Page 43 of Luck Be a Genie

I grabbed a spoon out of the plastic bag, and handed him my rice bowl. He seemed to like it because he didn’t want to give mine back either, and I practically had to tackle him to get him to release it.

He laughed, pulling me closer on the blanket so he could tangle his legs with mine. “How about we compromise. We split them and give each other half.”

I held a spoon up threateningly, making him grin. “Alright, but no tricks. I’m starving.”

We split our meals and sat peacefully talking and laughing as we watched the ocean and the people on the beach with us. It wasn’t too crowded, as it was a weekday. At least... I thought it was a weekday. I’d kind of lost track of the days on this vacation.

“What day is it?”

He finished chewing and swallowing before answering. “Thursday. We’ve been here ten days already.”

I shook my head in surprise, trying to count the days back. He was right. Ten days. It had gone by so quickly.

When we finished eating, I found a trash can and dumped our empty containers in, making the seagulls squawk in outrage that we weren’t going to share with them.

As we stretched out on our sides, Nick intertwined our legs again and pulled me as close as possible while still allowing us to see each other.

“You’re very grabby today,” I teased. “Not that I’m complaining.”

He skimmed a finger over my cheek, then ran his fingers through my hair. I’d released it from its bun after the ATV ride. “I spent a long time trying to find the right person for me, and a lot of time alone. I knew exactly what I wanted, and I also knew that when I finally did find the right person, I would be all in from the beginning. I don’t really operate any other way.”

“And you think I am? The right person?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t even need to think about it?”

“No.”

I sat with that for a while. As the sun started sinking across the water, we packed up and walked back to the jeep hand in hand. I’d thought a year ago that Nick’s interest had been casual. And then after we’d become friends, I started understanding that Nick wasn’t really casual about anything. Not his work, not his moral compass, and certainly not his relationships. I admired him a lot for that.

For me, it was no longer a question about whether or not he would stay with me through the difficulties brought about by my magic. It was whether he would stay through all the boring, ordinary days of our lives, and every time he felt like giving up on us. And was I willing to stay, too?

If Nick was all in, was I?

Or was I still running scared?

Afraid to trust.

Afraid to hope.

The scariest thing of all right now wasn’t that Nick didn’t love me, because even though he hadn’t said it yet, I knew he did. It was that his love made me hope for a future I was becoming terrified to lose.

Chapter 16

Lucky

Days passed while I waited to hear from either my grandfather or Finn. They’d been keeping in touch, but hadn’t found anything that was foolproof yet, other than being bit by a master vampire. The more time I was spending in the sun, the less that option appealed to me.

Could I handle it?

Probably, but I would be miserable not being able to go outside during the daylight hours for a few hundred years. I would miss the sun on my face, and the warmth on my skin. I would miss how it always brightens my mood and makes me feel like if the sun is still shining, then everything is okay.

I was also giving serious thought to Nick’s offer to live in Florida. We weren’t there as a couple—yet. To the point where we were talking about where to live. But his assurance that he would go wherever I wanted to go gave me the freedom to dream of other possibilities.

It was just that I would miss everyone so much. My grandfather had moved to Moonhaven for me, but I wasn’t too worried about him. He would either split his time between Moonhaven and Florida, or he would move to Florida full time to be close to me. I knew that I would still get to see him frequently.

But Dice... her life was in Moonhaven.