“I’ve moved onto hairpins. I just found a great one on eBay. Reminds me of the summer we spent in New York City in the twenties.”
“The nineteen twenties?” I ask, since Eliza and Lucas have lived through a few sets of “twenties”.
“Yes.” Eliza smiles, long lashes fluttering. She’s drop-dead gorgeous and knows it, and if being dead suits anyone, Eliza was born to become undead. “I do miss the style sometimes.”
“Oh, we should have a twenties-themed party when the new house is done.”
Eliza gives me a look, wanting to disagree and insult my idea somehow but can’t. “That would be fun. As long as you leave most of the planning up to me.”
“Sure. As long as we can have a Clue-style murder mystery game in there, you can plan the whole thing.”
She presses her full lips together and sets the teapot down. “I suppose I could pull that off.”
“I’ve always wanted to host one of those.” I turn the sink on, letting the water warm up before washing the tea set. “And now I have a house big enough to.”
“And period appropriate,” she adds. “Kind of. You are modernizing the kitchen and bathrooms.”
“We are, but we’re keeping things as traditional as possible. Nothing will be overly contemporary.”
“Good. Lucas told me you were summoned to your coven?”
“Former coven,” I add ruefully, and look at the clock on the oven. I have to leave soon to make it to the door on time. I grab a rag from under the sink and start washing the cups. “What is Lucas doing?”
“Some sort of business deal. It has something to do with your new house. Landscaping, perhaps.”
“Oh, awesome. I didn’t even think of that.”
“Someone called right when I got here to tell him that a bunch of trees in the front yard are rotting from the inside out and need to be cut down so they don’t fall on your house the next time it storms.”
“Did they happen to say why the trees are rotting from the inside?”
“Bug maybe? It didn’t seem supernatural,” she adds, knowing exactly what I’m thinking.
“Good.” I set the clean cups on a towel spread out on the counter. Eliza watches me for a few seconds and then comes over, taking the dish towel that’s hanging on the oven, and starts drying the cups.
“Why are you really here? It wasn’t to bring my car.” I rinse the sugar bowl and put it on the towel.
Eliza takes her time drying it, running the towel over it three times before flicking her eyes to me. “I might be a little worried about you…and Lucas. Shit hit the fan, and you’re here smiling like everything is normal. And that is not normal.” Her eyes go to my stomach. “You had the most unexpected pregnancy of the century, have a group of cock-sucking vampires after both you and your husband, and your Lord of Darkness uncle broke out of prison. Add your current summons and I’m just waiting for you to crack.”
“So you can pick up the pieces?”
She lets out a snort. “That’s Lucas’s job. He married your crazy ass.”
“True, and he’s done a great job so far.” I fill the teapot with soapy water and tip it over, letting it come out through the spout. “And I’m pretty good at keeping myself together. I might be just hanging by threads, but I haven’t crumbled just yet.”
“I know, and it’s rather impressive.” She folds the towel and puts it on the counter. “I’ve seen people fall apart over a lot less. And I know…I know it can be hard holding it all together.”
“Trust me, sometimes I don’t feel like I am. I have plenty of days when I don’t think I can do this anymore. That this is the end, that I’ve run out of luck.” I rinse the teapot and put it upside down on the towel. Rising the suds off my hands, I let out a deep breath and turn around, looking into Eliza’s pretty blue eyes for a second. “My life is kind of a mess, if you haven’t noticed.”
“A blind man would notice.”
“If he hung around me enough, for sure.”
“How do you do it?” Eliza asks softly. “How do you keep going when the world is holding you back?”
My head slowly moves back and forth. “I don’t know. I just do. There are people in my life, amazing people, who are worth fighting for.” I look through the kitchen in the direction of the office, lips pulling up into a smile on their own accord at the thought of Lucas. Casting my gaze down to my stomach, my smiles widens. “Now more than ever.”
We finish washing and drying the tea set, and then I try to find a place for it. My kitchen is small, and I don’t have any cupboard room left. Thinking it’ll look pretty displayed in my china cabinet in the dining room, I go in there to rearrange a few things before I get it set up.