Far from offended or worried, she bounced on the balls of her feet and grinned like a wild woman. “Whichever ones you want off, babe. Maybe two a week till I finish defending my thesis, then I’ll be all yours.”
I held up a warning finger, like I was some kind of authority figure. “Careful, or the shop will end up being named McKinley and BFF. Then you’ll have to take out a loan or something.”
“Done,” she said in a rush as soon as I stopped talking, like I would take it back. “I mean, probably not on the McKinley and BFF front, since it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but you know. I’m in. For the whole deal.”
“You.” I stared at her in shock for a long moment as she bit her lip nervously, watching me. “You want to buy half the shop?”
She nodded like a bobblehead in a hurricane. “I’d been trying to figure out how to bring it up for ages, since we found out about your dad, but it was never the right time. Not cool to be like ‘so your dad’s dying, wanna sell me half his shop?’ And then you were talking about selling the place, and I—” she shrugged. “I didn’t want to pressure you.”
I took the paint from her and set it on the counter, then wrapped her in a tight hug. “No pressure felt. And if you’re in, I am.” I leaned back and looked at her. “Partner?”
She nodded again, this time resolute instead of desperate. “Partner.”
It didn’t occur to me till hours later, when Beez dropped me and Fluke at home to wash the purple paint off ourselves, that none of us had so much as glanced at my father. He hadn’t exploded, which was a nice surprise, but also . . . he just hadn’t mattered.
I had a partner. A familiar. A grandmother. And a—a Gideon. My life had a purpose and a direction, for the first time, well, ever.
Chapter Nineteen
The ley line—fine, fine, the convergence was still trying to pull me in every time I reached for it, but I was getting better at holding myself back. The problem was that I was both trying to hold back and take hold at the same time, bringing something back with me.
It was like clinging to a rock on the seashore, trying to lean far enough into the ocean to get a handful of water, but not fall in.
Except the ocean was actively trying to grab me. If it truly was sentient, I wished it were more sentient, so I could tell it to back off. I wasn’t going anywhere, so it could calm the hell down.
It was all too easy to imagine losing my grip and getting lost forever in the floes of magic seething beneath the crust of the earth. The thought made me shudder, dropping my pitiful handful of magic and pulling back.
Despite being huge and intimidating, Gideon really was a solid choice as a teacher. He didn’t roll his eyes or huff in frustration at my third failure for the night, just sat across from me, waiting for me to compose myself. “You okay? Need a break?”
Me, I would never make much of a teacher. “No patience” was my middle name. “Why aren’t you annoyed?”
He arched a single brow but didn’t respond.
“You are annoyed?”
That, finally, broke his perfect composure. He swiped a palm down his face and shook his head. “I’m not annoyed, Sage. You’re doing fine. Hell, you’re catching on faster than Meredith did, and she was just more than half your age when we started. Not to mention, the convergence didn’t pull at her like it’s doing to you.”
“Just lucky I guess,” I suggested lightly as I hopped up. “I’m in the mood for some fried eggs. Who wants eggs? You can totally have some eggs with me, Fluke.”
Fluke didn’t move from his spot on the couch, but wagged his tail hopefully, lifting his head to look at me. Poor guy looked exhausted. I wondered if me using magic took it out of him, or if it was just past our bedtime. I checked my phone. Nope, only eight. Must be the magic, so he definitely needed some eggs too.
Gideon got up and stretched, then turned to look at me.
Me? I was standing there staring at him. I mean, the man was raw human perfection. Tall and lean and the way his shirt rode up when he stretched like