The paved road beneath us suddenly ended just ahead of us, giving way to a bumpy dirt road that continued into seemingly nothing. Deva slowed down before we left the pavement, but we were still instantly tossed around like bags of potatoes, and my back didn’t like that one bit.
I groaned and shifted around in my seat, clenching my teeth as one wheel caught a pothole.
“Your back?” Carol asked from the seat behind Deva.
I looked back at her, where she sat with her knitting gear clicking away in front of her, and sighed. “It bugged me when I was younger, but now there’s not enough Advil in the world to get it to calm the heck down sometimes.”
“Tell me about it. My knees ache every time I have to take the stairs to the apartment.”
“That’s nothing,” Deva said, both hands firmly on the wheel. “Did I tell you what my chiropractor said about my neck?”
Carol spoke up, in an amused voice. “It’s the worst neck he’s ever seen.”
Deva gave her a dirty look through the rearview mirror. “Hey, you guys started this whole, we’re old and we know it thing.”
“I didn’t say I was old!” I exclaimed. I wasn’t some spring chicken, but I also wasn’t the one lying on its side wheezing—most of the time.
I pushed the thought of the wheezing chicken aside as my back gave another pang. If this ride lasted much longer, I might very well end up crawling out of the car when we stopped, looking very similar to a dying chicken. And I liked to think I was above that.
“We’re not on death’s door or anything,” I mumbled.
Deva raised a brow. “No, your back just gets sore from car rides.”
I lifted a brow. Everyone held their breath. And then I grinned, and we all started laughing. If we couldn’t joke around about our failing bodies with each other, well, we weren’t that good of friends after all.
“Can you imagine what we’ll be like when we’re in our seventies?” Carol asked with a smile.
“I just hope I live that long,” Deva muttered, her gaze focused on the bumpy road in front of us.
I frowned. “Do witches live shorter lives than humans?”
Deva glanced at me in surprise, then back at the road. “Actually, the opposite, but I swear my ex is aging me.”
“Yeah? He being a jerk?”
She shook her head. “No, actually, the opposite. I can’t exactly complain about it around Beth, since her cheating ex is such a jerk, but Harry has been going out of his way to try to win me back. He’s sending flowers, writing poems. He even stops by the house on trash day and puts the bins out before I wake up.” She sighs. “I asked him to do those things for years. I begged him to turn off the sports, or take a break from the guys for a date night, or put out the trash without me asking until one day I just stopped asking. For too long he enjoyed doing everything he wanted without the nagging. He acted like his life was just awesome because I didn’t need anything, and he could do whatever he wanted. But I just fell out of love with him. Every time I was alone. Every time I took the trash out by myself. Every time a birthday or holiday would pass without a gift...”
I smiled, but it was a sad smile. Most people could never understand what it felt like to be alone with someone else, but I did. “I understand.”
“Do you?” she asked. “Because his family and my family are acting like I should just forgive him. That he understands what he did was wrong, and he’s trying. The thing is, I didn’t suddenly stop loving him when I asked for the divorce. I hadn’t loved him in so long, and I’m honestly happier without him. I keep asking him to stop trying to win me back, but he, and our families, seem to think with enough time and effort I’ll cave.”
“You didn’t need to say anything more than that you’re happier without him. You don’t need to justify yourself. Not to me, and not to anyone else.”
She took one hand off the steering wheel and squeezed mine for a second before returning it. “I forgot how much I missed you. Seriously. The phone calls were nice, but it wasn’t like this.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” I said, and I meant it.
Deva was always so strong, even on the phone. She talked about her divorce like it was no big deal. And even before that, I knew Harry frustrated her at times, but I had no idea she was as lonely as I was. It seemed like such a terrible thing that we’d been suffering alone when we could’ve had each other.
“Did you tell her about Marquis?” Carol called from the back.
To my shock, Deva’s cheeks turned a little red. “There’s nothing to tell.”
I looked back at Carol, and there was a glow to her face.
“What?” I asked, looking between them.
“We’re here,” Deva said, not-so-smoothly changing the subject.
“We’re coming back to that later,” I said, shaking my finger at her.
Carol gave that awesome loud laugh of hers that always warmed my heart. That’s right. They knew I was damned stubborn. If there was some new guy in Deva’s life, I wanted to hear all about it.
The rough path suddenly opened out into a clearing scattered with cars, chaos, and guys in every direction. My jaw dropped open as my gaze ran over everything, then landed on the buildings. Small cottages with thatched roofs were spread out around
