Page 90 of Castings & Curses

Paisley tried to protest, but I wasn’t having it. She was emotionally distraught, and was now trying to cover her tracks. “You are not putting anything in my way, Paisley. Let me do this for me. Let me think I’m being some kind of knight in shining armor for you, okay?”

The look she gave me sent a shiver down my spine, a lot of blood to my cock, and a glimmer of hope in my chest.

* * *

Paisley

God, I hadn’t been to the Cellar since the last time I had come home. The only time I had brought Dylan to Duchamp. He had mocked the place mercilessly, and unfortunately, I came to see my hometown through his eyes.

He was wrong. Duchamp was charming, and the Cellar still had the best hamburgers I had ever eaten. And I have eaten a lot of hamburgers.

Being in Eric’s presence, with him so focused on me, made it feel like the baby was doing somersaults. But that was pure nerves. He was so sturdy and strong, and he kept asking me to hand over my burden. Okay, maybe not in those exact terms, but that's what he was doing. He said and did things that I had wished Dylan would have done for me.

I smiled as the waitress delivered our burgers, and a double basket of fries and onion rings.

I moaned with mouth watering memories of this food. “I have missed this place,” I confessed as I peeled back the bun, gooey cheese fighting me to keep hold of either the bun or the burger. I stacked onion rings up like a four leaf clover before putting the bun back.

Without waiting for Eric to start, who I figured was waiting for me to start, I picked up the messy burger with both hands and sunk my teeth in. Grease dribbled down my chin.

Eric, ever vigilant, was there with a napkin to catch my mess. Our eyes met.

“I didn’t wish for you,” I blurted out.

He flinched back and looked hurt.

“Oh, crap, that came out all wrong. I just wanted the universe to know that I didn’t wish for you, that you being this nice is all because of who you are.” I cast my gaze down at the table and stared hard at the basket of fries. “If I had wished for you, you probably wouldn’t be here right now.”

Tears of embarrassment stung my eyes. That was the most back-ass-ward compliment I could have made. And I almost just handed him my secret. Hell, this was Belvoir County, it wasn’t much of a secret.

He cleared his throat. His big hand entered my field of view as he grabbed some fries. He had really nice fingers. They were tan and long. He had elegant hands for a man of his stature. His knuckles didn’t look like they got abused from either dust ups or hard labor.

“Sounds like there might be a bit of a story with that,” he said.

I nodded. I still couldn’t look at him.

“Does this have anything to do with what happened at the doctor’s office?”

“It has everything to do with what happened at the doctor’s office.”

“Tell me.” It was a demand, but his voice was so gentle I wanted to comply.

After a few more mortifying moments, I met his gaze.

“When I was nineteen, fat, and awkward, I wished for a boy. I wanted him to want me so badly. I weaved a wish so compelling that after four years, even I had forgotten that his attention wasn’t exactly real. And when the threads began to unravel, and the wish finally broke, my world shattered.”

Eric didn’t say anything, but his eyes stayed on me. I took a bite of my food and chewed, mostly to give me some time to find the strength to keep talking, to lay my embarrassments and mistakes out on the table. If Eric was my friend, then he would understand. If he walked away, then this was a cheap therapy session, and I’d simply prove to myself how big of an idiot I really was.

“I thought he was perfect. It turns out he thought I was weird and gross. He doesn’t know why he fell in love with me. In the end, I did confess that I wished for him. But he only laughed at me, as if wishes have power.”

Eric made a choking sound, and took a long drink to clear his throat. Okay, so based on that reaction, he knows wishes have power. So far, so not terrible. I switched gears, hoping the babble coming out of my mouth made sense to him.

“You remember that woman at the park with the blue hair? I keep seeing her everywhere, all she does is glare at me.”

“That’s Lana Higgins. I think those glares are directed at me,” Eric sort of chuckled.

I shook my head. “She’s definitely glaring at me. Has been since before I even met you. Well, she was there at Dr. Booth’s. She was headed in just as I got there. She didn’t see me, so no glaring, but I felt that sense of guilt that I have done something to her.

“What have I done that she hates me?”

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