“Want to shower with me?” I ask, knowing the answer already. “We should save water.”
“We should.” Lucas gets up and offers me a hand. We go into the kitchen, where he shows me photos of the house from last night. I finish my coffee, feed Scarlet and my familiars, and then go upstairs for a shower with Lucas. We stayed in for quite a while, the opposite of saving water, but it was well worth it.
“How are the sales going?” I ask as I look through my closet for something to wear. We’re going into what I jokingly call second summer, and the weather is warming up again. I take a black t-shirt dress from my closet and pull it on.
“Which ones?” Lucas grins.
“The ones in Miami and Anaheim. Are there more?”
“I just inquired about a small property in Chicago and sold one of my cars to a collector in Texas.”
“Not the Chevelle?”
“No, not that one. One of my Corvettes.”
“One of?” I hike up my eyebrows. “It’s like I don’t know you.”
Lucas laughs. “We did go over everything. What I own you own.”
“I know. I kind of checked out as we were signing papers.”
“I’m aware,” he says with a chuckle. “Would you like me to discuss transactions with you before I go forward with them?”
“As long as you’re not selling our house, no.” I step in front of my dresser and use magic to put my hair into tight pigtail braids. “I trust you, and honestly, that business stuff bores and confuses me.”
Lucas smiles. “You are my wife. What is mine is yours, as long as you know that.”
“I do.” I get the simple silver bracelet Michael gave me and put it on, feeling a small tug on my heart. It’s the only thing I have of my mother’s, and I still have no idea what she even looked like.
Or sounded like.
Of if she took her coffee black, too.
I wonder what her familiar looked like. What kind of food she ate. What she did for fun. If she drank too much wine when she was upset like I do. What were her parents like? Where did she go to school?
And how the hell did she meet a freaking archangel?
“You handle the money and I’ll handle the demons,” I joke, running my finger over the clasp of the bracelet. “Everyone knows I’m your trophy-witch anyway.”
Lucas laughs and comes over to me, snaking his arms around me. “That is why I asked you to marry me. You look good on my arm, and it’s always handy having a witch around.”
“I know, right?” I hook my arms around his neck, and he kisses me deeply. “What are you going to do while I’m gone?”
“Look out the window and await your return, of course.”
“Good answer,” I laugh. “This shouldn’t take long. Though I’m not sure who’s working today. I could end up staying at the store for a while again.”
“Do you miss working?” he asks, picking me up and carrying me to the bed. He sits with me in his lap.
“Not really, though I do miss being at the store.”
“So you do miss working?” He raises his eyebrows.
“I miss being at the store, talking to people and getting to look through books all day. I haven’t finished a book in a long time, and that’s so fucking sad.”
“That is. I’ve loved books since I taught myself how to read.”
I plow my fingers through his damp hair. “That’s still so weird to think about.”
“Me being human?”
“Yeah. And how you weren’t allowed to learn how to read or write. And it’s almost crazier to think that there are still people in this day and age who don’t know how to read or write.”
“Being able to read gives one a certain power. Once you get a book in your hands, the possibilities are endless. And that’s not to mention having the ability to communicate with others.”
“It’s hard to fathom, you know? I can send a Tweet or group chat to anyone around the world now. Screenshots last forever. We can’t undo what’s been said nowadays.” I mess up Lucas’s hair some more, finding him so fucking sexy with his dark brown locks in disarray. “And you’ve lived through so much. From messages delivered by owls to Morse code to typewriters to texting.”
“Watching humanity progress has been interesting, that’s for sure. As has watching the Earth slowly fall apart.”
“Humanity is like a virus, isn’t it?”
“In some ways. The more humans evolve, the more they take from the very thing that keeps them alive.”
“I don’t want to kill the planet. Maybe we should live off the grid.”
Lucas laughs. “How would that help?”
I shrug. “I wouldn’t pollute as much?”
He kisses me. “You’re doing fine the way you are, my love. Now go to the store so you can get back to me.”