by Nicole Hall
Sera put her hand on Jake’s arm before he could head out. “Thanks, Jake. For real.”
“See you tomorrow, Sera.” There was a challenge in his voice, but she refused to rise to the bait. He would see her tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. She was staying put this time.
She nodded, and the kitchen door closed with a soft click behind him. Sera couldn’t help but watch out the kitchen window as he walked across the yard and disappeared into the shadows at the property line. Sera shook herself. If she couldn’t get a handle on her body’s reactions to him, living next-door to Jake was going to get very awkward in the near future.
Sera crouched down to close the cabinet door under the sink and remembered the glimmer. Something shiny had caught her eye during their conversation, but when she stuck her head under the counter, there were only pipes. Huh.
Sera sighed. She’d planned to go into town and hit the diner, but it was late and dealing with Jake had drained her. Her overnight bag was still by the front door where she’d left it. Evie’s baseball bat had been in the umbrella stand as usual, and she’d felt it prudent to not be encumbered while defending herself. The bat could stay in the kitchen. She latched the back door and killed all the lights except the one over the stove. An archway opened into the living room, and the big front windows let in the glow from the streetlights. It wouldn’t have mattered. The house hadn’t changed much in seven years, and Sera could navigate it with her eyes closed.
She rubbed her face, eyeing the stairs. Or I could just crash on the couch. It was newish and looked comfy, but she really needed to stretch out on a bed and maybe sleep for a week. Sighing, she snagged her bag and saw another glimmer out of the corner of her eye. It was on the console by the stairs. When Sera turned to face it, it winked out. There was no denying something had been there this time. Fireflies? In the house?
It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that she was hallucinating. She’d driven twenty-three hours straight from Orange County, California to Mulligan, Texas. Somewhere around El Paso, she’d thought about stopping for some sleep, but it’d been mid-afternoon at that point and the comfort of Evie’s home was calling. The console didn’t hold anything that looked like it would reflect golden light, and the cabinet definitely hadn’t. Neither had her hand.
There was a green ceramic gourd lamp, some art books, and a collection of pictures in plain white frames. Even the pulls were simple matte black against the wood. Sera picked up one of the frames and took a closer look. It was of her teenage self hugging Evie. Sera was in some of the other pictures as well. Photos she didn’t remember sending. They were mostly major life events, her high school graduation, her wedding portrait, and one of her with Will, her ex, at a black-tie event. She turned that picture face down and looked around the room more carefully.
Evie had a lot of pictures on the walls and on every flat surface. Sera walked past them, trailing her fingers over the glass. Some were pictures of Evie in town with people she didn’t recognize, some forest-y landscapes that appealed to Sera, and at least half of them were pictures of Sera herself. The room was full of her, of her achievements and her life.
Sera rubbed her chest as a sharp pang spread through it and down to her stomach. She’d wasted so much time trying to make the wrong people love her, and apparently, she’d missed her chance to have it right here. The room was filled with her grandmother’s love for her. Tears blurred Sera’s vision as she turned her back on the photos. Evie’d had her own way, pragmatic and patient, but Sera hadn’t appreciated the love that encompassed all of it. And now it’s too late.
The room to the right at the top of the stairs had been hers. Sera held her breath and opened the door. The switch turned on the nightstand lamp, and in the soft glow, Sera was glad to see the big bed was still made up with sheets and a blanket. There wasn’t even any dust. Pretty blues and whites made up the color scheme, but the abstract patterns could have been picked out by anyone. Sera was almost disappointed that it was decorated as a generic guest room. What were you expecting? A shrine? Time to get your head out of your ass.
Her window overlooked the backyard, and in front of it sat her old campaign desk and chair. The antique low dresser and mirror she remembered faced it against the opposite wall, and across from the bed was the closet. No TVs in the bedrooms for Evie. Bedrooms were for resting. Sera smiled. Tomorrow, she’d have to brave Evie’s room and see if she followed her own rules, but for tonight Sera needed to let her overwhelmed brain and body rest.
