“Do you, um…” he paused and looked across the table at Raleigh.
“We were wondering if, um, well, we’re always at the loft, and now that we’re not dancing, we always sleep over…” Raleigh said, voice trailing off as the bridge of his nose turned pink.
“I’ve been waiting for you to bring the subject up,” I admitted. “That way I could suggest that you two just move into the loft with me so you’re not wasting money on an apartment you’re rarely in for an hour or two.”
I could see the relief on their faces when I made the offer, rather than waiting for them to hem and haw before they finally got around to asking if they could move in with me. Like everything else in this relationship so far, the pair had a way of clearly letting me know when they were ready to take the next step.
“We’d love that,” Raleigh said, while Murry sat clutching a crab leg, nodding like a bobble head.
“Alright, then we’ll sit down and figure out what day will work best and get you all moved in,” I declared as I broke open another shell and plucked out a succulent bit of crab meat.
I must say, that crab tasted extra sweet a short time later when Sean and his party paraded by and the man kept his head turned so far away from us that he nearly walked right into the door no one held open for him. The bang drew stares his way and a few uncomfortable snickers as he staggered backward, tugged his shirt flat, and yanked the door open before plunging out into the night.
Talk about karma smacking a well-deserving asshole right in the face and the perfect end to an already perfect evening.
Victory is mine!As Murry would say.
I just hoped our encounter put an end to things for good.
17
RALEIGH
“How are we supposed to figure out where to start?” I asked as my eyes swept over the crowded street and the equally crowded park at the center of the town square.
The whole place was packed, with people weaving around groups stopped at booths and others standing still in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at their phones or looking around in confusion.
“How about we just go in a line and work our way around the square, then we can check out the center,” Daddy suggested.
“Yeah, okay,” I muttered as Murry slipped his hand in mine.
“I won’t let you get lost,” Murry said, grinning up at me.
He knew I wasn’t the biggest fan of crowds and why, though I hadn’t had the chance to tell Daddy yet since this was our first big outing and I hadn’t expected the street fair to look like this. It was like everyone in town was down here, well, except Aspen and Phoenix, who’d volunteered to help him man the shop today while we went exploring with Daddy.
A part of me wondered if there was more to it, which would be awesome, because Daddy had mulled over making the same wish at the wishing tree for Aspen that I planned to make for Phoenix. Maybe the universe would weave our wishes together and make something amazing happen for them.
“Why don’t you two walk in front of me so I can keep an eye on you and make sure I don’t lose you if you stop to look at something?” Daddy suggested.
“Yes, please,” I said, feeling a little less anxious.
I really did need to talk to Daddy before we left for Portland so he’d know that crowds made me anxious; well, it was more like getting lost in them that freaked me out.
“Done deal,” Daddy said, and off we went.
Holding hands with Murry meant we tugged each other closer instead of letting go when people were trying to go around us. Even when we paused to look at stuff, we kept hold of one another, which was a good thing, because there were tons of things to see. Along the way we sampled fudge and margherita pizza, gourmet popcorn, and chocolate-dipped cherries, which were way better than the ones that came out of the box.
Then I spotted them, shimmering on black velvet cloth, outside the new age shop I loved.
“Crystals,” I declared, tugging Murry over to the table.
“Uh-huh,” Murry said, letting go of my hand but looping his fingers through my belt loop so I could pick up things and examine them, which he knew I would.
I’d already spotted a wide, circular slab of agate in a deep purple shade that sparked all kinds of ideas. As soon as I held it inmy hands, I knew I had to have it and several other amethyst pieces on the table, including multiple singular points in varying shapes and sizes. There were baggies of crushed amethyst pieces I picked up too, to ring the agate with. There was an online shop I’d been scrolling through the other night that had miniature metal moons, crows, and candelabras that could go perfectly with these. I’d have to order some purple wire too, and stars, to pull it all together, but the whole piece had already taken shape in my head, so I knew exactly what I wanted the end piece to look like. It would be the perfect project to work on in our downtime. I just hoped it turned out as amazing as the ones I’d spotted while surfing social media.
As soon as everything was wrapped, paid for, and tucked in the black mini-backpack I wore, we started weaving our way down the block again, not that we got far before Daddy spotted a remnants table outside of the fabric store and started digging through the piles, looking for anything he could work into one of his collections.
Murry and I stayed just to the left of him and out of the way of the flow of people moving up and down the block. We soon discovered the reason Daddy was carrying a large backpack with nothing in it, because soon he was tucking several wrapped packages of remnants inside of it.
