“Anyway, Rhiannon has work to do either way. She’s booked and busy, that girl. The restoration of the books that Seren and her crew dragged out after the fire was put out. You know she had Margaux’s journals in fireproof containers? Clever, clever Rhiannon. Plus the boxes that she had in her storage, and the Crowhart and Fowler Bibles. And the other ones you swiped from your dad that night, which was awesome, by the way. Coolest move ever. I call it righteous thievery.” He licked the crumbs from his fingers and looked at Seren with puppy dog eyes. Seren ignored him. Lachlan pouted.
“What was I saying? Oh, yes, nothing stops our Rhiannon. Law is on her side, so will money, and she already has me looking at a few townhouses in New York?—”
He skidded to a halt like the errant golden retriever that he was.
“Oh my god, Pru. I’m an asshole. I’m so sorry! She didn’t, I’m wrong, I… Fuck.”
“Indeed.” Seren was right there with a brand-new mug of tea. As she set it down, replacing Pru’s barely touched one, she gave her a cautious look. “Listen, about Rhiannon… I mean… She’s…”
Seren shook her head, unable to find words that would somehow be helpful. Pru knew that nothing Lachlan or Seren could say would actually help, so she let them both off the hook.
“She’s Rhiannon. She’ll do what she wishes whether it hurts or not. Like the windburn.”
She walked the twilight streets, past the neighbors and the townspeople waving at her and saying hello. Past the tourists who paid her no attention. Past the big pudgy ginger cat strolling purposefully down to the fish market, obviously in search of today’s scraps. He stopped as she passed him by, watching her warily, silently discouraging her from touching him, and once she moved along, he was on his determined, albeit slow, way down to the pier.
Rhiannon was leaving for New York. Well, it wasn’t like Pru didn’t know this was coming. Rhiannon had told her from the very beginning she was only passing through. She had never promised her anything. Heck, she didn’t even say she loved her. Pru went in and fell all by her lonesome, n matter what she thought she had seen on occasion in Rhiannon’s eyes.
It didn’t even matter that she could feel that Rhiannon cared for her. The woman saved her life. Granted, the woman also had a martyr complex the size of Lake Tahoe, but the point still stood.
She found herself standing on the edge of the Viridescent, the new resort behind her, the muted music and conversation too far away to disturb her solitude. She took a few more steps until the stones felt unstable and flimsy under her feet and stopped, looking into the vastness of the dark ocean beneath her.
A sudden breeze ruffled her hair, and she knew she was no longer alone. The woman who had all but walked with her thisevening, since she had been the only thing on her mind, was here with her in person. Pru turned around, a few stones escaping from under her sole, making her sway. The breeze intensified for just one second, pushing her a step back to solid ground.
“I’ll catch you should you fall, Prudence.”
“You can’t promise that.” Pru’s whisper was frail. She could hear the fear in it, and that fear had nothing to do with the edge of the cliff. In fact, she’d take the edge of the Viridescent any day over whatever edge she was living on now with Rhiannon. That precipice felt deadlier.
“You can’t promise me that because you won’t be here to catch me every single time.”
Rhiannon smiled, the stretch of her lips slow and lazy, that knee-weakening arrogance back with a vengeance.
“I can promise whatever I want. And I do promise to catch you, Prudence.”
Pru turned away from her and stood her ground.
“Stop it. Why are you saying this? You’ve never promised me anything before so why are you doing it now?”
She heard Rhiannon’s footsteps behind her, moving closer.
“Is that what’s been bothering you these past few weeks? You’ve been distant. If I didn’t know you better, I’d say wary.”
“I’ve not been distant, Rhiannon. I’m fine. Everything is fine.”
“Oh, I can see very clearly that you are very fine. So very fine, Prudence.” Rhiannon had that unnervingly attractive tone, the one she employed mostly in the bedroom, and Pru got angry all over again.
“You’re impossible. I am not bothered by your never promising me anything. I am fine with everything. So. There. It’s all fine.”
Rhiannon came even closer until they were shoulder to shoulder.
“Clearly, everything is fine. Completely and utterly fine.”
Pru groaned and wanted to smash something. Why was this woman doing this to her?
“I just need to be alone, that’s all. And it should be fine with you. Can you?”
“Can I leave you alone? I can. Will it be fine with me that you are alone? No. Hence, maybe leaving you alone is not an option, Prudence.”
“Would you stop saying my name in that tone of yours?” When Rhiannon only annoyingly lifted that sculpted eyebrow of hers, Pru actually growled. “Lachlan told me he is looking for apartments in New York for you, and then you will leave in the summer, and even if he didn’t tell me anything, you are still leaving, and… And… You’re leaving.” Pru finished on a stuttering note and took a few steps away from Rhiannon again.