She turned to shut off the hall light, but didn’t see the switch and didn’t feel like looking so Sera just closed the bedroom door. I’ll remember where it is tomorrow. She dropped her bag at the foot of the bed and undressed, leaving her clothes in a jumble on the floor. Evie would have sassed her about it, but Sera was more than fading fast. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open. She didn’t even bother with pajamas, just crawled under the blue quilt into cool sheets and let her body go limp with a deep breath. There was so much to deal with tomorrow, but that could wait for…well…tomorrow. She remembered the lamp and cracked an eye open. The glimmer was back, next to the light this time. Suddenly, the room dropped into darkness. As Sera watched, the glimmer faded out a few seconds later. She reminded herself to check the wiring on the lamp in the morning.
JAKE
Jake pulled Sera’s door closed softly behind him, even though he wanted to slam it. She wasn’t supposed to be there until tomorrow. He knew Evie had left the house to her, he even knew Sera would have to show up at some point to pack it up and sell it off, but this had been too soon. Jake strode across the lawn as fast as he could without actually running from his far too sexy neighbor.
It was warm out for October, and he’d forgotten to turn the AC back on when he’d left that afternoon, but whatever, what was a little more sweat. When he’d turned and seen Sera standing over him with that bat, he’d nearly tumbled back into the cabinet in surprise. He told himself if he’d been a little more prepared, the sight of her wouldn’t have affected him so intensely, but it didn’t sound convincing, even to himself. How could the sight of her after so many years still do that?
Jake dropped his toolbox inside the back door and sighed at the mess that greeted him. Milk out on the counter, crumbs and bits of food everywhere, dirty dishes caked in who knew what next to the sink. Not even in the sink. Maddie was such a slob.
He sniffed the milk before putting it away and noticed that his leftover lasagna was gone. Dammit, that was supposed to be dinner. “Maddie? You still here?” He hollered.
His little sister appeared in the archway between the kitchen and living room and gave him a big smile. “What? Oooh, you’re back. Get the sink fixed?”
Jake brushed past her and sank onto the couch, trying not to let his annoyance show in his voice. “Yeah, but I don’t think I did much. It went from not working one minute to working the next. I told Sera to call someone else if it acts up again.”
Maddie looked up from picking at her dark blue nails. “Sera was there? She’s early.”
“Ya think?. She found me under the sink cursing at the damn pipes and threatened to—nevermind, it’s not important.” Jake stretched his arms along the back of the couch and beckoned her closer. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you ate all my lasagna.”
She walked past him and ruffled his hair on the way to the front door. “I regret nothing. It was delicious.”
“That was my dinner, Mad.”
“Maybe label it next time. Or hide it better.”
“Why would I hide food in my own house? Oh right, because I have a mooch sister who doesn’t understand personal boundaries.”
She shrugged. “What’s yours is mine.”
That was the problem with Maddie. He’d give her the earth and all the stars if she asked, but she never asked. It was partly his fault for spoiling her, but his parents had been way worse. After they’d moved to Europe and given him the house, Maddie had taken to coming and g
oing like she still lived there, even though she’d moved out before they had.
“Mad?”
She stopped in the middle of tying her Converse and looked up. “What?”
“Sera says she’s staying. Planning to live in Evie’s house. Her house now, I guess.”
Maddie’s face shifted from mockery to pity. He hated the pity, but she’d been there when Sera had left the last time. “Maybe she’s different? A lot of time has passed.”
Jake scrubbed his face with his hands. “Yeah, maybe.”
Maddie’s arms came around his head for a quick squeeze, then she was back to her normal self, prancing to the door. “Well, maybe don’t sleep with her again and she’ll stick around this time.”
He threw a couch pillow at her, but she ducked out the door before it could make contact. That was the thing about Maddie. She loved with her whole heart and tried to make the people around her happy, even if her mouth got in the way sometimes.
