There wasn’t anything more perfect Charlie Creagh could’ve said to Ari in that moment, and smiling despite the tear tracks on her cheeks, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tight for a few seconds. When she stepped back, she knew Charlie had read the silent promise in her eyes to not disrupt his life again.
This was goodbye for good.
She held up her hand in a frozen wave and watched him mirror the action, and with one last smile, she stepped back into the Peripatos.
Once again, Jai stepped in to soothe the pain of losing Charlie Creagh all over again.
***
“I thought I’d seen the last of you people,” Charlie kept his voice teasing but his eyes were questioning. He’d turned his gaze from watching Mikey and his friends keep warm in the cold December air by playing basketball at Ben’s Park. Charlie sat on a bench, huddled in his thick jacket, sipping hot coffee out of a Styrofoam cup.
A week had passed since the insanity of discovering their world was filled with more mystery than the general public would ever know, and he found he’d been a lot more affected by it than he’d initially thought.
For starters, he’d grown increasingly overprotective of Mikey upon discovering what his life would be like without him. His mom had gotten pretty overbearing too, and Charlie almost felt bad for Mikey who hadn’t been able to breathe without one of them asking what he was doing, where he was going, when he’d be back, who he was with …
So Charlie spent his Sunday watching a basketball game and thanking whatever god was out there for getting them out of the Jinn world as quickly as possible. This meant he didn’t really know how to feel when the wooden picnic bench he was sitting on creaked and he turned to find Fallon Roe sitting beside him in an oversized hoodie, duffel coat, and scarf.
She smirked at him. “I think you kind of mean that.”
He shrugged. “Did something happen?” He tried to slow his heart at the thought.
“Nah.” She leaned back on her hands, her silver jewelry clinking against the wood. “I’ve been deliberating for days whether to drop by or not.”
Or not might have been the way to go. Charlie winced at the thought, wondering how he was going to break it to his non-ex-girlfriend that he didn’t want anything to do with her world.
She saved him the time.
“I meant what I said before about us being totally different people now. I know this is your world and I have mine, and those two can’t mix. I don’t want them to,” she hurried to assure him. In doing so, she chipped away at the inexplicable guilt he felt about not being the guy she wanted him to be. “I came here for closure. Not mine. Yours.”
He frowned at her. “What do you mean?”
“People were telling you a lot of things about this Charlie guy you didn’t know, and most of what they were telling you didn’t sound so great. If I were you, I’d be thinking, ‘man, I hope life doesn’t throw me too many knockdowns because apparently I can’t handle that shit.’”
Charlie snorted. Because it was true. He had been thinking that.
She touched his arm, guessing his thought. When their eyes met, hers were completely serious. “Charlie, the magic did a lot to mess you up. But even through that you were still this innately good person who loved his brother enough to try to find peace and justice out of it. Some people call it obsession, revenge. Maybe it was. But I never saw that as a bad thing. I saw it as passion and strength and focus. And even without that, when you were disappointing Ari for not being the person you used to be, you were making my life better. You made me laugh and you liked me for just being me. I also knew that you would never intentionally hurt me.” She heaved a sigh. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that when some people might’ve only seen the worst in that Charlie, I saw the best, and I saw the best because it was there. It existed. That Charlie was a good guy. You need to know that.”
He was quiet a moment, head bent, hands clasping the cup. Finally, he lifted his eyes to her and he gave her a tight nod. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
She smiled and moved gracefully away from the table. “This time it’s really goodbye.”
“Fallon,” he murmured softly, making her faux smile wilt a little, “you should know something too.” Charlie swallowed, trying to get the words right, knowing how important they would be to her. “I’m not that Charlie, but part of me is, right? I’m still him—it’s just life experience has carved us in different ways. So if I’m him, then I can tell you how I would have felt if I was feeling that lost, and my best friend didn’t recognize me anymore and didn’t understand me, and I was feeling all alone, and then this girl comes along who sees me, who gets it … that would mean everything to me, and I’m guessing it meant everything to that Charlie too. You matter, Fallon. You mattered to him. I somehow know that without knowing it.”
She dipped her head, shuffling her feet. When her head rose again, she was biting her lip. She threw him a mock glare, her eyes shimmering. “Dude, I don’t do tears. I could kill you right now.”
Charlie chuckled and sipped at his coffee, hoping not to prolong her embarrassment as she brushed fingers against her trembling eyelashes. And then just like that, because it was her way, Fallon abruptly held up a hand in wave. “Thanks, Charlie Creagh. I’ll not be seeing ya.” Grinning, she shoved her hands in her pockets and strode away out of his life forever.
***
“Mmm, can we just stay here forever?” Ari mumbled, snuggling deeper into Jai’s side and resting her head on his chest. They cuddled together on the couch, the fire roaring in the fireplace, an action movie blazing across the screen. Trey was off somewhere with Glass, giving them a little peace and quiet before tomorrow’s party. Caroline Roe had decided that the best way to bring The Guild back together was to enjoy the festivities and have a New Year’s Eve party.
Jai and Ari were not exactly looking forward to the party. Neither felt like they’d caught up on the sleep missed while trying to bring the Jinn queen to her knees.
Jai’s arm tightened around Ari’s shoulder and he kissed her forehead, content in a way he didn’t think he’d ever been before. “I wish.” His eyes slid back to the television screen as James Bond kicked ass in his very nice suit.
Jai wondered if he could get away with hunting in a three-piece suit and then immediately rejected the idea based on estimated dry cleaning bills alone.