Page 43

Jake tips his beer bottle in her direction in salutation.

Marcus brings us our drinks and a fresh beer for Jake. Lynn’s cocktail looks more like a dessert than a drink. Rich and covered in whipped cream and a maraschino cherry. She takes a long pull through the straw while keeping eye contact with the bartender.

He smiles. “Good?”

She pops the cherry in her mouth and looks him up and down. “Delicious.”

I’m definitely going back to the apartment alone tonight.

I turn to Jake, who’s watching the exchange with a frown. I lean a little. “Will she be safe with him?”

He takes a sip of beer. “I don’t know him very well, but I’ve never heard anything bad about him other than he gets a lot of dates. She should be all right, as long as she doesn’t expect him to call her tomorrow.”

“No problem there. Lynn has zero interest in settling down.”

“What about you?” He presses his lips together as if trying to rein the words back in.

His question pokes at something inside me. My heart squeezes. The question surprises me and perhaps it surprises him too. He looks down at the bottle in his hands and traces the label with his thumb.

“I don’t know. I haven’t put much thought into it.” I take a sip of my drink. “Haven’t had any good role models for lasting relationships.”

He tilts his head. “You mentioned living with your grandmother. What happened to your parents?”

“My mother died giving birth to me.”

“I’m glad you had your grandmother to care for you.”

“Grandma is all I’ve ever known.”

“And your father? Isn’t he in your life?”

“I don’t even know who my father is. All I know is that he left when he found out my mother was pregnant. And she died giving birth to me, so I’ll never know him.” Or my mother.

His eyes soften. “I can’t imagine walking away from my child. Even if I didn’t want a relationship with the mother, I would never abandon my kid. It must have been very hard on you, growing up without your parents.”

Some old ache inside me eases a little. It’s been years since I thought about my parents. I don’t spend much time and energy thinking about what could have been or how different my life might be if my mother was still here and my father stuck around. “I think it would have been harder if I had known them and then lost them.”

He taps the side of the beer bottle with his thumb. “That is true.”

“Grandma raised me. It’s been generations of single mothers raising daughters in my family. The gift is passed on from mother to daughter. None of the fathers stayed long. My great-great-grandmother was the last one to have a long marriage. I guess the men couldn’t take being with a woman with those kinds of powers.” I laugh.

“So, this . . . ability is something your whole family shares?”

“Only the females.”

“That’s fascinating. Everyone has the same abilities?”

“No, it varies. Grandma said my mother had a gift too, but she resented it. She blamed her gift for everything that went wrong in her life. I don’t think she ever planned on being a mother, and sometimes I wonder if dying was her choice. If she just decided to give up on living the moment she gave birth to me. Maybe the idea of raising a child with the same gifts as hers was too much to bear. But her gifts were much crueler than mine. She saw deaths, accidents, and diseases every time she touched someone. She saw it all. Sometimes I’m sure she died so she would never have to touch me and see what was coming my way.”

Chapter19

Avalon

Jake’s eyes widen,and his lips part, but he says nothing. I just dropped a bomb on him. I have no idea why I’m sharing so much. Maybe because I want him to trust me. To understand me and where I come from. I want him to like me. To be the man I’ve been dreaming of for half my life.

Silence falls between us, and background noise fills the space left by unsaid words.

Lynn nudges my shoulder. “Want to play some billiards?”