“Perhaps we’re rubbing off on you after all,” Marcellus says as he peers at me over the rim of his wine glass. Seated at a tall stool at the end of the Island he looks bemused. I point my finger. “Drink your O positive and hush.”
He snickers and gives me a small nod. We’re slowly forming what looks surprisingly like a friendship.
“How do you know it’s O?” Percival asks.
I glance over my shoulder.“I notice your preferences,” I admit.
“One of us. One of us,” Rene chants.
I roll my eyes, but it feels good to know I have a space here.
I rummage through the large frosted glass cabinet above the white subway tile backsplash. “Perci, do we have any loose leaf tea?”
“Miles hoards some in the library,” Perci replies.“I heard that,” a disembodied voice says from deep in the house.
“Can you bring me some?” I ask.
“What flavor?” he calls.
“Doesn’t matter.”
A few seconds later he’s dropping off a case of honey vanilla Earl Grey in a tin imported from England.
I wiggle my eyebrows. “Fancy.”
“What’s life without creature comforters?”
“British tea snob, that’s what you are,” Marcellus teases.
Miles sighs. “After all this time, you’re still barbaric.”
“Class can’t be taught, Miles. It’s okay if Marcellus is a bit savage. He can’t help it.” I wink as I set the kettle over a flame on the gas stove and pull down a teacup.
“What are you doing?” Larkin asks, appearing on my left. When he leans closer to see what I’m doing, I can smell his cologne, which reminds me of fresh rain.
“I want to read my tea leaves and check on something. I had an enlightening experience today when I came into contact with a powerful set of Runes.”
“That’s why we’re calling a meeting?” Larkin guesses, his expression curious.
“Mmm hmm. I want us to all be on the same page.”
When the kettle blows, I make a cup of tea and carry it upstairs. I’m sipping slowly on the hot liquid in my favorite rose petal pink chair when Fel emerges.
The black dress with a bright floral design has become more of a maxi on her shorter frame. The princess style bodice accentuates the swell of her breasts before it flows down to the floor.
“You look good.”
“I need to raid your closet more often.”
I laugh. “Have at it. Gil will love you for it. He makes puppy dog eyes every time I leave the room in jeans and a T-shirt. Never mind that dresses and heels do not an investigator make.”
She laughs. “Throw him a bone and wear some of these pants and blouses.”
“He’s going to eat you up.”
She sits across from me on a matching colored chaise lounge at the end of the bed across from me “Are you going to do a reading?”. she asks, looking at the leaves in the tea.
“Yes, I want to see if we’ve already changed our future.”