My heart flying as fast as my feet, I ran down the mountain. Veering off the road and onto a disused track, I raced to my old family home.
I found exactly what I’d expected.
It wasn’t all roses here. They tangled up the walls and cradled the roof, but all around, wild flowers bloomed. The lonely house was softened by delicate fronds and petals.
I walked around the building where my family had lived and, for the first time since the storm, peace settled over me. I could hear all the things Aster was saying with these flowers. That life could grow from darkness. That theend wasn’t always the end. That beauty could form from something horribly ugly.
I sat opposite my old front door, the paint worn and overgrown with pink roses.
I’d suffered loss before. I could endure it again. Aster had left me this parting gift, and I was so grateful despite how desperately sad him leaving made me.
More than anything else, these flowers and the roses at the cabin said one thing: goodbye.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
ASTER
My grand gesture epically fucking failed.
I’d come to the conclusion—while eating my body weight in ice cream with Kit and having surprisingly pleasant meals with Bonnie and Joshua—that one of two things was going on with Callum. Either my first instinct had been right and only I had grown feelings, or he’d gotten it into his head that leaving Doughnut was the best thing for me and so he was willing to do anything—even hurt himself—to get me gone. I knew Callum, knew how much duty dictated his life. If he thought something was right, he wouldn’t care about his own feelings or needs.
Fear that the first option could be true—that Callum was happily living his normal life now and for him our time together was nothing but a fond memory tinged with embarrassment at how I’d made an arse of myself right at the end—stopped me from storming into the cabin and telling him I was staying on the island and there was nothing he could do about it.
I desperately wanted Callum to be in love with me. Iwanted him to be a self-sacrificing fool like Bonnie insisted he was. But I didn’t trust myself. I’d been wrong too many times before.
I took a break from eating Joshua’s delicious food and crying with Kit to watch terrible nineties romcoms with Louisa and Errol. She insisted these films were the best cure for heartbreak, since they would make the whole idea of romance ridiculous if I watched enough of them. She also insisted I sit squished between her and Errol, said the contact was important. I hid a grin behind my hand when Errol muttered something about puppy piles. Now I knew about the whole werewolf thing, I didn’t see how anyone could miss it. These guys were not subtle.
The films helped me figure out one thing. Before I left the island, I had to do something. A big grand gesture to let Callum know I was thinking of him always and that all he had to do was say one word and I would be at his side now and forever.
I thought the flowers would work. I went to the spot by the river where we said we liked each other to tap into my powers. It felt like the right place, since this was the most romantic thing I’d ever done in my life.
I sat and thought all the best thoughts about Callum, then I coaxed flowers into life around his two homes.
I thought I was shouting loud and clear that I wanted to be a part of all of his life. I thought Callum would see the flowers and they would make him think so powerfully of me that he had to come to the village and find me.
I left my bedroom window open, despite the freezing sea breeze it let in. Scaling a wall would mean nothing to a werewolf, but my room remained non-invaded all night.
I had to hope—since it was increasingly likely Callumdidn’t have deep feelings for me—that he wasn’t too annoyed by the army of roses that had sprung into life around his cabin. At least he was waiting until I left the island to cut them back. My magic was so alive here that I would feel it if he hacked into them.
Soon—too soon—my powers would fade to their usual uselessness. I stood on the jetty, waiting for Captain Errol to give the signal it was alright to walk across the health and safety nightmare that constituted his gangplank. I refused to look up at the road to the mountains again. I’d checked it too many times already.
Kit squeezed my arm. I dropped my bags and grabbed him.
‘I’m going to miss you,’ I said into one of his signature scarfs. He had a chest in his bedroom full of them. Neck warming made sense here, where the wind was always chilled. I got the sense Kit would have been a scarf wearer wherever he ended up though. At least he was hot enough to get away with it.
‘You’ll just miss my ice cream.’ Kit’s eyes shone as we stepped apart.
I huffed as I was tackled from behind. Strong arms banded across my chest.
‘I can’t believe you’re leaving,’ Bonnie growled into my ear. ‘My brother is the biggest idiot who ever idioted.’
I wriggled out of her arms and turned to frown at her. ‘Don’t be mean to him.’
She threw up her hands and looked to Joshua for support. He patted me on the shoulder. ‘I’ll make sure she isn’t too much of an arsehole.’
‘I don’t expect miracles.’ I ducked out of the way ofBonnie’s swipe. ‘Lovely to have met you.’ I grinned insincerely at her. ‘Please do keep in touch.’
Louisa’s head forced its way under my arm and she pulled me into a sideways hug. ‘You better fucking keep in touch with me. No one else on this island has good taste in TV. I need someone to talk shit with.’
