got a couple of drinks in her.”
Luke acknowledged the point with a nod and a resigned sigh, but I could tell he still felt bad about it. Sometimes being Piper’s friend was downright exhausting. I imagined being her boyfriend was about ten times worse.
We fell silent as we turned the corner and the railing came into view. We weren’t close enough to make out any details yet, but I found myself holding my breath and staring at the thing intently as we approached, wondering which version I would see now. Maybe it would be back to the fleur-de-lis. I didn’t know what conclusion I would draw if that was the case.
But as we got closer and closer and I kept staring, the details of the phallic symbol became steadily clearer, and I knew the moment of truth was almost upon us. My heart was hammering, and my ribs felt unnaturally tight in my chest. I sensed Luke looking at me quizzically, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the railing.
“What are you looking…?”
Luke’s voice trailed off. I finally tore my gaze away from the railing and saw that Luke was now staring at it too, his eyebrows raised, his jaw open.
“What the hell?” he said with an almost choked-sounding laugh. “How long has that been there? I never noticed it before.”
I felt suddenly dizzy and breathless. “So you see it, too.”
Luke’s brow furrowed and he cocked his head at me. “Of course I see it. What do you mean?”
I swallowed hard and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I meant to show him the photos I’d already taken, but realized at the last moment that he would probably think I’d doctored them somehow, so instead I handed it to him and said, “Do me a favor and take a photo of it.”
He looked even more puzzled. “What? Why?”
I crossed my arms over my chest as if I could hold myself together that way. “Just do it. Please.”
He was still looking at me funny, and I couldn’t blame him. And just because he saw the phallic symbol, it didn’t mean the photo would work the same way for him as it had for me. My mouth was completely devoid of spit, and I was so tense I felt I might shatter at the slightest touch.
Luke shrugged and took the photo, looking at me afterward as if awaiting further instructions.
“Now bring the photo up,” I whispered, my throat almost too tight to let any sound out.
I knew Luke saw exactly what I saw when he brought the picture up, because he let out a little cry of surprise and dropped the phone.
CHAPTER TEN
“I’d accuse you of playing a prank, if I could only figure out how you could’ve pulled it off,” Luke said.
We’d skipped the grocery store and gone back to my place to try to sort through what we’d both seen. So far, Luke was still trying to fight it all off, come up with a logical explanation. Me, I was finally beginning to accept that something totally impossible was happening. But then, I’d been fighting the weirdness for almost two weeks already, so I had a head start toward acceptance.
I’d made us a pot of coffee, just to have something to do with my hands, and now we carried our mugs out into the living room and sat on the couch. Bob was being unusually clingy, sticking to my side like glue. I was lucky I didn’t spill my coffee, considering the number of times I found him in my way.
When Luke and I sat on the couch, Bob jumped up on the seat between us, circling the spot and whacking us both in the face with his tail before he plopped down and made himself comfortable.
“You’re not allowed on the sofa,” I reminded him, and he gave me a look as if to say, Your point being…?
“He senses we’re freaked out,” Luke said. “Dogs are good at that kind of thing.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s suddenly allowed on the sofa,” I said. But instead of grabbing his collar and demanding he get down, I found myself laying my hand on his head and scratching behind his ears. He gave a happy sigh and laid his chin on my thigh. “I’m such a pushover,” I muttered under my breath, but there’s nothing like petting a dog to soothe frayed nerves, and my nerves very much needed soothing.
Bob wagged his tail once in response, dipping some of his feathery tail hair