“Is everything all right?” he asked. It occurred to me that I had been studying his looks for a good minute or two without speaking.
Again, I blushed. “I’m sorry. I was just…spacing out. I’ve had a long day and it’s the end of a very long few months. I’m not at my best right now.”
He leaned back, crossing one leg over his other knee as he gave me a nod. “I get it. I’m sorry I bothered you tonight, truly. You look tired.”
Crap. I wasn’t sure how to take that, except it had never been a compliment.
“I am,” I muttered. “I just got home last night and I’ve spent all day unpacking. My aunt and Ari helped me, but you know how it is. Even when you want to move, it takes a toll on you.”
“And you didn’t want to move?”
I paused, trying to think of a good way to answer that. “I was ready to, by the time I left.” I wasn’t about to regurgitate the mess with Ellison or the months-long acrimonious divorce. “Let’s just say, it wasn’t my idea to begin with but now I’m glad to be back in town. So, where are you from?”
He shrugged. “I’m coming in from California. I’m a veterinarian, and I worked in Southern California until the fires destroyed the town. My house burned down, my business burned to the ground, and I lost everything. A client once mentioned Moonshadow Bay and the name stuck in my mind. I decided rather than rebuild—because with the way things are, the area will just burn again—I’d take a look up and down the coast for a place to live. I visited several towns in Oregon and Washington, but once I arrived in Moonshadow Bay, I knew this was the place for me. And it seems that one of the vets in town is retiring, so I bought out his business.”
He ran out of breath just as Ari returned, a cup of salt along with mugs of hot cocoa and a package of Candy Cane Oreos on a tray.
“Here we go, Oreos for the hungry and footsore. And hot cocoa, fresh made.” She set the tray down on the coffee table and handed us each a mug. I recognized them from my mother’s holiday Spode collection.
“You found her holiday dishes,” I murmured.
“I remembered how much you loved them. Every Yule, you’d beg her to make us hot chocolate. And she would, using these, along with homemade cookies.” Ari handed me a saucer with several Oreos on it.
I teared up, staring at the mug, my heart still sore. My mother had worked all her life, but she had always managed to make time for special occasions. The china had been passed down to her from my grandmother. And now, it was mine. As the hot cocoa hit my tongue, I turned to Killian, feeling slightly teary-eyed.
“I’m sorry about your house and your business. That must have been terrifying.” To Ari, I added, “Killian’s a vet—a veterinarian. He lost his business and home to the California wildfires.”
Killian stared into his cocoa. “Thank you. It was difficult. It’s hard to be uprooted from everything you know. It’s hard to lose everything you worked for.”
“I understand that all too well.” I paused, then turned to Ari. “So you found the salt?”
She nodded, glancing at Killian. “Do you mind telling us what you’re doing with the salt? Are you brining a chicken or something?”
He laughed. “No, I just needed to cleanse the space and while I could go out and, hopefully, find an all-night grocery, I’m too tired. So I thought I’d come over, introduce myself, and see if you had some. My mother taught me to always cleanse a house before you move in, but I didn’t have the opportunity, and there is some pretty murky energy there. I’ve got distilled water, but I didn’t have the salt. I’m going to make a spray and just douse the corners of the house until I can hire someone in to do a proper warding.”
I perked up. “If you need any help, just ask. But it has to be tomorrow, because I’m too tired tonight. I’m from a Fam-Trad lineage. So is Ari.”
“Well, I thank you for that. And I’ll probably take you up on it if I can’t dislodge the psychic grunge myself.” He stood, setting his cup down. “Thank you for the cocoa and cookies and being so welcoming, but I’ll leave you to your evening. I imagine you’re as tired as I am.” As he headed for the door, I followed, feeling oddly reluctant to see him go.
“If you need anything, just ask,” I said, opening the door.
As he stepped into the chill night, he ducked his head. “Sleep well,” he said, glancing back at me. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
I watched him go, finding myself thinking just how nice he seemed. And he was a veterinarian, which meant he loved animals.
“You like him,” Ari said, when I returned to the living room.
“He seems nice,” I said. “So, what about the séance? You still want to hold it?” I wanted to get out of talking about him, but Ari wasn’t taking the bait.
“We can do that later. But January, you like him. I can tell. I always knew when you liked a boy back in high school.” She snickered.
I blushed. “I sounded like an idiot.”
“You did not. You were delightfully quirky. Well, he’s a looker, all right, if you go for that type. I, myself, prefer boobs and—”
“I know what you prefer!” I said, laughing. “Speaking of preferences, are you dating anybody right now?”
She shrugged, curling her legs beneath her on the sofa. “Yeah, kind of. What’s on TV? Or is the cable on yet?”
“Yeah, I had all the utilities turned on last week before I got here, so I wouldn’t have to deal with that after moving in.” I flipped on the giant flatscreen my father had bought the year before, and flipped through the channels till I found the guide. “What about The Great British Baking Show? They have a holiday special on.” As I flipped to the channel, I added, “What do you mean, you’re ‘kind of’ dating? I didn’t think you did casual.”
“I usually don’t, but this time, I am,” Ari said, but I could hear something behind her words that told me she wasn’t happy with it.
“What’s going on?” I picked up my cocoa and dipped a cookie in it.
“Nothing. Just…nothing,” Ari said. “I don’t feel like talking about it right now, okay? Can we just watch the show and enjoy the evening?”
I relented, but I knew Ari enough to know that there was something going on she didn’t want to go into about. “Okay.” I paused before turning up the volume. “Do you have to work tomorrow?”
“I’m afraid so,” she said. “I managed to get today off, but I need to be there tomorrow.”
Ari was a self-employed hairdresser. She had a salon in her house, and had quite a number of clients. She was good—very good—and was usually booked solid for several weeks in advance.
As we watched the show, I began to relax a little. Outside, the snow began to fall again, and the world outside the big bay window looked luminous and beautiful.
I glanced at my phone. Ellison had tried to call me four times today, and there were a dozen texts from him, all screaming about his precious convertible and how he was going to sue me. I stared at the jarring words on the screen. For the first time in months, I felt really, truly happy. I quietly blocked his calls and erased his texts, and went back to watching the show.