Then again, there was the possibility that someone besides Maureen was messing around with the rift, someone with fledgling skills who didn’t really know what they were doing, and was causing more trouble rather than helping. Sort of like the hobby astronomers who drove her mother crazy with oversized telescopes and loud, light-polluting camping equipment that disrupted Susan’s field observations.

Something about the way Siobhan described her kitchen magic was gnawing at the corner of her mind. Siobhan had basically described energy work in her cooking. She’d referenced Dani’s work directly. What if Siobhan had decided to expand her repertoire to “dabbling” at the rift? Dani doubted that the woman who had spent decades soothing the souls of Mystic Bayou with pie would suddenly turn into a rift-ripping supervillain.

Dani sighed, pausing for a breather, as she still couldn’t get through the fern ocean without a fight. Maybe this job was making her too suspicious.

Work worries aside, Dani was enjoying her growing friendships around the Bayou. Her grandad’s situation seemed to have stabilized somewhat, since Trudy had made the initial payments to the creditors. Her father, well, she didn’t want to waste a nice walk through a sunny swamp thinking about Journey and his bullshit.

And then there was Zed.

Zed. Zed. Zed. Zed.

As much as she wanted to deny it, she was in a relationship with the man. A real relationship, with feelings, and expectations. She wasn’t sure when the transition happened, probably when he shared his rubber fish with her, which was a super weird way to mark the beginning of a romance. But that night in his tub was the first time she shared something real with a partner, something from her past. She shared actual intimacy with Zed. And it was freaking her out more than just a little bit.

But even with his demands for her to be open and honest with him, he wasn’t pushing her for a commitment or to tie herself down in the Bayou. And she appreciated that.

If she was going to stay anywhere, with anyone, she could very easily see herself making a life here in the Bayou with someone like Zed—someone who made her laugh and understood her weird quirks because he had plenty of his own. Someone who appreciated the contents of her head as much as he did the contents of her bra. But after making such a big deal about not defining what they had, Dani would have to approach that conversation carefully—because the potential for Zed gloating was pretty epic.