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I shake my head and scoop a bit of frosting onto my finger. He sucks on it, staring into my eyes with intent. My belly dips, but I manage to say, “Nuh uh. I’m not a baker. I suggest you get your aunt to give you the recipe.”
He smiles and whispers, “I can do that.”
“Happily ever after is gonna be so happy,” I tell him. “Especially if you do most of the cooking.”
“We’ll have everyone else do most of the cooking, babe,” he offers an alternative. “Pack’s all half in love with you already. All you gotta do is plant the seed that you can’t cook, and they’ll drop meals off left, right, and center.”
“Awesome,” I tell him. “But I’m not a freeloader. I’ll trade vegetables, fruits, and flowers for meal prep instead.”
He looks like he approves.
“Open this one right now,” Vivi demands, handing me a heavy box.
“Okay…”
I rip the wrapping paper and unearth absolutely gorgeous stationery as well as a set of personalized ledgers and grimoires along with two monogramed sketchbooks. The stationery says Riley and Erica Savage. The grimoires and sketchbooks have Erica Savage in beautiful script.
“How did you pull this off?” I asked. “This is good stationery. It probably should’ve taken weeks to get with Erica Savage on it.”
“I ordered it eight weeks ago,” Vivi admits.
“Because you had high hopes or you knew?” Riley asks.
She smirks.
My mouth drops open. “And you didn’t let me off the hook?”
She rolls her eyes. “I told you it was gonna work out. You didn’t believe me.”
“That’s true,” I say. “I love it. Thank you.” I give her a hug.
Some pack members have given me candles, bubble bath, and other cute little trinkets. But my favorite gift of them all is a hand-carved stone wolf sculpture that Riley’s grandfather gave me.
He informed me he wants to work part time in my garden center. He doesn’t want wages, but he wants to make his own hours. He plans to water my plants and says he’ll take care of the shopping carts. I wholeheartedly agreed to these terms as he presented me with the sculpture of about eight inches tall, hand carved from a chunk of stone from the Arcana Falls cave. It’s painted brown with green eyes. And he’s got amazing detail in it that really does look like Riley’s wolf. It’s beautiful and feels like there’s energy inside it. Amazing energy. I almost cried when I was holding it, feeling super-emotional at the welcome. At how perfect it all is.
I got to meet both of Riley’s grandmothers, too, and they were both very friendly. There’s been no animosity today from anyone. No one!
Aunt Mimi has been up dancing with Amie and Ivy’s mom, Kathleen. Auntie is like I’ve never seen her. Having a blast.
After eating a plate of food from the big, potluck spread and sharing my slice of cake with Riley, it occurs to me that we’re celebrating above Aviva Starling’s body, which is in a locked jail cell in the basement. But what also occurs to me is how much I can learn from that experience.
Aviva had a good reputation. She had a large coven, a large family. She was a respected member of the witch community and the overall supernatural community, too. She got lured with the promise of black magic. And that’s beyond sad. I’m taking that as more than a stern warning to be very careful in my practice of magic. I’m not perfect. I might screw up sometimes, but I certainly do take warning signs very seriously and Aviva Starling’s story is a cautionary tale to remember - experienced witch with a good support system seduced by the promise of unlimited power. This happens after she works to ensure a young witch who would come into a lot of gifts is ready to handle them without falling victim to the temptation of dark magic.
Seven years after she goes out of her way to make sure I come into my magic when I’m more prepared to handle it, she’s pulled into temptation and darkness and loses everything because of it.
***
A slow song comes on and finally, we have a minute without people looking to talk to us. I’ve been so busy talking to people that I’ve been missing out on the dancing. Before seven years ago, I was always the first and last on any dance floor. And I didn’t think that was me anymore. But it’s feeling like it might be me again.
For the first few bars of this song, I’ve stared into his eyes with a big smile, hoping he can take a hint. Thankfully, he can. As he moves me off his lap, takes my hand and leads me to the dance floor, I take in Greyson and Stacy.
She’s glued to his side at a nearby table. I feel like Grey probably promised to not leave her alone for a second in order to get her to come. To his credit, he hasn’t.
