“No,” Angelica said. “I wish the answer could be yes, but it’s not. I’m sorry.”
The doorbell rang.
“Coming,” I called, just as thatthumpsounded in the attic again.
Great. I was living in a haunted cabin until I could force my brain to do something it didn’t want to do, that I couldn’t evenimaginedoing.
“I have to go,” I said. “I’ll… send an update when I have something worth sending?”
“Or if you meet an axe murderer,” Angelica said.
“Or if I meet an axe murderer,” I agreed. “Talk to you later.”
“Take care of yourself, Felix. Deadlines are negotiable, your health isn’t.”
That wasn’t even close to true, but I appreciated the sentiment as we said our final goodbyes and I hung up.
The doorbell rang again.
“One second,” I called out. This guy had the nerve to show up anhourlate and then ring the doorbell twice in thirty seconds?
This was why I didn’t like small towns. Even Albany had been too small for me, and Slow Falls was a quarter of the size.
“You were supposed to be here—”
“An hour ago, yeah, I—Felix?”
2
Kieran
“Kieran?”
Holy shit.
Felix Harris, all grown up, standing right in front of me.
How? What the hell were the odds on that?
“Felix,” I repeated, since that was all my brain could manage right now. It was just shoutingFelix, Felix, Felixat me, like I might not have noticed my long-lost childhood best friend two feet away.
A familiar smile turned up one corner of his lips, revealing an equally familiar dimple. ItwasFelix.
“Do I get a hug, or what?” he asked, only by the time he’d finished the sentence I was already rushing to him, arms wide, pulling him crushingly close.
Felix laughed,reallylaughed, and tight as I could feel his shoulders were, he seemed to relax a little.
“What the hell areyoudoing here?” I asked, squeezing him tight, unwilling to let go in case he evaporated on me, or something.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Felix said, pulling back just far enough to look at me, the heat of his body still seeping through my clothes.
Even after all these years, he fitted against me like he was meant to be there.
“I’m here to fix your heating.” I shrugged. “Just in time, your fingers are fucking freezing,” I added as they brushed the back of my hand.
Felix’s big innocent doe eyes sparkled with mischief as he reached out to me, curling a hand around the back of my neck and dipping the icy tips of his fingers below my collar, making me hiss.
“Okay, okay, I get it,” I said, ducking away from his hand. “I’m sorry I was late. I have an incredibly good excuse.”
