by Bria Quinlan
“Great, and what’s your mom’s name?” she asked, as if this were a normal part of the shopping experience.
I told her and answered some basic questions before letting Topaz start leading me around. Glancing around, I was surprised to see how many things I’d wear myself, but Topaz gravitated away from those, naturally. She seemed to understand from just my short answers what wouldn’t work.
“Crystal…Crystal…” Topaz walked the floor, glancing from display to display, whispering Crystal’s name as if a piece would jump out at her. Her hand passed and then stalled over a display before she said, “Crystal?”
I glanced down at the chunky necklace she’d paused over. It was a gorgeous piece of aquamarine. I was in love with it immediately. But it didn’t feel like a home run for a gift.
“Maybe,” I said, glancing around and wondering what else they had.
Topaz took the necklace off its display neckline and placed it on the little velvet tray she had. She continued around the store, nearly whispering to the jewelry. I had the oddest idea that she was actually talking to the jewelry, making the stones whisper back. I glanced at displays we passed, and nothing seemed to fit what I wanted, so I followed along after Topaz, waiting until I saw a piece that shouted Crystal or until Topaz showed me something else.
We made another loop around the store with me trailing behind, seeing things that were maybes—like the necklace she had in hand, close but not quite it. She kept chattering to me and to the jewelry and asking questions about my mom.
Is she neat, whimsical, serious, successful, does she like what she does, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
After a moment, she stopped at another display, one busy with loud colors and metal work that felt like it passed slightly into gaudy. I was about to tell her there was nothing there that Crystal would like, when she picked up a delicate butterfly in silver with small accent stones in different colors on the wings that was all but hidden by the louder pieces.
Topaz smiled down at it as if she’d been looking for it the entire time. “There you are.”
She leaned down as if truly listening to it, and whispered, “Crystal?”
After a moment, as if she got the answer she wanted, she held it out to me. “What do you think of this?”
She laid the fine, delicate piece of work in my hand, and I fell in love. I could picture the piece in one of Crystal’s flowy scarves or pinned to one of her minimalist tops—it would match or counter whatever she had. It had a quiet strength to it that belied its beauty.
“Yes.” The word slipped out as I stood there, admiring the fine workmanship, before I remembered to ask about the price. “Oh, I’m not sure this is in my budget.”
“Oh, I’m sure it is,” Topaz smiled and walked me to the register in a bit of a shopping daze.
As she was pulling out a book to find a price, the bell over the door rang, and Calla breezed in.
“Hey! Chalice saw Gus out on the sidewalk with your Clark Kent, and I had to come in and see what you were buying.” She rushed over to the counter, and it was as if we’d been friends forever the way she oohed and ahhed over my potential purchase. “Topaz always finds the perfect gift.”
I refrained from saying the perfect gift would have the perfect price, because I was really hoping that it would work out.
“You’re still out and about?” I asked, since Tim and I had been in town for about two hours now.
“Oh, no.” Calla grinned as she picked up piece after piece on the counter, smiling at each. “Chalice and I went to my mother’s, and we were just walking home now. But…jewelry, am I right?”
“Wait, where’s Chalice?” I asked, suddenly wondering about the worst possible scenario.
“She’s hanging out with Gus and your guy.”
“Not my guy… Also, maybe not the best plan.” I thought of Tim and his week of sleeping on the floor “Just in case.”
“Pfft. A guy like that can’t be anything but reliable.” She held up a dragon breathing rubies. “What do you think of this?”
“It’s stunning, “I said as I turned to try to peer at the window at where I’d left Tim adjusting the stroller so Gus wasn’t looking into the sun or breathing in fumes directly from the road or any other potentially hazardous situation.
He was shifting both babies so they could see each other, but neither was in direct sunlight.
Calla glanced out the window and laughed. “He’s worse than the vampire parents!”
I grinned, laughing at the comparison. I’d never heard the phrase before, but the sun was a killer these days now.
