Page 32 of 'Til All the Seas Run Dry

“You saucy bitch!” Esther crowed as she squeezed through the door, her arms full.

“Good morning, Esther,” Jory said in a monotone.

“Morning, saucy bitch,” Magda said with a broad smile.

“Magda,” Jory said, rolling her eyes.

“He kissed you!” Esther screeched. “And you liked it!”

Jory felt her cheeks heat with a blush. “How the hell do you know that?”

“Hank,” Esther said, beaming.

“Hank?”

“He was taking the empty bottles to the recycling bin by the shed and heard you. Or he heard someone that sounded an awful lot like you. And someone who sounded an awful like Callum wooing the shit out of that person who sounded an awful lot like you.”

She raised her shoulders up and down quickly and winked an electric blue eye. Badly. It looked more like a squint than a wink, and Jory couldn’t help but snort. Nobody, in all her years of living among humans, had ever made Jory laugh as easily and as freely as Esther MacLaren.

“Knew it,” Magda said smugly, removing a little fabric box from her massive purse.

“You knew what, exactly? And that reminds me. I still have a bone to pick with you, Magda. You have some nerve giving him a—whatthe hellis that?” Jory exclaimed as Magda lifted the lid on the small box to reveal something that looked very much like a tiny Cousin It, if Cousin It had been buttercup yellow with tiny iridescent wings and beady black eyes peeking out from a wealth of fluff.

“This is Walter. He just had a haircut,” Magda answered matter-of-factly.

“Yes, but what is he?” Jory asked.

“He’s a Brightling Beetle,” Esther supplied helpfully. “Isn’t he adorable? Yes, you are!” Esther crooned at the tiny creature, which flitted out of the box and landed in Esther’s open palm, seeming more than content to be there.

“Alright then. Why is he here?”

Magda clucked her tongue. “He doesn’t like to be alone. Plus, Mr. Dick Van Dyke needed to rest, and Walter won’t let him nap in peace. You won’t even know he’s here.”

Jory narrowed her eyes at the tiny creature, who seemed to narrow his tiny eyes back.

“So…” Esther said.

“So what?” Jory replied, loading more labels into the printer.

“Tell us about the kiss!”

“I’d rather not,” Jory said tightly.

Esther rolled her lips between her teeth, practically chewing on her smile.

“Fine,” Jory said with a huff, throwing her hands in the air. “I kissed him.”

Esther took off her puffy coat and bunched it into a wad, which she stuffed unceremoniously under the desk. “Aaaand?”

“And what?” Jory replied.

“Oh my god, Jory. How was it?”

Jory loved Esther’s warm, southern drawl.Oh mah gawd, Johr-y.

Magda listened quietly as she poured honey from the large jar into a tea saucer. Walter flitted clumsily through the air, landing on the rim of the saucer and attacking the honey with far more gusto and noise than Jory would have thought possible from so small a creature.

“Well?” Esther prompted when Jory still hadn’t answered.