“So many things make so much more sense now,” Ember muttered.
“Ha! I like her.”
Cheyenne smirked at her mom’s closest confident and shrugged, brushing loose strands of hair away from her face. “Yeah, she’s okay.”
“Thanks, Eleanor. I like you too.” The fae’s grin made the other woman burst into quick, sharp laughter that echoed around them in the massive house.
“Aren’t we in for a night!” Eleanor pressed a hand to her cheek and shook her head. “This is all—”
“Oh, good. You made it.” Bianca Summerlin stepped into the foyer from the north end of the house, presumably her study, and offered the other three a calm, appraising smile. Her discerning gaze fell on Eleanor, and the woman’s eyebrows twitched into a brief frown. “Are you all right?”
“Absolutely.” The housekeeper was still trying to catch her breath as she nodded quickly.
“Eleanor, you’re much more flushed than usual.”
“Oh, it’s just the heat from the stove and scurrying here as fast I could to let these two inside.” When Bianca raised an eyebrow, Eleanor nodded and glanced at Cheyenne, then gave another quick burst of laughter before cutting it off entirely. “I’ll go check on dinner.”
The woman bustled toward the other end of the house and the kitchen, and Bianca Summerlin’s smile bloomed again when she looked at Ember. “Welcome. Drinks first, I think, yeah?”
“Definitely.” Ember nodded, and Cheyenne bit her lip to force down her laugh.
Yeah, she’ll be just fine.
Chapter Ninety-Five
“Ember, I hear you and Cheyenne are housemates now. Is that right?” Bianca Summerlin stood at the bar behind the dining room table and mixed Ember Gaderow a cocktail.
The fae stared out the wide swath of floor-to-ceiling windows stretching across the back end of the Summerlin house. Sunset lit the sky with brilliant orange and pink, all of it spilling across the valley behind the estate, over the veranda, and into what served as the living room. Cheyenne glanced at Ember and cleared her throat.
“Oh.” The fae blinked quickly and nodded. “Yeah, we just moved in on Friday. I thought our view was amazing, but this…”
“It’s breathtaking, isn’t it?” Bianca offered her guest the first cocktail of the evening in a highball glass. “I hope you don’t mind Nolet’s, Ember.”
The fae’s eyes almost bulged as she reached for the glass and nodded. “Uh, Nolet’s is perfect. Thank you so much.”
“My pleasure.” The woman’s smile widened as she watched Ember take the first sip of her gin and tonic a la Bianca.
Cheyenne’s friend closed her eyes and sighed. “Damn, that’s good.” The Summerlin women chuckled, and Ember’s eyes flew open. “I’m sorry. I need to watch my mouth.”
“Trust me, I’ve heard much worse. I’m happy to hear you enjoy the gin so much.”
Ember’s cheeks reddened, but she pushed through it gracefully and stared at the drink in her hand. “I haven’t had a drink since...well, since Gnarly’s.”
The halfling offered a small, reassuring smile when Ember looked at her. At least she’s not saying, “Since the night I got shot.” “So, like three weeks.”
“Yeah.” Ember gave a little chuckle. “Feels like forever.”
Bianca ignored the glance the young women shared and turned back to the bar beneath the grand, sweeping staircase. “You two met your freshman year in college, correct?”
Ember swallowed the much larger sip of gin and tonic and nodded. “That’s right. Haven’t been able to get rid of Cheyenne since.”
“Ha!” Bianca didn’t turn around, but the young magicals looked at each other again in surprise.
The halfling shot her friend a discrete thumbs-up and raised an eyebrow. Get Mom to laugh, and that’s like a thousand extra points.
“Well, I’d love to hear how you two came to the decision about the apartment. Your usual, Cheyenne?” The woman lifted a bottle of Elijah Craig toward her daughter and raised her eyebrows when the halfling nodded once. She set to making her daughter the next drink, playing the perfect hostess, as always. “I have to admit I never expected Cheyenne to live with anyone since she’s rather like me in that way.”
“Hmm. Well, you have a housemate too, don’t you?”
The small freezer door set in the top of the bar clicked shut, and Bianca paused. “I suppose you could say that.” One large, square ice cube clinked into the rocks glass, and the woman turned to glance at the fae again, her lips pursing in amusement. “And I’m starting to understand why you’re the friend with whom my daughter decided to share an apartment.”
Cheyenne almost laughed when her mom shot her another quick glance of approval before returning to the halfling’s drink.
“Beyond the fact that we get along pretty well,” Ember started swirling her cocktail, “Cheyenne’s been helping me out.”
“Really? It goes without saying, but I hope it’s all legal.”
Ember choked on her drink, and Cheyenne snorted a laugh before covering it by rubbing her mouth.
“All legal, Mom. Promise.” When the halfling caught her friend’s mortified expression, she shook her head and mouthed at Ember, “She’s joking.” That never happens.
“Uh, as far as I know, yeah,” the fae replied. “I just needed a little extra help, you know?” Then, realizing how much it sounded like she was using Bianca Summerlin’s daughter for her money, Ember quickly added, “The wheelchair’s new. Lots of adjusting.”
“I can only imagine.” A splash of purified water topped off the bourbon on the rocks, then Bianca handed the drink to her daughter and got to work mixing her own.
“Yeah, what Ember’s not saying is that she decorated the entire apartment by herself over the weekend. Better than I would have, honestly.”
The fae laughed. “Easy as point and click, pretty much. And it wasn’t by myself. Who knew you could pay people to come in and unpack all your new stuff for you, huh?”
Bianca pressed her lips together and dipped her head. “A lovely convenience. Where were you over the weekend, Cheyenne?”
“Oh. Uh, errands.”
Ember snorted and
