.
“Or tomorrow.”
She giggled.
“Sometime next week,” he concluded.
Luna snuggled even closer and attempted to place her bum foot in a position that felt comfortable. “Maybe next week.”
Nate reached over her and switched the light on the nightstand off before wrapping her in his arms for the night.
“You’re going to have to kick me out of this bed.” His words were so quiet, she barely heard him.
Just as quietly she replied, “I’m going to need two good feet to do that.”
She felt his lips on the side of her temple. “Get some sleep. I’ve got you.”
And he did . . . heart, body, and soul.
With a little coaxing, Jorden agreed to visit the house on Queen Anne Hill. Ethel, who seemed to be around every corner when Karen was in the house, had been rather silent since “that night.” Once Jorden heard that, she agreed to come over.
The sun hadn’t quite set, but the full moon was still visible, not that anyone needed to see it to partake in a letting go ceremony.
And that’s what Luna wanted. What both Miley and Luna wanted.
A bonus was Harper joining them.
Something Luna had noticed happening more often.
“What is Jerry doing tonight?” Luna asked her sister while the three of them prepared for Jorden to arrive.
“He said poker.”
“Is he any good at it?” Miley asked. “Or is poker night code for the guys all sitting around drinking and bitching about their wives?”
Luna laughed. That she could see.
They were in the kitchen preparing a simple dinner. The kind with a salad, fruit and cheese plate, and wine. Although Luna was happy with sparkling water. Something she’d taken to since “that night.” Even without a threat, it felt right to keep a clear head.
“Probably the latter,” Harper replied.
“What could he possibly have on you to bitch about?” Luna asked.
“My discomfort with his unemployment.”
Luna stopped arranging cheese on the plate and looked at her sister. “Not again.”
Harper released a long, frustrated breath. “I’m over it. He keeps chasing the big gold ring with these start-ups and ends up with the plastic booby prize. I told him, if sixteen-year-olds can figure out how to make six figures on the internet, someone with his degree should be able to do the same.”
“What did he say to that?” Miley asked.
“That he was better at doomscrolling social media than he was posting on it. Sometimes I think I’m married to an overgrown high schooler. One waiting for the perfect summer job that doesn’t actually require him to work.”
The sound of a car driving in suggested Jorden had arrived.
Luna wiped her hands on a kitchen towel to greet their guest.
“Maybe he can be a professional poker player,” Luna teased.
“Bite your tongue. It’s one thing not to make money, it’s something else entirely if he is actively losing it.”
Luna stepped out the side door as Jorden was exiting her car, a large bag in her hands.
She paused and looked up at the house. “Wow.”
“Thank you for coming.”
Jorden turned, looked behind her. “This is fantastic.”
“It’s hard to take credit for something you inherited,” Luna told her.
They hugged in the driveway. “It’s been yours for a while now, you can take credit.”
Luna hadn’t thought of it that way. “Good point.”
Jorden hesitated for a split second as she walked into the house but didn’t linger.
“I don’t believe you’ve met my sister, Harper. Harper, this is Jorden.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Harper said.
“All good I hope.”
“We don’t know any of the bad bits yet,” Miley joked.
“Hi, Miley.”
Miley gave Jorden a hug.
“Would you like a glass of wine?” Luna asked.
“Sure.” Jorden walked around the kitchen island looking at the walls, the ceiling, then her gaze caught on the unused greenhouse. “Is that what I think it is?”
“A giant terrarium? Yeah.”
She walked closer, reached for the doorknob. “Do you mind?”
“Go right ahead. We don’t really use it,” Luna admitted.
“Why not?”
“We don’t cook enough to use that many herbs.” Luna handed Jorden a glass of wine and studied the room with her.
Jorden looked as if she was walking into Alice’s Wonderland. “Herbs are used for more than cooking. Not to mention flower starts and fresh vegetables all year round. Lavender and sage, rosemary . . . I would grow everything in here,” she cooed.
“Eye of newt?” Luna teased.
Jorden laughed. “Mustard seed, and yes, that, too. Did your grandmother use it?”
“Some. Not as much as she got older.”
“Someone loved it, once upon a time.”
Luna tried to see the space as Jorden did. Long rows of empty tables, a utility sink, open shelves, and windows everywhere to provide solar heat. “My boyfriend likes to cook. Maybe he’ll talk me into using the space.”
Jorden smiled at her. “Boyfriend, huh?”
“Something good came out of the last few months,” she reported.
“The work guy?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. You deserve it.”
Instead of sitting around the kitchen table eating, they took the food into the living room where they could curl up on the sofa and plush chairs and have a proper “girls’ night.”
“Before we get into the ‘how is the new boyfriend working out’ conversation, I have to say this. Luna, I wish I could have seen the real danger you two were in. Maybe it—”
“Jorden, please. As soon as my mother showed up, I should have seen it. I knew what she was capable of bringing in, you didn’t. Like you said, the cards only tell me what my subconscious already knows.”
