16
“This is where you come to your coven meetings?” Dom asked, staring up at the old, towering Victorian dwelling on the corner.
“This house basically is a coven,” I said, taking a step up the stone path.
After the graduation had ended, we had all gotten our hugs in after watching Lu cross the stage and listening to the roar of a cheer Ryan let loose at the sight. The two college graduates headed off to Ryan’s family for dinner. The rest of us slowly dispersed toward the house. We were the last ones to arrive based on Celeste’s car parked up against the curb.
I looked at the house again, pausing with him as he took it in.
“I lived here for about a year when I first came to Barnett.” I wasn’t sure if I had ever told him that.
His face turned to focus on me. “Really?”
“I had nowhere else to go. I showed up here on an empty tank of gas, hoping to find a fresh start. Instead, I found Gertie. Or Gertie found me. You’d have to ask her what exactly happened when I got to the house. I was a little worse for wear at the time. Everything is a little blurry,” I admitted. “When I showed up, I must’ve looked like such a mess. Gertie made me promise that, within the first week, I would call my parents, just to be sure I wasn’t running from something that wasn’t actually there.”
“Did you?”
“I promised,” I said.
“Then, what happened?”
“After that call, Gertie promised me she’d never make me call anyone I didn’t want to ever again.” I chuckled, remembering putting her on speakerphone while my mother ranted about how I was taking a “vacation” and being selfish, not staying for the internship they had lined up for me that summer at my cousin’s firm, where I could find a nice husband as a paralegal.
Me, a paralegal.
My mother had gone on for a good seven minutes before realizing I wasn’t replying in my usual hums and yes ma’ams.
“I stayed upstairs in that bedroom there.” I pointed toward the one near the side of the house with a lattice going down the gutter. “The closet probably still has my old stuff in it. All of us who are in the coven right now have lived here at one point or another. Though Celeste grew up in Barnett, so the house was more of a place to run away for some peace once in a while. Nice to have somewhere to run away as a kid, especially someplace like this, huh?”
“Celeste grew up here, in town?” Dom immediately asked.
“I’m pretty sure. I remember her talking about her mom being in the coven before she passed on. The house has always been open to anyone who felt called to it, according to Gertie.”
“The older woman?”
“She runs the coven and the house for now, but Lu is set to take over. Lu’s been living here since last fall, along with Ryan. The house never had a boy in it before, but he can’t stand to be away from her for more than a few hours at this point.”
“He’s the guy who graduated today too,” Dom said, piecing everyone in the puzzle together.
“That’s him. You’ll meet him later maybe, if he can get away from his family, though I wouldn’t guarantee it.”
“Are they not fans of his girlfriend?”
“They had better figure out a way to be big fans if they know what’s good for them,” I joked, reaching for the door.
The moment I opened it up, voices collided in conversation.
“Why? Will you all curse them?”
I nudged him with my elbow, hearing the rumble in his throat at his own stupid joke. “No, but I’m pretty sure Ryan would make them feel bad enough.”
“He loves her,” Dom said, letting out a pause after the statement.
“You sound shocked.”
“It’s just … they’re so young and all.”
I shrugged. “You’ll see them together. When you know, you just know, I guess. Ryan knew since they were eighteen, apparently, if you let him tell the story.”
