Page 125 of Oh No! There's an Incubus in my Hot Spring
“I said what I meant.” Mark takes another drink.
The oven timer beeps and Apollo jumps up. “When is your next therapy session?”
Mark gives him a sarcastic glare. “Why, you wanna go with me and hold my hand?”
“I was thinking I could provide some perspective on things of the past. If you reallywantto hold my hand, I suppose we could,” Apollo says, and I have to cover my laugh at the absolutely dumbfounded look on Mark’s face.
The bread comes out of the oven and my mouth waters instantly. I jump up, eager to get dinner in my body. I get out the butter, silverware, and three bowls and plates. Apollo holds the four hundred-degree bread with his bare hand like a well-calloused blacksmith and cuts into it. Steam rises from the center of the fluffy loaf, and I slurp up my drool.
“Sylvia’s mother is going to be living with us in the summers,” Apollo says as he brings the tray of sliced bread to the table.
“Oh,” Mark says, looking at me to judge my expression.
“If you’d like to come by in the evenings, we’ll be having dinner and playing games.” Apollo announces it so casually I can tell Mark doesn’t even realize he’s been invited to be part of the family.
He shakes his head like he’s trying to clear a fog. “Uh, what night?”
“Every night,” I say. “It’s sort of a cultural thing for my mom. Family has dinner together every night.”
Mark blinks a few times and I can see it finally registering. “You want me to come tofamilydinner night?”
Apollo cocks his head. “You’re my family.”
Mark scoffs. “How many other of your great-grandchildren will be attending dinner?”
Well, I didn’t want to ask, but I certainly want to know.
Apollo ladles each of us a serving of stew. “I have no others. Elizabeth was the only woman I’d lain with before Sylvia.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Half a millennium on Earth and your body count is two?”
Mark crosses his arms. “Yeah, Gramps, sounds suspicious.”
Apollo sighs softly. “That honor is reserved for my mate. In my ignorance, I thought that I couldmakeElizabeth my mate by having sex with her. After the first interaction I knew it wasn’t possible, but the love I felt from her when we joined, it almost made me feel whole. I selfishly coveted it, even though I couldn’t return it. I’m truly sorry for breaking her spirit, and her heart.”
“Well, she got you back, didn’t she?” Mark sucks his teeth. “It’s all in the past now. Not shit we can do about it.”
“You can come to family dinners,” I suggest, passing him a bowl of stew.
He stares down at the soup and a tiny smile lights his face. “Yeah. Maybe.”
Epilogue
Three Years Later…
“Can you say Nephew Marky?” Mark says in an exaggerated baby voice to Esmira, who has his index fingers in her vice-like grip.
“Stop trying to confuse her. You’re her uncle,” my mother says as she bounces Esmira on her knee.
“I mean, technically…” I trail off and blow my nose. Dang spring allergies.
“Uncle Mark,” my mom whispers to Esmira. “Un-cle.”
Mark sits back on the ottoman in front of the couch and laughs. “Goddamn, Apollo, why’d you have to give all your good looks to her? Where’s my share of the dark skin and light hair?”
Apollo wraps his arm around my shoulder. “My deepest condolences for your horrid appearance.”
“Ay, Apollo! Mark es muy guapo,” my mother chastises him in Spanish.
