“I think everyone’s nice until they prove otherwise.”
At the house, I parked behind Sian’s VW bus of doom, and Benji got out, then retrieved a bag from the back seat, and we met them on the sidewalk.
“Good morning,” Sian greeted me with a smile before leaning into me. I gave her a quick squeeze before Delly hugged me, and I realized I could get used to being treated like this every day. It was clear I’d been accepted into the pack.
Benji and I were following them up the stairs from the sidewalk to the path that led to the front door. All the homes I’d been to so far, except for Benji’s, were the same. When he turned on the third step to face me, putting us at eye level with one another, I came to an abrupt stop.
“What’s wrong?”
He put a hand on the side of my neck. “I didn’t get a kiss this morning because I wasn’t sure if that was okay in front of your friend.”
“It’s okay in front of my friend,” I assured him, knowing, of course, that I would have questions to answer from Rais, because he knew, after hearing the stories, that Jared Colter’s fixers left and found love. He would have good reason to wonder how far I’d fallen if he saw Benji kiss me. Though the hug was probably as bad, since he’d raised an eyebrow over it.
Benji leaned in and kissed me in that way he had, both possessive and full of longing. He wanted me badly. Feeling the answering rush of heat through my veins let me know he wasn’t the only one affected.
I was breathless when he broke the kiss. “I’m better today,” he informed me. “No fever, no sniffles. I think yesterday was the end, so––”
“Yeah,” I agreed, because if the man could get to dinnertime without any sign of sickness, and the alarm system was up and running, all my plans included being in his bed.
He closed his eyes for a moment, smiling, and I saw the shiver of anticipation.
I felt the same.
“Are you two coming?”
Benji snorted and then turned. “I hope so!”
“That’s terrible,” I muttered from behind him.
He was chuckling as we joined them on the porch. Once Sian knocked, a man answered who ushered us in quickly. Mr. Gleason shook all our hands and then walked us into the living room where his wife was waiting.
“Hey, Liz,” Sian greeted her.
Elizabeth Gleason, Liz, rushed across the room and hugged Sian and then turned to smile at all of us. “I appreciate you all being here. It’s been hard since Mom died. We’ve had so much company, and there’s been so much grief and just awful, you know?”
“The last person finally went home yesterday,” Mr. Gleason, Bill, explained, “so we opened all the windows and let the breeze blow through the house even though it was cold as hell, but it didn’t feel any lighter in here. It still feels heavy, like the gloom is sticking to the walls.”
“You realize the sadness won’t dissipate overnight,” Benji explained gently.
“Yes, of course. I know that me missing my mother isn’t going to poof and go away,” Liz assured him. “I will cry and grieve, even though I know she’s not in pain anymore, and we had one of our best talks ever before she passed.” She took a deep breath, and Sian took her hand, which seemed to help. They were about the same age, which meant her mother was young, only in her sixties. It had to be hard. The mere thought of losing either of my parents filled me with dread. “But we don’t need anyone else’s grief in the house. Bill’s and mine is enough.”
Her husband nodded. “It feels so oppressive in here, not comforting, you know? I get why people have the gathering after the funeral in churches and halls now. It was a mistake to have it here in our home.”
It wasn’t true for everyone, though. When my nana had passed, my mother’s mother, we had the celebration of her life afterward in my parent’s home, and it was lovely. So many good stories and happy memories, and my mom was comforted by the outpouring of emotion. Clearly, the Gleasons had not experienced a remembrance but an extended, somber memorial.
I stood back as all the windows were again opened, and Sian and Delly got out large bundles of what appeared to be sage and palo santo. Benji had his EMF detector out, and he started walking from room to room.
Sian explained to Liz and Bill that Benji was checking to make sure there were no entities in the home they might be overlooking before she and Delly would start the cleansing.
“It’s not smudging?” Liz asked her. “I thought that’s what it was called.”
“Smudging is very specific to Native American cultures,” Sian explained. “As you know, I’m a hedge witch, and we don’t say smudging, we say cleansing.”