“I will.”
“And don't get caught by Morrith.”
“I'll try.”
“And come back.”
Greg looked at him. His eyes were hard to read. Something was going on behind them that Dustin couldn't get to. “I will,” he promised. And then he adjusted his glasses and walked through the door.
Between one stride and the next, he was gone.
Now there was just empty air where a reaper had been standing.
Dustin stared at the spot.
Greg was gone and the porch was empty and the feeling in Dustin's chest was —
What? What was it?
He didn't name it. He wasn't ready to name it.
How could he, when Greg was someone who could disappear at any moment?
Dustin went back inside.
Cathy was at the table with two mugs. She pushed one toward Dustin's chair as he came in.
“So,” Cathy said. She wrapped both hands around her mug. “He likes you a lot.”
“Don't.”
“I'm just repeating what the man said.”
“He's not a man,” Dustin said. “He's a reaper.”
He'd meant it as a deflection. The kind of thing he'd usually throw out with a smirk. Butthe words landed wrong — or right, maybe— and sat between them on the table.
He's a reaper.
That was the problem, wasn't it? Greg's entire existence was built around being temporary in other people's lives. He was supposed to show up, collect, and leave.
And yet he was the first person in three years whom Dustin had wanted tostay.
“Dustin?” Cathy was watching him. Her voice had softened. She must have caught something on his face.
“It doesn't matter,” he said.
“Looks like it does.”
Dustin shook his head. “Pretty sure reapers aren't allowed to date mortals.”
“And since when do you care about the rules?”
“I may not, but he sure does.”
“And yet he's trying to help you.” Cathy took a sip of her coffee. “He likes you,” she reminded him again. “Were you going to tell me that you've got something going on with a reaper?”
Dustin huffed a laugh he didn't feel. “Were you going to tell me you sold your soul to a demon? Maybe we should have a family rule about not messing with supernatural entities.”
