And then her socks and boots, and she didn’t bother looking into a mirror to see how she looked. Her hair would be curly and wild after herchange, and she’d have zero makeup on.
Spence handed her a ponytail holder, and she said, “Can I kiss you? I would’ve bear-hugged you and planted a huge kiss on your cheeks when I was six. It’s really too bad we have all these stupid rules as adults.”
“It is. C’mon, I have dinner waiting for you. I know you have to be starving after youchanged.”
When they stepped through the door into the pantry, the scent of a rich and savory stew hit her like a weighted blanket. Slow-cooked, but she could still parse the mingled scents: root vegetables, seared beef, red wine, rosemary. It was her mother’s recipe, and Spence had made it for her. She knew it without asking.
Rhea and Felix were already seated at the island. A few others lingered — Zoa, curled in a chair with a cup of tea, and Toby working through a bowl of stew, but it was Rhea who looked up first.
“The gossip tree is alive and well. We know you were in bad shape when Spence drove like a bat out of hell out of here with you, but no one knows what happened. You okay?”
Felix stood as Emmy approached, his posture casual but his eyes serious.
“I agreed to more than I should’ve,” Emmy said, voice level but flat. “It was … bad. Worse than bad. Spence took me to the Atrium to shift.”
“And now Spence is feeding her stew,” Spence said, ladling it into a bowl before setting it in front of her.
“Thank you,” she told him, accepting the spoon he handed her. “For everything, but especially for my mom’s stew. You do more than just take care of us.”
“He’s never made memymother’s famous chowder,” Zoa said, and Emmy frowned at her, then at Spence.
“I happen to know her mother,” he told Zoa, and then looked at Emmy. “And I got the recipe back when I was your neighbor. It isn’t like I had to call her to get it. I figured you were going to have a hard day, and maybe a little taste of home might help.” He looked back to Zoa. “If you want me to call your mother and ask for the recipe of your favorite comfort food, I’ll do it. Just give me her number.”
Zoa looked mortified. “No. That’s okay. The stew’s good, and Emmy’s right — you do take good care of us. You know what I want for breakfast without me having to tell you.”
Spence sat with them at the island with his own bowl of stew, and Rhea told him, “Thanks for putting together the Kenai Fjords riverboat cruise. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Yes,” Emmy agreed. At first, she wasn’t going to go because of the hundred-and-fifty-dollar ticket price, but Spence had arranged for a group tour, and the tickets were usually a hundred dollars more. Plus, it was a six-hour ride, and they served a meal,andthere was a good chance to see whales and other ocean creatures along with all the glaciers.
“Any chance a bunch of us can stay in town for the concert series Thursday?” Rhea asked Spence. “It’s from 5:30 to 8:30 in the Town Square Park.”
He lifted his phone, looked at it a few seconds, and nodded while he typed into it. “I’ll need everyone going to text me by Tuesday morning at the latest, preferably sooner. You’ll probably get the vampires who don’t wake early. Sunset after eleven at night must be a real pain in the ass for the young ones.”
“But it’s balanced by long nights later,” Felix noted.
Emmy grabbed her phone and texted Spence she was going to the concert on Thursday. She’d learned from the past that he preferred to have it so he could refer to it, rather than verbal. For official stuff planned farther out, he’d have a check-in on the coterie’s app, but for something like this, he handled it with texts.
Felix fished some of the veggies out of the big pot of stew, making sure he didn’t get any meat in his bowl, sat back down, and told Emmy, “If it’ll help to hurt someone rather than be hurt, I’ll volunteer.”
Rhea snorted. “Like you don’t want her to hurt you anyway.”
“I do,” he admitted, eyes still on Emmy. “But I’m offering because I mean it. If putting that energy back out helps, I’ll take it.”
Emmy paused, spoon halfway to hermouth. “Thank you.”
The words were plain, but they hit with weight. She set the spoon down and met his gaze fully for the first time since entering the kitchen.
“How do you feel about chemical play?”
He hesitated. “Not my favorite. You and I have never needed to talk about all my hard limits because I can always saynoif you pull something out I don’t want to do. If we’d discussed them, you’d know it’s a hard limit.”
Emmy nodded. Maybe she could find someone else, because now that he mentioned it, shedidthink it would help to hurt someone in a reasonable way with it. Not pure capsaicin, becausefuck, but enough to burn without causing harm.
“You know what?” Felix said. “Maybe it’ll do me good to step outside my limits. I’m actually okay with ginger, but you’re going to need more than basic figging. I’d be open to maybe some diluted cinnamon.”
“I can talk to you about ratios,” Spence told her. “Enough so he’ll feel the burn without actually being burned.”
Emmy nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.” She looked at Felix. “We’ll talk privately later, but seriously, thanks for the offer.” And it was time to change the subject. “Any chance a bunch of us can claim the big hot tub in the torture garden tonight?”
