“But it’s hard to tell with you, Cardamom Oak.”
“Still talking to the coffee pot?” Val asked.
“You know what the coffee pot doesn’t do?” I asked.
He hummed.
“It doesn’t ask me to get mixed up with a god, or a swamp witch, or an overbearing wizard who ball-gagged my house.”
Val’s laugh was unexpected. “You’re grumpy without your coffee in the morning.”
The coffee gurgled and hissed, which meant it was almost done.
“I’m grumpy when my life gets tossed into a wood chipper, and I’m all out of glue.”
“He’s on the way, isn’t he?” Val asked.
I turned and leaned my butt against the countertop. “Yes. Which means I need to make a decision.”
“About?” The ghost leaned his hip against the counter, mirroring me. His wolf sat at his side. Val let his hand drop so he could rub behind its furry ears.
“If I want to let Card be a part of this place. If I want the magic here to claim him. To keep him. It will mess with my life. I mean, I already have an open door for anyone who stops by, but they all leave.”
“Eventually,” he said.
“Eventually,” I agreed.
“You want my opinion?” he asked.
“Sure.” The coffee had stopped sputtering. I pulled it out from the drip and poured thick, dark liquid into a mug that already held a healthy dose of cream.
“I think he’s unpredictable. But I don’t think he’ll try to screw things up on purpose.”
“But he will screw things up.”
Val shrugged. “I don’t know him as well as you do. But on the drive, we talked.”
I drank coffee. The heat of it, the utter normalness of it, grounding me and somehow making it easier to believe everything was okay. Or was going to be okay. “What did you talk about?”
“Him, mostly, because I am a nosey bastard.” His smile had a flash of wolf fang. “He told me some about why he left. He...he was in a bind. I’m not taking his side. I’m just saying I think you should talk to him. Let him talk to you. Then when you decide to throw him out, or let the Crossroads keep those marks on him, you’ll do it without wondering if you’re making the right move.”
“You were supposed to be working out your own relationship issues with Danube this week.”
“Yeah, but this is good practice, right?”
“Val. You know he wants to talk to you.”
The ghost nodded. “I will. We will. But I’m not going to leave you with the whole Card thing unsettled.”
I took a couple more gulps, then walked over to the old radio and turned the dial a click. Soft blues filled the kitchen, and Val smiled. “Sure I can’t interest you in some Punk? Death Metal?”
“I like the oldies,” I said. “Keep an eye out for him, okay? Crossroads says he’s on his way.”
I took my coffee with me up to my bedroom, showered, and changed into wide-legged jeans with grasshoppers embroidered down the sides, and a tank with a light button-down cotton shirt over it.
We’d have to face Fate today, one way or another. I was hoping we were going to just give her coins back and be done with this mess.
Although part of this mess was the problem of Card himself, and me still loving him.
