“Hello, stranger. Do we need to reintroduce ourselves? It has been ages,” Gertie bemoaned rather dramatically at the sight of me.
Whoever believed that Gertie was a polite, put-together dame who lived on the corner lot of the street would have more than a few things to be reckoned with.
“It’s been a few weeks.” I attempted to defend myself, though I knew it wasn’t worth it.
Gertie raised her eyebrows over her bright green eyes at me. An arm wrapped around my shoulders and squeezed. “It’s good that you’ve come back.”
“Did you think I ran away?”
“Running away and being lost can be two different things, but I hoped that you’d make it back before Beltane. It’s your favorite holiday, isn’t it?”
One of them. The sun and flowers might not seems like my perfect definition of a good time, but for some reason, every year, I let it carry me away for the day. Like the bouquet of flowers that Dom had gotten for the apartment after I came home from a stress walk after another day of hex reversal failure. I didn’t know what they were for exactly, and I hadn’t asked. They sat on my table in what I assumed was a strange truce after our conversation on pottery night.
Because we hadn’t talked about that night.
It was odd that Gertie remembered about my love affair with Beltane. I stared at the woman, our high priestess, as she moved with me back toward the house’s cozy kitchen.
Celeste stood by the oven, of course, though I couldn’t quite scent what she was baking tonight. Her daughter set out a few cups, filling them with tea. The water steamed from the spout as it hit mugs and teacups for the four women who seemed to have made themselves comfortable already.
Maybe I should’ve come earlier and prepared to dive into the story, or maybe—
Not paying attention, I collided my shoulder with the arched doorway with a loud and solid thump. I swore as I reached a hand up to where I’d surely bruise.
Lu’s head immediately turned with humor and, oddly enough, happiness. Hopping off the counter she had been perched on, she made her way in front of me. “Ana!”
“Hi.”
“You okay? That sounded painful.”
“Oh, this is about the third time today it’s happened,” I muttered to myself. Along with not talking about anything too important with Dom again, I’d also been trying to make space between us, which had mixed results.
The good thing was that my heart rate could stay at a sane person’s level, and I didn’t constantly want to actively jump back into bed with the ex who had ruined my belief in love. Which, yes, was extra hard since Dom had taken to sleeping in my bed, though it was usually when I wasn’t with him. He was probably there now, snuggling with my good pillow, while I was here, in the witches’ den, preparing for the worst.
“Still on your string of bad luck?”
I could tell her right now. I could tell them all and get it over with. Yet I cleared the thickness of the truth from my throat. “Pretty sure it’s a whole new strain at this point.”
“It is so good to see you. For a minute there, even if Kim wasn’t gossiping about you, I was wondering if you had skipped town.”
Well, that was something. I hadn’t even thought about Kim’s busybody tendencies and what she’d possibly be telling the town when they noticed I hadn’t been arriving to my own appointments.
“I thought you wouldn’t be coming back for a bit,” Lu said, a bit sad.
“We were going to start sending out a search party soon if you didn’t show up today,” Celeste called from her position near the back window, noting my presence. Her eyebrows rose in approach and question.
Gertie cackled. “Call more often or check in with someone.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. We are just waiting on Faith,” Gertie said, reaching for her cup, pulling it across the table.
“Hey.” Lu nudged me, keeping her voice low while Celeste and Gertie continued whatever conversation they had been having before I walked in and interrupted. “You know, I actually missed you.”
I forced a smile. “I missed you too.”
“You seem off.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to deny that.
