Because he was right; he needed to leave.
For both of us.
I remained in the sunroom. I paced for a few minutes before I dropped back onto the daybed. The sun went down, and the sky went dark over the river. Tall trees draped over the house’s backyard below.
I might have my own little house, but this was home.
This place right here was a landing point in between.
A haven. Safety.
A harbor between raging storms if need be, if I wanted to get metaphorical.
I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. I could hear Dom once again reminding me how to breathe. His voice, deep and efficient, reverberated through my mind.
In and then out.
My body melted into a mountain of assorted shaped pillows. The house even put my collection of comfort to shame.
Goddess.I opened my eyes and looked up at the cloudy sky. A warm breeze skirted in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, always partially cracked if not thrown wide open.
Maybe that was what I needed to do at this rate. I was one to worship. I was one to beg and plead and wish, like I had the other night, handing over an offering to the goddess, who I wasn’t sure was watching me anymore.
I was never one to pray.
It felt almost too much. Too reverent. Too much power tipping in one direction when I used to pride myself on being someone right in the middle of anything metaphysical.
But I took another deep breath.
I shut my eyes.
Goddess, if you can hear me and still aren’t royally pissed for some reason, I’d really appreciate some sort of direction or feeling that I didn’t mess everything up.
I really couldn’t handle it if I had pulled myself together after all these years just for this to be the end. But the only thing I saw with my eyes still closed was the first time I’d ever curled up in this exact spot, and then I saw Dom and me lying outside on the concrete pad in front of my apartment’s sliding door.
Another warm breeze was like his hands skimming down my skin.
“I can feel some pretty large energy happening in here,” a voice interrupted my train of desperation. “Or are we just thinking some big thoughts?”
“Both.” I sighed, looking up toward Gertie. “Probably.”
Gertie sat down next to me, scooching herself back on the daybed. “You really did do it this time, didn’t you?”
I turned my head and stared at the old woman with twists of hair falling over her shoulders. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? I thought you were supposed to give me a pep talk or something.”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll get to that.” One side of her mouth curled upward. “I always did say you had something powerful in you.”
“I thought you meant my determination, even after I should’ve stopped trying years ago.”
“That too.” Gertie shrugged. “I doubt you expect me to say this, especially after Lu’s exclamation in there, but it is pretty spectacular that you managed to manifest that kind ofwantinto the world.”
“Honestly, I was expecting you to say it first.”
Lu was always her own person, but she had the same sort of zest for the unexpected, much like our current priestess leading us through.
Both of us chuckled, as if we were thinking the exact same thing.
“Stars, she’s going to be good for this place, huh?” Gertie asked.
