“We need to get you some water,” he says, and I can’t help but frown because our kissing didn’t immediately resume. “And a charcoal pill. Even so, you’re going to feel like ten kinds of hell in the morning.”

“Have I shrunk?” I ask.

“Have you what?” Ash says, and half laughs.

“I feel like I’m two feet tall,” I say, and touch my head to make sure it’s still where it should be. “And my hands feel like flappers.”

“Flappers, eh?” Ash says, grinning. “What exactly are flappers?”

“Flappers. Flippies. Flappippies.” I pause to consider my strange physical predicament, and my lips purse. “Maybe I’m turning into a seal?”

Ash’s laughter takes me by surprise and I almost lose my balance.

“Maybe that wasn’t whisky I was drinking at all. Maybe it was a magical potion and that old man is really a witch?” I say, giving the situation some hard thought.

“Angus isn’t a witch,” he says as though my comment warranted a response.

“Did you think I thought…no…did you thought I think. Shit. You know what I mean,” I say.

Ash’s grin only grows. “No, I really don’t.”

“What’s a witch anyway by a rose’s name that doesn’t smell as sweet,” I say, and hiccup.

“Glad we cleared that up.”

He’s having way too much fun at my expense and I’m not sure I like it. I point at him. I just wish he would stop moving, so I wouldn’t have to sway to see him. “You said you were falling for me.”

“I did,” he says.

“How do you even know something like that? I mean, how are you brave enough to say it?” I grab the couch, which has snuck up behind me.

Ash closes the distance between us and brushes back a wisp of my hair. He puts an arm around my waist to keep me standing. “I’ve always known when things are important. And you, November, are stunning. I don’t just mean that you’re beautiful, which you certainly are. I mean that you radiate kindness and laughter at the same time that you’re besting everyone with your knife skills. You trust people and believe in their goodness, even when everyone around you attacks and betrays you. I’ve never met anyone like you in my life and I would have to be the most foolish person alive not to tell you so.”