“I’m not making demands. I’m here to see you. To talk. You were the one who kicked me out.”
“Because I didn’t want to do this again, yet here I am. At least Shay had the decency to stick around for the first year.”
He presses his lips together. “I’m here now.”
“And if you hadn’t been told? When would you have stopped by? Never?”
“You said one time. That you didn’t want me.”
“And what makes you think that’s changed?” I turn on my heel and stalk off, expecting him to have his cake and leave, but he doesn’t. He waits until there’s no one left, and I flip the sign.
“I’m closed,” I say, not sure what to do with him now.
“I know. I’m not leaving.”
“I’m not inviting you upstairs.” I lock the front door.
“I’ll sleep in the yard.”
Sleeping in the yard was fine during summer. “It’s too cold for that now.”
I should tell him to get a room at the motel down the road.
“You are the one that makes my blood sing. You’ve always been the one. But we’ve got twenty years of hurt feelings and missed chances to make up for.” He moves up behind me, but he doesn’t touch me.
I close my eyes, and I’m aware of every move he makes, his breathing. I want to lean back and fall into his embrace. “If we couldn’t get together over the last twenty years, why now?” Why did neither of us take a chance? I turn around to face him. “If Shay hadn’t died, none of this would’ve happened.”
“Why didn’t you do anything?”
“Me? Why would I? I made the mistake of falling for a rider once. I’ve heard all the promises. Why would I do it again? Besides, you were rarely here.”
“Because every time I saw you, I felt the loss, and I didn’t know how to bridge the gap. With every year I saw us slipping away. I knew Shay’s death was a chance.”
I shrug. “You’ll get bored and want to hunt.”
“I want to go home and I want to go with you.” He gets down on one knee and I step back so my body is pressed against the door.
“What are you doing?”
“Asking you to come to faery with me.”
I shake my head. “I have the café to look after.”
“Danni and Oran have already made plans.”
“Have they now?” She hadn’t said anything to me. But the café would be safe in her hands, and it would keep her from hunting monsters until she was ready to go to faery.
“Lindsay, please.” He pulls a necklace from his pocket. “When you are ready, we’ll go. But I’m not going hunting again. I will be here, even if you kick me out. I want to be with you. I want to raise the baby with you. I’m offering you what should’ve been yours a long time ago.”
“Whose necklace is that?”
“Oran’s, Danni’s going to teach him to make a decent coffee.”
I can’t imagine a rider being happy working in the café, but maybe some of them did want to give up the hunt when they found the right person.
He holds out the necklace to me. “You can keep it safe.”
I take hold of it. There’s a weight to it that I like. Maybe that’s the magic. “What if I never want to go?”
