AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was a witch, Levi thought, not for the first time. Not a Glinda witch. One of the witches that houses fell on and everyone sang about. But only he could see it.
He reached out, slowly, for the envelope, sliding his hand inside.
There was a napkin covered in writing. Cass never wrote on paper if she could avoid it, preferring to hoard napkins from her flights like a dragon and dole them out to the emotionally unprepared. Usually it was Hannah or Miriam who got napkins, sometimes his parents or siblings. He’d always wanted them, yearned to open one of her envelopes while she was away for the summer and smell her perfume, but things were never that simple between them.
There was also a ring. He pulled the ring out first. It had been Hannah’s favorite.
“Does Hannah know I have this?” he asked Elijah.
Elijah shook his head. “No, Cass thought you might need it for something.”
Why,why, would the woman who told him in no uncertain terms to leave her niece alone give him the engagement ring Hannah had always wanted?
He unfolded the napkin, spreading it on his lap, his fingers trembling as they traced the ink.
Kid
I spent so long collecting lost souls around the world, but I lost the soul closest to home. I thought I knew what was best for you, and Hannah, and I guess I still do think that. But I can admit I was very wrong about one thing—I should never have let you feel I didn’t love you as much as any of them. I failed you, kid. I failed to protect you from others, and from my own ego when the help you wanted didn’t look like the help I wanted to give. We could have been two misanthropes in a pod, Statler and Waldorf of Carrigan’s, but I blew it, and I hurt you. You deserved better.
Whether you want it or not, I love you.
Cass
He looked up at Elijah, who was watching him. “You’re going to get eyeliner on it,” he warned.
Levi realized that he was, in fact, about to drip black kohl tears right onto the paper and run the ink.
“She never could leave well enough alone, could she?” he asked, sounding husky to his own ears.
“I don’t believe she thought itwaswell enough,” Elijah remarked. “I don’t know exactly what happened between the two of you, and I’m not sure I would have fixed it quite the way she tried to, but…well, again, apologizing for Cass doesn’t do you any good, and she wouldn’t have wanted me to. My job was to deliver this. I’m sorry if I’ve caused pain in doing so.”
“You didn’t cause it, Elijah.” Levi shook his head. “This is a pain as old as I am, and it’s on Cass’s head, and maybe a little on mine. I would love, though, to take you up on that invite to dinner. Things are a little heavy around here. I wouldn’t mind a night with friends.”
“I’ll text you some dates, then. Jason will be freaking out, trying to figure out what to cook for the famous chef.”
Levi watched him let himself out, the napkin still dangling from one hand and the ring clutched in the other.
Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck. Fucking Cass.
He was still brooding late that night. It was too cold to sit on the porch of the cabin and stare into the abyss of the stars for hours, so he gave up and went to the kitchen. He wasn’t sure if he was looking for a snack, his mom, or three a.m. cooking, but the kitchen was where he always ended up when he couldn’t get comfortable in his skin. He pushed open the door to find Miriam already there, cooking something. He walked over and looked past her shoulder, into the pan on the stove. “Are you making matzo brei? It’s the middle of the night.”
“Categorically the best time for matzo brei. Plus I can’t sleep.” She shooed him away. “Go sit down. I’ll feed you for a change.”
“This is super weird,” he said, sliding onto a stool.
“This is what I do,” Miriam told him. “I stress-cook in the middle of the night, and someone wanders in to eat and bond with me. That’s how Noelle and I fell in love, over three a.m. rugelach.”
“What are you stressed about tonight?” He rested his chin on his hands.
She squished up her face. “I miss Cole,” she said. “I’ve been distracted by Noelle, and Carrigan’s, but I need my BFF. We’ve been attached at the hip since college. And Noelle and Hannah have a whole secret best friend life. I don’t want to interfere with it. I just want mine back.”
Cole had not just been in Australia to retrieve him but had, as Levi understood it, been doing something for work in New Zealand and had been entirely off the grid since the beginning of the year. No one could tell him what, exactly, Cole did for work, except that maybe it involved cybersecurity and they weren’t sure it was technically within the law.
“Can I offer my services as your originalBFF?” he offered. “I realize I am missing some ineffable something that Cole has, since everyone seems to adore him, but I don’t entirely suck.”
“What Cole has that you don’t,” Miriam told him seriously, “is pants embroidered with tiny lobsters.”
“He was literally wearing lobster pants when I met him.” Levi laughed.
