Chapter Twenty
Dianus walked out of the forest near where I’d parked my car at the Gasquet Goods Market. “Are you sure this is wise?”
“Yes, just follow my lead and make sure you tell them your name. Hell, even dazzle them if you can.”
I’d encouraged Dianus to wear earthy colors today and his hair down in all its glory, not covered by a beanie. He really was handsome, and I recalled meeting him here the first time and how my instinct had been to not gawk too long. Even then, I’d known something was different about him. I was hoping the same effect would happen to the townsfolk. We needed to secure his lore before the solstice and we had a day to do it.
I’d known I needed to find the largest crowd possible, so I’d decided to visit the market with Dianus to see if they had a community bulletin board for ideas. As we entered, Tawnya was helping another customer, so we fetched some mead, figuring another bottle wouldn’t hurt.
As we approached her register hand in hand, Tawnya clocked us immediately.
“Hey!” I said, forcing myself to be social.
“Good afternoon.” Her smile faded when she realized who I was and who I was with. “Oh, you!” She pointed at Dianus. “What did you say your name was, hon?”
“Dianus.” He guided us to her register. “This is my lover, Shea. And you are Tawnya, correct?”
Her mouth hung open slightly. “Yeah, that’s right. Now, remind me, what relative of yours might I know in town? Who’s your mom?”
“I do not have a mother,” he said in a neutral tone to not make her feel bad.
She peered up at him, but only in quick intervals. “Sorry to hear that. Any aunts or uncles?”
“Sadly, no.”
With his lack of answer, she side-eyed me.
I chimed in, “We were wondering if there might be an event in town that we could attend to celebrate the holidays?”
“Preferably not church related,” Dianus added. I flashed him a proud smile for advocating for his needs. Though, I would’ve paid money to see him talk to a pastor.
“Oh, sure,” she said, putting her hands in her apron pockets. “There’s a winter festival happening over at the park on Mill Street tonight. A couple of vendors put out tables selling their wares, you know, craft things. There’s this one lady, Janet, she makes the most beautiful jewelry by preserving maple leaves she finds.”
She went on and on about how Janet searched for leaves while walking her badly behaved rescue dog who ate anything, even the shoe off your foot. Tawnya got hung up for about three solid minutes on a side story about the dog in question and her opinion on specific leashes. As a cat person, I was at a loss on what to echo back to her, but it was humorous to watch Dianus stare at her like she was sprouting three heads.
While she talked, I purposefully canoodled with him. He had his arm around me, pulling me close. I rubbed up and down his chest and rested my head on his pec. When there was finally a lull in the conversation, she cracked a smile. “You guys are so cute!”
“Thank you!” we said in unison.
“It’s our first Yule together,” I offered.
“Yule?” She leaned forward, staring at my lips like she didn’t know the word well.
“Yes, Yule. We celebrate the solstice instead of Christmas.”
“Oh, well, that’s nice. How do you do that?”
“Mostly sex and mead,” Dianus said matter-of-factly, holding up the bottle.
I swatted his chest and bit back a laugh.
“Oh my!” Tawnya said, rearing back to look between us. “Well, that’s one way to make winter go by quicker.” She scanned the mead, and I tapped my card.
“Do not worry, we will not be intoxicated or fornicating at the festival,” Dianus added.
Tawnya and I continued to laugh.
“Good choice!” she offered. “Now, remind me again, Dianus and Shea?”
“Yes,” we said in unison again.
Perhaps it was Dianus’s sway or that we were genuinely charming together, but her whole face softened as she stared at us wistfully. “You guys have a lovely time together and enjoy your holidays.”
I grabbed the mead and Dianus rested his hand on her shoulder. “You as well.”
We walked away, leaving her in a daze.
“What did you do?” I whispered in the parking lot.
“Healed her shoulder. She has really bad bursitis. Standing at her workspace makes it worse, as does the winter.”
I stopped mid-stride.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“That was really nice of you.”
He gave me a sheepish smile. “I can assure you my intentions are not as pure as you think. While I am glad that she is no longer in pain, I am also hoping she tells people about the mysterious man who healed her.”
I jabbed him playfully in the ribs with the mead bottle. “You dirty dog! See! I told you we needed to plant the seed of suspicion. That’ll do it.”
He pulled me closer. “The real question is, are you ready to start more rumors?”
I shoved the bottle in my tote with a mischievous chuckle. “Count me in.”
We had a couple hours to burn. Dianus admitted he was scared of getting in my car, and I figured exposure was good, so we walked around town. The snow made everything more picturesque, but admittedly Gasquet didn’t have a cute, historical downtown. It was haphazardly plotted out with random businesses, like snowmobile rentals, a weed dispensary, and a company that made jerky out of the meat you hunted. They had all their bases covered.