“It’s not your fault,” Miley said.
“Oh, I’m not taking blame, I just wish I could have given you a sterner warning. How are you doing since?”
“I wrote a Dear John letter to my mother, and I start therapy tomorrow.”
Jorden lifted her glass of wine. “And how was that? The letter?”
Luna considered the question. “Freeing. I told her I was done. That nothing she could do or say at this point would change my mind. She can’t twelve step her way back into my life.
She’s proven to me from a very young age that she only ever considers herself and that I would no longer expect any different from her.
And since she is not the kind of person I would choose to have in my life, I no longer want her in it at all. ”
“Wow,” Jorden exclaimed. “Do you know if she received the letter?”
“Oh, she got it,” Harper moaned. “She called me, completely hysterical. Couldn’t understand why she was being blamed for Cody’s actions. I let her vent for ten minutes before I cut her off and told her that Luna was serious, and Ash and I supported her decision.”
“What about you?” Jorden asked. “Do you feel the same way?”
“I do. It’s different, though. It’s hard to explain.” Harper didn’t elaborate.
“You don’t have to.”
A flash of sorrow crossed her sister’s face, one that had Luna questioning what Harper was thinking about.
“How is Ethel?”
Luna and Miley both stared at Jorden.
“What do you mean?” Luna asked.
“She was here that night.” Jorden paused. “Was it raining?”
“No. It was cold but not raining. Why do you ask?”
Jorden looked at Miley. “I sense lightning. Or a power blip.”
Luna huffed. “That seems to be her thing. Everything happened so fast that night, I don’t remember.”
“I recall looking at your mom and wondering if she was standing next to the light switch, so yeah, something had to have been happening. Like Luna said, it was all a blur,” Miley said.
“You guys are talking about her like she’s a real person,” Harper argued.
“She was,” Jorden told them. “And she’s family.”
Luna leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Is she here . . . now?”
Jorden nodded.
“That freaks me out,” Harper said.
“She’s good energy. There’s nothing for you to worry about,” Jorden told her.
“Easy for you to say until you hear footsteps and no one is there.” Harper shivered.
“I thought you didn’t want to be a medium,” Luna said.
“She’s not talking to me,” Jorden denied. “I just . . . sense her. I also sense some of your mom’s bad energy. And Joe . . . who is Joe?”
“You must be talking about Grampa Joe.”
“He could still be alive,” Harper said.
“Maybe. He lived in this house, yeah?”
“Longer than most of Nana’s husbands,” Luna laughed.
Jorden set her wine down and pulled the bag she brought with her onto her lap. “You want to keep Ethel and Joe’s energy, but let’s see what we can do about telling your mother’s to take a hike.”
“Does this really work?” Harper sounded doubtful.
Luna pushed some of the plates on the coffee table aside to give Jorden room to light her candles.
“It can’t hurt,” Luna said.
A soft meow brought their attention to Midnight, who stood at the entry to the living room.
“Awhh, and who is this?” Jorden asked.
“Midnight. I know, the most unoriginal name . . .”
Taking Jorden’s beckoning fingers as an invitation, Midnight slowly walked over and accepted her pet. “Aren’t you beautiful.”
“Do you have cats?” Miley asked.
“No. It’s hard enough dating when men think you’re a witch, having cats would be the icing on my forever celibacy.”
That had them all laughing.
“This we need to hear more about,” Miley said.
Jorden stopped petting Midnight and proceeded to set a candle in the middle of the table. “It’s not in the cards for me. Men, I mean.”
“I thought that the day I walked into your shop. And now there’s Nate.”
Jorden lit the candle. “And the cards predicted him. My cards”—Jorden put a hand on her chest—“not so much.”
Miley leaned over and picked up the tarot deck Jorden had removed from her bag. “You need to teach me how to read these. I bet I can predict your future man.”
“Predict, not conjure,” Luna laughed.
“Make sure you conjure a man with a steady income,” Harper added.
“And a big dick.” Miley removed a card from the deck and looked at it. “Would you look at that.” She turned the card around.
The card had a man sitting in front of a reflecting pool waving his hands around while streaming sparkles whipped up from two bowls.
“The magician,” Jorden whispered.
Miley squirmed in her seat. “Steady income and a big dick . . . What else should we ask for?”
“Muscles,” Harper chimed in. “And tall.”
“Opposite of Jerry?” Luna asked.
“Jerry isn’t short.”
Luna started to laugh. “The dick must be questionable.”
“Humor,” Jorden added. “He has to have a sense of humor.”
Miley tucked her feet under her and shuffled the cards. “If we’re going to conjure a unicorn, then he should have a hedge fund.”