Page 57 of Shadow Seeking

“Well, that’s…mildly comforting. I’ll get the plates.” I pulled out two plates and some silverware. I had always loved black dinnerware, and had managed to find a black toile pattern from Royal Stafford England.

When I was young, I always swore that one day I’d have nice dinnerware and tablecloths and real linen napkins. And so, I did. It felt oddly disparate from my job, or my usual style, but it also fit the side of me that had grown up hating the poverty welived in. My style was a little minimalist, but what I did have, I’d bought to last and to make me happy.

As I set her plate in front of her, Peggin smiled. “I think I’m going to like having a roommate, and of all the roommates I could have, I’m glad it’s you,” she said. “Thank you, by the way.”

“For what?” I opened the cat food and fed the cats. Murdoch was eyeing the table and the food cartons, and Jangles was yowling her head off in front of the cupboards. “I’m coming, I’m coming!”

“They’re insistent, aren’t they?” she asked.

“That they are.” After setting down their dishes, I returned to the table.

“Thank you for making me feel useful. I’ve been feeling down because my shop’s not doing better,” Penn said. “To be able to help you, it makes me feel better.”

I sat down, trying to figure out a way to say what I wanted to say. “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about that.” I placed a drumstick and thigh on my plate, then added a piece of fried cod. We had also bought two large cartons of chowder. “I know you like to help people, but I’ve seen you fork out goods for free, even if the client can pay.”

She sighed and placed several pieces of fish on her plate, along with fries and a bowl of the chowder. “I hear you, I do. But to be honest, even if I had that money, I’d be short. The economy’s rough, and most people who come into my shop make small purchases—some incense or a small crystal or a couple books. I’ve been thinking of closing the physical shop, and taking it online. Then I could rent a small space to store the merchandise and forego the rent on the shop.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” I said. “We could even get a bigger shed for the backyard and you could store everything there. We could find a twelve-by-twelve shed for fifteen hundred, if we really look.”

She swallowed a spoon of the chowder. “You wouldn’t mind? I’d need to stay here longer than you might want—I can’t find a place with room for it in the yard. At least, not in my price range.”

I nodded. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.

“What about if we forego all that thought, and you become my permanent roomie? I mean, until you want to move on, or get married?—”

Penn snorted. “Marry? I’m not likely to get married any time soon. I haven’t dated in over a year. I doubt we’ll have that to worry about.”

“You’re gorgeous, and men think you’re hot—” I started to say but she waved off my comments with her fork.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t, but I haven’t found anybody who I think could handle my quirks, and I’m not willing to compromise who I am. I can adjust, I’m willing to give in on some things in my life, but my essential self? Nope. I won’t dim my shine for anybody. Most of the men I’ve dated had ego issues. They couldn’t handle strong women, even though they said they could. And my Fae heritage? I don’t tend to settle down with one partner.”

I nodded. “I remember a few of those dates. You didn’t lose much when you broke up with them.”

Penn was right. I’d watched her dating history and it wasn’t as bad as Dante’s, but it hadn’t been pretty. It wasn’t her fault.

It seemed that she attracted guys who desperately wanted to impress her. But, instead of being who they were, they pretended to be more successful and intelligent than they were. One went so far as to pretend to like all the same things she liked, but that was a spectacular disaster. What they neglected to think about was whethershewas the right woman forthem.

“I have picky tastes, but I’m good by myself. And some day, I might meet the right person.”

“Well, Lazenti seemed interested,” I said, grinning.

“You didnotsay that!” She snorted. “He seemed nice enough but I’m not into vamps. I don’t like blood sports, I’m not into necrophilia?—”

“You didn’t just saythat!” I countered. “He’s not really dead…kind of.”

“Um hmm, tell me another.” She sighed. “All right, I assume you want to be alone to read the information about the Arosien Clan?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I think so. But I’ll tell you what I find. I need to see whatever’s there by myself, first. Meanwhile, you ready to move tomorrow?”

“At ten am, like we planned,” she said.

We continued to eat, but in the back of my mind, I kept thinking about that file in my backpack, and what was on it.

Penn returnedto her home to finish packing, so I settled in the rocking chair with the file Sophia had given me. She’d also sent me an email with all the information in it, but I wanted to sit with the actual papers first.

Murdoch curled up by the fireplace, while Jangles curled up in the chair beside me. I stretched out my legs onto the ottoman and then, taking a deep breath, I opened the file.

There wasn’t a lot of information, but at least Sophia had managed to scrounge up some details, and she’d compiled them into one document. Sipping a mug of hot cocoa, I began to read.

---