We found a tiny gas station that had postcards. I bought three, some snacks, and a Moxie for Dianus to try. After paying, I pulled him to the counter people used to scratch off lottery tickets.
“Is it like a Coca-Cola?” He held the glass bottle, surveying the bright orange wrapper warily.
“Some people swear it tastes like root beer but better, and others say it’s more akin to battery acid.”
He scoffed. “Oh, joy!”
I snorted at his sarcasm, and he brought the bottle to his kissable lips for a sip. He shrugged as he sat it down. “Not bad.”
“Now try this.” I scooted the bag of Cheetos closer to him as I set to work filling out the cards. I couldn’t leave knowing he hadn’t tried some human delicacies. And best believe I’d bought myself one last Twix.
He was a bit fonder of the Cheetos and told the young man at the register all about it while I scrawled out my thinly veiled goodbyes to my mom, dad, and brother on their respective postcards. Truth was, I didn’t have much to say.
The gas station didn’t sell stamps, so we had to haul ass to the post office. Dianus struck up a conversation with the clerk while I stepped into the vestibule to call Asteria.
“Hey, sweetie! I’m driving home from work so this is perfect.”
A weight settled in my throat. This was the last time I was going to talk to my aunt. I didn’t know if I wanted to make it last or wrap it up quickly. I was sure of my decision, but I didn’t want to give too much away because she could drive up here and somehow thwart our plans. But I didn’t want to go out with lies being the last thing I ever said to her.
“I miss you,” I offered. “I miss you so much. You’ve always been so nice to me. Even when my mom wasn’t, I could always count on you to be kind to me.”
“Oh, Shea. I can hear in your voice you’re still upset. I’m so sorry those bastards at your school hurt you like that.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I used the edge of my coat to wipe them. “Yeah. It’s more than that. I’m just going through a lot of changes.”
Dianus had explained the realm of the Otherworld we’d be residing in wasn’t quite like the concept of heaven, so I wouldn’t be seeing any dead relatives. As far as I could tell, this was my last contact with Asteria at any capacity.
“Are you journaling?” she asked.
“Yes.” I sniffled. “I’m writing it all down. I’ve been using that pretty journal I bought at that bookstore last summer.”
“The one owned by those two nice lesbians?”
“Yes! Remember how we saw all those fireflies in the field next to it?”
“Yeah, I do. I always think of you when I see fireflies.” I could hear her smile over the phone. “When you were a little girl, you thought it was so magical when I caught them in a jar for you.”
I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle a sob. Tears pooled at the edges of my fingers as I promised myself, if possible, I’d find a way to send her fireflies once I was gone.
“Shea?”
“Yeah.” My tone was gurgled with the thickness in my throat. “Look, I don’t want you to worry about me. I’ve found my happiness. I promise. It’s been really nice at the cabin.”
“That’s good. I always loved being up there. It’s like you can feel how sacred that forest is. It’s so old and untouched.” She muttered something under her breath about idiots on the road.
“It really is special.”
I had already racked my brain on how to tell her without telling her, so I figured now was as good as ever to present the facade. “Hey, remember that book you bought from that store?”
“Yes! Oh my goodness, it was so damn good! I really want my own fae prince to whisk me away.”
“Me too.” I let out a humorless laugh. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and that will happen to me. It will be a Yule miracle.”
“There ya go! I always said you were too sweet for this world. That you belonged in some faerie realm.”
“Rest assured if that ever happened to me, it would be something I wanted and the fae prince would be the nicest man ever.”
I stared through the pane of glass at Dianus.
A honk filled the phone call. “Dammit, I’m sorry, Shea. I’m gonna have to let you go. Traffic tonight is chaotic and I almost rear-ended someone.”
“No worries. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Bye, honey!”
Something as stupidly human like traffic ending the last call with my aunt made everything feel even more fleeting and simple.
She would mourn me for the rest of her life. The weight of that was on my conscience. It would be something I’d never be able to deny.
I beckoned Dianus out of the lobby and into the vestibule with me.
He gave me a kiss and affectionately touched my cheeks. “How was your phone call?”
“Good. Hard, but it was good.” I smiled through the tears and collected myself as I stared down at my lock screen on my phone that was a picture of a pretty sunset I’d seen a few weeks back. “Hey, random question, have you ever had your picture taken?”
He shook his head.
Would he show up? Morbidly curious, I turned, resting my back on his chest to hold my phone up high for a selfie. “Smile!”
He leaned into me and did. And when the photo appeared, he was just as striking in it as he was in person, except his eyes had a sheen of gold in them that someone would surely notice.
“That is us?” he asked, fully amused. “Oh, we are so good together!”
As I watched him stare at it, all the love I had for him boiled up to the surface.
I blinked back more tears. “Yeah, baby, that’s us.”