“And they loved it so much last time. We didn’t suffer for that at all.”
“They took it pretty well.”
“Thor was so bitchy it rained all summer.”
“Thor’s always bitchy.”
I hummed in agreement and took another sip. “Jean got hit by a car.”
“I remember.”
“You started dating a demon.”
“Which was nothing like getting hit by a car.”
“He broke your heart.”
“And my heart mended, just like Jean’s bones mended. But what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Have you mended from all those hits? All the things that have happened to us? To Ben, Old Rossi, Ryder? All the things that have happened to you?”
“I’m fine.” It came out stiff, stilted. It came out hard, because all those memories crowded in, all those failures, all those fears.
All the times I’d failed the people in my town were still back there, somewhere in my mind, screaming warnings that it could happen again. That I could fail again.
“Delaney,” she said, soft but determined, knowing me too well, knowing me as only a sister could. “None of those things would have turned out any differently. We made our choices with the best information we had at the time.
“We’ve won, and we’ve lost. But we’re here, together. Even if it were legal to turn back time for a do-over, would you really want to make different choices?”
I cleared my throat. “I might.”
She gave me a level stare. “And if you did, do you think the outcome would be any better?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe Ryder wouldn’t be the vassal to a petty god. Maybe I wouldn’t have lost my soul for a year. Maybe you wouldn’t have had your heart broken, and Jean wouldn’t feel like she had to get better at her gift just because she almost didn’t know the big troubles were coming until they hit.”
“Or maybe we would be right here, you and I, drinking coffee in a winter storm, trying to figure out who’s developed an industrial light fetish, and arguing over your inability to let go for a few days. Also,” she added, “eating really good cookies.”
I inhaled, exhaled. “They are really good.” I plucked another off the plate and popped the whole thing in my mouth. “How about this? I promise if I get the powers safely in Than’s hands, I will pack my bags and flee tomorrow. Before the next problem hits.”
She tipped her head to one side, then shrugged. “Will you promise me you will let go and have fun?”
“Yes?”
“Will Ryder?”
“I think he’s more than willing to let go. Have you seen him after a few beers?”
“The dancing,” she breathed.
“So white guy,” I agreed.
She grinned. “He knows how to have fun. I think he needs time away from this town too. You both need time away from your job and his job, and family and friends, and just… everything. He saw you get shot, Delaney. He saw you lose your soul. He saw you die. Was right here for all of it.”
“I was only dead for a minute.”
“Try telling Ryder it wasn’t a lifetime.”
I wasn’t dumb enough to tell Ryder that. We didn’t talk much about all the bad stuff. Not because we didn’t have time to rehash everything, but because we both understood that those things were a part of being the Bridge to Ordinary, a part of being the police chief.
I was going to take some hits.
It was my honor to make sure everyone was safe, to make Ordinary welcoming for people and beings of all manner of existence. I was proud of our little town. Proud of the people and supernaturals and others who made it their home.
Ryder knew my job was a part of me, as vital as the breath in my lungs.
But yeah. Getting away from this place was beginning to take the top slot in my genie-three-wish fantasies.
“Tomorrow,” I said. “I’m on vacation.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
My phone buzzed. I glanced at the screen and groaned.
“What?” Myra asked. “Ryder?”
“No. Bertie.”
“The planning meeting?”
I tucked my phone in my pocket and leaned my head back against the soft cushion of the chair. “Do you think she’d miss me if I weren’t there? Or maybe if I were just dead?”
“Yes. Also if you were on vacation right now, she’d excuse your absence. But look where you are. Here. In the Valkyrie’s reach. Stupid.”
I groaned again and rubbed my forehead.
Myra stood. “Come on. I’ll go with you. You know she’ll want all of us to attend.”
“Have I told you I love you lately?” I pushed up onto my feet.
“Nope,” she said. “And that’s not going to change my mind about your vacation avoidance.”
“Oh my gods,” I said, “I’m not avoiding it. I’m trying to get out of town.”
“I’ve never seen a Reed woman not get something she sets her sights on.”
“Meaning?”
“For someone who says she wants to leave town, you’re still right here.”
“Don’t you have a demon to torment?”
She grinned, and it was wicked. “Yes, but he’s not here eating all my cookies.”
Just for that, I stole the last three on the plate and stuffed them all in my mouth in one go.
She laughed and strode out the door. “Get going, Chief,” she said. “We’re burning daylight.”
Chapter Five
“What’s with the mallet?” I asked Jean.
My youngest sister shifted the comically huge hammer over her shoulder and gave me wide eyes like she had no idea what I was talking about. “This old thing?”
We were inside the cavernous hall of the community center, which had once been the grade school and was now the office and seat of power for our local Valkyrie. The neatly printed sign on the brick wall stated Meeting with a blocky arrow pointing toward what was once a gymnasium.
Myra ignored us both and strolled off to the meeting.
“Is it a collectable? Like from a movie or something?” I asked.
“Nope. I got it from Crow’s sale. Went back after the call to Mom’s, and it was there and… I had to have it.”
“Like the hippo.”
“House hippo,” she corrected.
“Which you had to have because…”
“They bring luck.”
“And the hammer?”
She started off toward the main room. “I just felt like having it.” She paused. “I’m trying to listen to my gut more. Like Myra, you know?”
“Uh-huh. And it was totally your gut that wanted you to have a Harley Quinn mallet?”
“So much gut,” she said.
I shook my head but couldn’t hide my smile. “You’re ridiculous.”
She waggled her eyebrows and followed me into the gym.
“Delaney Reed,” Bertie snapped as soon as I stepped through the door. “Jean. We’ve been waiting.” Her tone of voice made it sound like she’d been waiting for hours, but I knew the meeting didn’t even start for another five minutes.