Page 44 of The Curse Defiers

“What’s wrong?” I whispered.

He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. “Allison has invited a bunch of our mutual friends to see me and meet you.”

“Why isn’t it a good idea?” Was he embarrassed about his friends meeting me?

He removed his hand from the phone. “Allison, hold on for a moment.” He pushed mute and lowered the phone. “Ellie, you’ve had a stressful afternoon. It isn’t fair to make you deal with a bunch of people who want to ask you a million questions. They know we’re together and they’re extremely curious.”

“Do you want to see your friends?”

“That’s not the point.”

“It’s a valid question. Do you want to see your friends?”

“Well, yes.” He shrugged. “I don’t know when we’ll be back to Chapel Hill, so I would like to see them.” He held up his hand. “But this is aboutyou. I’m sure you must be uncomfortable with going to Allison’s house. I don’t want to make this any more awkward then it already is.”

I shook my head. “No. I want to meet them. Don’t you see, I want to see as much of your life as possible.” And I meant it.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. I’m excited to meet them.”

He took the phone off mute. “Okay, Allison. We’ll see you at seven.” He hung up and studied me. “You can still change your mind if you’d like.”

“No way. But now I really need a hair dryer. I forgot to pack mine.”

“Bedroom closet. I’ll get it for you.”

As I followed him to the back room, a new thought occurred to me. “Are you nervous aboutmemeeting Allison?”

He stopped in front of the closet. “Yes, although I’m not embarrassed or ashamed of you in any way. I know that’s where your mind is going.” He shot me a nervous smirk. “I want you to be comfortable.”

“I’m not some fragile flower, David.”

“Oh, I know. I’d never accuse you of that. It’s just that you deal with so much crap between the curse and your job…well, I wanted this weekend to be a chance for you to get away from it all. But tonight could end up being another stressor for you.” He pulled the hair dryer down from a shelf and handed it to me. “If it gets overwhelming, just let me know and we’ll take off.”

But we couldn’t, not really. We needed whatever information she had, and I couldn’t help wondering if this was her way of stalling so she could spend more time with David. Still, I wasn’t about to tell him that. I wrapped my hands around his neck and pulled his mouth to mine. “Thanks.”

David took a shower while I got dressed and used a mirror in his bedroom to put on my makeup. Once I was ready, I grabbed my phone and worked past my nerves to call Myra. Our last call had ended on a good note, but what if she’d reverted to her previous indifference?

To my relief, she sounded happy to hear from me. “Ellie. How are you? I take it you’re in Chapel Hill?”

“We made it in last night.”

“Have you seen David’s colleague yet?”

“No, we’ll see her later tonight. But David’s researching some things related to the curse in the library, and we made some headway at the library today.”

“Really? Good news I hope.”

Myra’s emotional distance had hurt me more deeply than I’d realized. The fact that she was now acting more like the stepmother I knew brought tears of relief to my eyes. My throat burned and I swallowed before answering. “Yes, we found out something that could help us use the ring.”

She paused. “Really? That’s wonderful, Ellie. Will I still get to see you this weekend? I’d love to hear all about it.”

“I hope so. Would sometime tomorrow work?”

“That would be great.” Myra sounded happy. “How about a late breakfast? Were you planning on bringing David?” She paused and her voice lowered. “You know I’m fond of him, but I was hoping it would just be the two of us.”

Myra had made no secret of her concern that my relationship with David was moving at light speed, so her request wasn’t a complete surprise. I suspected she wanted to make sure I was still happy. I wouldn’t be able to answer honestly if he was there.

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