Like I’d ever let him.
“Hey, Delaney.” Myra stepped out and pushed Brown to one side so she could give me a brief hug.
The scowl on Brown’s face made me feel better immediately, though her sudden affection toward me was a little concerning. “You just saw me less than an hour ago. I’m okay, Mymy. Still okay.”
Myra stepped back, her lined blue eyes light under the short blunt bang haircut which gave her that amazing rock-a-billy vibe. “Are you?”
“I was gone for an hour. For sunlight. And popcorn. With Jean.”
“You looked pretty rough when you left. I told Jean I thought you needed more sleep, not popcorn.” She didn’t say it with any heat, just concern, but there was no way I was going to let her mother me.
“Stop worrying. And stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” A crease pressed between her eyebrows.
“Like you’re worried.”
“I am worried. And if you aren’t then I’m even more worried.”
“Look! Popcorn!” Jean shoved at my shoulders, forcing me up the last few steps, and then corralled both Myra and me toward the house.
Brown was inside my living room, handsoming all over the place. “What kind of popcorn?”
Jean tossed both bags at him. “Sweet and salt. How goes the install, Brown boy?”
“Just about done.” He turned the bags in his long, weirdly graceful fingers, but didn’t help himself to the contents. Elves were strange about permissions and food. That kind of hesitance didn’t seem to transfer to anything else though, like personal property, cars, safety deposit boxes, jewelry, or the town whale fountain. And seriously, did he have to leave it on the roof of the adult shop?
Elves were born to thieve and cause trouble.
Or maybe that was just Brown. We’d had a few other elves in town over the years. They all seemed to have an over-developed wanderlust and never stayed inside city limits for long. I’d wondered why Brown had settled here. But the more I got to know him, the more I was beginning to suspect it was because he delighted in annoying me.
“What installation? Locks?” I glanced at the door, which didn’t seem all that different than when I had left it.
There was, however, a discreet box mounted on the wall beside the door with a muted gray digital display.
“Yes,” Brown said. “But not just locks.” He carried the bags of popcorn to the coffee table and set them down there before dusting his hands on the back of his slacks. “So, let me walk you through this.”
“I blame you,” I said to Myra.
“Don’t care.”
That was better. I liked that she wasn’t looking at me like I might crumple at the first stir of a breeze.
“You refuse to lock the damn thing, so we decided to take that decision away from you.”
“I can lock a door.”
“Could have fooled us.” Jean dropped down in one of the chairs and propped her high tops on the edge of the coffee table, away from the popcorn. “Carry on, my good man.”
Brown gave her a double-dimple-dip and she winked at him.
“We wanted something simple but effective,” Brown said. “Myra explained that you’re not going to key in codes to disarm alarms or anything else complicated, so I made this as straightforward as possible.”
“A key is straightforward.”
“Exactly.” He handed me a key ring. On it was a slim white plastic square. “Think of this as your key. It’s digital. When you’re right in front of the door, it will automatically unlock. When you are any distance from the door, it will automatically lock. Are you following me so far?”
“Right down to jail, if needed.”
