“I love ice cream,” Mathlin whispered.
“The scoop’s in this drawer. Bowl too.” Titan stood by one of his workstations; Mathlin found them easily with his help.
When Mathlin returned to the tub, he struggled with scooping the ice cream; it was too cold. Titan had never anticipated anyone but himself being here; he’d never accounted for someone weaker dealing with his frozen tubs of ice cream.
“Let it sit out for a bit,” he said apologetically. “It’s warm enough that it won’t take long to soften up.”
Mathlin pouted but set down the scoop.
Titan’s phone rang. He turned away to answer it. “Yeah?”
“I left a present for you out front,” Hamilton said, and paused. “Hmm. Maybe I should’ve brought it to your cabin instead.”
“What did you do?” Titan thought about picking up his phone, but his arms... He left it on the counter and headed outside.
Hamilton had shifted into a giant pelican, perched proudly on top of two duffel bags.
“You know I can’t carry that,” Titan said.
“Aww, shucks. Guess I’ll have to do it for you. You owe me! Get that contract straightened out.”
“Will do. Whatisin those bags?”
The pelican grinned. “Mathlin’s things. That’s why you need the contract, because I’m moving his things to your place.”
Titan sighed. “You’re insane. Amazing, but insane.”
“That’s why you love meeeee!”
“I do. Thanks.” With a fond smile, Titan returned to the bakery’s kitchen, only to find Mathlin with a huge mound of ice cream piled into his bowl.
Wait, what?
He hadn’t left Mathlin alone for longer than two minutes. That much ice cream took a while to soften.
Mathlin had his baby tucked under his shirt, and he was furiously working the ice cream in the tub. When Titan stopped next to him, Mathlin jumped.
“What are you doing?” Titan asked, baffled.
Mathlin had smoothed layers of ice cream up the sides of the tub, and he was still hurriedly doing so with the scoop.
Titan glimpsed a smudge of black—a scorch mark?
“Did you set fire to the ice cream?” he asked incredulously. When he sniffed, he caught a hint of smoke in the air.
Mathlin blushed bright red.
Titan peered into the ice cream tub again. This time, he noticed more scorch marks all along the inside of the tub wall, mostly covered up by ice cream. “You don’t have to hide them,” he said. “Put that back in the freezer; we have more important things to take care of.”
“Like what?”
“A contract.” Titan waited for Mathlin to fumble the ice cream back into the freezer. Then he nodded at the office.
Mathlin carried his bowl of ice cream there, licking the towering mound as he walked. Titan had seen nothing like it. He waited for Mathlin to enter the room, then stepped in himself and sat behind the desk. Mathlin glanced around at the mess of papers, shoving a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.
“It’s as though you forgot that offices can be tidy, too,” Mathlin blurted. Titan stared at him. Mathlin froze and turned red again. “Ignore me!”
“I can’t.” Titan snorted. “Right now, I’m going to give you a rundown of what I need. I assume that you’re willing to work for me as a live-in helper.” Mathlin nodded. “I’ll need help with anything I can’t do with my arms. Things like cooking, dressing, showering—”
