GAME ON - GoM 2

10

"I just wanna hear as many sides to it as possible. That's it," said Alex.

She was doing the dinner dishes while Claire sat behind her, at the breakfast bar, sharpening her wakizashi.

"And Miss Parker wants you to perform this... ritual before even telling you about Reiki?"

"Nope. I wanna do it. Don't worry, it's gonna be alright."

"Sure. 'Cause 'careful' is your middle name now." Alex shot a warning glare at the girl, who threw up her hands. "Sorry, my bad. Didn't mean to care about you."

Alex snorted under her breath. The girl knew the best thing to do was changing the subject-as to five minutes ago. Channeling was always a sensitive topic with Alex, especially because Claire and Tom didn't like it. At all.

"What're you taking tonight?"

Her casual tone worked.

"Shotgun," Alex replied-truce offer accepted.

"Then give me a minute to fix you some shells. Grandpa had a recipe for a nasty potion to fight feeblers. And I happened to cook some before you came home."

"Bet it stinks, like all of Grandpa's potions."

"That goes without saying. Never a French perfume."

They chuckled as Alex closed the tap and dried her hands. "Take all the time you need," she said, grabbing her phone.

"Tell Tom I said hi. Is he coming this weekend?"

"He wants me to go over to Newhalem."

"You should. It'd be only fair, considering that until now, he's always had to come here for you guys to get together."

"Am I hearing a rush to send me away?"

"Well, Ollie and I would sure appreciate a little privacy, y'know?"

"Dear Lord!"

Claire laughed when Alex crossed herself on her way out to the backyard.

It was so awkward, that Alex would call this a regular evening-Claire fixing shells to gun down a creature while she called her... called Tom. Definitely awkward. All of it.

She heard the fresh murmur of the river when Tom picked up. And she found herself smiling at the coincidence of being both outdoors at that moment.

"Hey. Did I cut off your night jog?" she asked.

Tom replied with his usual calm, no traces of agitation. "No. I'm almost back home. Everything okay over there?"

"Yeah. We're getting ready to hunt down a family of feeblers in Concrete"

"Never a dull evening, huh. These are the first creatures since the moonflower in November, right?"

Alex frowned. "Yep. You think it means something?"

"That creatures don't like winter? Guess it all comes down to statistics-they're bound to show up sooner or later."

"I agree, Mr. Engineer."

Tom scoffed and waited for her to go on. But she didn't.

"What're you not telling me?"

Alex took her turn to scoff. He always got her. "I'm having my Reiki initiation this week."

"I see."

He sounded distant. She swallowed a snort. "Spare me the preach, please. Claire's was enough." She realized she was being rude. "Sorry, didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. I know."

The same Claire had said at lunch. Were those two back-channeling? However, she felt she owed Tom for being on the defensive against him. She wanted to make it up to him. Damn. The only way she could think about meant compromising. Now she swallowed a sigh.

"I was wondering... D'you think you could take me to see you Skagit Elder friend?"

"You'd need to come over to see him."

"I know. Is your invitation still standing?"

"Of course."

Alex chuckled at his quick answer and had the bad idea of looking over her shoulder. Claire was done, waiting for her in the kitchen.

"Gotta go, Mr. Sutton."

"Good hunting. Take care."

"You too." She shut her mouth just in time, breathed and added, "Night, Mr. Sutton."

"Night, Miss Corban."

Alex disconnected. Keeping her back turned to the kitchen, she took the phone to her lips.

"I love you, Tom Sutton," she whispered.