Page 127 of Soft Flannel Hank

After a few minutes, Hank walked toward her with Nat trailing behind him talking to—Callum? He looked different. Esther had only ever seen him in expensive, well-tailored suits. Tonight, he wore jeans and a puffer jacked, his blond hair covered by a wool hat. As Callum approached the fire, Jory gasped. His eyes flicked up to meet hers from across the blaze before he turned his attention to Nat, who handed him a bottle from a special cooler, a bottle which Esther knew contained elk blood that Nat had recently acquired.

Callum took a cautious seat in the lawn chair next to Nat. Jory glared balefully at him, but if he noticed, he didn’t let on. Hank made eye contact with her from across the fire, shrugged, and winked. When she looked back, Esther found Callum staring at her, looking insecure. As if he were waiting for her to tell him to leave.

“Excuse me,” Esther said to Jory and Niamh, who were silent beside her.

She approached Callum and Nat slowly, stopping a few feet away.

“I thought you went back to Georgia.”

“Nay,” Callum replied softly.

“Aren’t you needed at Sanguine?”

“I dinnae think I’m truly needed anywhere, lass. That’s what ye get for hiring competent people.”

“Have you been here the whole time?” Esther asked.

“Aye. Nat’s friend, Magda, has let me use a cabin she owns.”

Magda.

Esther whipped her head around to look at Magda, who was sitting in an Adirondack next to Jamie and laughing. She stuck her tongue out at Esther, and Esther rolled her eyes. Magda had more secrets than the HR Director at Area 51. Esther turned back to Callum.

“So how long will you be in World’s End?” she asked.

He didn’t answer right away, staring across the fire at Jory with a look of pained longing on his face. She was pretending to ignore him and failing completely.

“As long as I need to be,” he replied.

Callum focused back on Esther, his blue eyes bright in the flickering firelight. “Esther, I—” He paused, as if he didn’t know how to continue. “I want to apologize again for scaring ye, for making yer life such hell. Sometimes I… immortality has been… och, it doesnae matter. I forgot myself for a while there. And ye suffered for it. And I’m sorry.”

Esther believed him. She did. And while a part of her wanted to hold onto her anger for what he’d done, she couldn’t. She couldn’t seem to keep that anger in hand; instead, it slipped out between her fingers like water. Because the truth was that she didn’t really want to be angry at him. She didn’t want to be angry at anyone. “You’re forgiven, Callum.”

He nodded, looking relieved. Nat took a long pull from his bottle. Callum did the same. Esther watched their powerful throats bob as they swallowed. But she wasn’t afraid.

Callum wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked back across the fire and Jory, who had turned her back on them and was talking again to Niamh.

“Esther,” Callum asked hesitantly. “Has Jory said anything to ye about—”

“Nope,” Esther replied quickly. “She’s been gone. But even if she had said anything about you, I wouldn’t tell you. No offense.”

“None taken,” he said, huffing a laugh that almost reminded Esther of Hank.

Esther couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer. “What is she to you, Callum?”

He turned his attention back to Esther, his gaze sharp and focused now. “Everything.”

* * *

Hank satin an Adirondack chair in front of the fire. Magda and Jamie had just left. Buck and his kids had gone a while before. Esther walked close, and he grabbed her and pulled her down into his lap. Hawkeye crawled out of his pocket and tucked himself inside her sweater against her heart, where he promptly curled up and went back to sleep. Hank sipped from his beer, and Esther cradled her mug of warm coffee with bourbon cream in her hands.

Nat and Jory were talking animatedly across the fire about surfing, a shared passion that Hank had only just learned of. Niamh sat quietly next to Nat. She was still ghostly pale, her eyes shadowed by deep, purple circles, but she wasn’t crying. She hadn’t been crying when he’d come to pick up the cat either.

Hank had a dozen questions about Niamh, but he’d never ask them. The answers weren’t his business. And besides, if Niamh and Nat were as close as Hank suspected they were, he’d learn all of the answers in due time anyway. Callum sat on the other side of Niamh, his gaze flicking every so often up to Jory. He stared at her with a look of almost ravenous hunger.

Music played softly from the speaker on top of the cooler, and Hank couldn’t ignore the feeling of contentment that washed over him as Esther snuggled back against his chest. This had been good. He’d been surrounded by friends, old and new, and everyone had suggested they make this bonfire a monthly thing. Esther had readily agreed, talking excitedly with Magda about Imbolc. Hank had heard Jory mention something about making bannocks and saw a smile cross Niamh’s face.

A little after midnight, Jory kissed Esther’s cheek and said she’d see her in the morning.