by M. J. O'Shea
“Listen, Gray. I’m home for a while.”
“A Couple of weeks?” He asked.
“No. A while.” She looked down at her hands that were cradled in her lap. “My agency dropped me. I’m here for the foreseeable future. I’m really sorry how we left things. I thought maybe you and I could try again. I think I might have grown up a bit. Gotten my priorities straight.”
Gray had that flash, the moment where he saw his and Caroline’s Martha Stewart existence, the one that he’d always pictured. But he didn’t want that picture anymore. Not even if he was her first choice, rather than a consolation prize for failure in New York.
When Gray pictured his future he saw Arlo in it, and their fluffy little cat and his friends and real love. He wasn’t giving that up for anything. One immature dream of cookie-cutter perfection didn’t even come close to comparing. It was nice to know that even with that choice, he still wanted to take the right road.
“I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you in the city,” he said.
“It’s sort of a relief to be here.” Caroline’s hopeful look had grown. Gray realized that she probably had just read that as a yes, rather than the no hard feelings it was meant to be.
“Hopefully you and I can be friends again.” Caroline was about to speak but Gray lifted up his hand. “That’s all we can be.” He pointed at the ground. “Those aren’t my boots. You had to have noticed them.”
She looked down at them and bit her lip. “I guess I didn’t want to.”
Gray shook his head. “You don’t want me. There never really was anything between us other than comfort and convenience. I want you to have what I have someday. I want you to fall in love. That was never going to happen between us.”
Caroline looked at the shoes again. They were big and masculine and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What’s going on here Gray?”
“I’m surprised nobody in town has told you. I’m… gay.” Gray thought he’d be terrified to say the actual word out loud. He wasn’t scared, though. He was kind of proud actually. “I have a boyfriend. His name is Arlo. He runs the bakery right off the main square. I’ve never felt like this in my whole life. He’s it for me. You and I were never going to be like that.”
Like he’d somehow heard his name, Arlo wandered sleepily down the stairs with Clementine in his arms. “Babe? Did I hear the door or did I dream it?”
Caroline all of a sudden looked very uncomfortable. “Stay,” Gray said. “I think we could all be friends.”
Caroline stood woodenly. “I don’t know if I can do that right now.”
Gray didn’t understand. They hadn’t been in love. Not ever as far as he was concerned and certainly not for a long time. Maybe it was just harder for her to let go of her safety net.
“It’s an old friend,” Gray said. “This is Caroline. We went to school together.”
Caroline bit her lip and walked toward the landing. Gray rushed to follow her. He didn’t want to leave Arlo standing at the bottom of the stairs in the entryway with her. The regret and awkwardness was thick in the air. Arlo wasn’t Sofia but it had to be blindingly obvious what was going on.
I can’t believe I ever thought I was going to marry her.
“Hi. I’m Arlo.” His dark mop was mussed from a very short nap and he looked soft and sexy and edible. Even more, he smelled like heaven – like tea and vanilla mixed with love and a touch of sex. Gray tore his eyes away with considerable effort.
“Hi. Nice to meet you.”
Arlo gave Caroline one of his signature sweet open smiles. He’d be friends with the whole world if the world would let him.
Gray had to give her credit. She shook Arlo’s hand and gave him a genuine smile in return. Perhaps she was right, though. Friendship wasn’t in the cards for them just yet.
“I’ll see you around?” Gray asked.
Caroline nodded and gave him a different kind of smile. Gray noticed that it looked tight and her eyes were glossy and a bit afraid. She was probably scared. He could be sympathetic even if he couldn’t make it his problem.
“I’ll see you around,” she said.
Gray closed the door behind Caroline and nuzzled his face into Arlo’s neck.
“Old girlfriend?” Arlo asked.
“That obvious?” Gray countered.
“Yeah. She wanted you back.”
“Not really. She wants stability and she thought I was the way to get it. Caroline and I weren’t ever going to be real. Even if I’d never met you. We were just a façade.”
“You still want to take a nap?” Arlo asked.
“Yeah. Screw the papers. They can get done tomorrow.”
“Look, Arlo, it’s snowing,” Gray said when they’d wandered down to the kitchen after their nap. He opened the back door for a moment to watch the flakes hit the ground. It wasn’t sticking yet, but Arlo thought it probably would soon.
He walked up behind Gray and wrapped his arms around Gray’s waist. “It’s beautiful. I haven’t seen much snow,” Arlo said. He closed his eyes, gathered all of his happiness in and concentrated. He heard Gray gasp. “Did it work? Frankie was trying to teach me when we were home but rain and snow aren’t the same.”
Arlo opened his eyes and saw just the last bit of the swirling sparkling pattern before it fell apart and went back to regular snowflakes.
