“So Joel, what brings you back to Salem?”

Gretel was being extremely friendly to Joel, almost too friendly. At first, she’d been a little uneasy when I brought him back to the house. Which I appreciated, considering I’d told her everything that had happened between us before she and I met. The brief hardness in her eyes had made me feel safe. But then he’d clearly worked his charm on both of us to an extent, because now she was chatting with him like they were old friends. And I wasn’t quite as upset about this as I would have thought.

We had finished the gourmet flatbread he’d bought, as well as the first bottle of red wine. And even I was relaxing into the quiet evening air of our small garden. The three of us were sitting around the patio table as the solar lights winked on around us, sparkling along the wooden fence and within the boughs of the miniature pine trees. The air smelled like herbs, both from the flatbread and from the seedlings in their containers, still waiting for me to plant. Above the towering fences, I could see the stars coming out among the misty clouds. After a dense, cold winter, seeing the way they were glinting in the darkness made me feel lighter. There was warmth in the world again.

“Just some quick business,” Joel said with a smile. “Nothing exciting.”

“Ah,” Gretel said. “And you just happened to run into each other?”

“Yeah,” I said before Joel could open his mouth. “Of course, we were both in downtown Salem, so it wasn’t too wild of a coincidence.”

I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t selling Joel out right then for tracking me. I should. Gretel seemed a little too fond of him, especially after knowing everything I’d gone through. But despite the lingering unease I felt, I tried not to let that little bit of remaining resentment show.

Maybe this was an opportunity for me to move on. I’d gotten my feelings out and made him buy me multiple overpriced consumables by this point. We didn’t have to be friends, but it could be a good thing to let go of some grudges. Didn’t the experts always say holding onto grudges was bad for your health? I didn’t need to use Joel to hurt myself anymore than I’d already been hurt. These thoughts had been swirling through my still stunned, slightly buzzed mind since I brought him home and I still didn’t have an answer to give myself. But I could try it for a little while.

Plus, this was really good wine.

“I’m only staying a couple nights,” Joel said. “If that. Once I’m done, it’s off to the next adventure.”

“And where’s that?” I asked.

Joel shrugged. “Who knows?” he said. “I’ve spent some lovely days in Venice and it’s calling to me. So maybe I’ll go back there. It’s an easy trip.”

He didn’t mean anything by it. Joel knew I hadn’t had much opportunity to travel, but this never would have occurred to him. Like with magic, Joel could be oblivious to the fact that others hadn’t grown up with money the same way he had. Even before he’d started shooting sparks from his hands, he’d been a little clueless about his privilege. Of course having superpowers would make it worse.

Dammit, Dar, you’re moving on.

“That sounds nice,” I said.

“I’ll take you there someday,” Gretel said, reaching over and squeezing my hand.

Something flashed across Joel’s face as he looked at our linked hands. Sadness? Regret? No matter what it was, it was gone seconds later as he drained his glass. “When you go, I’ll tell you the best places to eat,” he said. “Don’t listen to the tourist guides, they’ll send you to the blandest overpriced places and call it culture. Meanwhile, I’ve got a friend whose mother owns a little place…”

The evening faded into nighttime as we kept going over the second bottle of wine. I felt a bit looser by this point, half listening as Gretel and Joel talked. I gazed over the garden, noting the unplanted seedlings in the corner and the bare patches I hadn’t decided what to do with yet. There was a lot of potential over there by the gate. It would look nice with some morning glories climbing the pole and curling over the ironwork. Or maybe a rose bush was the way to go.

“What do you think, Dar?”

Gretel’s voice broke through my thoughts. “What?” I asked, blinking.

Joel laughed. “You never could do much wine,” he said.

“Yeah, well, we were kids when we were together. Of course I couldn’t hold my wine,” I snapped.

Gretel and Joel both looked surprised at my sudden outburst. I turned to Gretel. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“Um, I was saying there’s no point in leaving Salem to find a cheap hotel room,” Gretel said. “We’ve got the spare room.”

Oh no. No, I wasn’t going that far. “I’m sure there’s something at the hotel,” I said. “I’ll even give you my employee discount.”

“Dar, even out of season that place runs hundreds of dollars a night,” Gretel said, her voice gently reproachful.

I was about to say Joel could handle it, but I knew I wasn’t going to win this fight. And the last thing I wanted was to let Joel get between Gretel and me. “Fine,” I said. “Yeah, you can stay here for tonight.”

“You’re sure?” Joel said. “I don’t want to put you out.”

This from the man who had lurked outside my work and pursued me through Salem until I agreed to get coffee with him? I shook my head and faked a smile. “It’s fine,” I said. “One night, yeah?”

