“Really?”
“I’ve cried over you more than once,” she joked.
Her teasing melted under the heat of his kiss. “Do you want me?”
“More than anything.”
After that, there was no more talking, just endless kisses and touches and the joy of two bodies becoming one.
CHAPTER THIRTY
THANKSGIVING, A WEEK LATER
Iris stood at the window, staring with delicious schadenfreude at the argument taking place in Susan Calhoun’s front yard. She was shouting at Dan Rutherford, and they were both waving their arms a lot. Finally, the man stomped off, got in his car, and drove away. Then Susan angrily staked a FOR SALE sign deep into her front yard.
I win.
The rest of her roomies were in the kitchen, and Iris hurried to join them, not wanting to miss a moment of this historic meal. Soon, everyone had a seat at the table. Though the oven was off, it was still toasty warm, and the food smelled incredible. For a while, the others focused on eating, but at the first chance, Rowan eyed Iris with great curiosity.
“What?” Iris prompted.
“Can you turn into a unicorn?” Rowan asked.
“I can’t believe you asked that,” Liz said.
Rowan served themselves more mashed potatoes while Henry Dale carved the turkey with the concentrated air of a man performing major surgery. “What, like I’m the only one who was thinking it.”
Mira confessed, “I was curious too.”
“You could make a fortune selling photos of yourself in various forms,” Sally added.
“Hmm. I’ll take it under advisement.” Honestly, the shop was doing well these days.
Mira had cast a viral spell to boost Iris’s business, and now the orders were coming faster than she could fill them. Iris had been teaching Rowan how to make some of the simpler pieces, and she was paying them accordingly—profit sharing, not just an hourly wage. Between the jewelry business, Henry Dale’s new endeavor selling DIY installs for small spaces, and Rowan’s web comic taking off in a big way, nobody needed to worry about financial problems anymore.
“This is the best Thanksgiving ever,” Sally said.
The older woman had surprised everyone when she opted to eat here instead of at her daughter’s house. As she put it, “Howard doesn’t have anywhere else to go. I’m lucky because I do, and I’d rather be here. With my found family.”
“That’s what I’ve decided to call my next app,” Eli announced.
Iris reached for his hand under the table, silently showing support. “Just wait until you hear this. I love it.”
“Stop bragging that you get early access to his brain,” Henry Dale said. “Just because you’re ‘in love.’”
Sally laughed. “Quit complaining and let Eli talk. It’s like Iris stole your boyfriend or something.”
“He talked to me more before they got together,” Henry Dale grumbled. “Now it’s like he never needs my advice.”
“I need your advice,” Rowan put in. “I have four ideas for my next web comic, but I’m not sure which one to pursue.”
The old man smiled. “I’d be honored to be your sounding board.”
Liz waved a fork, nearly dashing some cranberry sauce on Mira’s plate. The two shared a look, and then Liz dropped her gaze, gently abashed. Iris didn’t think she was imagining the sparks there. Then Liz pulled her rapt attention away from Mira’s pretty eyes and said, “Seriously, I want to hear what Eli was about to say. The app!”
Sally and Mira and Rowan took up the chant. “App! App! App!”
What the hell. Iris joined in. “App!”
“You realize you’re just delaying his news further,” Henry Dale grumbled.
“Anyway,” Eli cut in. “Since I had a tough time getting in touch with my mother’s side of the family on socials, I thought, What if I made an app for people who have lost contact with their families? But then I went a step further. What about people who don’t have family to begin with? And the idea was born.”
“I could use some clarification,” Sally said with a confused expression.
“Same,” Mira admitted.
“Okay, so on one side of the service, people can input data on themselves, looking for people who are similar. When you move to a new city, it can be tough to find a new group that you click with. On the other side of the service, users can literally look for family members they’ve lost contact with. I’m calling it…”
Rowan did a drumroll on the tabletop. “Wait for it!”
“Found Family,” Eli finished.
“It’s perfect,” Liz said. “Dual purpose.”
“That’s what I thought.” Eli was definitely pleased with Liz’s feedback, and Iris leaned over to kiss his cheek.
“I agree. I’d use it,” Sally added. “I mean, honestly, I don’t need it now that I found all of you. And Ethel. But…”
“He gets your intent,” Rowan reassured her.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Henry Dale said, like the compliment pained him.
“Who wants pie?” Mira asked.
Iris groaned. She wanted some, but there was no room in her belly. “I think I need an hour or so. Let’s stream something while we digest.”
Eli gently took her hand, drawing her attention. “I thought you might like to fly?”
Oh. My. God.
“Cancel that,” she said at once. “I’m going out with Eli.”
“In the car or on the wing?” Rowan wanted to know.
“Wing,” Eli called over his shoulder, already hustling Iris toward the stairs.
“We’ll be back soon!”
The others continued to talk amongst themselves. As Iris raced up the stairs behind Eli, she definitely heard Liz flirting with Mira. “I ship those two so hard,” she whispered as they went into Eli’s room.
“Liz and Mira? When she first got here, she said Mira was gorgeous—in the web comic—but I had no idea she actually planned to go for it in real life.”
“Right? I so admire her drive.”
Eli grinned. “What can I say? Liz wants what she wants.”
“It was nice of you to let her stay in your rental.” These days, Eli was back in his old room, letting Liz make use of the apartment while she was here.
“That just made sense. I hope she moves like she’s been talking about,” he added.
Iris gave him a sultry smile. It felt like foreplay when they slowly stripped, but instead of tumbling to the bed, they swooped out the open window. She couldn’t understand his hawkish cries in this form—maybe if she was a natural shifter and not fae, she could—but it didn’t matter. The joy in his wild dips and swoops told the whole story. Eli was alive for the first time, sharing everything with her as she shared everything with him. He’d never been up here with anyone before, and he said it was the biggest gift she could’ve given him.
And for Iris, it was more than enough, knowing nobody else could make him happier, as that was all she wanted in the world. She still didn’t talk to her old “family” apart from Olive and Dad; like Rowan, she was happier having purged them from her life.