That was good, but we needed to make sure no one else had seen it fall.
“Do not approach the vehicle until we get there,” I said.
“Oops.”
“Jean,” I said.
“What did you want us to do, just stand here are stare at it?”
“That’s exactly what—who’s ’us’?”
“We’re on the beach right below 50th,” my other sister, Myra said.
Myra’s family gift was always being in the right place at the right time. So of course she was at the newest weird event. “We didn’t see anything or anyone exit the vehicle,” she said. “No one’s reported seeing anything strange. No one’s nearby.”
“Good.” I felt a little better knowing Jean wasn’t poking at the thing alone. I trusted both my sisters, but I was glad they had each other’s backs. “We’ll be there in five.”
Ryder thumbed off the call. “Anyone else?”
“No, we’re almost there.”
“Drink your espresso.”
“Why, did you spike it?”
“No, should I have?”
“Ask me after we figure out why cars are falling out of the sky.”
“Car. Only one so far.”
“Optimist.”
“To the grave, baby.” He toasted the cup and took a big swig.
I shoved the rest of the toast in my face and chased it with coffee. “So good,” I mumbled. “Honey’s amazing on this.”
“Blackberry and clover,” he said.
“Where’d you get it?”
“Gan and Moosh came by the station with samples.”
Gan and Moosh had returned to Ordinary after being away for several years. Gan was the god Ganesha, and his son Moosh was Mooshak. They were in the process of opening up their tea shop again, only this time they would also sell flowers.
“And I didn’t get any samples?”
“No complaining. I saved it for breakfast, and it was...?”
“Delicious,” I agreed.
I finished the last of my drink and plunked the cup in the holder next to his. “Ready?”
He nodded, and I pulled over onto the gravel and dirt pullout with a clump of trees between it and the beach below. A little foot-worn path jagged down through those trees to the beach.
Ryder and I swung out of the Jeep. I paused at the top of the path, glad I was still wearing his hoodie in the gusty wind. It smelled strongly of salt and seaweed mixed with sweet pine, a scent that would always be home to me.
I scanned the beach.
