“But that’s…almost certainly not going to be around here.”
“I know.” She sighed. “I hate it, but, look. Go find a job you love. Go there, to it. It’ll probably be in another city, but we’ll manage. And I’ll look for something too, and maybe it’ll be near you, if we’re lucky, and maybe it won’t, but that’s how we have to do it. We have to prove we aren’t codependent. We aren’t enchanted. We’re responsible adults who can live in separate towns if we have to, without wasting away. We have to give it time and see what we think about…you know. An actual relationship.”
The mere idea of living in a different city from her made Grady feel like pouting and whining, if not outright wasting away. But he did grasp her point. He summoned up the maturity to nod. “You’re right. We ought to be responsible. It’s important.”
She looked sad for a second, then smiled again. “Do you have time to get coffee and have a real conversation? One where I actually talk? See if we can stand each other in real life.”
He turned toward the cafe, sliding an arm around her. “Yeah. Let’s.”
“Hey, Livy,” her boss at the Forest Service said over the phone. “You live in Bellwater, right?”
She had pulled over to take the call, on her way to the Quilcene office. “Yeah, why?”
“We heard from DNR that someone reported fire damage in the national forest just west of there.” The state’s Department of Natural Resources was often the first agency to receive reports of forest fires, and passed along word to the Forest Service. “They checked on it and said it’s out,” he continued, “but an acre or so got burned, probably from lightning. Did you hear about it? When could that have happened? I mean, jeez, it’s been so wet, not to mention frozen. Did you guys have lightning with that storm the other night?”
Livy’s mouth fell open. Her mind temporarily relived the walk through the roaring fire, trees blackening all around her. She hadn’t been back there in daylight to look; she had assumed it was all fire-fae illusion. “Um,” she said, “maybe? It was kind of a crazy night. You know what, is it okay if I go back there right now and have a look?”
“Yeah, could you, actually? That’ll get us a head start on mapping any damage. I’ll email you the location.”
“Thanks.” Not that she’d need it. She had a pretty good idea where that fire damage would be. “Talk to you soon. Bye.”
She hung up, flipped a U-turn on the quiet two-lane highway, and sped back toward Bellwater.
Within half an hour, she stood staring at a swath of blackened trunks and scorched undergrowth. She snapped a few photos, and sent one to Kit with the text, Wow. Guess those fire fae were for real.
Whoa, he responded. Thought I smelled something burned last night, but couldn’t see much in the dark. You still over there?
Yeah, checking it out to report on it for work, ha, she answered.
Stay there. I’ll come.
In a little while, his truck growled up the Forest Service road and stopped, its roof just visible through the bushes. He swung the creaky door shut and tromped through the forest to her, where he stood with hands on hips, surveying the burn.
“Damn,” he said.
“Yeah, I’m surprised. But it’s all right, actually.” She touched the charred bark of a giant cedar. “Most of these trees’ll be fine. They can survive a certain amount of fire, especially one that burns through quick like that. It’s good for them, even.”
“Huh. What are you going to tell work?”
“That we had some freak lightning, I guess. Which is true. Caused by fire fae, but I’ll leave that part out.”
“Good call.”
His gaze drifted down to her, and he smiled. Leaning back on his boot heels, hands in his jacket pockets, he looked utterly content.
“Listen,” she said, “you finally get to be free now. I know you’re grateful to me, and I was happy to do it, and I would have done it all for Skye anyway, even without you and Grady mixed up in it. So you don’t have to feel tied to me. I swear I’ll understand, if you want to be—well, free. Like you deserve.”
He drew his eyebrows down, puzzled. “What are you talking about? You think I was lying the other night?”
“Not lying, just…under certain stresses. As we all were.”
He lowered his face, and scuffed at ashes with his boot. “Ah. So you want your freedom. Well, I get that, but I’ll tell you now, I’m not thrilled. I intend to argue with you about it.”
“No, no. I…come on. I love you. But…you want to roam the world. You’ll have money; you’ll get to do that. And you should. Me, I like it here and I’m staying, but why would you stay?”
Kit’s smile rekindled. He sauntered two steps closer. “A, because I like it here too, as we’ve discussed. B, because you’re here, and I love you. So C—should this be C?—yes, I want to enjoy not having to steal, and getting to save money, and doing things with it I’ve been meaning to do. Travel, restore cars, fix up the cabin, hire extra help at the garage. But can’t I do all that and also have a girlfriend?” He took one more step, and hovered within reach. “Do I have a girlfriend?” he added, husky and vulnerable now.
Everything had gone blurry through the happy tears in Livy’s eyes. She jumped forward and hugged him. “Yes. Definitely, yes. Okay, you’ve convinced me, no need to argue.”
When they kissed, Livy wondered if fae disguised as ferns or mushrooms or crows were watching.
They’d always been watching. She could live with that. Just part of the local color.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
SKYE DROVE DOWN THE WINDING HIGHWAY ON A FRIDAY MORNING, HER VOLKSWAGEN PACKED TO THE ROOF WITH boxes. Sprays of white and pink glimmered in the greening forest that lined the road: Indian plum, red currant, and salmonberry in bloom. Spring had arrived. Not everyone knew the names of those plants, but when you had a sister in the Forest Service, you learned that kind of thing.
Her chest ached at the thought of Livy, and her eyes still felt tender from the tears she’d shed this morning upon hugging her goodbye and moving out of their house. But happiness swept back in like a spring breeze at the reminder of where she was heading: an hour and a half south, to Olympia. To Grady.
Grady had taken a cooking job at an upscale bistro in Olympia, and found an apartment there. He and Skye had continued liking each other in real life just fine, it turned out. They’d lasted almost two months living in separate towns, driving to see each other every weekend or whenever they had days off. Then Skye found a position with a graphic design firm in Olympia, where she would start work on Monday. So it only made sense to move in with him.
In her spare time she was also hard at work on her graphic novel, tentatively titled The Goblins of Bellwater. A small press was already interested, having loved the first few pages she sent them.
Besides, she’d still see her sister a lot. She and Grady vowed to get together with Kit and Livy as often as they could. In the meantime, she’d left Livy a little present to find when she got back from work today.
Skye smiled.