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Carter waits, letting me hang myself. A skill he’s perfected.

“It might not matter. The council could decide to take it all away.” I hear how it sounds. “I realize that’s an excuse.”

“It is, yeah.” He spins the lid of his bottle on the table. “It’s a good one, though. I mean, the council will do what it wants. But that only gets you to January. What’s the excuse for February?”

I grunt and take a swig of blood. I refuse to be one more person with a plan for her.

“What if it’s not just about you?” Carter says. “She’s clearly in love with you. That’s obvious. But every time I place an order with your mom, she gushes about how much of a help she’s been at the cafe. I’ve read at least four articles she’s written for the Chronicle. You aren’t the only thing in her world.”

“Huh.”

Ellery found her own way here and built something I had nothing to do with. Most of it while I was actively trying to get rid of her. She hasn’t needed me for a single part of it. She just kept showing up for herself.

Carter lets the silence go on for as long as he can stand it, which is about three seconds.

“I mean, I’m sure you’re great in the sack, but you’re not the center of the universe.”

I’m on my way to The Roost to meet Ellery when it stops being a question.

I love her.

I’ve known since the night the van broke down. I’ve been careful not to say it, including to myself, afraid of what it means. Afraid of what those words will do when spoken out loud. Now I’m scared and too eager to say all the things I’ve been holding in.

An older woman with golden-blond hair glued into place, in a well-tailored cream pantsuit, approaches the cafe at the same time I do. I open the door for her. Before she steps through, she looks me up and down like I’m gum on her shoe.

As she passes, I’m hit with expensive perfume and underneath it a note that I can’t name. Not vampire. Not witch. Not anything I’ve been taught to recognize. I catch the door as she lets it swing in my face.

I spot Ellery in a booth toward the back, fidgeting and chewing the inside of her cheek. At the counter, I order her a coffee with a marshmallow on the side, hoping it might elicit a smile. When I turn around, she’s hugging the well-tailored woman, and I almost drop the cup.

“Hey.” I slip in beside Ellery and push the coffee toward her. She reaches for it eagerly, and I can feel her heart hammering when I put my arm across her shoulders.

“Nick, I’d like you to meet my mother, Claire.”

Mother?

“Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” I hold out my hand.

She looks at it until I take it back. Ellery’s face falls.

“We need to talk, Ellery,” she says. “In private.”

“Nick stays.”

“I’m sure Nick can see we have family matters to discuss.”

“I’m staying if Elle wants me to stay.”

At the mention of the nickname, she meets my eye and hovers there too long.

“This is between me and my daughter.” She folds one hand over the other on the table.

“Enough.” Ellery interrupts our standoff. She turns to me. “I’ll come find you after, okay?”

Every fiber of my being wants to argue, but I won’t make this any harder for her. As much as I want to protect her, she can handle herself.

“Sure.” I plant a kiss on her cheek, making her smile reappear. “Call me when you’re done.”

My mom pulls me aside as I head to the door and whispers, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on her.”