Jake heaved himself off the couch and went to the kitchen for a beer. He didn’t feel like cleaning up Maddie’s mess, so he turned the light out and left it for the morning. Beer for dinner wasn’t the best life choice, but seeing Sera then losing his lasagna made it good enough for tonight.
It was dark in the living room without the kitchen light, so Jake turned on the tv in search of the Texans game. They were having a shit season, but it was better than thinking about shoving his hands into long dark hair and wondering whether her skin still tasted faintly of peaches.
Ten minutes later, he was up one touchdown, down one beer, and wishing he’d tried to convince Maddie to stay a little while. He couldn’t concentrate, at least not on the game. His eyes kept wandering to the window that overlooked her property. There were lights still on.
What was she doing? Was she thinking about him? He couldn’t get his mind off of her. She was supposed to arrive tomorrow, go through Evie’s stuff, then leave again. He’d planned to avoid being home for a couple of days and then go back to his life, sadly with one less awesome old lady in it.
Evie’d respected his wishes not to talk about Sera, even though she’d obviously kept tabs on her granddaughter. He noticed the new pictures of her that appeared in Evie’s house. The sight of Sera in a wedding gown on some other guy’s arm had knocked the wind from him the first time he’d seen it, but he’d learned to avoid certain places on Evie’s walls. They’d had plenty else to talk about, and Sera’s move to town and abrupt move away were old news.
He’d known Sera since they were kids when she’d come to visit her grandma, but she’d never stayed very long. The summer before his senior year, before he went to work for his dad’s construction company, she’d moved in with Evie and changed everything. They were inseparable for three fantastic months. But by the time fall rolled around, she’d been gone, and he’d been neck-deep in building Mr. Anderson’s new deck and trying not to fail out of school. He threw himself into it because when he wasn’t working, his chest ached with missing her.
He didn’t pine for her anymore or anything like that, but at the time, he’d been so sure that she loved him back, right up until the day she left. Sera was his first. First love. First heartbreak. Not his first time having sex, that honor went to Vanessa McIntyre in junior year, but his first time making love. Underneath it all, she was his. He’d felt it all the way through him. She’d belonged with him. Or at least that’s what he’d thought.
Clearly, she hadn’t agreed. Over the years, he explained those feelings away as hormones or fanciful thinking, though he’d only admitted that last one to Ryan one night after too many drinks. But seeing her tonight, it was a gut-punch. All the way through him.
Jake switched the game off, who cared if the Texans were finally winning one. They sucked at distracting him. As a last resort, Jake pulled out his phone and dialed Ryan.
“Hey Jake, what’s up?”
“Wanna sit in my living room in the dark and get drunk?”
“Uhh… as fun as that sounds, no. What’s going on?”
Jake could hear video game sounds in the background indicating that Ryan had stopped playing, but Ryan didn’t seem to care that his avatar was being murdered. See? That’s a good friend, right there. “Sera’s back.”
Ryan whistled low. “The infamous Sera. Think I’ll get to meet her this time before she takes off?”
“That’s the problem. It looks like she’s staying.”
“How is that a problem? You’ve been pining for her for like seven years.”
“I don’t pine, dumbass. It’s perfectly normal to miss someone you cared about.”
“Sure. Then why aren’t you out searching for a new lady instead of calling me on raid night?”
Jake shut his eyes and dropped his head back on the couch. “Because I ran into her tonight, and I’m trying to stop myself from heading back over there.”
It took a second to process that Ryan was laughing. “I don’t understand how you can still have feelings for this girl. You told her you loved her, she left, then refused to see you or talk to you.”
“That’s not—ugh, nevermind. I’m regretting ever telling you about this.”
“Okay, fine. Seriously though, you don’t know anything about her. The current her. I get you had real feelings for her before and got hurt, but there’s nothing stopping you from talking to her and seeing what’s up now.”
