Page 30 of Elora and the Crow

She clutched at the counter to stop from falling off the stool. “Why do you have five cars?”

“Because I can,” he said. “Speaking of which, your car is a piece of shit. I’ll bring by one of mine for you to use instead.”

“Jonah, you can’t just give me a car to use.”

“Why not?”

“Because regular people don’t do that,” she said.

“It’s a good job I’m not regular people then,” he said before glancing at his watch. “We need to head back to the store, or you’ll be late. I’ll bring the car by tomorrow for you.”

He slid off the stool and held out his hand to her. A little disconcerted, Elora took Jonah’s hand and followed him out of the deli.

CHAPTER10

When Jonah returned home, an unfamiliar car was in the driveway. It was an old Ford Taurus covered in rust and missing most of the back bumper. He frowned, wondering why Caleb would be driving a piece of shit car like this one when Jonah had bought him a brand new BMW for his last birthday.

Fuck, he hoped Caleb hadn’t sold it because he needed the money. Caleb’s musician gigs were often few and far between, and Jonah had set up a bank account for him with enough money to support him in between gigs. But his brother was stubborn and refused to take Jonah’s money, partially because he wanted to support himself and partially because he disapproved of how Jonah made his money. He worked as a server in between gigs, and it would be like Caleb to sell his car rather than touch the money in the bank account.

Excitement mixed with trepidation washed over Jonah as he entered the house. The whir of a blender echoed in the foyer, and he hurried toward the kitchen. He stepped into the kitchen as the blender stopped, the greeting dying on his lips. A variety of fresh veggies, protein powder, and fruit were on the counter, and he watched the man pull the glass jug off the blender and drink the bright green liquid directly from it.

He drank nearly half the jug before wiping his mouth and belching loudly.

“Dude, that’s so good. It’s like your best effort yet,” the man said.

“Alex?” Jonah said.

The man shrieked and nearly dropped the glass jug, fumbling with it as green liquid sloshed out to splatter on the floor. He shoved it onto the counter and turned to face Jonah, his brown eyes wide with shock. “Jonah? Holy fuck. Is that you?”

“Yeah,” Jonah said. “How did you get into my house? And why are you here?”

Alex was one of Caleb’s musician friends, and while Jonah didn’t dislike him, he didn’t know him that well beyond the fact that he smoked too much weed and was a mediocre drummer at best.

Alex smoothed his long hair away from his face. “Oh, well, like, Caleb gave me a key last year when I needed a place to crash for a couple of weeks, and I just,” he made a vague waving motion, “totally forgot to give it back. And, you know, the weekly groceries are still being delivered, and I figured it would be a real shame for the food to go to waste.”

He smiled cheerfully at Jonah. “I get hungry a lot. On account of all the weed.”

“Right,” Jonah said.

“Where you been, man? It’s been, like, forever since I saw you.”

“On a job,” Jonah said.

“Dude, that’s one long-ass cruise. Was it one of those around-the-world cruises or something?”

“Yeah,” Jonah said.

Caleb had started telling his friends that Jonah worked as a chef for a cruise ship line to explain any of Jonah’s longer absences, and it was a good enough excuse as any.

“Cool. I’m thinking of doing one of those Alaskan cruises. I wanna see me a polar bear,” Alex said.

“Where’s Caleb?”

Alex’s eyes went wide again. “Oh shit, man, you don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?” Jonah’s stomach clenched tight.

“He’s gone. Has been for, like, eight months.”

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