Cornbread & Crossroads

You were someone I wanted to figure out.”
“And have you?” I asked in a quieter tone, a little heat rising in my cheeks.
He leaned back to look me in the eyes. “Not even close. And I’m willing to take as long as possible day by day. Forever,” he whispered, stroking my cheek with a gentle finger. “If you haven’t figured it out by now, then you haven’t been paying attention. I love you, Charli Goodwin.”
His words floated in the air and mingled with the scent of jasmine, swirling around and caressing me with their sweetness. My high heels put me almost at his height, and I lifted my face to accept his heated kiss.
I broke our intimate embrace long enough to say the weighted words back. “I love you, too, Mason.” My lips sealed our mutual declaration, and I lost myself in him for a few precious moments.
Mason broke our contact long before I wanted to, and I whined in protest. Kissing the tip of my nose, he chuckled. “That wasn’t the only thing I had to say tonight, but as per usual, you make me lose my words.” Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out a dark velvet box. “This is actually the reason I needed to come back here.”
My eyes widened, and I backed away from him, a sudden panic seizing me. “I know what we just said to each other, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but it’s way, way too soon for—”
“Relax, Charli. I do know you well enough that giving you something like what you’re thinking about would be a huge mistake at this juncture.” With his thumb, he worked my lip out from under my teeth where I chewed it in worry. “But there is something inside that I hope you’ll be willing to accept.”
Flipping open the small box, Mason revealed a small pendant with a delicate chain nestled inside. “This belonged to Marian. I gave it to her when I graduated from the wardens’ academy as a way to show her she was the moon and stars to me. May I?” he asked with heated anticipation.
I nodded, a little embarrassed at my outburst but thrilled to receive a gift that clearly meant so much to him. Holding my hair out of the way, I felt his nimble fingers slip the necklace around my neck and hook the clasp in the back. Once it was in place, I turned around so he could see it on me, and his eyes shone with pride and love.
I examined the modest pendant in my fingers, already cherishing it. The larger of the two stones gleamed pearl white while the smaller stone sparkled in a darker tone.
“That’s a moonstone with a sapphire above it,” Mason explained, pleased with my acceptance and excitement.
“A moon and star,” I breathed, stroking the larger of the two with my thumb.
He nodded and added in a quieter voice, “Marian liked to say that she was like the moonstone and I was her star.”
Laying the pendant against my skin, I took his hand in mine. “I like that. They both shine in the night sky together.”
His bright smile lit me up on the inside. “I knew you’d get it.” Cradling my cheeks with both hands, he drew me in for a much longer kiss.
The heavy metal door banged open. “Clairmont, you still up here?”
Mason broke away from me in exasperation. “Over here. Is there something I can help you with, Clarkson?” His body tensed against mine but he didn’t release me from his hold, moving his arms to encircle me as if in protection.
A man a little older than Mason navigated around the plants and lights until he approached us. “There you are. You haven’t been answering your phone.”
“Because I’ve been a little busy. This is Charli, by the way. My girlfriend. Charli, this is Detective Jack Clarkson. He’s the one who helped me with the sting at Wanda’s.” The introduction lacked the friendliness I’d grown accustomed to while being here.
The man acknowledged me with a curt nod but kept his eyes on Mason. “Listen, I know I helped you get this all set up for tonight, and I’m truly sorry for interrupting and everything, but we finally got a break.”
My boyfriend loosened his grip on me. “Break in what?”
The other detective huffed, “The Mordecai case.”
The romance of the night deflated with those words. Mason extracted himself from me and took a step away. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not,” Detective Clarkson said. “One of the kids is talking because the werewolf took his younger brother. I said Mordecai’s treachery would be his undoing one of these days. I just didn’t think it would take this long. And since you were one of the primaries on the original case, I thought you might want to jump in.”
Mason barraged the other detective with a bunch of questions until he was satisfied. He ran his fingers through his hair, looking out over the cityscape again. “It would be amazing if we could find him and finally make him pay for all the damage he’s done.”
For the first time, Detective Clarkson glanced around at the rooftop setting, his gaze settling on me. “My deepest apologies. I didn’t mean to crash your date. It’s just…this case was the one that has haunted me and him for a long time.”
Although I tried to settle a sympathetic expression on my face, I couldn’t help the disappointment welling in my stomach. “My brother’s on the force back at home.”
“Trust me, miss, what we’re talking about, I guarantee your small town has never seen the horrors this werewolf has inflicted,” the other detective said.
The slight dismissal of Honeysuckle Hollow broke Mason out of his thoughts. “I wouldn’t be so quick to judge, Clarkson. Listen, I’m gonna need to think about this and discuss it with Charli as well as my boss back home first.”
Mason’s former colleague frowned. “I figured you’d want to jump all over this. Don’t forget he killed several of