“When you left me at home, Saturday, on the way in to handle your crisis at the office, Whiskey wouldn’t go in. I had to carry her. And when I did, there were the unexpected visitors. They had me walk Whiskey to try to find your house. When we got to the stop sign, Whiskey sat and looked straight at Daniel’s grave and sang the song from the first night she howled.”
“You said you put out witch pots. Have you done anything else? Any kind of séance or something?”
“No. Abbie says, ‘Sprinkle salt.’ I sprinkle salt. It’s just odd, don’t you think that Daniel chose to teach Whiskey opera in the days leading up to his death? And that I had given up opera years ago, and suddenly, I felt compelled to sing again after his funeral? And don’t you find it strange that the songs that Daniel taught Whiskey were the songs that I always liked to sing best?”
“Quite the coincidence,” Gabriel said softly.
“Do you think it’s odd that Kate, who was close to Daniel. A woman you told me went to see him every day he was in hospice, suddenly made you a gratitude casserole for something you did for people she doesn’t know?”
Gabriel stilled.
“Has she ever made you a casserole before?”
“No.”
“And that Reaper drove it over to your house without calling you? And that Whiskey was waiting for him at the corner of a road that’s not the most convenient one for Reaper to drive?”
“When Reaper called to tell me he had Whiskey, I felt Daniel there in the room with me. It was the first time I thought something like that. And as I drove back to the neighborhood. I was talking to Daniel the whole way, asking him to please watch out for you. Please help my team make good decisions. I mean, I talk to Daniel every day, almost as much as when he was alive. But that time, I felt like I wasn’t gabbing with him, but I was depending on him. I believed that was possible for the first time in my life.”
Sommer nodded.
“Since I met you on the mountain,” Gabriel said. “I thought maybe Daniel really was using Whiskey, not to hauntme, but to bring us together because I think—and I’m sure Daniel would think—that we’re good for each other.”
Sommer smiled. “You passed the friends and family test when you saved me, then them, then me again. Sloane might have a little hero worship going on now.” Sommer leaned forward to kiss him. “I have thought about this long and hard, Gabriel. And I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way we could possibly have met is by supernatural intervention.”
“I’m on board with that.”
“Do you think this is ongoing?” She asked, looking up at him through her eyelashes, and all Gabriel wanted to do was gather her more tightly in his arms and hold her to his heart.
“What are you talking about here?” Gabriel asked. “Do I think our relationship is ongoing? The way I feel around you is different than anything I’ve experienced in my life. There’s a sense of satisfaction. That is not a great word. The other word I’m thinking isn’t any better.”
“No?”
“A sense of settling.”
“Settling for me?” Sommer lifted her chin.
“I told you it wasn’t a great word, not ‘settle’ as in ‘I guess she’ll do’—which is far from the truth. Light years from the truth. It’s more a sense of settling into something comfortable. In the old-fashioned sense of settling in for the night or settling into a seat by the fire with a good book and snacks.”
“Snacks are happy.”
Gabriel spread his fingers wide on her thigh. “I’m usually good at expressing myself. But you aren’t words. You’re sensations and emotions. And those, I struggle to explain.”
She gave the slightest nod.
“Do I think this is ongoing? If you meant us, it’s been my life’s experience that I know right away if I have a good teammate—another wrong word—someone I would go to battlewith and also someone I could hang out in a hot miserable tent for days on end without any other form of distraction other than our own company.”
“From my life experience,” Sommer said, “in the emergency room and on the trail, I understand that. And I agree. Which is lovely.” She stopped and smiled. “But my question was really about Daniel. You know him, and I don’t. Do you think he’ll keep his gamesmanship up? Is he going to keep moving the pieces around the board? Us? Not that I’m thinking of him as a third wheel,” She skated a hand out. “And not that I think he put viruses and bad men into our path. They were in our path, and I truly believe he was there helping us through.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Thank you, Daniel.” She laughed, and that laughter danced in her eyes when she looked at Gabriel.
“DanielandSloane,” Gabriel said.
“Of course, Sloane. Sloane will always be there for me.” Sommer moved her hand through the air. “And since I’ve experienced that kind of etheric connection my whole life, the idea of Daniel isn’t a stretch. It doesn’t make me nervous at all. But do you think he’s going to continue to haunt us?”
“We did pinky swear,” Gabriel said.
“Which is very powerful magic.”
“This is my adult version of a pinky swear,” Gabriel whispered. He cupped Sommer’s face in his hands, and their kiss lingered. “There’s nothing like having a little magic to enchant our lives together.”
Sommer smiled. “Yes, I think I’d like an enchanted life together.”
The END
