Cold fear settled over her. She might actually lose her house.
If she didn’t go back to him, she might lose her house. And yes, she had gotten this job, but that wasn’t going to pay the rent. It wouldn’t get a roof over her head.
“Are you okay?” Nora asked. It took Soraya a moment to realize she was talking to her.
“David texted me.” She stared at the ashes on the table in front of her. “I have a week to take him back, or he’s going to throw me out of the house.”
“Oh, fuck him,” Nora said. “Fuckthat.”
Soraya flinched at the harsh language and realized the irony of that, since she was sitting in an occult shop having just possibly cast a spell,but was still grimacing at the f-word. If any moment in time required it, she supposed it was this one. She definitely thought David deserved it. She would let Nora handle it, though. She wasn’t there yet.
Yet? No. She would never be there. But ... she didn’t want to be the one kicked out of her house. She didn’t want to be kicked out of her church.
You’re going to have to lose something.
Daisy wrung her hands together. “I have my house, if you need a place to stay—”
“I have a whole week.” She felt numb and floaty. Lightheaded.
“You don’t need a week.” Aggie’s tone was much sharper than normal. David had even managed to make her angry. “You can move into the apartment above the apothecary.”
She felt so torn. If she moved above the apothecary, it would feel like she was really saying she was done with David.
He was the father of her children. He wasn’t perfect. He had a temper about petty things sometimes, and he yelled, but he’d never hurt her. She’d never been afraid of him. He could be sweet and romantic, buying her flowers just because.
It was hard for her to remember good things with him sometimes. She almost didn’t want to because ithurt.
If he had come to her genuinely contrite, maybe it would be a different story. They had kids together. She did love him.
Shehadloved him. She wasn’t sure she did now, because she didn’t feel grieved at being separated from him. She was just mad about the circumstances. About how she was being treated. By him, by her kids, by her supposed friends. If he really felt bad, he wouldn’t be sending her threats. He wouldn’t be acting like her inability to forgive this was strange or difficult. If he truly was repentant, then he would be behaving differently.
Aggie was right. She didn’t need a week because she wouldn’t be changing her mind. She thought of her house. Her beautiful white kitchen.
All the times she had stood in it and baked bread and thought that she was so blessed, but none of it had really been hers.
David didn’t see her as an equal. She was just another thing that belonged to him, like that house. He didn’t care about her happiness. Maybe he loved her in a way that he understood, but it was a possessive love.
Manipulative.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I ... I really need your help. I need this apartment. I ... Oh, but I don’t have enough money to pay rent.”
Aggie put her hand on Soraya’s shoulder. “Remember, you were concerned about the commercial kitchen. The kitchen upstairs is certified. You can bake there. It’s all working itself out. And it will continue to.”
It didn’t feel like it, and yet it did. All the right doors were opening for her, she supposed. Even if it felt strange and wrong in some ways.
She’d never felt like this before. Right and wrong had always been clear and totally reinforced by her community. Right had been comfortable. She’d done good and received good in return. Now she was ... flailing uncomfortably, and she was being cared for, but it wasn’t comfortable. It was scary and challenging, and she didn’t think she liked it at all.
Everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known.
It was the one hopeful refrain inside her.
Chapter Twelve
Daisy
Even witches have to know their limits.
—Rules for Witches