“Okay!” Topaz popped back up from behind the counter with a little book. “Oh, hey, Calla. Looking for a gift?”
“Nope, saw Minx and had to find out what she was getting.” She looked at the butterfly in an equally delicate velvet-lined box where Topaz had placed it back on the counter. “Oh, are you getting this? I’ve been in love with it forever, but Topaz said it wasn’t for me.”
“It’s not.” She grinned and pushed the dragon a bit closer. “The dragon, though…”
“Is that why it’s sitting out?” Calla laughed and pinned it to her shirt. “Chalice would have this in her mouth in under four seconds.”
I nodded along, knowing that babies and jewelry were like opposite ends of a magnet.
As Calla tried on piece after piece, Topaz named a price for the butterfly that seemed absurd, and absolutely the number that I’d had in mind when I’d come in the store.
“Seriously?” I figured there must be some mistake. “Do you want to check again?”
“Nope. That’s the price. Right there in the book.” Topaz started wrapping up the gift, closing the box and putting a ribbon artistically around each corner.
In a daze, I handed her my card and waited for her to charge the gift.
“Don’t worry.” Calla patted my arm and grinned. “Everyone feels this way the first time Topaz finds them something. Just go with it.”
There was no way I was not going to go with it. Especially considering I’d just gotten a piece of art at an insanely good price and knowing that the average piece of jewelry is marked up 300 percent.
“Thank you so much.” I grabbed the purple bag with its bright pink bow and held it as if I feared she’d take it back. “I thought I’d just run in and come back later, since the guys are waiting outside.”
Calla waved a hand absently toward the window. “I’m sure they’re fine.”
I wish I were as sure.
But, when we got outside, Tim and the babies had company.
“Oh, geez. That’s Jez. We don’t want her anywhere near your Clark Kent…or the kids, of course.” Calla rushed forward, swooping in as I tried not to growl at the woman. “Jez, so nice to see you. And look, you’re surrounded by our adorableness.”
I followed Calla, smiling as she rushed forward. Apparently, I’d landed the right friend when I’d arrived in town.
“Hey, guys,” I said as I approached them behind Calla. “What’s going on?”
Tim had picked up Gus and was holding him close, slightly turned away from the woman’s hand, which was on his arm.
Tim’s arm, not Gus’s.
Gus’s I might have been okay with.
I swallowed a second growl, completely surprised at my reaction even though it was becoming more and more evident I was a wee bit possessive of my new boss.
“We’re just hanging. Gus wanted up.” Tim looked defiant, as if someone was going to tell him he couldn’t hold his nephew.
“Okay. I have his sling packed, if you want to put him in it.” Which would probably just add to the overall adorableness going on.
“No, we’re good. We guys are just hanging out.” Tim smiled down at Gus, and the look of love reflected in the little guy’s eyes almost had me tearing up. “Of course, I’m having to share him with his new girlfriend.”
Calla’s friend Jez giggled, and we all glanced at her—me purposefully dropping my
gaze to glare at her hand.
“I think he meant Chalice,” Calla put in, her voice dry of humor.
“Right.” Jez didn’t sound like she believed this—but I was pretty sure Calla was right.
I glanced down at Chalice and even she seemed to be doing the baby-glare thing at Jez. So, we were all in agreement. That was good. It was one thing to be growly, it was completely another to be backed by your new BFF and two babies.
With a stiff smile, Jez turned and walked away—but not before giving Tim an overly friendly smile and an equally friendly squeeze of his arm.
“That woman.” Calla glared after her like she was going to come back if not watched closely. “The way she prances around, you’d think she was a siren or something. But no, she’s just a normal everyday witch.”
I laughed at Calla’s downplay of a word I wouldn’t want Gus learning too soon.
“Well,” she huffed, before turning back to me and giving me an apologetic smile. “That wasn’t the first impression I’d like you to have of Nocturne Falls.”
