Page 177 of Bewitched By the Sea Monster
“SorcerSoft?” I asked.
“Yup.” Alistair popped thep. “My pride and joy. Or itwas.”
I gaped. And squealed. “Oh my goodness, I used to work with you! Well, not you…but your company. That’s…You were my favorite supplier. You were so efficient and everyone on your staff was always so sweet. Ihatedseeing your company go belly up. But…Oh. Oooh. Oh no, I didn’t connect that.” I clapped a hand over my mouth. “Thecursesent you belly up?”
Alistair’s mouth thinned slightly. “We might’ve been heading there anyway, with what happened toSaturn, but the curse made sure the company rotted. Because it wasn’t just me, some of my employees were cursed too. The ones who worked with me on theSaturnproject.” He quivered with nerves and excitement. “I owe them all an apology. More than an apology. I’ll need to round them all up and take them to dinner. Multiple. Open bar, five-course meal, dinners. I’ll probably need to grovel…lotsof groveling. Do you think they’d forgive me if—no, that probably won’t work. It’d be like trying to buy forgiveness.” He heaved a lumbering sigh. “I just want to see them. And hug them. And promise I’ll never put them in the middle of my shit again. I’ll never putyouin the middle again.” Alistair’s knuckles grazed my cheeks. “Ever. Pippi, I…My life is going to be a mess. For a while. So I don’t want to…When this kind of news gets out…the legal ramifications…I’d rather not start our relationship—if you stillwanta relationship—by dumping all this on your shoulders. I?—”
I kissed him again. Briefly.Sweetly.Quieting his spiraling thoughts. “Of course I want to be with you, ya goof. You’re my person. Y’know?”
“I do.” He pressed his brow to mine, exhaling. “You’re my person too. I love you, Pippi.”
His adoration nuzzled against my heart, making me feel buoyant and euphoric and giddy. I pecked a kiss to the tip of his nose, grinning when he made a purry sound. “I love you too, Alistair. But my life is going to be a mess too. I nuked it, remember? So we’ll take things one day at a time.”
“That’s a plan I can follow. One day at a time.” He gave my brow a lingering smooch. And then asked, “Do they have chips on the isle? I really, really,reallywant chips. You don’t understand, Pippi.” He laughed when I burst into giggles. “I’ve been craving them forsix years.”
At some point—I couldn’t quite remember when, with fatigue and shock making my brain woozy—Jackson wandered near us.
I called to him. Untangled myself from the blankets, and the warm security Alistair provided, to reach for him. I would’ve tried to set things better between us, so we didn’t go our separate ways festering on hate and hurt and rage.
But he spat at me.
Which made me mad, so I spat right back at him.
As Alistair boomed with mirth, Jackson wrinkled his mouth into an unattractive pout and walked out of my life.
The rest of that day?
A blur.
We arrived back to the isle and found it in shambles. A water cyclone had struck here too when the curse broke and ripped a big chunk of the dock up. The tourists were in a frenzy, traumatized from the periwinkle twister, and scarred from seeing hordes of mythical creatures transforming into naked humans. Most of the guests loudly demanded refunds, claiming they and their children wouldhave nightmares forever.
And the freshly turned humans were dazed, as they huddled inside Brew & Bites, wrapped in blankets, most dressed in a ghastly mix of lost-and-found clothes or garments some of the kinder visitors had donated.
Caleb had offered his captain’s coat to a tall woman with dusty-grey hair. Melany and Sarah had given away most of their luggage—and they cheeredwhen they saw me, bulldozing right past Alistair to fold me into congratulatory embraces.
Alistair, meanwhile, ran up to each of the transformed people and folded them into great, galumphing hugs—whether they wanted a hug or not.
Marvin, a tall, elegant man, recognizable only because of his auburn hair and bottle-green eyes, cringed when Alistair flopped his arms around him.
“Oh, good,” Marvin drawled. “You’re back to violating my personal space.”
But I felt the joy coursing through him, and I saw the sly smile he threw at Alistair.
There were lawsuits.
Stacks of them.
The lawsuits had lawsuits.
There were court dates. And media attention.
There were questions.
Alistair had beenquite adamantthat I was to be left out of all inquiries, and everyone respected that...afterhe flashed a spell at the gaggle of reporters that’d tried to follow me home from the airport, making big warts bubble over their hands.
“That’s horrible,” I’d chastised him gently.
“Eh”—he rolled his shoulder—“it’ll only last an hour and cause them no pain. But it’ll get my point across well enough.” He pulled me in for a one-armed hug. “I’m done letting innocents get caught in my cross fires.”
