I didn’t have the words to articulate to him why Daphne was different. I knew the Cthulhu had their own version of a heart song, but I’d never asked about it before.
“She was living out of her broken down car, I couldn’t just let her continue to live like that when I’ve got an extra room,” I said, pretending to read the label on my beer bottle so I didn’t have to look him in the eye.
“And had it been anyone else would you be doing the same?” Dallan pushed, waving a hand under my nose to get my full attention.
I heaved a heavy sigh before honestly answering his question. “I don’t know.”
“I’ve known you for decades and I never thought I’d see the day where you get all twitterpated over a woman, especially a human one,” Dallan chuckled, his gold eyes dancing with amusement.
“I’m not ‘twitterpated,’” I argued, but my words were weak even to my own ears. “She needed help.”
Dallan just snorted. “I wager she’s going to need more than help by the end of all of this. Effie’s convinced she’s on the run from someone.”
I didn’t say anything because I’d been suspecting the same.
No one flinched the way she did while never experiencing the wrong end of someone’s rage. Just the idea of it sat heavy in my gut.
“So what happens if, once her car is up and running, she wants to continue to run? Are you going to let her?” Dallan asked, taking another swig of his beer.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I was still busily trying to convince myself that the music that throbbed in my chest whenever she was nearby was just my brain playing tricks on me out of desperation or loneliness.
Dallan’s expression turned dry. “My mum used to tell me about finding herAnam Cara—her soulmate. She was an old witch who existed for two hundred years before my Da came shoreside and they met by chance. They lived happily together for half a millennium and if you asked her, she would say that she only started living when she met him.”
“And what’s your point?” I asked, though I already had a sneaking suspicion of what Dallan was about to say.
“My point, my dear friend, is that ever since Daphne came to work at the shop it’s as if someone turned a light on behind those eyes of yours. You used to just go through the motion of things and you certainly never argued with any of your kind like you did with that gargoyle earlier,” Dallan said, confirming that he’d heard the entirety of my conversation with Brendan.
“I could say the same about you,” I shot back. “It’s been thirty years since you and Effie have been dancing around each other and nothing’s changed except the way you collect ink.”
The spots on Dallan’s face shifted into a dusky colored flush. “That’s a bit different…”
I just shook my head in disbelief. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. “Whatever you say, Dall, but don’t preach what you won’t practice.”
Together we lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, neither one of us talking as we morosely sipped our drinks.
“I think you’re both full of shit,” a familiar female voice said, cutting through the awkward tension.
Behind the bar stood Kit Carson, one of the few humans who worked on the Wharf. She was a professional free diver that spent most of her time under the surface of the ocean, but when she wasn’t doing that she worked nights at the Dive.
For most regulars, she was the human they saw the most, but despite her race, she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.
With a toss of her shoulder length blond hair, she rolled her green eyes at the both of us. “You two are here having a heart to heart about your feelings, right?”
I exchanged a glance with Dallan before we both nodded.
Kit wiped down the bartop in front of us, working the rag over a particularly sticky part before continuing. “Have you ever considered, instead of talking to each other to, I don’t know, talk to the actual people involved? I don’t know who Daphne is, but I sure as hell know Effie isn’t going to wait around for you forever my tentacled friend.”
Dallan’s shoulder sank a bit at her blunt words as she turned her attention to me.
“And you, if you spend the rest of your life brooding about things you can’t change, you’re never going to move forward. I’ve only been here for a year and even I can tell you look different. I’m always on team give-the-human-a-chance.”
“You really love to give unsolicited advice about other people’s lives, don’t you?” Dallan asked, his tone dry.
Kit shrugged, her green eyes sparkling as she collected our empty beer bottles. “Next to diving, it’s my absolute favorite thing to do, but if you don’t want people to butt into your conversation… Perhaps you shouldn’t have them in a very public place while the bartender is changing the taps right in front of you. Now, don’t forget to tip your server and have a lovely night, boys.”
Kit then left us alone to help a pair of vampires at the end of the bar.
We paid our tabs and stepped out into the crisp ocean air, the sound of waves lapping on the underside of the Wharf and the whip of the wing signaling an approaching storm.
