Page 35 of Lessons with the Mothman

I scowled downat my phone, staring at the three text messages below as if they were a code I might solve.

Professor Stanton is attending the interview tomorrow.

You don't have to come.

If you don't want to, that is.

The first felt like a warning. The second, a dismissal. The third, a retraction of said dismissal.

I didn't particularly like any of the three messages, or their potential meanings.

"What's got you so scowly?"

I lifted my head to glare at the disruption and blinked when I found Natalie sitting across from me at my bar.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, glancing around the room.

Her eyebrows rose. "You are so fucking rude. This is a public bar, yeah?"

My wings rustled at my back, and I waved my hand through the air. "I didn't…I didn't mean it like that. I just wasn't expecting any of you tonight."

"Youbeing…" Natalie leaned forward, resting her elbows on the bar top.

I huffed and searched the bar for Theo, her werewolf husband. "You know…our…the…"

"Your…friends?" Natalie suggested slowly, eyes glinting with humor.

I stared back at her, jaw fixed as my tongue played over the word in my mouth for a moment. I'd had friends in the past, but those connections always seemed to fade over time. Had I found myself making new ones? It hadn't occurred to me to try, but perhaps that was what Rafe and Khell and the others were becoming after all.

"What do you want to drink?" I asked.

Natalie relaxed and smiled. "Why don't you ever offer to surprise me, like everyone else?"

"Because you would gleefully heckle my efforts. But, if you insist…"

Natalie brightened further at that, probably a confirmation of my suspicion. She nodded. "Please. Also, Sunny and Hannah should be here soon. We instructed the guys to stay home. Girls' night. Plus you now."

I turned away, determined not to investigate why that declaration pleased me.

"I suppose I do really prefer beer," Natalie mused at my back. "But it's the thought that counts, you know. I assumed you just didn't like me."

"I am ambivalent about all of you," I lied. I did like Natalie, mostly because she struck me as someone who didn't impress very easily. And if I couldn't impress her, I wasn't going to humiliate myself by trying.

"Well, that was so obvious, now Iknowyou do like me," she muttered.

"Of course he likes you. What's not to like?"

I glanced over my shoulder and nodded at Sunny, who beamed and waved in answer. Behind her, the tall, slim shadow of Hannah shot me a wary look and slid onto the seat on Natalie's other side.

I usually made Sunny something custom—she was easy to please—and I had yet to solve the mystery of Hannah. Tonight, I decided to triple an order for Natalie, setting three half full beers on the bar and three shots.

"Don't touch those yet," I warned, and then dug in a drawer for a lighter. "For the record, this is illegal."

"Girls' night," Natalie hissed in approval.

I topped all of the shots with 151 and then lit them on fire. Hannah's eyes brightened and she laughed, and Sunny released a minor squawk of surprise. Together, they lifted the shots, blowing out the fire and then dropping them into their beers and chugging quickly. Over the rim of the glass, Natalie waggled her eyebrows at me, and I found myself laughing.

"Flaming Dr. Peppers," she announced, then politely tucked a quick belch behind her hand. "Classic. Better than usual. Did you make the liquor yourself?"

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