“One night.”

We chatted a little longer after that, but the warmth of the night had flickered out and we were all getting tired. So it wasn’t long afterward that Gretel said she’d make sure the guest room was set up. She walked ahead of us into the house, leaving me and Joel behind as I scooped up the wine glasses.

“You’re sure you’re alright with me staying here?” Joel asked.

I shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. It’s fine.”

“Dar-”

“It’s one night,” I said with a wide, false smile, taking the empty glass from his hand. “One night and you fuck off back to Fairyland forever.”

With that, I walked into the house.

***

By the time Gretel was finished getting Joel situated in the guest room, I had already brushed my teeth and was sitting on the end of our bed, brushing my hair in slow, deliberate motions. I didn’t want to think about the fact that Joel was back, that he was about ten feet away in our little guest room. I’d tried to move past it, I really had. But I couldn’t. He’d left me behind and come back expecting me to still be happy to see him. One night and some food weren’t going to change that. I wasn’t that good of a person.

“Are you okay?”

Gretel’s warm voice made me look up from a particularly stubborn knot in my hair. She sat down next to me on the bed and wrapped an arm around me. I fell into the embrace, laying my head down on her shoulder and closing my eyes for a moment.

“Yeah,” I murmured as she ran her hand down my arm.

“It’s okay to be mad,” she said. “But maybe it’s time to let it go?”

I sighed. “I know,” I said. “And I’m trying, I swear. It’s just, he’s so selfish. We didn’t just meet up downtown, he showed up outside my work saying he used magic to find me. With no notice, after ditching me.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry I hid that part. I was just… I wanted to be past it. I know magic was important to him and I wasn’t going to keep him from exploring it. But I offered to go with him and he turned me down. Then broke up with me. I didn’t have magic, so I wasn’t good enough to be with.”

“That’s not true,” Gretel said. “There’s nothing wrong with not having magic.”

“I don’t even want it,” I said. “I don’t want to have magic and I don’t want it in my life. It just brings heartbreak, you know?”

Gretel was silent, but her grip on me tightened. “It’s fine,” I said. “I’m an adult. I can handle having him here. And it’s one night. Really, it’s fine.”

“So you’re not going to smother him with a pillow as soon as I turn my back?” Gretel asked.

I shrugged. “I guess not.”

Gretel laughed softly. I groaned, then lifted my head and stood up to put my hairbrush away on my dresser. “Maybe he’s changed,” I said. “I mean, I’ve grown up since then. Maybe all of his worldly adventures have made him mature somewhat too.”

“It might be nice to have another friend,” Gretel mused.

“Let’s not go that far,” I said as I came back to bed.

I climbed in as Gretel got undressed. She was beautiful in the dim lamplight, her soft curves that fit my own body so well. If Joel hadn’t left me, I never would have met her, would I? The thought occurred to me as I shamelessly watched her pull on her pajamas.

“What?” Gretel said as she caught me.

I smiled at her. “Nothing,” I said. “Just thinking about how beautiful you are.”

She smiled, her whole face lighting up as I said it. Then she reached over and I sat up so that she could cup my chin, bringing my mouth up to meet the red wine taste of hers.

“Remind me I have stories for you tomorrow,” Gretel said as I laid back down on my pile of pillows. “Your aunt’s friend, the one with the hair, she was in the office today. She says hi.”

I groaned and laughed. Auntie Beatrix. Not my blood auntie, but one of the endless number of old women who lived in and around my actual Aunt Heather’s house on the other side of Salem. The place was crawling with mischievous geriatrics who told my fortune and insisted I wasn’t eating enough every time I stopped by to drop off something for Aunt Heather.

“I can only imagine,” I said as I adjusted the pillows beneath me.

Gretel went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Outside of our bedroom door, I heard footsteps going down the hall, away from the main bathroom and toward the guest room. I thought I should go out and say goodnight. Now that I was out of the garden and away from Joel, I guess I felt guilty about how I’d left things. I still meant what I’d said, but maybe I’d been too harsh.

I was about to say screw it and get up when I heard the guest room door close. There was no point in bothering him now, it’d just be weird and intrusive if I went and knocked. I’d just say a nicer goodbye in the morning before I left for work. Then we’d be on good terms and he could go off on whatever mysterious business he had.

Gretel was so much kinder than I was. And again, if I hadn’t broken up with Joel, I never would have had the opportunity to meet her and create this amazing life we had together. So maybe for that reason, if nothing else, I could find it in my heart to forgive Joel and move on.

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Continue to Chapter 5