Again, I glance at Eddie, who shrugged. “That’s right,” I said. “The students have an academic curriculum, of course, but the students were selected for their skills in competitive fighting. So they will be doing a lot of training. Some of them are aiming for the Olympics. Others plan to go into Hollywood stunt work.”
I had no idea where that came from, but the moment I said it, I thought it made for a pretty good cover story. Something else I really should have figured out ahead of time.
And once again, I had to wonder if I could handle any of this.
“Well, I think that’s lovely,” Nancy said. “Kids need an outlet other than just books, books, books. When they do that, it turns into sex, sex, sex.”
I’d taken a sip of water, and almost spit it out when she said that. But, honestly, I couldn’t disagree. I’d never done the public school thing, but from what I’d seen on television—and what I’d seen from my own daughter and my friends’ children—that was probably pretty true. If not actual sex, then definitely the thinking about it.
I turned to shoot an amused glance at Eddie and saw Eric leaning against the doorway, his expression as amused as I felt.
“Eddie, why don’t you give Nancy a tour of the school,” Eric suggested. “I need to speak with Kate.”
“You got it,” Eddie said. “Rita, I assume you’re joining us?” He extended his elbow to Rita, who stood and took it. Eric and I watched as the three of them headed out of the room together. “Sounds like you got lucky,” Eric said.
“I wasn’t sure about Eddie dating Rita, but I guess that just paid off. God knows I’m woefully unprepared for all of this.”
“You’re not. You’re just inundated with details. And with the kids coming earlier, things are extra crazy.”
“You got that right.”
He laughed. Then the sound died as he turned his attention to Stuart. “How’s he doing?” he asked, his tone somber.
“No change. I wish there was a magic wand to make him all better. And I really wish I understood what was going on with him. It’s not a coma, Eric. At least not a regular one. After what happened at the hospital, I’m certain of it.”
“I believe you, but that doesn’t mean we’re any more prepared to get him out of whatever state he’s in.”
I knew that, so I didn’t say anything. Instead I just went to Stuart and squeezed his hand. “Can you hear me? Stuart, can you talk to me?” I waited, but nothing happened.
“He probably just doesn’t want to talk around me,” Eric said, his voice intentionally light. “What with the blatant male posturing.”
I rolled my eyes, but inside I was grinning. Not that long ago Stuart had left me because of my demon-hunting vocation, and because Eric had moved to town.
All things considered, I probably should have told Stuart about my demon-hunting life when we first got together, or at least when Timmy was born. But I’d wanted a new start. I’d wanted him to see a Kate who didn’t always have something sharp and pointy in her hands. Who wasn’t always looking over her shoulder searching for the bad guy inside the stranger walking down the street.
It had been hard when he’d first learned. Then even harder when he learned that Eric had come back to life in the body of another man, a fact I’d waited far too long to share.
Ultimately, the stress and his fears about the world I lived in ripped us apart. I blame myself. I do. But a lot of it was on him as well. We weren’t communicating, and he was jealous. It was all just a big mess. But the worst was when he left me and took Timmy with him. He’d said we were okay, and then he’d just flipped.
That had broken me into a million little pieces that had only been put back together when he changed his mind and joined me and Allie on our trip to Rome so that she could meet Father Corletti. Stuart’s willingness to work on our marriage had been like glue. But the repair was fragile. It held together great in Italy, but once we were back, things started to shatter again, especially after Eric moved back up to San Diablo from Los Angeles to be closer to his daughter.
Stuart had gotten all weird about Eric again. But the worst was that after Allie saved the world—that wasn’t the bad part—her extraordinary powers showed up in full force, Stuart started treating her differently, and that was something I couldn’t forgive.
Hell, he couldn’t forgive himself. He didn’t want to think that way about her—at least that’s what he told me—but there was a distance. A distance that, frankly, lasted until the day that he sacrificed himself to save her.
I’d like to say that grand gesture changed everything. Super glued all those cracks in our marriage and repaired that broken trust. But I don’t know. I haven’t had the chance to know, because I haven’t had the chance to talk to him since. He’s been unconscious since that horrible day when Lilith tried to get into Allie’s body and Stuart foiled her. Honestly, if it weren’t for Jared, Stuart would be dead. Or worse.
So now I’m in limbo. I’d told Stuart that I loved him and that our marriage was important, but that he had to understand that I loved Eric too. He had to understand that Eric was part of my life, he was Allie’s father, and he was a man who I hadn’t left, but who had been killed.
Eric and I had never had our ending. And, yes, now he looked different. But inside he was the same. And Stuart had told me he understood that. But we’d never had the chance to test that understanding. And now here we were, the three of us together in some brutal triangle, and I didn’t have any idea how it was going to end, and I was terrified.
But I didn’t actually know what it was that scared me.
Eric put his hand on my shoulder, and I jumped.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to startle you. Where’d you go?”
“I don’t know. I just wish ... I just wish he’d come back.”
