Page 64 of One Life to Loathe

“You’re really not.” My goal was to slink out of the bar without anybody noticing, but when I lifted my chin, I found Sam watching me with unreadable eyes. Across from her, Miles just kept talking. She nodded occasionally, but her focus was on me.

I wanted to storm over there, grab her hand, and make a big dramatic exit as everybody applauded. I didn’t, though. That would hurt both of us. Instead, I swallowed hard and headed for the door.

The night breeze smacked me hard. It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t exactly warm either. You could feel fall creeping through the darkness as it pushed out summer.

Witch’s Brew Cafe was on Derby Street. I knew the layout of Salem well enough to find my way back to the hotel without using GPS. Despite that, I found myself dragging my feet outside. I walked across the road, hid under the eve of Witch Way Gifts, and stared at Sam through the window.

She nodded a lot. She smiled a few times. None of the smiles were real. They were for Miles’s benefit. I could read her well enough to ascertain that. She wasn’t interested in him—which thank God, because I would’ve melted down despite my best efforts—but she was still her usual self. She had to make him important because she never undercut others. That simply wasn’t who she was.

After thirty minutes of watching her—and yearning—I started back. I didn’t want to be caught outside lurking like a loser when they left, and it looked as if they were getting ready to leave. I cut down a little sidewalk not far from the bar. It led me into an ornate garden that I wasn’t expecting. I stopped long enough to check my phone to make sure I wasn’t going to get lost going back—apparently the walkway went all the way to Essex Street, so I was good—when it happened.

“Fancy meeting you here,” a soft voice said.

I jerked to look over my shoulder and found Sam standing there, alone.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted. I sounded as if I was in the midst of getting strangled, but she’d caught me off guard. Was it relief or worry that was fueling me? I couldn’t even say.

“I saw the garden sign when I was walking back, and it looked open,” she replied. “I thought I would give it a look. I like gardens.”

“Yeah?” I had never felt more awkward in my life. “Where’s Miles?”

“He joined Sabrina when I said I wanted to head home and get some sleep.”

“Oh.”

“That doesn’t bother you, does it?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “If he wants to take on Sabrina, more power to him. She’ll use and abuse him, but maybe that’s his thing.”

“Maybe,” she agreed. She took a tentative step toward me, and I swear I could hear her heart beating from fifteen feet away. Or maybe that was my heart. “You left kind of fast,” she noted.

“Sabrina makes me itchy.”

Her lips curved, and I swear it was as if the sun had come out. “Maybe it’s the Syphilis.”

I laughed, but the sound was harsh. “You shouldn’t be walking home alone,” I said out of the blue. “It’s not safe.”

“You left Sabrina to walk home alone.”

“Yes, well, I knew she wouldn’t be going home alone.” I took another step toward her. I swear it was as if I was being jerked forward by a magnet. “Miles shouldn’t have let you walk back alone.”

“I told him I would be fine. He wanted to stay and celebrate the dailies from today. Apparently, they were good.”

“Once we started touching,” I assumed.

She was the one who took a step forward this time when she nodded. “Are you okay?”

“No.” I wasn’t going to lie. Not now. Not to her or myself. “I am not even remotely okay.”

“Me either.”

I held out my hand for her. “Let’s walk through the garden.”

She eyed it a moment, but it didn’t take her long to slip her hand in mine. “We’re not making things better for ourselves,” she said as we picked a leisurely pace through the lighted garden.

“I’m not sure there is an easy way out for us now,” I replied.

“What does that mean?”

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