That’s exactly what Luca looked like when he was a kid,Macy realized with a soft pang.He was exactly that quiet and exactly that serious, wasn’t she?
For some reason, the thought of Luca as a kid filled her heart with such sweetness that she had to blink back tears, and she faked a cough for a chance to wipe her eyes as Miss Cathy and Luca looked at her with concern. AJ, less interested, simply walked over to Luca, taking his hand and swinging it with satisfaction.
“Just some late season pollen,” she said, waving them off. “Good morning to both of you! I certainly hope that you brought enough to share.”
“Nah, thought the kid and I would just eat them in front of you, make you starve,” said Miss Cathy with a wink. AJ gave her alarmed look until she reached over and ruffled his hair. “Don’t worry, kiddo. I’m a wolf mama and a Midwesterner—no one’s starving on my watch.”
Macy retrieved a blanket from her car, and spread it out on the green in front of City Hall, where they managed an impressively delicious picnic breakfast with Miss Cathy and AJ.
“Did you have a good time at Miss Cathy’s?” Luca asked, and AJ nodded, passing him a croissant not much smaller than his head. Macy watched as Luca split it, spread some strawberry jam on it, and cut it in half, one half for AJ and the other half offered to Macy.
“You have some too,” Macy insisted, passing him half her bagel with lox and red onions, and his smile was brilliant.
“Well, aren’t you two looking cozy,” said Miss Cathy meaningfully, and Macy told herself she was not blushing. She was a woman in her late thirties, she was an elected official of the Clearwater community, she wasnotgoing to blush over Miss Cathy’s expressive eyebrows.
“We spent all night hunting the cerastes,” Luca said with just a hint of chagrin. “Didn’t have much time for cozy, unfortunately.”
Miss Cathy cackled over her tomato jam croissant.
“Poor babies! Just when you ought to be heading for the hills, you’ve got work to do. Well, I can make that easier on you, at least.”
Macy couldn’t help laughing, even if it was her lack of a love life that Miss Cathy was pointing at.
“Oh, can you? I do really like it when things go easily on me.”
“Well, how’s this for easy? Little AJ here managed to make some friends this morning. Ellie had her kids up to say hello, and he was so sweet and charming that he got himself an invitation to come with them when they head out into the woods today. I thought I’d get us all some breakfast and run that one by you.”
“I want to meet them first,” Luca said firmly, and then he shot a regretful glance at Macy. “I could run off, get acquainted, and then I’ll be back here first thing to get to work.”
“Hey, I am never going to get in the way of you taking care of AJ,” Macy said, and she was startled by how vehemently that came out. It was true. She didn’t know this man, not as well as she would like to know him, but she was learning more about him every day. There was no world in which he would pass his nephew off to someone he had never met.
He gave her a grateful look before turning to AJ.
“So you made some friends, huh?”
AJ carefully finished his croissant, and then picked up his juice container, considering, before handing it to Macy.
“He wants you to open it for him,” said Luca. “Fingers are a little small for the peel tab.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
She popped the box open, but when she tried to hand it to him, he pushed it back into her hand, giving her a fiercely unblinking stare.
“Um.”
“Drink some,” Luca suggested. “Luisa and Allison are making sure he knows how to share.”
“Cat shifters aren’t known for it,” said Miss Cathy with a laugh, and Luca nodded, unoffended.
As AJ watched her, she took a quick sip of the juice, and then he nodded, taking it back from her as if all was now right in his world. Therewassomething right about it, sharing food, sitting with this little boy next to the man who had so quickly come to occupy so much space in her heart.
“This is good,” she found herself saying quietly, and Luca carefully placed his hand over hers. It struck her how warm he was, how pleasant the light scratch of his calluses across her skin.
“It is.”
By the time they were done eating, Devon had appeared, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and with Macy’s schedule ready to go. She stopped short of where they were cleaning up the picnic, gave Luca a professional up and down, and then turned to give Macy alook.Macy couldn’t keep herself from blushing, but shemanaged to keep it to just a blush until Luca, Miss Cathy and AJ headed off.
“Well,” was all Devon said, and Macy hid her face in her hands, making her assistant laugh.