“But it wasn’t.” I could feel the grin spreading on my face. I was feeling so happy and welcome and…at home. “You were. And you were perfect.”
“Oh.” She grinned, blushing a little. “Well. That’s nice.”
She stood there smiling for a moment. Because I was getting the idea that Calla thought she was subtle and didn’t have a restrained bone in her body, she glanced at Tim and back before giving me a little wink. “See you tomorrow for our walk!”
And with that, she was gone.
I watched her stroll down the street, waving at people and chatting away with Chalice. It was nice to have plans and a friend. This small-town thing was growing on me even more quickly than I’d anticipated. Except for the women touching Tim part.
“I’m tired of all these women touching Gus.” Tim was pulling a baby wipe out of the package and washing Gus’s hands. “Don’t they know they have unfamiliar germs on them?”
Germs were not my biggest worry. The average human hand had over 300,000 genetically distinct bacteria on them. One healthy adult was not going to kill Gus.
“I can’t leave you alone anywhere without women hitting on you.” I’d meant it to sound like a joke, but I could hear the annoyance in my voice. I was hoping Tim couldn’t.
Although, Gus gave a little giggle, and I’m not sure, but it definitely felt like he winked at me.
I was not in a winking mood.
“The ladies certainly love Gus,” Tim said as he wiped down Gus’s other hand.
Gus immediately stuck them both in his mouth.
“Um, I don’t think it’s Gus the ladies are loving.” I watched Tim pack the wipes away and made a mental note to hide them from him. “Also, I think it’s okay if someone who doesn’t have an obvious illness touches Gus. It helps build up his immune system.”
I made a mental note to double-check the statistics on immune systems and the average baby.
Tim was frowning at the wipes now as if they’d betrayed him. I had to remind myself that he was an insta-father. He didn’t get to go to any of the classes or read the books. His overprotectiveness was endearing but was going to probably kill him and Gus in the long run.
“I don’t see why they all need to stop to say hello to him.” Tim bounced Gus to keep his attention focused as I turned the stroller toward home and headed us back to the house. “It’s not like he can talk back. And they just stay. I get stopping to see him because he’s the best-looking baby around, but okay. You saw his handsomeness, move on.”
I glanced up trying to gauge just how serious he was, figured every new parent thought their baby was the best looking, and just smiled to myself as Tim and Gus checked out each other’s hotness.
We reached the edge of the downtown area and turned to walk up the small hill to the neighborhood, cutely named Asgard’s Gate.
My gaze may have been checking Tim’s hotness out as well, so who was I to judge?
“Maybe it’s not Gus they’re admiring,” I hedged as we walked along, keeping my gaze straight to not meet Tim’s eyes.
“Why else would they be stopping to talk?”
I finally did glance over, a bit surprised that he sounded serious. “You, Tim. They’re stopping to talk to you.”
At this point, I figured there was no need to hide my annoyance since Tim seemed more oblivious than the average man.
“Pffft.” He rocked Gus as he made the sound, raising him over his head and giving Gus a little shake that made him giggle. “No. They’re here to see this guy.”
I just looked at him, the long lines of his body, the sharp angle of his jaw, the hair that I was going to have to cut myself at this rate, the glasses that almost hid gorgeous dark brown eyes, and a smile that made my heart beat faster than pushing twins uphill on a windy day in a twenty-year-old carriage.
He had no idea how appealing he was. Solid, steady, secretly handsome.
The women might have stopped to meet Gus, but I was betting they stayed to woo Tim.
And I was suddenly not okay with that. Job or not. Tim wasn’t going to be sucked in by some baby-using floozy.
I doubted someone as solid as him would want someone as wispy as me, but no matter what, I’d protect him from the baby-floozies of the world while he and Gus were in my care.
The rest of the way home, we chatted. I got to hear about Tim’s day and his commute and how much he missed being able to see Gus. I promised to send him pictures and videos of our day tomorrow.
He asked me about my mom and the gift and the last time I saw her.
