“I finished it at the bar,” he says.
“You know, if you put the flag up, they come bring it to you,” I say, telling him what he already knows.
“Yeah, but then I can’t parade past the people by the pool.”
I laugh. “Your ego is out of control, mister.”
He shrugs. “Only cuz I’m with you, baby,” he says with a grin, teeth white against his skin, so handsome it hurts.
My heart skips several beats in response.
You’d think that things between us would be strange after the whole possession thing, but it’s only made us closer in ways I can’t even explain, because we were already super close. I think it’s given Dex an idea what it’s like to be me, to think my thoughts, to be in this body, to feel things as deeply as I do. And it’s certainly made me realize that I have nothing to fear in sharing my feelings with him.
And while our relationship and marriage has strengthened, other areas of my life have too. Granted, it’s only been a few weeks since we rescued Max and got rid of Samantha and her demon, but I’m taking every little improvement as a win.
I’ve seen the psychiatrist Dr. Chan. I’m not on anti-depressants yet, he’s going to have another session with me when I get back, but it seems promising and he’s a cool dude. I think he’s just a regular shrink, nothing like Lana, but even so, he’s easy to talk to.
I’m still seeing Lana of course, working through a lot of things from my childhood, as well as dealing with my mother’s death and afterlife. Even Pippa. Apparently I have a shitload of grief connected to losing her in my life, even if it was always in such a cryptic way. It helps that Lana already knows every single thing about me, which makes working though things easier.
Ada has been doing fine.
So has Maximus.
Actually, when Ada went back to Portland, Max went with her. As much as we loved to have him in the den for a week, and as much as Dex misses fighting with someone all day long, Maximus found himself back at his old apartment in Portland. He’s over at the Knightly’s a lot now, since he actually used to be friends with Dawn and Sage back in the day (I know, there are so many twisted webs here), and of course he knows Jacob. He hasn’t been able to get a hold of Rose yet, so I know that’s weighing on him, but he’s been keeping busy.
The last I talked to Ada, it seemed like Jacob was having Max train her instead. I think their training started when we left for Hawaii, so I haven’t been able to check in with her too much, but I assume it’s going okay. At least her and Max have a lot of history together and they seem to get along great. Sometimes I worry that they might get along too well, but I trust Ada to keep her head. There’s no way she’s over Jay yet anyway, and also I would murder Maximus if he touched her in any way. So would Dex.
My father seems to be doing well too. He texts and calls me now if he sees my mother, and she’s still repeating the same thing, almost like she’s stuck. I’m not always sure how the worlds work between the Veils, but I told him it’s possible that this is a message she’ll keep repeating until something budges. What that is, I don’t know.
But the good thing is, he’s doing better and gotten closer with Debbie (Deebee) from down the street, and we’re both checking in with each other more often.
Then there’s Dex, my husband, who is currently taking the Mai Tai from my hand, complaining that I’m drinking too slowly, before he quickly sucks back the rest of it.
That Dex is doing just fine. Better than fine. He’s talked about using the vacation as a reset button and that when we return home, we’ll list the apartment, start looking for a new house, get a Jeep, start back at work on the documentary. He even mentioned Lana joining our little paranormal investigator team, saying we could probably use an actual psychologist in our midst when dealing with ghosts.
Not to mention a witch.
I’m not sure about that yet. It might be weird if she’s still my therapist, though I think she’s already broken a whole bunch of rules and oaths by both helping us in the house, and also going into my head. And advising us to use sex blood magic as well. But hey, it all worked out. I don’t even have scars anymore.
“Okay,” Dex says, pushing the empty drink into the sand and then grabbing my arms, trying to pull me up. “Let’s go in. I’m hot.”
I push myself up, swinging my legs around, and we walk down the slight incline of the beach toward the water, the sand burning the soles of my feet. I check the skin around the straps on my tankini and so far it looks like I’m not getting burned.
Dex runs the last few feet to the water, splashing through the surf before diving in effortlessly.
I take my time, yelping as the waves break on me, and then he’s swimming over to me, grabbing me by the waist and hauling me into the water.
“Stop!” I yelp, but he’s laughing and throwing me through the air so I land with a splash, saltwater going up my nose. The water is so nice and warm but now I also have sand in my bathing suit, the waves pounding me.
Dex pulls me back away from the break, and then I wrap my legs around his waist, my arms going around his neck, laughing.
“Can you touch the bottom?” I ask him, peering down beside us at the sand below.
“Just how tall do you think I am?” he asks me. “I’m treading water.”
Of course he’s so strong that when he treads water, he’s barely moving.
“So where do you want to eat tonight?” he says, kissing the salt from my lips. “How about room service,” he adds before I can even answer. “We stay in. I eat you for dessert.”
I grin. “Room service sounds great,” I tell him, kissing the tip of his nose.
His lips curve into a wicked smile. “Where in your cycle are you?”
His question doesn’t take me by surprise because we’re always double checking my cycle via the various period apps I have. I didn’t want to go back on birth control so soon after going off of it, so we’ve been going by my cycle when it comes to sex. On the days where I’m most fertile, he usually just comes all over me instead, which I actually kind of like. Guess the blood play desensitized me or something.
“Actually, I think today I’m heading into the fertile window,” I tell him, prepared for some disappointment. “I’m supposed to ovulate in like five or six days.”
“Do you want to try?” he asks, a sweet hopeful tone to his voice, a tone I don’t hear too often.
I stare at him. “Try what?”
His eyes grow serious, water droplets sticking to his dark lashes. “To have a baby.”
My brain does a double-take.
The baby thing is something we’ve touched on only briefly this last while. We talked about how seeing ghosts, doing the documentary, just living the lives that we do shouldn’t have any bad effect on us having a child. That I shouldn’t lose my mind and get almost possessed each time I deal with the supernatural. We talked about what Lana had said, that this time it was brought on by that deep, scary need inside me, and since I didn’t deal with it properly, it allowed Samantha to use that energy to manifest herself.
But we didn’t discuss it beyond that. I still want a baby, a child, a family with Dex. I’ve just been learning to deal with the feelings properly, to try appreciate the cards I’ve been given, the wonderful life I have in front of me. This wonderful man who would do anything for me, who has done everything.