Page 129 of Elora and the Crow

“Yes.” Caleb walked into the living room with Nimera right behind him. “But you’re not going back to school to party.”

Both cats hurried over to them, meowing and rubbing up against their legs. Caleb bent down and petted each of them as Elora said, “That’s what I told him.”

“You two are boring,” Jonah said.

Nimera laughed, wrapping one arm around Caleb’s waist and resting her hand on her belly. “Congratulations, Jonah.”

“Thank you, Nimera. Don’t worry, though. I will still have more than enough time for babysitting duties.”

“I appreciate that,” Nimera said. “We both do.”

“We do, but that does lead us into something we need to talk to you about,” Caleb said.

“What’s that?” Jonah asked.

Caleb glanced at Nimera, who gave him an encouraging smile. “Nimera and I found an apartment.”

Jonah stiffened against Elora, but before he could protest, Caleb said, “It’s not far from here, and it’s in a safe neighbourhood. It’s also a paranormal friendly building, and they have no problem with a fae living there.”

“I told you that you could stay here for as long as you need,” Jonah said.

“I know, and we appreciate it, but you and Elora need your space, and we need ours,” Caleb said. “Especially once the baby arrives. We can’t all be sleep deprived, right? Especially if we need you to babysit so we can catch up on our sleep.”

Jonah laughed. “You make a good point.”

“And before you ask,” Caleb said. “I was offered a regular gig at Walker’s Bar, so no, we don’t need money.”

“Holy shit, that’s awesome! Congratulations, little brother,” Jonah said with genuine enthusiasm.

“Thank you. My first show is this Friday, and you’re both invited,” Caleb said.

“We’ll be there,” Elora said.

“Good.” Caleb squeezed Nimera’s hand. “We’re heading out for a while. We need to shop for a few things for the new place.”

He and Jonah did an elaborate fist bumping, hand shaking thing before he and Nimera left. The front door slammed shut, and Jonah put his arms around her again.

Her cell phone buzzed, and he leaned back so she could pull it from her pocket. She studied her screen, a faint frown crossing her face.

“What’s wrong?” Jonah asked.

“Cece is cancelling our coffee tomorrow.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she just took an extra shift at the greenhouse.”

Elora tried to smile at Jonah, but he said, “I know you’re worried about her.”

“I am,” she sighed. “She’s been acting differently since…”

“Nearly dying and being healed by a phoenix shifter can mess you up,” he said.

“I know, but it feels like it’s more than that,” she said. “But she won’t tell me what it is. Just says she’s fine and changes the subject.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

She took a deep breath, pushing her worry for Cece down for now. “She’ll tell me when she’s ready.”

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