But we needed to be sure.
I nod. “Yes. Definitely. I trust them.”
“Then there is nothing to be afraid of.” He bends down and kisses me, nudges the side of my nose with his.“You worry too much, my love.”
“I love you so much,”I whisper.
He smiles against my mouth. “I know.”
The bedroom door flies open and Mackenzie comes in, one hand over her eyes. “Are you guys decent?”
She walked in on us once. Unfortunately, that once,Star was on his knees in front of me, so she's been nervous about being around the house since then.
“We have a living room full of people,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Do you really think we’re in here, going at it?”
She shrugs and drops her hand. “I don’t know. You’re taking forever. You're making everyone nervous.”
“Oh, we're making them nervous?”I ask, feeling testy.
“They do not know why they are here,Mason.” Star reaches up and turns my face toward him.“We can do this.There is nothing to be afraid of.”
He's right.Even if everything goes to shit right now, we could get out of it. We have a contingency plan, just in case. If anyone lets slip about Star, we send him back into the sky until the heat dies down, make everyone think it was a hoax or a joke or some kind of shared delusion.
But Star's right.There's no real reason to be afraid.I do trust these people, and they're not going to tell anyone.
“Let's go,”I tell him, and we follow Mackenzie back out into the living room.
She's been coming to the paranormal group too.Mostly because of Marty, but also because of Star.It's not like she can deny the ley lines’ power now or anything else that we all discuss in the group.I can’t deny any of it anymore either.
As soon as we step into the living room, everyone stops talking.
There are ten of us in the group that show up every week. Everyone is sitting in my living room, plates of snacks in their laps forgotten. Their eyes are on Star.Marty's wearing a big grin.
Alyssa, the woman who runs the group and is also the children's librarian, says,“Oh, my God!”and stands.
I put a hand up to stop her, and she sinks back down.
“I need everyone to be cool,” I say.“This is kind of a big deal for us, so…”
“It's alright,” Marty says, still grinning. “Tell them.”
If I'm being begrudgingly honest,Marty's probably become my best friend over the last eight months. He really is a good guy.He's the one who convinced me that it might be time to share Star with at least this small part of the world.
“Everyone, this is Starlight.”
Starlight raises a hand.“Hello.”
“Oh, my God!”Alyssa says again.
“Baby, why don't you have a seat?”I gesture at the spot next to Marty that he clearly saved for Star.It's Star's spot, where he always sits when we watch TV or decide to eat dinner on the couch or cuddle while we read.
“Baby?” Alyssa says.
I shrug.My eyes meet Star's and he smiles up at me.“Do you want to tell your story?”
He nods. “Yes.”
