The forest didn’t give answers. It gave space.
The breeze returned, and with it, the creaks and groans.
“Pops.”
I imagined him hidden in the trees, just out of sight as he watched. Under the scrutiny of a ghost, I couldn’t hide my problems. I assumed him all-knowing, not much different from real life. Even while I rejected his offers, I quietly thanked him for trying.
“What’s next?” I asked the forest as if it might respond.
Bonnie’s questions in the market had been the first test. I danced around the subtle pokes and prods. That had only beenthe warm up for when Johnny knocked on my door. That had been the real test, and somehow, I felt like I had failed.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I wanted to ignore it, but the temptation of a text from Nick had me digging around in my pocket.
Matt: I’m sorry I ruined everything.
I bit my lip, chewing it as I let the gravity of Matt’s text sink in. For whatever reason, Johnny had pulled him from the camping trip, and like a toddler told to eat his broccoli, I threw a tantrum. Instead of finding a solution, I stormed off. No… I ran away. Just like decades before, I packed my bags and found an out.
“Dammit.” It wasn’t his fault. Whatever reason Johnny came knocking, it had nothing to do with him. I had continued the cycle, moving from victim to bully. My fingers tightened around the phone until my knuckles turned white. I had my opportunity to prove myself, not to Johnny, but to myself. Instead, my insecurities flared.
Then I ran. From Firefly. From the shop. From life.
From Nick.
Is the space for him or for me? Seamus’s words echoed in the back of my head, except it wasn’t his voice I heard. The man who flipped burned pancakes in the kitchen, his voice had returned. His laugh. The way he gasped as Mum entered the room before he gave her a kiss. Pops wouldn’t have run away. He’d have run toward.
I slid off the rock. Before I knew it, I was at the campsite. The buckles of the rucksack snapped into place. I paused, looking over my shoulder, certain I’d see Pops standing along the river with his fishing pole. I couldn’t see him, but he was there.
If Nick could believe in a curse, I could believe in trail magic.
I didn’t have solutions, not yet. I had miles of hiking to sort out my thoughts. But already I could see the destination. I owed it to Nick. I even owed it to the gremlins. For once, the ties dragging me back to Firefly felt more like a guide.
“Thank you,” I whispered. I took the first step… to what, I didn’t know. Yet.
ELEMENTS, WE INVOKE YOU
“Toward. Not away,” I whispered my newfound mantra. With a deep breath, I let it settle into my muscles. I strolled onto the green.
The sun had set, leaving Firefly covered in a soft orange glow. With nothing planned on the green, the town appeared deserted. For a moment, it didn’t feel suffocating. Without the people covering the sidewalks or the hushed conversations, it had its charm. I don’t know if I could ever call it home, but like this, my animosity faded.
In the distance, a car backfired, sounding like a gunshot. It jolted me back to reality, almost dumping my precious cargo. As Lacie instructed, I carried a Tupperware container filled with dirt. I didn’t believe that some otherworldly creature had cursed Nick. I believed the event had created a landslide in his life, and he carried that forward. Was it a self-fulfilling prophecy? Perhaps.
If a ceremony would help him shake the cloud hanging over his head, I could show up with a pile of dirt. I don’t know if it would make any difference, but I had gathered earth from around the campfire. Somehow it felt more appropriate than soil from Mum’s rose garden.
Even in the quiet hush, I couldn’t shake what happened earlier. Seeing Johnny had rekindled an insecurity I thought long buried. On the hike out of the woods, I forced myself to confront the situation. As anger filled my stomach, I would slow down, trying to brush aside a knee-jerk reaction to get to the bottom of my issue. I still didn’t have an answer, but I felt I was closer to a resolution. I wanted to let go of the anger… of the pain.
“Dammit,” I muttered. For years, I focused on revenge, but as soon as it happened, I knew Pops would disapprove. What was the alternative? Even as the word forgiveness popped into my head, I shoved it aside. I wanted to move forward, but I wasn’t prepared for that, not yet.
I wandered through the green until I spotted the glow of the fire pit. Lacie waved. Beside her, Nick… damn. Seeing him bathed in the fire's flicker, I couldn’t help but think of his body pressed against me, the soft snoring as he fell asleep. It had only been a few days since I met him, but a night by the campfire had propelled us forward. I might not know facts about his life… other than his favorite color. But I felt like Iknewhim. A night under the stars revealed more than any coffee date.
“Did you bring it?”
Nick and I hadn’t spoken…reallyspoken since the night at Valhalla. I had been so wrapped up in my exchange with Johnny and the gremlins that I didn’t think to text him. Okay, that was a lie. I had been toonervousto text him. I tried to imagine what words would explain how much it meant. It had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with knocking at that door. At Seamus’s suggestion, I ignored my instincts. I pushed through his personal space. The more I thought about it… It hadn’t beenjustfor him. On the other side of that door, I found the connection I had been craving.
“I said,” Lacie asked again, the annoyance slipping into her voice. “Did you bring it?”
I lifted the Tupperware for inspection. “Why am I carrying around dirt?”
Lacie rolled her eyes as if the answer should be obvious. I had neglected to readHow to Remove a Curse. It took a moment before I figured out what was off about the woman. She had replaced the flannel and hunter’s cap with a dark red dress with black lace. Did Firefly open a goth store?
