I wanted to tell her not to worry, that it wasn’t a big deal, that it would all be fine. But I didn’t know if that was true, and it wasn’t fair to minimize what she was feeling.

She sighed. “Burke told me who he was. What he was.”

Good. God knew, I supported honesty in relationships.

“I just—this isn’t the life I imagined. All this damn drama. All this damn magic.” She looked at me. “Angels, Claire. Angels in my backyard. In my bayou. The thing is, though? I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

I brushed sudden, sharp tears away. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, either. I need someone smart and logical to deal with all this nonsense.”

“It is a lot of nonsense, isn’t it?”

“It is. It really, really is. And I’m not just saying that because I need you to keep me apprised of your dating situation.”

“And speaking of, let’s talk about Liam.”

I didn’t think that was entirely necessary. But I owed her one.

•   •   •

When the store was empty again and the night was quiet, I realized sleep wasn’t going to come anytime soon, not with my mind spinning with Big Questions. So I walked back downstairs.

I flipped on the lights, smiled at the familiar buzz of electricity. Such a human thing. And today, I found that very comforting. I sat down at the counter and pulled over the owl, which still waited with unseeing eyes to move again.

I picked up a silver tool and got back to work.

Stay quiet. Work hard.

Because sometimes, when the world was shifting and changing around you, that’s the best thing you could do.