Page 46 of Death and Divination
“Not my house. I want to show you the marshes and how pretty it all is, especially at sunset.”
We went over to Matilda’s Good Eats and got an enormous quantity of take-out food including pan-fried chicken, black-eyed-pea salad, raspberry cobbler, and some buttermilk biscuits that she’d just taken out of the oven. Then we ran across the street and got a bottle of wine along with two plastic wine glasses and a cheap corkscrew.
Driving east, we parked at my house, then walked toward the marshes. Nash helped me carry it all to a solid strip of ground and spread the blanket while I pulled our food from the bags. It wasn’t fancy with paper napkins, plastic silverware, and Styrofoam containers, but I wasn’t a fancy sort of woman.
Nash sat down beside me, and we ate, enjoying the food and wine and watching as all the locals that called the marsh their home frolicked in the water. A few mermaids stopped by to join us, then a sprite, then a couple of undine and a nymph. Before long, we had half the neighborhood picnicking with us, bringing their own food and drink as well as lawn chairs and blankets. We all watched the sun set over the marshes, then Nash and I gathered up our belongings and walked back to the house.
I took my cell phone out to light the path between the houses and saw that there was a text message.
“Hey, you got a job offer from the diner,” I told Nash. “If you want, you can start Thursday morning.”
“I think I’d like that better than the cleaning job.” The reaper looked up at the sky, his face thoughtful. “Both the fairy at the jewelry store and your co-workers at the firehouse thought I should reach out to your sheriff for job opportunities.”
“That’s a good idea.” I stopped at the front door and turned to him, trying to read his expression in the dim light. “Whatdoyou want out of this new life, Nash? I know you probably haven’t been here long enough to truly figure that out, but is there something you always wanted to experience as a reaper?”
He smiled and reached out to touch my hair. “Yes, and I have experienced it.”
“Besides us,” I said. “I realize most of your contact with mortals is during a fatality, but maybe something caught your eye? Something that seemed fun that you’d wished you could do?”
“Like ride a motorcycle? Or pet a kitten?”
“We’ll make a list,” I told him. “Like with the job search.” This would be fun. A bucket list of things to do now that he was a retired reaper.
He nodded. “And I’d like to play a video game. And mow the grass. And grow rosebushes.”
I grimaced. “That last one might be kind of tough.”
He laughed. “Okay, kill some rosebushes. How about that? And…and I want to have a party.”
My eyebrows shot up. “A party?”
“I went to a lot of parties as a reaper and they always looked like such fun—until someone died, that is.”
“Okay, a party where no one dies.” I thought for a second about that. “Lots of parties. We’ll organize a neighborhood cookout here—that will be fun. And I’ll take you to Pistol Pete’s when he’s got a band playing—that’s pretty much like a giant party. And you’ll be coming to Sunday night dinners with my family at Cassie’s house, of course.”
His eyes searched mine. “Is that what you were doing when your sister….”
I nodded. “Sylvie likes you. I can’t wait for you to meet my other sisters, and the demons, and my cousin Aaron. We get together every Sunday night. Just family.”
“Family?”
His expression was so hopeful, so tentative, as if he couldn’t believe how lucky he was. My heart warmed because I knew how he felt.
“Yes, family. And that now includes you.”
