AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Orhe,” Mack countered.
“Whatever.”
“That’s exactly the problem right there,” Wendy said as she came by, grabbing a few drinks for the early customers that had shown up.
“What problem?” Bloom asked.
“Too much feminine energy in your life. You need to let in the masculine.”
“What are you talking about?” Ugh. She was not in the mood for a fae lesson on masculine energy. Wendy was fantastic with the clientele, and really sweet, but sometimes she was a little too enthusiastic about her fae spirituality. She really need to put her and Tam together more, she thought distantly. They would both be in heaven talking about it for hours.
“This place gets full of manly men practically every night, Wendy.”
“And how many of them have you dated?” Wendy continued.
“I have dated some,” she stubbornly replied.
“One.” Wendy held up her right index finger, as if Bloom needed help understanding the word.
Mack had already walked away.
Smart man.
“What do you care, anyhow?”
“I just want to see you happy, honey. I know things weren’t exactly ideal between you and that cop guy, but I thought there wassomethingthere. Something special.”
“Are you kidding?” she snapped. Suddenly she realized she was being a lot more aggressive than she wanted. But she couldn’t help it. Wendy had hit a nerve. All of her carefully choreographed strong façade was falling apart. “You mean the guy who has been doing nothing to catch my father’s killer for what, close to three years now?”
“Oh, no. I didn’t know that, Bloom. That is my bad, I… uh, I’m sorry, Bloom,” Wendy stammered quickly as she went to deliver her drinks.
“I know you mean well,” Bloom quickly replied as the waitress began to walk away.
Good job, Bloom.Way to snap at the staff.
But what was she supposed to do?
“Look,” Wendy said when she returned, and in a voice that said she was trying to do damage control. “Obviously I don’t know what I’m talking about.” She paused. “It was just, there were times, I remember, you seemed, well, happy, when you two were together.”
Bloom said nothing. There was nothingtosay.
Seemingly emboldened by Bloom’s silence, she continued, “There was something magical about you guys when you were together. I could feel it. I can feel him, like in your aura. There, I said it.”
“Magical? In my aura?” This was too much. Too painful to think about. Because for a second she had thought she had found someone. That after losing her entire family, she wouldn’t have to be all alone in this freaky town. In this world. For a fraction of a moment he was actually her hero… Tears were fighting to come out, and she was fighting just as hard to keep them in. Where they belonged. Where she had kept them for so long now. Only occasionally letting them out at night, with just her pillow and Ash as witnesses of how much his betrayal still hurt.
“Bloom…” Wendy began to say, going to her. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” Wendy started, apparently realizing she had now stuffed her entire leg, not just her foot in her mouth.
“No. For a second there, I thought those things too. Dax was great. The Tribunal was working on the case. All was well.” She shrugged. “And then all of a sudden, they just said that the case had gone cold.Cold!” Tears she could no longer avoid began to cloud her vision. “So no, there’s nothing magical there.” The tears started to run down her face.
Wendy was close to panicking and full of apology. “I’m so sorry. My bad. Zero magic. Got it. You’re the best boss ever, I thought it was helping. What do I know? That is…”
“It’s okay, Wendy, I know you are just trying to help,” Bloom said, her voice cracking a little.God, these Children of the Vortex.Wasn’t that what the ones who made the pilgrimage here were called. Sometimes they could really use an edit button.
But her thoughts went back to Dax and the pain returned. She hadn’t realized how much strain she had been under lately either. “I… um, I should have never gotten involved with him.”
What was I thinking? Obviously, I wasn’t.
And just like that the tears were coming hot and fast.
