her old house. All the wood looked like she’d picked it up off the side of the street. Trendy, my big toe. Her father kept telling her that he could’ve found all that for free.”
“Shabby chic,” I muttered, pushed out after Austin.
“Stay safe. Don’t worry about us. We won’t wait up.” My mom waved and shut the door behind us.
“Send-off…” I made like I was writing on a tablet. “Less than ideal.”
He paused by the passenger door of the Jeep, the tops and doors still on this early in the season. “Listen.” His expression and tone were both dead serious. “I’ve never tried very hard on dates. I’m always respectful and try to show my date a good time, but I don’t go out of my way. Not ever. For you—for this—I did. I care about you, Jess. I care about our friendship. This isn’t an everyday kind of thing for me. I’m not pulling stuff out of some womanizer playbook to try to schmooze you.” He paused, then added, “I just wanted you to know that. Whatever Earl and Niamh might say about me—those things might usually be true, but they’re not when it comes you, okay? I will protect you in all things, including from myself if need be. I will not do you wrong.”
My heart nearly exploded, and I put out my arms, wrapping them around his neck when he leaned down to hug me.
“Thank you. That’s nice of you to say.” I closed my eyes within the strength of his arms. “Send-off back to perfect.”
“Back on track.” He laughed and pulled back. “Before we head out…” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a clump of crushed flowers. With his opposite finger, he spread them out along his palm. “Which do you fancy?”
A few wild daisies lay in a pile on the right side, small and delicate as though plucked out of a field. Buttercups lay next to that, the petals scattered across his hand from the rough treatment. The spread on the far left had a mixture of buttercups and a sort of blue-purple wildflower.
“Like…what do you mean?” I asked hesitantly.
“Group A…” He pointed at the delicate daisies before moving to the middle cluster. “B…and C. Which group would you rather have a bouquet of?”
Saying none would’ve been rude, but honestly, the orchid had been perfect. And plenty. He had something in mind, though, so I just went with it. “This.” I pointed at group C. “The mix.”
He nodded, tilted his hand, and let the flowers and loose petals flutter to the ground. Without another word, he helped me into the Jeep, moved around to the driver’s side, and away we went.
I felt Jasper and Ulric take to the air when we were halfway down the road, quickly lost to me as soon as they crossed Ivy House’s boundaries. I did know a sort of tracking magic that I could’ve applied to them, keeping tabs on them at all times until the magic wore off, but it would have required some sort of preparation. Having been blindsided by all this, I just had to trust Austin to make sure all was going according to plan. Easy to do.
“I feel like my luck has run out,” I confided softly. “Like this time, I won’t slip out of his grasp.”
“I’d agree with you…if you’d previously slipped out of his grasp.” Austin headed out of town, toward the foothills. “But you didn’t. You broke out. You bested his people without apology, and you’ll do it again.”
“Sometimes it’s annoying how much confidence you have in me. I feel like you don’t see reality.”
“It’s not me who is missing the obvious. But you’re scared, I get it.”
“But do you? You don’t seem like you’re ever scared.”
“I’ve never known greater fear in all my life than when I woke up in Edgar’s cottage after you were taken. I promised myself it would never happen again. Then it did. It terrifies me to think he could grab you and I’d be helpless to save you. Fear is different than cowardice, though. Fear keeps us sharp. Fear is what creates courage. It’s okay to be afraid. It’s healthy. The danger is when you feel nothing at all.”
I let my breath out slowly. “Okay, then. I’m afraid today, but I’ll be courageous when the time comes.”
“That’s all we can hope for.”
An hour later, the conversation having moved on to trivial nothings without ever faltering, he parked at the top of a little