“Okay, but it doesn’t really make any sense…”
Rowan lifts a brow. “I’ll try to keep up.”
“I miss you.”
“I’m right here.”
“I know.” I swallow, nodding to the empty perch. “But you’re not rightthere.”
“You’re such a pixie.” He laughs, wrapping his arms around me and drawing me against him. “Close your eyes. I’m the same Rowan, just devastatingly handsome now.”
I sniffle against the ribbed texture of his shirt, my tears dampening the material. And then I cry harder and wrap my arms around his middle, holding him tightly. “I can’t believe it worked.”
He rests his chin on my head and chuckles, sounding a bit emotional himself. “I can’t believe it worked either.”
Outside, it begins to rain. Gently, not like the storm I created earlier.
Fighting for control, I step back, meeting his eyes. “What are you going to do now?”
“What do you think I’m going to do? I’m going to work at the tea shop. Remember?”
“But you were one project away from becoming a sorcerer,” I whisper. “Do you think you can be happy serving tea?”
His expression becomes solemn. “We made a deal, Kit. I’m not going to break that. You offered your magic in exchange for my help. Three years—that’s the plan.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Can you behappyat the tea shop?”
“Now that I don’t have feathers, I think I could be happy just about anywhere. And besides, I can’t abandon you now. No offense, but you’re rather hopeless.”
“You said I was ready to open the shop.”
His smoky eyes meet mine. “You’re ready if you have me.”
I sniffle, looking away. “You’ve already lost so much of your life. Are you sure you want to waste more of it?”
“We’re family, right? Isn’t this what family does? Helps each other?”
Oh, my pixie heart.
“You mean that?” I whisper.
He offers me a smile as he opens the tea cabinet. “Of course. Besides, Laverna said you have to take care of me for the rest of my life. Sorry, Kit. I didn’t make the rules.”
“Okay…but you have to move into the tea shop apartment. Ash will freak out if I let you stay here.”
“No offense, but I have no desire to watch the two of you fawn all over each other. I’ll happily move out.”
“He’s going to be angry with me, isn’t he?”
“Because we didn’t call him?” Rowan finally chooses a Taiwanese oolong. “Probably, since he likes to have his nose in everything, and he’ll be mad he wasn’t able to control the situation. But he’s the one who left—he could have stayed if he’d wanted to. He’ll get over it.”
“That’s true,” I say, acknowledging he’s right. “But hewasworking, and…”
“Let’s not worry about him right now.”
Nodding, I round the counter and sit on one of the stools, watching Rowan move about the kitchen like he’s lived here for years. And I guess he has… He just couldn’t access anything.
Rowan places a delicate porcelain teapot, one I haven’t been brave enough to use, on the kitchen island. “You’re brooding again.”
