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Eli could barely breathe for the joy cascading through him. He had no right to be delighted over hearing that word since they hadn’t even talked about it. And that must be why she was so horrified about declaring it unilaterally.
“I am,” he agreed easily. “So yeah, you shouldn’t be looking for unbiased assessments from me. Clearly I have an ‘Iris’ bias.Youare my bias.”
She relaxed and wandered into his arms, nestling close. “That’s so cute. No matter how bad things are, you start talking, and I feel better. If I’m your bias, you’re my panacea.”
Guilt prodded at him, but this wasn’t the time to dump another revelation on her for the sake of clearing his conscience. He’d read that certain confessions were actually acts of selfishness, asking someone else to bear pain, and he rather agreed with that currently.Not now. I can’t tell her now. I’ll do it when everything’s resolved.
Instead, he kissed her forehead and offered a different truth. “Funny, that’s how I feel about you. Since my parents died, I’ve felt…rootless. Gamma did her best, but I always felt like…aninterruption in her life. As soon as I could, I moved out and tried to find my own place to belong so she could do the same, but I didn’t fit anywhere. Not ever. I was even thinking I might be better off as a hawk because nobody would miss me.”
“Oh my God, Eli…”
Before she could say more, he went on, “That’s not true anymore. And it’s because of you. Because of Violet Gables and everyone here.”
She seemed to take strength in his declaration, gazing up at him with overbright eyes. “We’ll protect it, right?”
“Absolutely,” he promised.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The rooming house license applicationwas seven pages long.
In a fit of ambition, Iris had printed it out upstairs, intending to jump right on this problem. Now she lined the papers up in order on the kitchen table, staring at everything with a growing sense of despair. There was so much information, most of which she didn’t know or even how to access.
Breathe.She heard the word in Eli’s comforting, gentle tone, a welcome change from Delphine hissing poison about how she was disappointing and worthless. But as if Olive sensed she needed cheering up today, her phone buzzed.
Olive: Don’t know if I told you, but this was my last year. I’ll be back for Christmas.
Iris: Oh my God. You have to come! I want you to meet everybody. Can you?
Olive: Are you kidding? I’d much rather stay with you.
Iris: …Even if there’s drama?
Olive: Obviously. I might bring someone. If that’s okay.
Iris: Awesome! And absolutely. You two can have my boyfriend’s room. He might be sharing with me by then anyway.
Olive: Ooh. I can see we have a lot of catching up to do. Love ya.
Iris: Love you too. See you soon.
It might be unwise to be making plans like that so soon, but she was too excited about seeing Olive again to care.How long has it been since her last visit anyway?
Three years? Damn.
That quick chat bolstered her spirits for about five minutes, just long enough for her to remember what she’d been doing. “I have to talk to the fire chief about a fire plan,” she said to no one in particular.
Henry Dale popped into the kitchen. “I know him. I can do that for you.”
She felt like hugging the old man. “Seriously? That would so helpful.”
“I’m not a witch, but I know people,” he said gruffly.
Yeah, that wasstillbugging him. She stifled a smile over how consistent he was. The fact that Mira could use magic to replicate some of his skill set? He was still miffed that she’d done the second-floor hallway and now the paint looked new. In the beginning, he deeply appreciated getting his Walkman fixed and he acted like he was cool with tech magic, but the man wasn’t good at pretending long-term.
“I wonder if the shabby exterior will hurt our chances,” she said.
The old contractor took a seat at the table, skimming the pages. “Probably not the paint, but maybe the rotten gingerbread.It could conceivably be cited as a safety concern. I’m dead certain they’ll say you need a smoke detector on each floor and probably a few carbon monoxide detectors as well.”
