Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SEVEN VIRTUES, NORTH CAROLINA
My favorite color palate is always fall.
—Eva Henn, Fashion Blogger
Magic. It’s not just in the change of the season rippling across the mountain leaves, leading them from an almost iridescent green to an array of colors that range from the palest yellow to the deepest red. It’s in the way I feel when Ethan slips into my bed late on a Friday night and we remain wrapped up in each other until late Sunday when he returns to Kensington.
Cocooned in our bubble, we exchange whispers of truths. I tell him about the pileup that killed my father, how I have no contact with my paternal grandparents—which he questions. I shrug without much force. “I guess if they really wanted something to do with me, they’d have tried long before now, Ethan. Mama and I are a large enough family. We have each other; that’s all that matters.”
He frowned before saying words that buried himself to the core of me when he reaffirmed something his sister said to me thousands of times. “You’re part of a much larger family, Fallon. You’re one of us—and that includes your mother.” Then he ducked his head down and pressed his lips to mine in a languid kiss that clearly demonstrated he meant in a way different than the way I was accepted before.
Months have passed since that first weekend he flew back to see me. Months of incandescent joy intermingled with loneliness every time I drop him off at the regional airport for him to fly home. It’s forced me to think long and hard in the time when he’s not here. Have I convinced myself my career will make me happy because I couldn’t have what I really want—Ethan?
Do I want something different? Something I could have had if I hadn’t left Texas?
The thoughts persist as I pick up a few shifts at Galileo’s—something I haven’t done since I took my job with the Biltmore. But I couldn’t refuse when Levi called pleading since, “Half the staff is out with this motherfucking bug, Fallon. Even Caroline is down, and you know she never calls out.”
My nose wrinkled. “Did you fumigate the place?” The last thing I wanted to happen was catching whatever was going around and I’d be too sick to appreciate Ethan’s upcoming trip.
“You bet your sweet ass, I did. Every surface has been cleaned, every bottle, and I’ve had every glass sanitized five times. I’m debating having one of those temperature check scanners installed at the door so none of those dumb fucks from the university can come through if they have a fever.”
I snorted at Levi’s vehemence. “Those ‘dumb fucks,’ as you just called them, pay your bills.”
“Yeah, but now I’m having to resort to begging to keep the lights on.”
“This was begging?” My voice was incredulous.
“About as close as it’s going to get.” Just as I was about to lambast him, he quickly wrapped up the call. “See you at six.”
I shoot off a quick text to Ethan to tell him to come straight to Galileo’s when he lands and why.
Ethan:
Sounds good, witch.
Ethan:
See you then.
Fallon:
Fly safe.
After warning our security team I have a guest arriving and when so they let him directly in, I call out to Levi, who is already slinging drinks behind the bar. “You planning on sharing your tips with me tonight?”
He rolls his eyes at me before winking at a pretty brunette who asks for a pina colada.
Sick or not, Galileo’s is filled to capacity when seven forty-one rolls around. Maneuvering my way over to the stage, I swing by the bar and grab a cold can of cola before ascending the stairs.
Thirty seconds.
I snag the guitar that waits on stage. It’s not my father’s, but it will do. Over the din in the bar, no one can hear me doing a quick check to ensure the strings are tuned perfectly. Then, the house lights flicker.
Twenty seconds.
I slide in the cord to hook the guitar to the amp. Cheers erupt just as a man slipping in the entrance catches my eye. My heart speeds up when I realize it’s Ethan. It takes everything inside me not to leap from the stage and into his arms.
Ten.
I hear a piercing whistle and know that’s Levi’s way of calling the bar to attention, ripping mine away from Ethan.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Inhale.
Two.
Exhale . I flick on the microphone.
One.
My lips part and I sing the first word at exactly forty-two after the hour. “Galileo’s…”
Within milliseconds of my voice emerging from the speakers, the rest of the bar picks up the popular tune. All except for Ethan, whose eyes are trained on me for the four minutes of the song.
The second it’s over, raucous cheers break out and I take a quick bow. I lean into the mic and remind everyone, “We’ll be back to toast this amazing bar and its patron saint in the next hour.”
Another cheer goes up as I slip from the stage. I track Ethan as he makes his way around to me. A small parting of people gives me the chance to sprint in his direction, so I take it.
He plants himself, but that still doesn’t stop him from staggering back a step with the force of the impact I hit him with. Wrapping my arms and legs around him, I bury my head into his neck and absorb the fact Ethan’s here with me.
For me.
He spins me around and backs me up against the bar. “Fal? Witch? Is everything okay?”
I cup his cheek before my lips curve. “Now it is.”
That earns me a delicious kiss that sets fire deep in my core. It’s a good thing I know Ethan will quench that particular flame or I don’t know what I’d do.
I don’t know what I’d do without him. Not anymore.