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I took off my boots by the door and ran my palms down my face. It’d been a long day at work. Considering I had hundreds of years’ experience as a bounty hunter, I decided to take up the trade on Earth.
Not that it was the same by any means. Bringing people back in handcuffs was completely different than bringing them in dead or alive. I’d plunged a knife into many of my jobs in the past.
That didn’t fly here, and I was thankful. People didn’t realize the pressure of taking someone’s life. I never thought it was my place since I couldn’t make life.
That life felt light years away. Five years had flown by. The apartment in the city was an adjustment, like Josephine imagined. The inability to walk outside without seeing all the people in your building, plus the randos on the street, was overwhelming.
I’d taken many trips to the cabin to see Fern in the beginning.
At one point Josephine suggested we go back. But I couldn’t take away her dream. She loved her job at the school and her students. Her ability to help them was remarkable. It was a gift I couldn't take from her.
I stalked down the hallway, seeing Mexican takeout sitting on the dining table. Josephine turned around swiftly when I entered the kitchen. Her shifty gaze made me stop in my tracks. “Are you up to something? Because it feels like it.”
She chuckled. “I’m not. You just startled me.”
She turned her back to me and grabbed two plates from the cabinet. Walking slowly up behind her, I trapped her against the cabinet and whispered, “Liar.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to call your wife.” We’d married at the courthouse with Fern as a witness. It’d been five years of pure bliss. I didn’t worry about a wicked witch coming out of the woodwork to kill us.
All I worried about was making Josephine happy.
“I have something to tell you.” She turned her head slightly and whispered.
“What’s that?” I asked, sliding my nose against the curve of her neck. Her scent drove me crazy.
“I used my powers today.”
I chuckled against her skin, and she turned to look at me with those too-blue eyes. “This is serious, Kellan. This woman at work—you know the one—kept mouthing off, and I ... tripped her.”
My eyes rounded, and laughter fell from me. She slapped my chest and covered her face with her palms.
“Josie,” I whispered. “Come on. You think because you tripped someone that you are going to turn into your mother?”
“Maybe,” she said loudly. “I don’t know. It’s been years since I’ve used it, but I couldn’t stop myself. I don’t want to be pulled down the rabbit hole. I can’t turn out like them.”
The honest look on her face softened my heart. “You’re not your mother. You never use your powers—”
“Even when Ernest insists I learn—” she interrupted.
“—even then,” I said. “You can’t live in fear of your magic forever, Josephine. You were given it for a reason. Closing a door and tripping someone occasionally is okay.”
She sighed heavily and rested her forehead against my chest. “I still dream about it.”
Running my palms against her back, I pulled her closer to me. “Me, too, but they’re gone, and we don’t have to worry about them anymore.”
“Thank you for listening to my crazy rants.”
I pushed back from the counter but brought her with me, slinging her over my shoulder. She yelped loudly. “Your rants aren’t crazy.”
I carried her toward the dining table and sat her down in her usual chair. “You could have asked me to join you nicely, caveman.”
I pulled out the chair next to her. “That’s not nearly as fun.”
I distributed our food, and silence fell over the table. Josie stabbed her slice of chicken and took a big bite before dropping her fork onto the table.
I stared at her worried face. “Something wrong with the chicken?”
“I have something else to tell you.”