“I don’t want to see what’s up. It was a long time ago, and I have no intention of going through all that again.”
“Uh, huh. And two seconds ago you said, and I quote, ‘I’m trying to stop myself from heading back over there’. So now you’re saying you don’t want to get in her pants?”
“More than just about anything at the moment, but it’s not like she’s the only option around.”
“Right, because you’re a strong, independent man, and you don’t need no woman?”
“I super hate you right now.”
Ryan was laughing again, and Jake heard a familiar chime in the background. “Look, I gotta go man, but if you really don’t want to go over there, go booty call Chelle or go to bed. Either way, you need to make up your mind. Oh, and if you have any other pressing emotional needs to work through, call Maddie.”
The call cut off on Ryan’s hyena laughter, and Jake wondered why he’d ever befriended Ryan in the first place. Nah, Jake knew why. Ryan was a good guy; it was just that his version of help skewed towards computer references and snarky comments. Not that he’d expected any help. He’d just needed…something. Anyway, Jake knew what that chime meant. Zee was reaching out to Ryan and that was a mess Jake didn’t want to get involved in. Dealing with the Fae almost always resulted in Zee fiddling with his head.
He had no idea if Ryan had similar experiences, but the few times they’d talked about it, Ryan had been clear that he disliked the Fae. And Zee in particular. Jake and Ryan shared some pretty hefty secrets, but Ryan was almost fanatically silent about his history with Zee. Not Jake’s problem currently. Thank god. Magic wouldn’t help him deal with Sera or his traitorous body.
Jake opened his eyes and glared at the specks of golden light floating around the window facing Sera’s. He didn’t need or want their help.
“Go away.”
One by one, they blinked out, and Jake went upstairs to try to get some sleep.
2
SERA
The next day dawned bright and way too early. There were only flimsy sheers over the windows, and the tree was shading the wrong part of the room. Sera groaned and rolled over, covering her face with her pillow. Her back hurt from being in the car so long the day, days? before, and after the first blissful hour of unconsciousness, she’d woken up over and over again to dreams of being eaten by a half-dead tree.
A buzzing noise from the nightstand penetrated the pillow shield, and Sera suddenly remembered the lamp going out on its own the night before. If it was a fire hazard, she was chucking it out the window. She peeked, but the lamp was still and sile
nt. Her phone, on the other hand, was about to vibrate itself onto the floor. A glance at the screen confirmed what she feared.
Her mother was calling.
Nope. Sera hit cancel and tossed the phone on the foot of the bed. She wasn’t going to ruin her morning quite yet. She needed coffee, her toothbrush, and some clean pants. Not necessarily in that order. A quick rummage through her bag and a few minutes later, she was ready to tackle the coffee.
Evie’s house was comforting in its sameness. Ocean colors were everywhere. Blue and green watercolor paintings hung next to a lush fern that sat next to a plush navy sofa. The items themselves had changed, but the placement and tone of the room remained the same as it had always been. Sera’d visited many times before, but she’d only lived there for the one summer. It hadn’t mattered, she’d burrowed in and made it hers too. Tears threatened to fall, but Sera blinked them away.
She wanted to walk into the white kitchen and find Evie at the stove cursing at her eggs. Sera’s steps faltered in the living room as a quiet snick came from the kitchen. It sounded like the fridge closing. Sera frowned.
No one else was supposed to have a key, but Jake had proved that wasn’t true the night before. As far as she knew, the bat was still on the kitchen table. In the kitchen. Next to the fridge. Her car was out front. She could leave the trespasser to Evie’s weeks old food.
Sera straightened her back and marched into the kitchen. No one was going to mess with Evie’s stuff, even if she wasn’t here anymore to use it.
“Hello?”
The room was empty. Fridge closed. Bat still in place on the table where she’d left it, back door still locked. A bit of gold glimmered next to the coffee maker in her peripheral vision, but when she turned her head it was gone. More hallucinations.