Macy twists her nose. “But you can’t be alone.”
“That’s exactly what I want.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “No.”
“Yes.”
We bicker back and forth like kids until I say, “You know I can kick you out, right? This is my apartment.”
She huffs.
“Please, Macy. Let me wallow by myself. I don’t want to ruin your night. You’re engaged to an awesome guy. Don’t push him aside because of me.”
She stares at the TV, contemplating my words. She’s stubborn and will argue until I give in. But I won’t this time. As much as I love being with her, I want to be alone, too. Sebastian left me, not her. Why shouldn’t she enjoy herself with her man?
“Fine,” she says after a little while. “I’ll go to the show. But I’m spending the night here and I will not take no for an answer.”
I can’t argue with that.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Saturday morning, I find myself standing outside the house I grew up in. The house I was thrown out of no more than a few weeks ago.
Macy and I had been spending a lot of time together. She’s great and I appreciate all she’s doing for me, but the void inside me still isn’t filling up. Maybe it never will, and I’ll need to learn to live with that. I told Macy the truth about where Sebastian came from. She couldn’t believe there is another world out there, a magical world.
The more we talked about him, the more the void grew. As I lay in bed last night, a thought knocked me on the head. I lost Sebastian, who came to be one of the most important people in my life. I had no control over that. Whether I sent him home or made a wish, he would have left me. But there’s one thing I can have control over: my relationship with my mother. I told myself I would not let another person walk out of my life. My mother decided to shut me out, but I’m not going to give up. I need her. We need each other.
As I stand in front of the house, my heart pounds in my head. The last time I was here, I had Sebastian with me. That caused some of the nerves to disappear. I’m not sure I can do this without him. But I need to. It’s going to be hard. I might get rejected more times than I can count, but I’m not going to give up. She’s the only family I have left.
Taking a deep breath, I ring the doorbell. I brought my key with me, but I don’t want to barge in unannounced.
No one opens the door. I shift from one foot to the other and bite my lower lip. I’m a little terrified to step inside. How much more pain and rejection can my heart handle? If my mother tells me to get out of her life again, I’m pretty sure my body will lose all feeling.
A part of me reassures myself that she’s not home, while the other part argues that she is home. Glancing up, I see the light is on in her bedroom.
I wait for about three minutes and ring the bell a few more times before deciding to muster my courage and stab my key into the lock. As I’m about to do so, the door swings open, revealing a woman who looks somewhat different from the woman I saw a few weeks ago. Her hair isn’t pulled into a lazy bun, her eyes are a little haggard, but there is some light in them. She’s wearing a green top and jeans, not that ratty robe.
When she notices me standing there, she freezes. We just stare at each other, my breathing getting heavy, my hands feeling clammy.
“Lily,” she whispers before pulling me into her arms. For a second, I’m too shocked to move, but after a bit, I return the hug, shutting my eyes and letting the tears slide down my cheeks.
We don’t say or do anything, just stay in each other’s arms. With hers tight around me, I feel my mom tremble. She mutters words that I can’t hear under her breath. I have so many questions to ask, but words won’t come. They don’t need to at the moment. This is enough. Hell, this is more than I ever expected.
After what feels like days, my mother slowly draws back. Her eyes are red and wet with tears. She tries to get rid of them, but they’re too strong. “Lily,” she says. “I’m so glad you came.” She rests her hand on my arm and invites me inside.
The house looks cleaner than it did the last time I was here. It smells like home, like the house I grew up in. My mother and I sit down on the couch. She takes my hands, and we sit like that. Until she says, “I was going to call you.” She shakes her head. “I was waiting for the right time. I…” She runs her hand through her hair. “I’ve been seeing a therapist for a few days now.” She strokes my cheek. “About a week after you left, all I thought about was what you said to me. How I would lose another daughter. I didn’t want that to happen, but I didn’t want to reach out to you until I was better. Maybe that was a mistake, but I wasn’t right in the head. I’m so sorry, honey. You traveled three thousand miles just to see me. And I threw you out.”
“It’s okay, Mom.” I fling my arms around her. “I’m so glad you’re getting better.”
She kisses my cheek. “I’m sorry I threw you out. I was in a bad place, sweetie, and I didn’t want to talk to anyone.” She pulls back. “Seeing you…it brought me back to that night, to the pain I shoved away. When you came over, it was like a dam opened inside me and all I wanted was to close it up. I’ll never forgive myself for the way I treated you.” She takes me in her arms again. “I don’t deserve it, but I hope you can forgive me.”
I nod quickly. “Of course I can.” A warm feeling overcomes me. Mom wanted to have a relationship with me as much as I wanted to have one with her. She was just waiting to get better. She didn’t want to screw things up between us. As much pain as I’ve been through, hearing her say she wants me in her life undoes it all.
“You’re the most important person to me,” she says. “I want you to know that.”
“You’re the most important person to me, too.”
She smiles sadly. “I’m the luckiest woman alive, because I have you for a daughter. There were many times where my thumb hovered over the button to call you, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I was terrified you would never want to talk to me. I’ve lost sleep worrying about you. Are you doing okay?”
