“I can do that.” Wouldn’t happen, but whatever appeased the human.
“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”
We stood, and I gave the waitress a hefty tip. “Yes. Tomorrow morning.”
He left the diner first and I watched him get into a truck and leave. My walk home was full of thoughts. My mind swirled with the what-ifs. What if he was my mate? What if this was my chance at a different fate?
What if, after all these years, I’d earned an opportunity for the goddess to smile on me once more?
Tomorrow, I would bring him some of my trinkets, the best and shiniest, and most iridescent ones. Make my offering to my maybe mate and let the cards fall where they may.
Chapter Eight
Joshua
I woke up early the next morning, ready to start the day. I’d emptied out all of my jewelry supplies into my room at the B&B. The owner was kind enough not to be weird about it. My first stop of the day was going to be picking up cleaning supplies, and I didn’t want to risk them getting damaged.
My goal for the day was to clean everything and make a list of what had to be fixed in order of importance. It was ambitious, and I probably wouldn’t get it all done, but I was going to give it a go. If nothing else, I could get most of the cleaning done, and that would go a long way.
I didn’t sleep well the night before. It turned out that meeting Corvus at the diner impacted me more than I thought, and I spent the night thinking about him. He was just some random guy I shared a meal with, but I couldn’t get him out of my head. From protecting me from that creeper, to listening to my story as if it was the most fascinating thing he’d ever heard, to offering to help with my home.
My creep-dar hadn’t failed me yet. I clocked that other guy as someone to stay away from instantly. But nothing about Corvus set it off. Even though, if someone had told me the same story but about them and some rando guy, I’d have been like, “You might want to be careful,” and, “Why did you tell them where you lived?” and, “Make sure your phone is charged in case he does show up.” All the typical good-friend-type advice.
But I didn’t need any of that. Something about him told me he was safe and also important, which kind of weirded me out a little, while at the same time comforting me. It was confusing, and I spent far too much time thinking about it.
When I did fall asleep, I had the weirdest dreams. I dreamed about the peaches, which, in my nocturnal wonderland were gorgeous and lush, the orchard absolutely picture-perfect. The only odd thing was the only being there besides me was a crow—and not a little crow, either. A big crow. Huge even.
He was just hanging out in the orchard, not bothering me. But also, very present. I wasn’t sure if there was any symbolism to that or if it was because I’d always been fascinated by them.
When I was five, a crow used to bring gifts. I talked to him all the time, and he sat on the branch outside my window acting like I was sharing the most magical story. That poor bird heard all about my hatred for spelling tests and how mean Dawn was at recess because she didn’t like waiting for the swing. I was sad when we moved and I needed to say goodbye. I still had all of those shinies. I could never bring myself to use them in jewelry someone else would wear.
The general store had all the supplies I needed as well as some lunches and water. I wasn’t quite used to small-town pricing. In future, I was going to have to make trips to a larger town to get supplies, especially for fixing things up. I hated not spending locally, but I needed to be sure I didn’t run out of money before it was all done.
The first thing I did after getting to my new home was walk straight to the orchard and remind the trees of my promise. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to talk to them as if they were real people. It had to be more than talking to your houseplants because they had far more air than me. But I was drawn to them, and when I felt I’d said all I needed to say, I went back to the house.
Despite having the windows open yesterday, it was just as stale. I opened everything again and grabbed my new broom. First order of business was sweeping. Before starting, I knew there was going to be a lot of it, because every time I cleanedsomething, there’d be more dust on the floor. But it felt like an achievable goal, and I needed something small and easy to get done.
I’d just finished the main room when there was a knock on the doorframe. Corvus was ready for duty.You came.He told me he would, and I had no reason to doubt him, but still, seeing him there this early and not just showing up at the end, hoping for a date after the main work was done, was refreshing. I wasn’t used to alphas like this.
“May I come in?”
I nodded, and as he stepped in, the light hit his face at an odd angle. For a split second, it looked like he was wearing a mask, but then he was normal. I closed my eyes and shook my head, getting that image out of my mind. Of course, it was his real face. How silly of me to think otherwise, if only for a few seconds.
“What’s on the list for today?” he asked.
I told him my first plan was to clean, and we set to work, sweeping and washing the floors, the walls, the ceiling, the window frames, and the windows, and scrubbing the bathroom and the kitchen. It was amazing how much that helped.
“Thank you,” I said. “That would have taken me all day.”
“No problem. I was glad to be here. What’s next?”
“Lunch?” I grabbed the bag of sandwiches I’d picked up from the cooler at the general store, along with some waters, chips, and a box of cookies. “It’s not much.”
“It’s perfect,” he said.
We sat on the steps and ate our less-than-stellar meal, looking out on the beautiful orchard. It wasn’t beautiful yet, but I told myself that I had to only think of it as what I knew it would become, or else I would once again let the sadness overtake me.
“I plan to bring the orchard back.” I’d mentioned it the night before, but for some reason, it felt important for him to know I was serious about it.
