“To all the powers that be, and all the fates themselves, thank you for bringing me to this moment. Thank you for good friends, good food, family, and second chances.”
“And thank you for placing me right here, exactly where I’m supposed to be,” Cristie added quietly.
Remi opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Over the lips…”
Cristie grinned, remembering the children’s prayer Maverik had taught her when it was her turn to say grace at the dinner table. She joined in with Remi and they finished it together. “…and past the gums, look out stomach, here it comes!” they said, laughing when it was finished.
Remi tried his meatballs and then dipped his garlic bread into the thick, rich tomato sauce. “This is amazing,” he said. “Might be better than my mom’s but don’t tell her I said that.”
Cristie grinned at him. “It’s Richie’s recipe. I’ve tried others but always come back to this one,” she said, twirling her fork in her pasta to make a small tornado shaped bite of food topped off with half a meatball.
He laughed when she popped it in her mouth and made yummy noises while she chewed and spun her fork in the middle of her pasta again. “Still eat it the same way you did when you were little.”
“Oh, without a doubt. There’s no better way.”
“Unless you run out of pasta so you spoon the sauce and meatballs over the garlic bread and eat it that way,” Remi said.
“Ohhh, there is that way. That’s good, too,” she said, dipping her bread in the sauce again.
It wasn’t long before they’d finished dinner and just sat at the table talking and laughing, reminding each other of some of the memories they shared as kids.
“Remember when you threw a cherry at me at dinner at Kaid’s house?” she asked, laughing joyously.
“Yeah, I do. Food fights were fun,” he said, grinning and shaking his head.
“Every time Richie made me pancakes or waffles when I was little, he’d put whipped cream and cherries and strawberries and banana slices in bowls so I could decorate with them. And it never failed my dad would say, ‘don’t throw the cherries like Remi did!’.”
Remi laughed. “I wasn’t even here and still got a bad rap,” he said, shaking his head.
A particularly loud round of thunder and a driving rain caused the electricity to flicker then go out.
Cristie looked up at the ceiling, then across at Remi.
“You alright?” Remi asked.
“Yes, just startled. I hate when the power goes out.”
“Why? You can see in the dark.”
“True. But, I’m a little spoiled. I have to admit I like my air-conditioning, and my hot water, and my television, and my…”
“Okay, I get it. You like your conveniences,” Remi said.
“I do. I can survive without them, and have many times through snow storms and all. But I’d prefer not to.”
Remi listened to the driving rain outside, his gaze on the rain obscuring any view from the kitchen window. “How do you feel about being out in the storm itself?” he asked.
“What?” she asked, turning to look across the room to the window above the kitchen sink to see what he was watching. When she turned back to him he was watching her, almost a dare behind his eyes.
“What do you think about being outside in the storm?”
“I guess it depends on the whys and hows of it,” she said, leaning closer to the table and him, watching her intently from the other side.
“It’s hard for me to find a chance to shift. My Dragon is pretty big. Storms give me the opportunity. Want to go play in the rain?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.
Cristie’s mouth fell open. “Are you serious?” she half-whispered.
He smirked at her and nodded slowly as he stood from his seat at the table, his hand extended in invitation.
