Death and Relaxation (Ordinary Magic #1)(94)
“And don’t forget a fistfight in a bar with Cooper. Seriously, what were you thinking?”
“That he was a jerk and annoying the crap out of me.”
“Funny how you used to date that.”
“He didn’t used to be that annoying.”
She took another drink and made a so-so motion with her hand. “He did sort of roll into town out of the blue and mess up your life.”
“Apparently men like to do that to me.”
She was quiet for a minute. “Do you still love him?”
“Cooper?”
She just shook her head, her eyes holding mine.
“Ryder?” I asked.
Yes. I shoved that faint thought firmly away. “No. That’s done.”
Liar, my heart whispered.
“What about Cooper?”
“Cooper is different. He’s…” Not Ryder. “Different.”
“Okay,” she said after a long moment of silence. “So let’s narrow it down. Cooper came back right before Heim died. If the power calls to its own, maybe it was calling him.”
“Lots of people come and go in town…” My voice faded as I remembered a conversation I’d had with Cooper. “Cooper said he thought he’d left something here. Left something in Ordinary even though he doesn’t like this town. He came back looking for it. I thought he meant me, us, what we had…”
“But what if it was the power?” Jean sounded excited. “The power inside you, calling him.”
Everything in me went cold and still. Even my brain. Even the song of power in my head.
Yes.
“Delaney?” Jean uncrossed her legs and pushed up out of the chair. “Are you hurting? Are you breathing?” She cupped my cheek, her dark blue eyes wide and worried. “Breathe.”
“Cooper.” I exhaled.
“Keep breathing,” she said.
“What if it is Cooper? What if he is the mortal I’m looking for?”
“I just asked you that.” She paused, studying my face. “Do you think he is?”
“Check me out of the hospital. We’ll find Cooper and I’ll talk to him about it. See if he wants it. God power has to be accepted. You can’t force anyone to take up that kind of burden. Things go really wrong really fast if you try to.”
“Has someone tried to force it on someone in the past?”
“Didn’t you ever listen to anything Dad told us?”
She crinkled her nose. “You were going to take over his job, and Myra’s serious enough about this stuff for all three of us. I figured if there was something I should know, you’d fill me in on it.”
“Yes. Someone tried forcing a god power on a mortal who had refused it, and it went very, very bad, very, very fast.”
“How bad?”
“Bubonic plague bad. As in, it started the plague.”
She sucked air in through her teeth. “Well, let’s not do that. So you need to talk to Cooper, right?”
“First I need out of the hospital. Then I need to talk to Cooper.”
“You’re staying here overnight.”
I whined.
“Delaney,” she said sternly. “You were shot. Then you got in a bar fight. Then you wrestled a suspect who ripped your stitches and added bruises to your bruises. You’re staying in the hospital until tomorrow morning. And it will only be Sunday. Plenty of time to find Cooper and give him the god power.”
“Unless it’s not his.”
“It will be a good place to start, and you’ll still have two days left if it isn’t.”
“Or maybe it is his and he’ll turn it down anyway.”
“You really think Cooper Clark, a man with an ego the size of Jupiter, would turn down the chance to be a god?”
“It’s not just a power. It’s a commitment. Heimdall was the god who was supposed to sound the alarm on Ragnarok. He is the ever-vigilant, eyes-on-the-horizon, doing-good-for-his-brethren kind of god. His power is about waiting patiently, and being there when someone needs him. Cooper’s more of a cut-and-run kind of guy.”
She frowned. I wasn’t wrong.
“If anyone could talk him into it, it would be you.”
“I’m not so sure about that. I did hit him in the face.”
“You should be ashamed of yourself. Not calling me first so I could watch.”
I shook my head and smiled. “Did anyone tell Chris about Margot?”
Her smile slipped and she glanced at the floor then back at me. “You don’t need to worry about that right now, Delaney.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘no,’ then? You should tell him, or have Myra do it. He needs to know. Heim was his friend and he was dating Margot, or really, she was using him to get access to Heim. He’ll need someone to tell him it’s not his fault.”
“We’ll make sure he knows.” She patted my arm. “Stop working, would you? Get some sleep.”
I didn’t want to. But it had been a long day and I’d used up my reserves. “You don’t have to stay.”
She chuckled. “We tried that once, remember? You’re a flight risk.” She arranged my blanket to cover my feet more evenly then patted my leg. “I’ll be over here if you need anything.”