Then she said, “And they’ll be coming down to take me home.”
His heart sank. Then again, what the hell had he expected? They were only about five years apart in terms of age, but the gap between twenty-one and twenty-six was a pretty big one in terms of living one’s life. She had school to consider, if her parents would even let her go back. He could understand the impulse to want to keep her close, keep her safe.
He was feeling exactly the same way right about now.
* * *
They all ended up crashing at Maya’s house that night. Sure enough, Angela phoned only about fifteen minutes after Caitlin had called home, and spoke to Luz Trujillo for nearly an hour while Caitlin and Danica and Alex sat in the family room and pretended to watch television. At least Danica hadn’t yet asked where Roslyn was. Caitlin wasn’t sure if she could handle that right now. Eventually, her friend would have to learn something of the truth, but Danica was too fragile right now, still nowhere close to herself.
Apparently, the McAllisters and the Wilcoxes had agreed that there probably wasn’t anyplace safer for their two girls than with the de la Paz prima, and that was why Caitlin and Danica were told to stay put, and that a contingent from Jerome would be coming down in the morning to collect them and handle the whole Matías situation.
“Since it was already so late, and they wouldn’t be here much before ten anyway,” Luz said as she showed Caitlin and Danica to a pretty little guest room with two twin beds and plaster walls washed a warm rosy hue. “And I believe you already have all your things with you, Caitlin, and can share with Danica as necessary.”
That was true enough; her luggage from the trip to California had still been in the back of Alex’s Pathfinder. He’d brought it in, looking quiet and closed-off, and not very like himself. Caitlin wished more than anything that she could find a solitary moment to speak with him, to tell him that just because she was being ferried off to Jerome the next day, it didn’t mean she wanted things between them to end. But maybe that was being too forward. Maybe he’d thought all along that this would be a short-lived relationship, something that grew up out of the intensity of the experiences they’d shared, but not anything that could possibly survive the long haul.
No, she didn’t want to believe that. But unless she had a chance to talk to him, really talk, she didn’t know how they’d begin to straighten all this out. And quite possibly it was ridiculous for her to be worrying about such things when Roslyn’s parents had lost their daughter, and Danica kept looking around with that puzzled pull to her brows, as if she kept adding up two and two and getting five. Not to mention poor Luz, who had lost her mother that same day and had had no time to mourn.
Caitlin realized, as she climbed into the narrow, unfamiliar bed and Danica did the same in the one across from her, that Maya had died in this very house. In a different room, of course; Caitlin knew that the people from the funeral home had to have come hours ago and taken her body away, but it was still a creepy feeling. What if some residue of the dark spell the warlocks had cast to kill her still lingered, waiting to find its next victim?
No, that was ridiculous. Luz would have sniffed out anything like that. They were all safe here, and although it was terrible that Maya had so recently lost her life within the walls of this house, she’d still been able to pass on her powers peacefully enough. The hideous spell Matías had cast had done its evil work and dissipated. There was nothing left of it now. They could all sleep here peacefully enough, Luz and her husband David right across the hall, and Alex two doors down, on the other side of the bathroom.
Maybe thinking about where Alex was sleeping wasn’t such a good idea. They’d only been able to share one night together, but it still had been the most important night of Caitlin’s life. She wanted to be with him, to have him hold her close so she could feel the beating of his heart and the rise and fall of his chest, to know he was there to keep her safe. As much as she wanted those things, she knew she wasn’t crazy enough to slip out of her bed and pad down the hallway to be with him. She wouldn’t leave Danica — what if her friend woke up in the middle of the night and didn’t know where she was, or had nightmares or something? Besides, Alex’s parents were right across the hall. Caitlin knew she had to stay put, as much as she resented being here in this narrow bed when she could be lying next to him instead.
She stared up into the darkness and felt tears slip down her cheeks.
What if that single night she and Alex had shared turned out to be the only one they would ever have?