“Yes, don’t worry,” she replied. “Ayman came by a little while ago and we had chai together, and before that, Farhan popped by during his lunch break.”
While Luke hated leaving his mother alone at home during the workday, it was only for a few hours. They had all worked out a schedule: his dad left for work around midday, then Farhan would check in during his lunch break, and after that, someone from the neighboring Din family checked in until Luke got home from work. Ayman and Rhea were best friends, and Ayman’s eldest, Basim, was Farhan’s best friend. Ayman’s three daughters also visited often.
“How was your day?” Luke asked. “How’s the knitting going?”
Rhea smiled at that. “I’m almost done with the sweater for Butternut,” she said. “Then they’ll finally be able to match.”
Luke reached down to pet Butternut and Squash with both of his hands, and the twin baby chimeras woke up. At the sight of him, they perked with excitement, jumping onto him. He laughed.
“Hey, guys,” he said, scratching the cubs’ fur coats. Their tiny wings flapped, and they jumped off him, heading for the backdoor. They knew that when Luke was home, so was Sharptooth, their mother.
“Alright, alright,” he said, going to open the door. They ran out, and he watched as they made it to the barn before going back to his mom.
“Do you need anything?” Luke asked.
Rhea shook her head. “Come sit with me,” she said. “I feel like you’ve been very busy this week.”
Releasing a breath, he went and sat beside her on the couch, sinking into the cushions. “I’m sorry,” he said. “There’s a new project I’m working on.”
“Oh? What is it?”
He had been coming home late the last few days and hadn’t spoken to her properly. He hadn’t told her about the bookshop proposal, but he told her about it now.
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something wonderful,” Rhea said, voice confident.
Luke let out a breath. “It needs to be exemplary,” he said. “Especially since I need to beat my opponent, too.”
“Who’s your opponent?” Rhea asked, and his heartbeat quickened just at the thought of her.
“The owner of Inferno.” He paused. “Emmeline Sterling.”
“Emmeline?” Rhea thought about it for a moment. Recognition flashed across her face, and she opened her mouth. “Ah, that girl you used to like in university?”
Embarrassment flushed through him. “How do you even remember that?” he asked. “I don’t recall even mentioning her.” That was a bald-faced lie, but he had to salvage some shred of his dignity.
A task his mother would not aid him in, apparently. Rhea snorted. “You only went on and on about her for weeks,” she said. “You always mention her, even now.”
Luke scowled. “I do not.”
“It’s alwaysInferno thisandInferno that.”
She looked amused, poking his side. He scowled. “Well,I’m not a schoolboy with a crush, Mama,” he said. “She is myrival. I need tobeather, or Tempest fails.”
“Okay, jaani,” Rhea said, touching his face. “Don’t work too hard, though.”
She went back to her knitting, and he looked at his mother, how tired she looked, how tired she always looked.
Hehadto work hard. For her, he had to.
He had to win.
Chapter 9
After the chaos of visiting Millie, Emmeline was happy to return home to her routine and work, though things were slightly thrown into disarray with the addition of one fat baby dragon.
She was babysitting Motu for the next few weeks, which Torch was happy about, but Emmeline had her hands full with the curious baby dragon, especially at the roasting plant. While he was mostly trained, he wasn’t nearly as disciplined as Torch had been at that age.
Which meant that Emmeline was currently chasing Motu around instead of getting any work done.