“What was that?” Gray asked. “You made a heart in the snowflakes. How?”
“Just a little trick Frankie taught me. I doubt I’ll ever be able to do anything serious.”
“You never know. Hasn’t Frankie gotten a lot more powerful?”
“Yeah. Since he bonded.”
“See. You’re just a few years behind him.”
Arlo chuckled into Gray’s neck. “Look at you discussing witchcraft like it’s no big deal.”
Gray shrugged. “Technically you’re not even human. If there’s something to freak out about, that’s it.”
“Half fairy.” Arlo nipped Gray’s neck. “But we are. It’s just a different kind of human. You know that.”
“I just like to give you shit about it.”
A little less than two months ago he’d been running away from it. Joking was… amazing.
“You want to see if the boys and McKenna want dinner? The lasagna is huge. I used L’Osteria’s recipe and it’s amazing.”
“Frankie’s place?”
“Of course.”
Gray looked out the window. “You think they’ll feel like tromping around in the snow?”
The answer was yes. They did. And so did McKenna who happened to be at the pub with Sawyer, Leo, and Jake. Twenty minutes later, Gray’s living room was filled to the brim with loud chatter and laughter. Arlo was in the kitchen with Clementine pulling the lasagna out of the oven.
“Baby. Are you done in there?”
Oh my god. It hit Arlo hard. It was that moment – the snow, Gray’s voice, the warmth and the family. It had happened. He’d thought that the dream might have been far in the future, or just a hint of a place he was supposed to find, but it was right then. He was in it.
“Arlo? Babe? Let me help you. It’ll be bedtime before that thing is ready to eat.” Gray chuckled.
Again. Arlo’s hand shook and he put the heavy lasagna tray onto the stovetop before he burnt himself.
“No, no, it’s done,” Arlo said.
Gray poked his head around the doorway. “Do you want help with the garlic bread and salad?”
“Sure.” Arlo leaned way over and kissed him. He was still reeling. “Thanks, babe.”
“Hey,” Gray said.
“Yeah?”
“I love you. You okay?”
“I couldn’t be more perfect.”
It had been nearly a year since he came to Baxter Hollow and Arlo had no intentions of leaving, except for an adventure with Gray every so often. He was happy for once. Bone deep happy.
The night was balmy and soft with late summer warmth. Arlo knew the crisp chill of Autu
mn would come soon and along with it the festival and fallen leaves and the smell of apples. He’d already begun planning new treats for the café. It was the first time, he’d seen the same season in one town two years in a row since he’d left Louisiana behind.
Their whole group was gathered in Gray’s tiny, but picturesque back yard. Sawyer, Sofia, Jake, Leo, even McKenna and Fallon were sitting on a bench chatting with Sofia. Arlo hadn’t ever expected to find perfect, but he had. As much perfection as real life could bring anyway.
Gray came up behind him and wrapped his arms around Arlo’s shoulders. “Are you going to go get the cake?” He murmured. Gray kissed Arlo’s neck and ran his hands down his chest lightly.
“Seriously, man. Enough already,” Sawyer grumbled. Since he’d been the first one to tell them how happy he was they’d gotten together, Arlo didn’t take him very seriously. Still he wriggled out of Gray’s embrace and headed in towards the kitchen. It wasn’t his yet, but it would be soon. Gray had asked him to move in. Arlo thought there might be another question coming soon.
“I’ll be right back,” he told everyone.
In the kitchen, that housed more and more of his cooking gadgets by the week, he pulled out his special guava and passion fruit cake from where he’d been hiding it from curious fingers. Arlo closed his eyes and infused the cake with happiness and the last drops of summer and fireflies and wonder. Then he grabbed a cake knife and a big spatula to dish out the slices, and headed back outside.
“That looks amazing,” Leo breathed. Jake wrapped his arm around Leo’s shoulders and kissed his cheek. He’d opened up so much during the past months, but there was still a bit of hesitance there, like he wasn’t sure if he really got to have his new life. Arlo had to admit he understood.
“Thanks, man,” Arlo said.
“I’ll cut it,” McKenna offered. She hopped up and took the knife and spatula from Arlo’s hands. He didn’t mind so he just flopped back into his spot next to Gray where he belonged.
And then something happened that had never happened to Arlo before. When McKenna cut into the cake, glittery little spots flew up into the air, like the warmth and the fireflies he’d put in the cake moments before. They danced around for a moment and then shimmered into nothing. McKenna stared at Arlo and then at the cake, obviously at a loss for what she was supposed to say. Sofia stared at him too. Arlo expected Gray to freak out but he simply laughed and looked at his friends’ shocked faces. McKenna took another cut of the cake and it happened again.
