This was about me and Eric and Stuart and jealousy. A jealousy that I thought had been resolved—or at the very least swept under the rug—when Eric had left town, and Stuart had come home to me.
But things had changed once more. Yes, Eric now lived over an hour away in LA, but he was involved again. I wasn’t going to keep him out of Allie’s life, not now. Not since he was free of the demon. Not since he was the only person alive who had the slightest sense of what was going on inside of her.
Stuart knew that, of course. And I couldn’t blame him for wanting to clearly set the family boundaries. But I also knew damn well that no matter how hard he tried, the lines were going to get blurry.
The thought made my gut twist.
I’d lost Stuart already—not once, but twice. The first time because I’d kept my demon-hunting life secret, and that decision not to trust him—to fool myself into believing that I was somehow protecting him and our marriage—was on me. But thesecond time … well, that was on him, and it stemmed from fear, pure and simple. Fear of what I am, not to mention the danger that surrounds me. But he’d come back, choosing to face that danger in order to keep our family together.
His leaving had felt like a betrayal, but his return had been a miracle. He’d seen first hand the destructive power of hell, and he’d watched as his wife—who could barely manage clean laundry and clean dishes on the same weekday—sent one of the most powerful demons in the universe all the way back to hell. He understood the danger he was walking back into, and yet he’d still chosen our family. And that had meant the world to me.
When he’d traveled with us to Rome, he’d promised me that he was back to stay, and in that ancient city, I’d fully regained the trust that had soured when he’d walked away.
But now that we’re back in San Diablo—now that he’s drawing boundaries and playing testosterone games with Eric—I can’t help but wonder if Stuart doesn’t really understand just how messy this is going to get.
And that scares me almost as much as the demon lurking inside my daughter.
I was surrounded.
There was no other way to describe it. Wide swatches of color. Dozens of textures. And non-human creatures with enormous eyes and toothy grins hovering all around me.
I was overwhelmed—so afraid I was going to screw this up. That I couldn’t pull it off, and then my entire family would end up buried in absolute chaos.
“Kate?” My best friend Laura pressed her hand against my back, silently urging me forward. “Do you have a plan?”
I steeled myself. I could do this. I just had to make the first move.
“Nemo,” I finally said, pointing to the colorfulHappy Birthdaybanner that featured the little clown fish. I drew a breath, relaxing now that I’d made a decision. “We’re going with a Nemo theme.”
That Major Life Decision handled, I tossed the package into my cart, along with Dory-covered plates and cups.
“Good choice.” Laura grabbed a paper tablecloth featuring a happy, smiling shark. “Timmy lovesFinding Nemo.”
“Unless I should go with SpongeBob?”
Laura waved the thought away. “He’s turning three. The gang at Bikini Bottom is really more appropriate for the sophisticated first grade crowd.”
Since I couldn’t argue with that, I deferred to my bestie’s party-planning expertise. “Banner, tablecloth, cups, plasticware. What am I missing?”
“Invitations and napkins,” Laura said, efficiently grabbing both. “And are you making the cake or buying it?”
I didn’t even bother to answer, just cocked my head and gave her a thousand-yard stare. Laura knows as well as I do that if I tried to make and decorate a cake, all I’d end up with is a messy—or messier—kitchen and a blob of cake-like product that might or might not be edible.
“Right, well, then you don’t need the cake-topper. You can have the bakery at Ralph’s do that,” she said. “Or I can make it for you if you want.”
Laura Dupont is a domestic goddess in addition to being my best friend, and I truly appreciated the offer. But I knew she had her hands full as a single mom to Allie’s BFF, Mindy, an almost-sixteen year old who was doing summer musical theater and, therefore, needed almost constant chauffeuring. Even so, my reasons for declining were more personal than benevolent.“If you’re going to do me favors, I’d rather hit you up for the kind I can’t offload on the local grocery store.”
“Or I could do both. I’m talented that way.” She narrowed her eyes. “By the way, are you ever going to tell me all of what happened in Rome, or do I have to guess? Or, God forbid, are we now the kind of friends who drink wine together and talk about their kids?”
“We’re already that kind of friend,” I pointed out.
“True. But our conversation is broader than that. Kids and demons. Wine and weapons. Ours has evolved into an eclectic friendship, and I like it that way. Seriously, Kate,” she added, “I get the feeling there’s something else going on. Did some demons get free?”
Her brow was furrowed, and I saw genuine concern in her eyes. She already knew some of what happened in Rome because she’d been the lead player on my off-site research team. So Laura knew that the demons had been trying to open a gate to hell. She knew that I’d been knocked for a loop finding out that, though I was an orphan, my mother had a sister. And that sister had a daughter. And my cousin—Eliza—had come all the way to Rome to find me.
Not to mention that Eliza happened to be in the demon hunting biz, too. Albeit not officially on theForzapayroll.
Laura knew that it had been a close call—”Seriously, Kate!” she’d said when I’d finally called to tell her all was well. “Do you know how stressful it is hanging out in California knowing the world might end any second?”—but she also knew we’d managed to shut and lock that particular gate. Crisis averted. Demons conquered. World saved. Apocalypse averted.
