With that, she shoved him back and slammed the door in his face.
We all hooted in laughter as Agnes held the bag of food in the air like a champion.
“When are you going to stop toying with that man?” Sophie demanded.
“I am not toying with him,” Agnes exclaimed.
A knock at the window had us all turning. Graham pressed his face to the pane, his mouth pulled down in a dramatic frown, and he ran a finger down his cheek as though he was crying.
We all howled, and Lia threw a cushion at the window. With that, Graham held up his hands in defeat and crossed the street to the pub.
“Right. We’ve got snacks, we’ve got wine, what wedon’t have is the story. Talk.” Agnes could have been a drill sergeant as she unpacked food and delivered orders. I noticed she was studiously avoiding looking at the window where Graham had been, and as much as I wanted to grill her on the history with that relationship, I didn’t feel like I knew her well enough to do so.
Plus, we were here to talk about me.
That, in itself, made me both cringe and smile.I have people.Despite the pain I felt about Luch—what the hell can’t he tell me?—I also felt immense comfort. There were wonderful friends in my corner who had left their comfy homes to be with me tonight.To discuss my woes.Like I said, cringe-worthyandsmile-worthy.
I’d honestly never been in the position with a group, an actual group, of friends who were all invested in listening to me talk about my life. Friends had been few and far between in my life, so this was completely outside my normal operating procedure.
Maybe I just need to start there.
Tucking my feet underneath me, I pulled a cushion onto my lap and hugged it, needing comfort.
“I’ve never really had a group of friends before. I don’t really know how to start this,” I said, and Orla’s face softened. She raised a hand.
“Same, girl. Same. It gets easier. They’ll just batter you over the head with friendship until you accept it. Might as well crack on with it now, as you’re a part of us forever.”
“I wouldn’t say batter.” Shona smiled. “What’s a much gentler type of assault?”
“Is assault ever gentle?” I wondered.
“Either way, you’re ours now. Might as well accept it.”Willow beamed at me. “And let me be the first to say that I am pissed that my dress was ruined on an argument. Or at least that’s what I’ve been told.”
“I mean, it wasn’t entirely ruined.” My cheeks pinkened and Willow hooted in laughter.
“All right then, you go, girl.”
“Ahem.” I cleared my throat. “Right, so, basically, long story short—I’ve been on the run my whole life. Coming to Loren Brae and finding you all? It’s...a relief, really. I can finally make a home. Have friends. Not be looking over my shoulder constantly with the worry that I’ll be run from town. Date. Actually date.”
“You’re planting roots,” Shona said, nodding.
“Exactly. And at first I wasn’t ready to tell Luch about what I was. But he found out anyway, though he’d told me he’d had his suspicions.” I filled them in on everything, from the morning of Oban’s healing, all the way to when I’d met Luch’s family last night. Agnes paused me once to force some food down my throat, but by the time I’d finished talking the room had gone silent.
“What in the world?” Sophie wondered.
I took a deep slug of my Irn Bru. I didn’t want to drink tonight, worried that alcohol would make me do something impulsive like track Luch down at work and beg him to explain what he was hiding from me.
“How much time are you going to give him?” Kaia asked.
“I don’t know. I guess as much time as he needs? I mean, does it matter? I’d like an explanation, at some point. But whatever his family secret is, it seems he’s just not ready to share it.”
“It was enough to send him running,” Orla mused.
“Do you think he’s magick?” Shona wondered and I froze.
It wasn’t the first time the idea had occurred to me, but at the same time, how could he keep something like that from me when I’d shown him my own secret?
“Honestly? I hope not. I really hope not. Because if he is … don’t you see the position that puts me in? I’ve shared my past and almost all the parts of myself with him and he’s not done the same for me. So where would that leave us?”