“It’s amazing, Arlo,” she breathed.
“What the hell is that?” Sawyer said, staring. He froze in place while the drops of liquid light swirled around him.
Gray rubbed a soft hand on Arlo’s lower back and grinned. “Boys,” he said. “We have something to tell you.”
About MJ O’Shea
MJ O’Shea has never met a music festival, paintbrush, or
flower crown she can stay away from. She loves rainstorms
and a perfect cup of tea, beach days, music, bright colors, and
more than anything a cozy evening with a really great book.
She is from the Pacific Northwest. While she still lives there
and loves it, MJ has the heart of a wanderer. So she puts all
her dreams of far off places and extraordinary people in her
books.
Except for every once in a while when she does what all
travelers have to do on occasion… come home.
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Other Books By MJ O’Shea
A Little Bite of Magic
In a family full of powerful witches, Frankie Vallerand is the black sheep. He doesn’t care about honing his magic. All he wants is to open up a restaurant and spend his days serving up delicious food. But when he sees a customer crying and wishes for her to be happy, he inadvertently transforms his old wooden soup spoon into a wand, and realizes that maybe a little bit of kitchen magic is just what his customers need.
Addison Allbright is The Phantom Foodie, an anonymous food critic notorious for his scathing reviews. For most people, being paid to eat would be a dream job. Not for Addison. He doesn’t care for overpriced designer food. He’s a tea and toast kind of guy. Until both the food and the owner of L’Osteria Di Pomodoro sweep him off his feet and throw his neat, orderly life completely off-kilter.
Frankie isn’t sure how to tell Addison he’s a witch, or that he charmed Addison’s food the night they first met, without sounding totally crazy. But little does he know that Addison has secrets too. Not only did he snark Frankie’s restaurant in his last review column, he’s also engaged to be married...to a woman.
Find A Little Bite of magic here!
Pawsitively In Love
What Austin Lloyd lacks in academics, he makes up for in his love of the animals who frequent his pet salon. He’s not lucky in romance, though, and his family would like him to settle down with a good man. Austin—and his golden retriever, Maggie—couldn’t agree more.
Evan Partridge isn’t good at letting people in. His messy family life and the past that’s shaped him aren’t worth bringing up. But his pug, Dexter, sure likes the pet salon owner.
Austin and Evan get off to a rough start, but being friends soon turns into something more. Unfortunately, Evan’s secretive behavior nearly does the relationship in, and the budding love affair almost crashes and burns when Evan’s troubled sister shows up on his doorstep.
Not speaking to each other is killing them both, but Evan doesn’t know how to keep Austin and help his sister at the same time. He just knows he has to try. Winning back Austin’s trust back, however, is going to take a whole lot of work.
Find Pawsitively in Love here
Blood Moon
Zack met his best friend, Noah, at Harper Lake when they were five years old. Summer after summer, his feelings grew, but he assumed Noah didn’t feel the same. But one night when they were seventeen, Zack kissed Noah... and Noah kissed him back. Zack was sure he did. But the next morning, Noah put an end to their friendship and walked away, leaving Zack with a broken heart.
A year has passed, and Zack goes back to the lake—where every leaf, rock, and turn in the road remind him of the biggest mistake he ever made. He hates thinking about what he lost, and more than anything he wants his best friend back. He figures it’ll be the longest summer ever. But then Noah shows up out of the blue, apologetic and more gorgeous than ever. Noah is sweet and attentive, and Zack can almost believe nothing had ever gone wrong. But there’s something different about his old friend, something not quite right. Zack doesn’t want to ruin the fragile new bond between them, but he has to know... What secret is Noah hiding?
Find Blood Moon here!
Loveblood
Max Appleton and his mother Celia are on the run, hiding from an abusive father and husband who’s also a notoriously bad pack leader. When Max hit puberty and it became obvious he’d never make an alpha wolf, his father turned the brunt of his anger toward his inferior son and his beta wolf wife for producing him. Max and Celia find sanctuary in a garden cottage at Holly Court, the sprawling estate where Celia’s oldest friend lives with her pack alpha husband, three daughters, and teenaged son Jonah.
Jonah Spellman has what seems like the perfect life. His family is close, his dad is respected by their whole pack, and he’s been groomed to take over for as long as he can remember. Everything is set, his whole life planned, and Jonah works hard to be exactly what everyone expects. He’s under enough pressure without a runaway from a bad pack complicating his life.
When two teenaged werewolves from very different worlds meet one snowy January day, both of their worlds get turned inside out. From the moment they meet, nothing will be the same for Jonah or Max ever again.
Find Loveblood here!
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M J O'Shea, A Little Taste of Magic