It was the nicest afternoon I’d had in a long time.
When we got back to the house, Tim opened the front door with his keys and pulled the stroller inside…and stopped.
“What?” I asked.
He glanced around, as if something seemed odd, then turned to me, a bit of color rushing up his cheeks.
“I…” He handed me Gus and stuck his keys back in his pocket. “Um, I forgot my car.”
It took me a moment to realize what he meant, and then I burst out laughing. I’d been having such a lovely time that I had forgotten his car, too.
“I just was enjoying you guys so much…I mean, enjoying seeing Gus, right. Gus and I haven’t been apart in over a week.” Tim’s gaze dropped to Gus in my arms, then rose to meet mine again. “And you. I really enjoyed seeing you.”
Oh.
Before I could come up with something witty and charming to say, Tim had slipped back out the front door and was headed to town to get his car.
“Your uncle may be more adorable than you, but let’s not tell him that, okay?” Gus patted my cheek in agreement. “Let’s get your stuff all put away and ready for tomorrow’s outing so we can play with Uncle Tim when he gets home.”
Because I knew I was going to need to make the most of every moment I had with him. With both of them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
TIM
It wasn’t like him to be so forgetful.
Tim jogged down the path, glad for the moment. He needed the space, and it was just great to be moving. He’d have to consider when he could start running outdoors again. He should have bought a running stroller. Gus would like the rush of wind. But, he’d kept thinking, Willow would be back any second.
Now all he could think was, Don’t let Willow come back soon.
He’d spent most of the morning at the office in meetings with his teams, trying to get all the stuff that was better handled in person up to speed. But his mind kept slipping back to Nocturne Falls and Gus…and Minx.
His mind definitely kept slipping to Minx.
Her name fit her. She was small but curvy. Her thick chestnut hair was a wave of silk that made him want to tangle his hands in it. And her laugh—every time she laughed, he wanted to just bask.
What a stupid word, but it was true. She was like the sun, and her laughter and smiles and infectious happiness made him want to turn into her warmth whene
ver he was near her.
She was so comforting about all the things he didn’t know about Gus. He could see how funny she thought it was that he was sleeping on the floor of the nursery, but she hadn’t made him feel bad. Just sent him on his way, letting him know she had this under control now.
Of course, he wasn’t sure she was aware of just how sneaky Gus was.
He’d started reading the data on babies, and he understood that the things Gus was pulling off were way out of his capabilities.
It figured that if his nephew was a prodigy, it would be in all things troublemaking.
He’d keep an eye out while Minx got up to speed on that stuff just to make sure.
Keeping an eye on Minx—or, um, for Minx—wouldn’t be a problem.
There was no way she didn’t have to deal with her bosses constantly hitting on her. He’d told her she was safe there with them, and he wasn’t going to cross any lines. But, it was going to be hard. He wasn’t just attracted to her body—although, those compact curves were definitely an attraction—he was attracted to her. He hadn’t wanted to be around a woman this much since he’d been an even skinnier and more awkward college student.
He finally got back to his car in the lot next to the small downtown grocer. It made sense to grab some things while he was here. He headed into the store, completely unsurprised to find the first two rows were Halloween candy. Wandering around, he found the items he’d been looking for.
Minx had asked about tea that morning, and all they had was coffee, so he was going to grab a nice box of tea for her. Only, there were about four million types of tea. Who knew this? What happened to tea or coffee? Period. He struggled over what to get: black, green, white, oolong…the list went on.
In the end, he played it safe, getting five different types and hoping he’d found at least one she’d love.
Then he grabbed some steaks, figuring even he could grill a nice meal. Add a couple baked potatoes in foil, and it would be sweetly rounded out. He was a guy, but he knew women seemed to eat green things—so, salad-in-a-bag it was!
You know what would be good? Brownies. Brownies were always good, and he’d noticed that Minx had sweets at the café when he got there. He wasn’t against getting in on her good side by feeding her sugar habit.