“Jennifer’s still in makeup,” Luna told him. “She’s excited to see you.”
“Jen’s a firecracker,” Arthur said, another thing his publicist had supplied. “I’ve really been enjoying our shoot.”
Unlike many things his publicist had him say, both of these statements were true. Jenwasa firecracker—fun, impulsive, and loud. She was human and a few years younger than him, and the more time he spent with her, the more he got the feeling she’d like to be more than costars. But that was a thought for another day. He didn’t like getting involved with his costars until they finished filming. That way they weren’t stuck together five days a week if something went sideways. He’d learnedthatthe hard way.
“So,” he said. “You’re the girl who revitalized the town.”
Luna shrugged happily. “I just showed them what was already there. Claw Haven did the rest.”
Arthur doubted it. The town’s abrupt shift from boring snooze fest to cute, cozy monster town didn’t happen by accident. He’d only seen one street, but he could tell how different it was. Whatever Luna had done, she might’ve actually turned it into someplace worthwhile. For a visit, anyway.
“Where are you from?” he asked. “You sound like an LA woman.”
Luna curtsied. “Born and raised!”
“And you livehere? Voluntarily?”
Luna laughed. “What can I say? It has its charm.”
“Now, maybe.” Arthur looked out the café’s frosted windows at the bustling street, which was more crowded than he’d ever seen it. “I couldn’t do it. I’d miss the city too much.”
“I miss it sometimes,” Luna said easily. “But I got so attached to this place. It’s small, it’s close-knit—everybody knows you.”
“For better or worse.”
“Just gotta make sure it’s for the better.” Luna smiled again, soft and warm. She wasn’t looking at him anymore—she was staring into the distance, twisting her wedding ring around her finger.
All at once, Arthur understood. She’d moved here for a guy. Some poor schmuck that Arthur probably knew from high school. And in her boredom, Luna had decided to do something to make this town worth living in. Not bad work. Now she just needed to make Claw Haven a hundred times bigger and move it somewhere warm. He hoped the guy wasn’t too upset when she gave up on this place and moved to brighter pastures.
A personal assistant came by with a wonky headset and the glazed look of someone who had been awake for far too long.
“Coffee orders?” the PA asked, a pen poised over a raggedy notebook.
“Just a latte,” Luna said breezily.
“Same for me,” Arthur said. He had a usual coffee order that included caramel shots and two kinds of milk, but he was trying to be gracious. He didn’t want to confuse these small-town baristas.
Somebody laughed. Arthur turned to see a young minotaur woman and a human woman come in from the back rooms, both of them dressed in white shirts and aprons.
“Still weird that we’re sending them off to get coffee,” the minotaur woman was saying. “We have a coffee machine right…”
She trailed off. Her eyes went wide on Arthur, who beamed.Therewas the starstruck look he was waiting for. Except the longer he looked, the less sure he was that her furry face was starstruck. She looked…concerned?
The human, however, gasped. “Oh, my god! That’s Arthur Pineclaw! Daisy, wasn’t I literallyjustsaying how cool it would be if it was him?”
“Yeah,” Daisy said slowly, her soft nose twitching. “So…cool.”
Luna gestured at them. “Arthur! This is Daisy and Hazel. They’re a couple of the staff, and they’ll be extras during the café scenes.”
Arthur waved. He didn’t recognize either of them. They both looked younger; they might have been in middle school when he was in high school. Or maybe they had moved here since he left—apparently, Claw Haven was the place to be nowadays. According to Rusty, they’d had more people move here in the last few years than in the entire time his parents lived here.
“You look surprised,” he told them. “Didn’t Luna tell you it was me?”
Both girls shook their heads.
“Rusty wanted it to be a surprise,” Luna said brightly.
The minotaur still looked worried, which Arthur was determinedly not taking as a bad omen. Maybe she just got really anxious around movie stars. She’d probably never met one before. Nobody important stopped in Claw Haven—at least not while he was growing up.
