Page 114 of Starrily

“You are my Phoenix. I know you’ll rise again.”

They stayed like this; Callie leaning into him, Raleigh holding her close, and the night embracing them.

“You promised a date,” she said after a while.

“I did, didn’t I? Well, what would you like to do? We’ve got wine … I suppose we can count the magnolia blooms or watch the stars … unfortunately, I didn’t bring a movie.”

“We could skip to after the movie.”

“See, that’s where you need to learn to live,” he said. “The way you do it properly, you get the seats in the back and start during the movie.”

“I think that’s the literal opposite of ‘proper,’” she mused.

“But it’s more fun.” He leaned down to kiss her; lips first, the corner, where her dimples showed when she smiled; then the chin, and down her neck, as she stretched back and offered herself to him. Callie giggled and grabbed his hair as if trying to make sure he wouldn’t move away.

“Quiet,” he whispered. “You can’t let the people in the front seats hear you.”

She giggled more.

“We’re going to get thrown out of the theater.”

“You’re crazy.”

He gently removed her scarf as he continued his kisses down to her collarbone. “Am I? Oh, you might be right. It’s not a movie theater; it’s a planetarium. After all, there are stars above us.”

“Now that’s a nice date.”

He shifted them so that Callie was half-lying down, and he put his arms on either side of her. “Let’s see if I can make it better than ‘nice.’”

She smiled, all the way to her dimples. “You can certainly try.”

Chapter 27

This was how Raleigh’s life ended.

Callie stared at the clapboard facade of her family house. When she’d brought him here, her biggest fear was facing her past. She never thought she’d now be at peace with it instead—but her heart would be afraid of the future.

She hoped her family’s experimental ritual would work, returning Raleigh to his old life. But either way, it was the end for them. She’d promised him she wouldn’t grieve, but for today and tomorrow and maybe still the day after, she deserved to mourn a little.

“Ready?” Raleigh stopped next to her and squeezed her hand.

“Let’s do it.”

Phoebe didn’t open the door this time; it was Mom, and she only glanced at them, nodded, then marched back to the living room.

“Are the preparations going well?” Raleigh asked, a good measure of doubt in his tone.

“They’re certainly underway,” Mom said from the living room.

The sound of retching came from upstairs.

“It doesn’t sound too good,” Shanna said, entering after Callie and Raleigh.

“How are we doing, Phoebe?” Nana’s voice also sounded from upstairs.

More retching, and a flush of the toilet.

“I see,” Nana said.