“Fourteen,” Donna said, “is agreatage. Embrace it.”
Stacy, happily, said, “I will,” and shot another nervous glance toward the door. The whole town square was bustling, and if three square acres could seem to bustle, there had to be alotof people out there today.
One of them was presumably Keith Raleigh, but he never showed up.
CHAPTER10
The line at Kate’s Cafe was extremely long.
Keith knew it probably would be, so he’d shown up twenty minutes earlier than he thought he needed to. It was long despite that, with cheerful people chatting endlessly with the staff behind the counter about their holiday plans and who was visiting and whether they were going anywhere and what the kids wanted for the big day instead of putting their orders in so Keith could get to the front of the line and get lunch and bring it to his fated mate on the other side of the square!
He took a deep breath. Stacy would understand him running a few minutes late, and if he didn’t calm himself down, he would work his poor stag into a worried lather.
It’s okay,the big deer whispered tragically.I’ve ruined everything anyway. No one can love someone as unbeautiful and clumsy as me.
Keith, under his breath but aloud, said, “Pretty sure girls don’t kiss you like that if you’ve ruined everything, buddy.”
Because the memory of their goodbye kiss the night before could keep Keith warm for a week. Stacy had leaned into him so perfectly, as if she believed in her heart that their kiss was only the first of many. She’d been warm and small and curvy and smelled—well, like garlic and some kind of delicious shampoo, really, but it was agoodsmell—and her smile when they’d broken apart had been enough to make his heart leap with joy. He’d cut through the woods when he’d left her, in fact, and shifted into his stag form because he couldn’t run fast or leap high enough as a human to express his joy.
The stag had insisted he shiftwiththe ridiculous reindeer antlers, and had nearly burst into tears when—of course—they’d flown off as soon as he started running. Never mind that deer didn’t cry tears. Keith had been pretty sure the stag would manage it somehow. He’d shifted back to human, found the antlers, and said, “This is why we bring our clotheswithus when we shift,” to the winter night.
His stag had wailed,But unbeautiful!in real dismay. Eventually it had accepted that no one was going to see them without antlers, and had agreed to run home through the woods after all, but Keith had felt it worrying the whole way.
It didn’t help that when he’d gotten back to the ranch, his wretched twin brother was out chopping wood and yelled, “Hello, Hornless!” in greeting. The stag was so crushed its knees buckled and Keith found himself jaw deep in the snow as he transformed back to human without warning.
Kevin had to put the axe down because he was laughing so hard, and the only reason Keith didn’t kick him into next Tuesday was because the stag refused to transform again.Never again, it said woefully.Not until ether.
Easter, Keith said strenuously, even in his own head again at the cafe. At the moment, trying to knock the stag out with ether until Easter didn’t seem like a bad idea, except Keith was pretty sure he couldn’t renderitunconscious without doing the same thing to himself.
Hefinallygot up to the counter, and the woman behind it—Kate herself, whom he’d known since grade school—looked up at him with the most solemn expression she could manage. It wasn’t very, given that she was rather small and elfin, but she tried, and did say, “Nice horns,” completely deadpan.
Keith touched the antler headband with resignation more than self-consciousness. People had been grinning at him since he ducked his way into the cafe, and he couldn’t blame them. The antlers scraped the extra awning Kate had put out to keep the stairs clear of snow. They didn’t reach the cafe’s ceiling, but only because it was about ten feet in height. He couldn’t wear them in the car, despite the stag’s preferences, because the car didn’t have a sun roof to open so the antlers could stick out. “Thank you. I’m sworn to wear them until the end of time.”
UntilHester, the stag protested in a small voice.
“Easter,” Keith said aloud, and when Kate’s eyebrows rose, said, “Until Easter. Technically. Not until the end of time.”
Kate said, “Mmhmm,” in that tight-voiced hum people used when they were trying very hard not to laugh. “What can I get for you, Keith?”
He hadn’t thought to ask Stacy what she liked for sandwiches. The thought struck him with the full horror of a slasher film. Or maybe not quite that bad, because he didn’t watch those because they scared the bejeezus out of his stag. “…I don’t suppose you know what kind of sandwich Stacy Carbone likes?”
Kate called, “Hot turkey club with provolone on a sandwich roll, please!” over her shoulder, and grinned at Keith. “And for yourself?”
“Oh, God, I don’t know, I only spent twenty-seven minutes in line unable to make a decision.” Keith cast a panicked look at the chalk specials board, which sat alongside the regular items that were available daily. Hehadmade a decision at least three times, and second-guessed himself at least four times. “A French dip and two cups of soup to go? And what’s your favorite dessert?”
“Mineis the lemon cheesecake, but this time of year Stacy comes in and sighs at the chocolate explosion brownies before getting a gingerbread latte and a minidoodle.”
Keith froze. “A…minidoodle? Is that…a small dog?”
Kate cackled. “No, it’s a miniature snickerdoodle for when you need a treat but can’t justify a cookie the size of your palm.”
“I can always justify a cookie the size of my palm.” Keith had, in fact, eaten a genuinely stunning number of the Christmas cookies at home already that morning, after a breakfast involving bacon, eggs, biscuits, orange juice, and the pancakes he’d been forced to make for himself because he was still starving, and then for everybody else because they thought that sounded great. So a cookie the size of his palm seemed… “In fact, I’ll have two of those and the chocolate explosion brownie and did Stacy already order her gingerbread latte today?”
“No, she only gets them on Fridays. Andyouare over six feet tall and have a thirty year old man’s metabolism, which is frequently more forgiving than a five foot four woman’s.”
“I’ll finish her latte if she doesn’t want it,” Keith promised, knowing it didn’t exactly make sense. He suddenly realized he was doing exactly what everyone else had done, which was hanging out at the till bantering with the staff instead of getting a move on so other people could order. “That’s everything. Thanks for the help.” He paid and stepped to the side, waiting for his order with a bunch of other people milling around in the small space available. Sitting would be more comfortable, but the cafe’s seating was chock-full too, with kids sitting in adult laps so there would be a little more room. Keith found himself smiling at the loud busyness of it all, and at all the scents and different foods coming through, and at the conversations going on around him.
He didn’t know if he’d missed all of this before meeting Stacy, but now that he was home in Virtue and his fated mate was waiting for him, he missed it with his whole heart. He wanted this to be his daily life from now on, although he might have to go to the city a couple days a week for work. But that would be all right. He could sell the apartment and get a studio, and live—