Sebastian enters my head, but I push him away. “Mostly, yeah.”
“How’s work? School?”
“Fine. Still working on getting into culinary school.”
She stares off at something. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you afford it. I’ll work extra hours—”
I place my hand on hers. “It’s okay, Mom. I don’t want you to work hard for me. You’ve been doing that all my life. Let’s focus on getting better. Maybe we can go see the therapist together, if you want.”
She nods. “I’d like that.”
“And I need to show you New York City. It’s more amazing than you can ever imagine.” I hug her tightly, still not able to believe it’s my mother I’m talking to. I wish Sebastian could be here. I’d like him to see how we made a difference by coming here. It caused my mother to reexamine her life and make changes. Sure it’s going to take a while until we’re back to how we used to be, but at least we’re talking.
Mom runs her fingers through my hair. “What is it?”
She’s always been able to read me. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
“Lily?”
I sigh. I don’t want to keep anything from her, not when we’re starting to rebuild a relationship. “It’s just…this guy I was seeing. He had to leave.” I shut my eyes. “It’s stupid, not important right now.”
“Of course it’s important.” She runs her hands up and down my shoulders. “Tell me about him.”
And I do, making sure to leave out the fact that Sebastian was a genie. I pretend we met at work, and I tell her that he swept me off my feet from the first moment we kissed while we danced. I give her a small smile. “You know how I’ve always dreamed of having what those girls in the romance movies have?”
She nods, laughing a little. She probably remembers how I used to swoon each time the guy and girl kissed on screen.
“I had that with him,” I say in a low voice.
Her
eyes soften. “Why did he leave?”
I tear my gaze away from her. “He just had to.”
“Okay, we can talk about this another time.” She squeezes my shoulder. “I promise you we’re going to spend a lot of time together. And I’ll help get you into culinary school. I’ll make my little girl’s dreams come true.”
“Mom, I don’t need that right now. I’m just happy to be here, talking to you.”
Her hold on me tightens. “That’s exactly how I feel. I love you, honey.”
“I love you, too.” I pull back. “How are things going by you? How’s work? Your friends?” She used to be a very social person, like Daisy was.
She plows her fingers through her hair. “Work’s fine. But I need to give my friends a call. Ever since…” She presses her lips together. “…the accident, I’ve pushed away all the important people in my life. I want to reconnect with everyone and not hide in the house all day. Hopefully with time.” A pained expression clouds her eyes as she rubs my arm. “And hopefully one day, we’ll be ready to talk about Daisy, to keep her memory alive. But right now it hurts too much.”
I rest my head on her shoulder. “We’ll get through this together. All we need is each other.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Since my mother and I each have jobs, we’re going to be visiting each other on the weekends. Money is tight, so we can’t travel too often, but we’re going to video chat all the time, and text each second we can. Things aren’t a hundred percent perfect, but I know they will be. We’re going to see the therapist next week, and after that, she’s set to visit me in New York.
Spending time with her brought me back to when I was a kid and we did many things together, mostly cooking. It was no different at her place. We went a little wild in the kitchen, creating dishes that didn’t make sense, but tasted okay. When I had to leave for New York, it felt as if a part of me was being left behind. But I know my mother isn’t going anywhere. Sebastian is gone and his spot in my heart might never be replaced, but at least I have my mother. I owe that to him. If not for him giving me the strength to take that step, my mother and I would be strangers right now.
I think about my genie all the time. Mom’s asked me questions about him, but I don’t really like to talk about it. She reassured me that if we’re meant to be together, we will be. I wish I could explain that there’s no way we can ever be together. He belongs in his world and I belong in mine.
As I go to the alley outside Inferno to throw the garbage in the dumpster, I crash into something hard. A person. Looking up, I see a guy standing there. He has blue eyes, long black hair. Scanning his naked chest and black pants, my heart lurches.
Sebastian.
His skin isn’t golden, but pinkish-white like any human. He doesn’t have those designs on his chest. But it’s him. I’d recognize those deep eyes anywhere. I throw my arms around him. He stumbles back before pulling my hands off him and glaring at me.
“Don’t touch me,” he says, narrowing his eyes and giving me a look like I’m covered in dirt.
My heart drops to Earth’s core. “Sebastian, don’t you recognize me?”
His eyes narrow even more. “How do you know my name?” He looks around. “What is this place? It seems oddly familiar. Where am I?”
He doesn’t remember anything. When I wished him back home, he forgot all about me. Instead of him remembering and me forgetting, the opposite happened. But he knows this place. I have no idea how he left his home, but something pulled him here. He feels something. Perhaps he can remember.
“It’s me Lily,” I tell him.
His eyebrows furrow.
“You’re on Earth.”
His eyes snap to my face. “The human world?”
I nod. “Please remember me. You were sent here as a genie. I found your lamp in that dumpster over there.” I angle my head toward it. “You granted me three wishes.” I step closer to him and run my hand through his hair. “You fell in love with me.”
