Page 97 of A Murderous Crow
“Dude, I know, right?” he said and looked past me and Mom curiously at Corvus.
“Chance, this is my boyfriend Corvus,” I said and he looked at him skeptically.
“Boyfriend?” he asked. “So you mean you’re not a lesbian, or a nun?” he asked me, and Mom smacked him.
“Ow! Child abuse!” Chance declared, and I laughed, shaking my head.
“Most definitely not,” Corvus said, and I blushed, deeply.
“Gross,” Chance said, but eyed Corvus with some respect for the quick comeback.
We piled into the dining room, past the kitchen and Mom had us sit while she fixed us some plates and Chance poured us some glasses of the farm’s signature sweet tea.
“Oh, my God, I’ve missed this,” I said, taking a deep draught from my glass.
“We’ll have to send you home with some bags,” Mom said, and I winked at Corvus.
“It has begun,” he murmured with a slight chuckle.
“So, what’s Corvus mean, if you don’t mind me asking,” my dad asked.
“So my real name, Corbett means ‘crow’ and I guess some of my buddies from back in the day at boarding school think my laugh sounds sort of like a crow, so they tried nicknaming me ‘crow’ but our English teacher – who we all highly respected, said that was too easy and suggested ‘corvus’ which is the genus or species of bird that crows, rooks, and ravens belong to and it’s stuck ever since,” he explained.
I blinked, and said, “You never gavemethe full story on that!” I stuck out my tongue at him and he laughed, and Ilovedthat sound.
My dad nodded and said, “I can see what your pals were talking about!”
“I love your laugh,” I said, and not for the first time. Corvus winked at me and settled back in his seat.
He hadn’t worn his cut up here – we figured my family didn’t need to know about that part of our lives. The less, the better on that front.
Mom fed us, and my family and I caught up, with the odd question thrown Corvus’ way to keep him included. The mundane things like how did we meet, and how long have we been dating.
We told the truth on that front, that we were competitors in the real estate business down in Savannah, and that we hadn’t always liked each other.
“What changed?” my mom asked.
We decided less was more and stuck to the truth, with a few embellishments.
“A showing went bad, and I accidentally texted Corvus instead of my assistant and he got there faster than the cops and threw the man out.”
“I was closer,” he said with a shrug.
“I worried about that,” my mother said, leaning back in her seat. “I told you; real estate isso dangerousfor women.”
I nodded.
“It’s also lucrative and what’s keeping us going right now,” my dad said quickly, so I didn’t have to.
My mom looked apprehensive and I said, “Corvus is who put us in touch with the tax attorney who is working on our case,” I said.
Dad leaned back in his seat, “I’m grateful for that,” he said. “Truly. So, thank you.”
We finished our late suppers and talked about the farm. Mom insisted we leave our plates and I show Corvus around the farmhouse and see Nana.
We took our leave and followed Chance up the stairs. He went to his room to carry on with his video games or whatever, and I slipped past Nana’s room. She was asleep, so I put a finger to my lips and crept past, leading Corvus to my room where we’d be staying.
I slipped inside first, switching on the light, the ceiling fan beginning a slow and lazy spin, but quickly picking up speed.
