Page 180 of Scars Like Wings

“Are you okay?” Quinn asked, taking another hit.

“The holidays are hard. They always have been, but they feel harder this year. I think it’s because your mom reminds me so much of my mom, especially with how she loves Thanksgiving and everything. I don’t know. I just miss my parents a lot this year. More than I have before,” I said, not lying fully, but not telling the absolute truth, either. It just wasn’t the right time yet.

Soon.

“I’m so sorry, my love. I can’t imagine that. You know, after my grandma passed, I really would miss her in the summer because we would spend the most time with her then. But Mama suggested we start going on trips and stuff, and that made missing her easier and lighter. It never went away, but it wasn’t as painful. Maybe that’s what you need to do? You will always have those memories from your parents, but maybe it’s time to make some new traditions?”

Maybe it’s time to make some new traditions.I liked the idea, and she was right. I had my real, true memories now, and they weren’t going away ever again. I could miss those I had lost. But I could also enjoy those I still had, and those I had gained. I had a future, one that I had always dreamed of. It was time to live it.

“Maybe next year we can make some of our own traditions, then?”

“Oh, that’s a brilliant idea.” Quinn took another inhale of her blunt.

“I could help you make dinner! I would be the cutest little sous chef.” I smirked.

“You would be absolutely adorable with the apron and everything, but I would definitely do everything myself still.”

My jaw dropped. “Why? I could help!”

“Baby girl, you don’t know the difference between a dice, mince, and chop. Not to mention, you struggle with cooking something that doesn’t have a recipe on the box.” Quinn snorted.

“Wow, and here I thought you loved me unconditionally.”

“I love you so much, but I have seen your kitchen. There was all of one pan that wasn’t collecting dust, and it was big enough for one person. You don’t cook, which I love because it means I can cook everything for you.”

“Don’t you have some carrots tojulienneor something?”

Quinn smiled slowly. “You learned that fromHell’s Kitchen, didn’t you?”

“You get on my nerves, Quinn Garcia,” I stuck my tongue out at Quinn. “For the record, I learned julienning fromGood Eats!”

Quinn threw her head back and laughed. “I love you, too, sweetness. Text me while you watch someone else cook.”

Our call ended then, but the fuzziness from our conversation lingered long after. I wished Quinn could be with me this year, but I was so excited for the future. I could see us in this kitchen together, me trying to help and Quinn making me sit on a barstool to just watch her instead. I wasn’t a fan of being told what to do, but when Quinn did it, it didn’t feel like being controlled. It felt like she just wanted to take burdens away from me and purely take care of me. She cared for me, and that affection presented itself as telling me what to do. I loved it.

Plus… it did things for me.

“Your mate is really good for you. Y’all are almost like fated mates.”

I turned around to see Teddy glancing at me with a knowing smile on the other side of the counter.

“My mate?” I asked, coming to sit in front of him and tilting my head. “Don’t you mean my girlfriend?”

“The terms aren’t mutually exclusive, honey. No matter the gender, supernatural beings have mates. They are like the human word for partners in a way, but it’s more intense than that.”

I paused for a moment in thought. “My parents talked about being mates when I was growing up. I just thought they were talking about soulmates or something.”

Teddy shrugged as he prepared to layer up the green bean casserole. “They could have been talking about mates or they could have been talking aboutfatedmates.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Well, mates can be permanent or temporary. They are regular relationships. Maybe they last for a season, maybe they last forever. You can take or leave the person. A fated mate, though?” Teddy shook his head, smiling. “You can’t live without them. They are forever. They are your person or people that the universe decided you would be linked to no matter what. If a fated mate dies, their partner will wither away and die with them shortly after. It takes longer if they have procreated because there’s that piece of their mate still within reach, but their passing is inevitable. It’s hard to recover when someone dies and takes the best parts of you with them.”

Thompson’s magic lifted the completed casserole and put it in the oven. He threw his head back and wiped at his eyes. “Fuck, I can’t cry into the food. That would ruin everything.”

I smiled at his effort to lighten the mood, but I still reached out for his hand. “You sound like a man with experience beyond what you’ve read in a romance book like me.”

He rewarded me with a chuckle. “It was myTiaandTio. It happened recently. When myTiapassed, myTiojust became a shell of a person without her. He never recovered. Within days, he passed, too.”

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