Susan sliced a hand through the air. "Nope. Never, remember?" With that, she turned and walked out the door.
"Call me with questions," Andy whispered, and then he left the diner.
Now that it was over, all out in the open, a tremendous wave of exhaustion washed over me. I wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep for three days. Maybe I would take a page out of Beau's book and close the shop tomorrow to celebrate winning Lorraine's freedom and solving the case.
Aunt Ruby rushed over to hug me, and Uncle Mike shook Jack's hand.
"Not bad," my uncle said. "Not bad at all."
There was a suddenthunkon the table next to me.
"Not again," Jack and I said at the same time.
"The Eye of the Tiger."
After Susan and Andy left, the party broke up. There was hugging and relief, but there were also fifty-year-old wounds that would take time to heal.
I was done, though.
Jack put his arm around me and bent to murmur in my ear. "Time for a getaway?"
"Yes. Please. I need to feed my cat."
"We're heading out," Jack told the room. "I need my beauty sleep."
"I think you're supposed to say I need my beauty sleep," I told him.
He made a tsk tsk sound. "Nothing could possibly make you even more beautiful than you already are."
My cheeks warmed up, and I realized I felt totally and incandescently happy for the first time in more than a week, so I squeezed his hand and raised my head to whisper in his ear. "Good answer."
Nigel, pulling Erin behind him, walked over to say goodbye.
"Thank you, Tess. Jack. You've lifted a burden I've carried with me for half a century. I didn't want to have to drag its weight with me for the next century or two."
Or two?
Impulsively, I hugged him. "I'm so glad it's all out in the open now. Please invite me to the next dance competition. I'll come out and cheer your kids on."
"Maybe teach them to pirouette," Jack suggested.
"Who knows?"
Before I could duck or dodge or vanish through the floor, Erin/Phaedra the crazed flower pot destroyer threw her long arms around me and touched her cheek to mine. "Since you have assisted my Nigel, I will not drown you in a ditch in the future," she said benevolently.
"Glad to hear it," I said faintly, trying to cope with the implications ofthat.She'd been planning to drown me in a ditch before? I just shook my head, a little dazed.
Jack suddenly cast a sharp glance at me. "Tess?"
"No. I'm fine. Just tired."
Erin's eyes widened. "Wait. Your curse—"
"I prefer to think of it as a gift."
"Your curse-gift. Did it activate? Did you see my death?"
Who knew that river nymphs got so loud when they were contemplating their own mortality? Everyone in the room stopped talking and turned to stare at me.
