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“Really? I never got the email.”

“Is this okay?” he asked, referring to their sleeping arrangements. “What will Emma say?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never, you know, had a man over. But I think she’ll be ecstatic.” She winked at him. “She’s quite taken with you.”

“I’m quite taken with her, too.”

Everything fit. For the first time in Michael’s life, all the puzzle pieces fell into place. The odd shapes, the strange corners, they all just fit. He’d never felt so content. So at ease. So able to sleep without a lot of over-the-counter help. Or even under the counter.

Just as his lids drifted shut, she snuggled close against his side. “I use it to ward off evil spirits.”

He lifted his lids again, so comfortable and sated he couldn’t wrap his head around what she was saying. “Evil spirits?”

She giggled sleepily. “The item in the cabinet.”

“Yeah? You come across a lot of those?”

“Not normally, but you never know.”

He’d play along. “And what else can this item be used for?”

“Well, historically, it’s been used as a form of currency.”

“Got it. Evil spirits. Currency. Anything else?”

“I’ve heard some people use it as a seasoning. Weird, right?”

He grinned, pulled her even closer, and said softly in her ear, “Salt.”

* * * *