She flopped on her back next to me, Luther and Theo both breathing heavily on either side of us. I hoped it would stay this good forever, the four of us enjoying and exploring until we grew old and died.

I rolled to my side, trailing my fingers down Savannah’s face. Her skin was so smooth to the touch, more freckled from all the time we spent outside. “Where would you like to go, darling? The world is your oyster.”

She smiled, because we both knew this was true. We could go anywhere in the world now, not a single curse or door to stop us. She rested her hand on top of mine, reaching behind her to grab Theo’s hand, and smiling up at Luther. “I think I’d like to go home.”

It was the best goddamn answer I could’ve ever heard leave her lips.

Savannah

I f I had known what awaited me on the other side of the front door on that warm summer day, I would’ve paid a lot more attention to the warning.
I wouldn’t have stepped foot inside.

If I had known this kind of love awaited me, along with the affections of three wonderfully different men, I would’ve leapt inside.

Sometimes what we think are our lowest points turn into our best memories. Curses become blessings, vices become accomplishments. Fear transforms into love, and wants morph into haves. So many small moments create a paint by number canvas you can only see when it’s complete.

We all took things away from our time in the house. Felix might have been the one cursed, but we all changed. Last week, he came home with a document he handed to me without a word. It was blueprints for a new homeless shelter, one he was funding entirely himself. My mouth dropped open. But for him, this was how he needed to atone. It was something he could manage, a job to keep him busy.

The next day, Theo and I took a road trip to his hometown, the first time he had ever visited his parents’ graves. I held his hand as he wept and told his parents exactly what he had been up to since their passing. We didn’t stay long, because he was starting college the next week, and we needed to prepare. The three of us motivating him was enough for him to take the leap and register.