He springs back. “What nonsense are you talking about?”
I press my lips to his. He’s tense and I can feel him ready to shove me off, but his body relaxes and he places his hands around my neck, deepening the kiss. A million sensations explode all over me. I’ve missed having his body crushed against mine, his lips moving against mine. This is how it’s supposed to be. He and I…we’re meant to be together. I don’t care if I have to spend a lifetime helping him remember. I’m not going to lose him again.
“Lily…” he says against my mouth. “Lily.”
I pull off and gaze into his eyes that are filled with confusion, but are slowly growing with recognition.
“My Lily.” He pulls me into his arms.
“You remember,” I whisper.
He trails kisses down my neck. “I can never forget you.”
I shut my eyes and let myself enjoy this moment. My body shudders as he pops little kisses all over my skin. Then I freeze. “Sebastian, what happened? How did you get here?”
He rubs the back of his neck. “When I returned home, I couldn’t forget you. I wanted to return to you, more than anything.”
I place my hand on his heart. It’s thumping. “What about your sister?”
A shadow crawls over his face. I know that look too well to know what it means. My stomach clenches and I pull him into my arms. “I’m so sorry.”
He buries his face in my neck. “She took her own life.”
Tears fill my eyes.
“When you wished me home, everything returned to normal. I went back in time, to the day I killed the prince.” He swallows. “In this new version, it was my sister who killed him. In self-defense.”
My hands fly to my mouth. “Oh, no.”
He nods, his lips in a tight line. “She took her own life before sentence could be passed on her. She knew punishment would be terrible and chose not to live than live a life full of pain.” He rubs his forehead.
“Sebastian, I’m so sorry.”
He shakes his head. “Maybe it’s better this way. She would have probably been beaten, tortured, or worse. She’s at peace now, although I wish I could have brought her here.” He covers his face. “I was too late.”
I don’t know what to say. Apologizing isn’t enough. Maybe there’s nothing I can say to make him feel better. I take him in my arms. “I’m here for you.”
He presses his lips to my temple. “Thank you.” He clutches me tightly. “I had nothing left there. All I wanted was to return to you.”
I press my forehead to his. “You remembered me all this time?”
He nods. “Even though the past changed in my world, my memories remained the same. But I must have forgotten them when I returned to Earth.” His eyebrows knit. “Thank you for helping me remember.”
“How did you get here?”
His eyes move to the entrance of Inferno. “Am I keeping you from work?”
“Nah. It’s okay.”
He smiles a bit. “There’s an elder who knows all kinds of magic. I told him everything and he helped me leave Ortarus and travel to Earth.”
“Is he going to get into trouble? Did he require you to do anything?”
He shakes his head, sliding his hands in mine. “He’s the king’s advisor, but he hates the king as much as I do. We’d been friends for a while, before I was sent here as a genie. He’s one hundred percent trustworthy.”
I sigh in relief and rest my head on his chest. “The golden skin is gone.”
“Yes.”
I raise my head to him. “What about your magic?”
He lifts his hand toward the dumpster. It moves a bit to the right. “It’s not as strong as on Ortarus, but I still have it. I don’t know my limitations, though.”
I smile. “Are you going to stay here?”
“I have nothing keeping me in Ortarus.”
“What about your parents?”
He twists his nose. “My parents stopped being my parents the day they gave my sister and m
e up.”
I kiss him. “I’m so sorry about your sister.”
He strokes my hair. “It’s better this way. She’s no longer suffering.” He fingers my bottom lip. “She’s going to remain with me always. In here.” He touches his heart. “Just like Daisy is going to stay in your heart forever.”
We stand with our arms wrapped around each other. I breathe in his smell. It’s the same exotic one. I never thought I’d be in his arms again. It’s where I want to be. Forever.
“Lily.” Sebastian kisses my ear. “I never thanked you for sending me home and absolving me of my crime.” He strokes my cheek. “But I’m here now and I’m never going to leave you. I promise you that.”
I place my cheek on his. “And I’m never going to leave you. Ever.”
Read on for an excerpt from Merman’s Kiss, now available on Kindle!
Chapter One
My head throbs like someone smashed it against a pile of rocks.
I try to move my limbs, but they feel like they’re buried in cement. When I pry my eyes open, I’m blinded by something bright and strong. The sun? My eyes snap shut and tears seep out.
The throbbing travels from the back of my head to my forehead. I moan as images come. Memories. It all rushes back to me. The killer waves this morning, almost as high as towers. The itchy sensation pricking every nerve of my body as I imagined riding them. My stupid self ignoring the warning bells telling me it was too dangerous. Paddling into the ocean and popping onto my board. Getting swallowed by the massive wave. Thrashing my arms and legs as my mouth desperately sought oxygen, only to get salt water instead. My limbs growing weaker until I blacked out.
Something touches my fingers. No, touching isn’t the right word. Rubbing, maybe? It feels nice. Soothing. Slowly, I open my eyes. A face stares down at me. The sun shines behind his head, creating a halo.
Falling for the Genie (Genie's Love, Book 1) Page 18
