We hauled in the anchor and set the sails, turning the boat back toward the dock. The breeze filled the sails, and the seagulls soared above us.
“If you wanted to get some new clothes, I could always—” Chivalry began, and I threw a sandwich at his head.
When I got home that evening, I left another two messages on Suze’s phone.
• • •
The next three days passed slowly. I’d started making calls to look into the selkie business, but I knew that I was making as many excuses as possible to hang around my apartment and wait for Suzume to show up. But no matter how long I waited or how many messages I left on her phone, there was no knock on my door, and no pitter-patter of fox paws on the tree outside my window.
The Fiesta arrived back from the mechanic on Thursday, its engine once again patched and coaxed into working order. It still couldn’t start on the first try, and the mechanic muttered about how it would’ve made more sense to just buy a new car entirely given the level of rust eating away at the underbody, but I was glad to have the Fiesta back in its old spot, even if it had taken my brother’s money to make it happen.
I left one last message on Suze’s phone. Then I got into the Fiesta and drove over to her house.
Surprise filled her face when she opened her door and saw me standing on her stoop. We stood for a long minute just looking at each other.
“I want you to be my partner,” I blurted out, completely ruining the script in my head that I’d been composing for the last few days and practicing periodically in the mirror.
She tilted her head in that familiar foxy way. “I’m going to need context for that one,” Suze said.
I took a deep breath. “I want you to work with me, like when we were looking for who killed Gage. But this would be official. When I go out to do stuff or investigate things for my family, I want you to be with me on them. I’m heading up to Maine tomorrow to look into some selkies, and I’d like you to go with me.”
She looked at me for a long moment, those dark eyes as deep and fathomless as the ocean at night.
“It’ll probably only be part-time work, but you’d get to beat people up,” I added to sweeten the deal, and a wide smile broke out across her face.
“Does this job offer come with a salary?” she asked.
“Send the bills to my mother,” I said. “But if you’re going to do it, do it because you want to, not for the money.”
“I do want to. Screening clients for my grandmother is boring as crap, and I already got Midori to agree to take over,” she said, and I grinned. But she looked serious again, and asked, “Did Lilah ever come talk with you?”
“She did.” I paused. “But I’m not dating her.”
Suze lifted one eyebrow in a very good Spock impression. “Why not?”
I took the plunge. “Because I want to date you.”
Surprise covered Suze’s face, but I could see the brief, intense flicker of emotion in her dark eyes before she hid it. Then she frowned and both caution and a warning were evident in her voice when she said, “Lilah is better for you. She’s sweet and nice. I’ll never be those things. The two of you could play human together but still understand each other—everything you want. I’ve never wanted to be anything except what I am.”
I nodded. “I know all those things, but I want you.”
Frustration covered her face at my refusal to get with the program. “I can’t, and I wouldn’t, change who I am.”
“I know. And I like you just the way you are.”
“You haven’t really thought through it,” she insisted. “When you do, you’ll know that Lilah is better for you.”
If this had been over the phone, I would’ve been slowly crumpling inside at her words, but this was why I had had to come over, because I could see the truth on her face. “You aren’t saying that you don’t like me,” I said, and I could feel my pulse racing with excitement. “You aren’t saying no.”
The rare flummoxed look she gave me was enough to make me finally give in and smile so hard that my face ached. She stayed silent.
My grin widened even farther. “That’s what I thought, Suze. I’ll wait until you tell me what you really think.”
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Do you really think you can outwait a fox?”
“I’m a vampire,” I said. “I’ve got time.”
I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the surprise that I’d brought her and pressed it into her hands.
She stared at the blank CD in her hands, “What’s this?” she asked.
“It’s a mix CD. But I’ll have to borrow your old boom box if you want me to play it outside your window.”
She laughed then, the sound clearly surprised out of her. She stared at me for a long moment, then stepped aside to let me in. After all, we were partners now, and we had a trip to Maine to plan.
Suze played the CD I’d made her later. It was one long loop of “The Imperial March.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M. L. Brennan lives in Connecticut with her husband and three cats. Holding a master’s degree in fiction, she teaches basic composition to college students. Her house is more than a hundred years old, and is insulated mainly by overstuffed bookshelves. She is currently working on the third Fortitude Scott book.
CONNECT ONLINE
www.mlbrennan.com
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