I glanced at my sister, who’d stood up and was watching the display with her hand clutched to her chest like it was the most adorable thing ever. I rolled my eyes.
Jeremiah giggled. “You’re funny.”
“I am,” Con agreed, batting his eyelashes at me from across the aisle. “All the smartest people think so. And if you come out right now, I’ll give you a flower to give your mom so she won’t be mad.”
There was no way that line would have worked for me if I’d tried it on any of my nieces, but Jeremiah pulled himself out from under the table happily, like Con was a fucking dinosaur-whisperer, and I amended my earlier opinion.
Constantine charmed children, grumpy old men, anddinosaurs, too.
Unfortunately, as I watched, Jeremiah’s arm bumped the table just enough that one of the ceramic pots of flowers Con had stacked there hit the dirt with acrashand smashed into tiny pieces. It was hard to say who was more horrified, the boy or the mother, but the mother recovered more quickly.
“For goodness’sake, Jeremiah! Look what you’ve done. Do you have the money to pay for this? Hmm? Itold youto stay by me. Come hereright this secondand say you’re sorry.”
Jeremiah’s lip quivered and his eyes filled with tears.
“It’sfine,” Constantine told her. For possibly the first time ever, his trademark grin was gone. “It was an accident. He’s just a kid.”
“I was trying to teach him…”
“Sure. I know. But he feels terrible already,” Constantine interrupted.
I made a motion at Leandra and then down at the bouquets. She nodded and brought one over to the boy.
“Here,” she said. “Give that to your mom, sweetie pie.”
The little boy swiped his nose, grabbed the flowers, and handed them over.
His mother looked from Constantine to me, then took the flowers from Jeremiah with a murmured, “Thank you, baby.” She sighed. “I know it was an accident. Be more careful, okay?”
Behind me, Robert cleared his throat.
Oh. Right.
“Sorry,” I told him. “Got distracted by drama. I was gonna help you find some flowers.”
“No,” he returned. “You were gonna agree to meet me for coffee.” I lifted one eyebrow and he flushed. “At least I hope you are.” He pulled a card from his pocket and set it down on the table. “Call me.” He winked and walked off in the same direction as the little boy and his mother.
But as I watched him walk away, for some reason my eyes were drawn across the aisle to Constantine Ross. And sure enough, the man was hunched over, elbows on his table, watching me again.
“You see what’s happening here, don’t you?” he demanded. It looked like he wastryingto muster a teasing smile but couldn’t quite get there. “Crops dying, children crying?” He gave a pointed look down at the smashed flowerpot next to his table and then in the direction Jeremiah had gone. “Prophecy’s getting a littletooreal. I’m starting to scare myself.”
The little shit looked anything but scared. He looked fucking delighted with himself.
He frowned suddenly. “Do you remember what came next? Something with pigs or…”
I ignored him. I remembered perfectly well, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of thinking I’d been paying attention.
For a second there, with the little boy, I’d thought… But no. Constantine Ross was an idiot, plain and simple.
I became extremely busy tidying the already-tidy box of wrapping supplies on the table at the rear of the tent.
Leandra walked over to stand next to me. She leaned her back against the table and watched me organizing ribbons in rainbow order without saying a word.
After a minute, I let out a breath. “That kid makes me insane.”
“The one who thinks he’s a dinosaur?”
I shot her a look.
