Kayla winced from the bottom of her soul. "Yeah."
Anderson's eyes widened. "Then you shoulddefinitelygo see him, and let Boone stew in his own juices for a while. Truly, my sweet, I'll do my best to run interference. Perhaps he and I will live happily ever after."
"That may depend on whether you're prepared to adopt," Kayla muttered. "Kids loom large in his mind."
To her complete surprise, a sweet, wry smile pulled at Andy's mouth. "I'd love to be a dad. I'm just spectacularly bad at long-term relationships."
"Have youtriedvery hard at any?"
"Well. No. That spark hasn't been there, the one like you obviously share with Jordan, the one that says 'this is the one.'"
Kayla's owl took a moment to eye Anderson.Whoo-oo does he want as a fated mate?
Kayla chuckled internally.No idea. But as far as I know, lining up shifters to see if anybody recognizes him as their mate is kind of an unlikely process.Aloud, she said, "I don't think most of us can count on living in a romcom, Andy. And even if fate strikes…I'm pretty sure you still have to work at it. Jordan's everything I've been looking for, but his life is here, you know? I don't know…I don't know how it works out," she ended softly, and Anderson leaned over to press his shoulder against hers.
"Maybe you should ask him."
"Man, you sound just like my—"Owl,was how that sentence was going to end. Kayla cut herself off, then awkwardly finished, "—like my mother would have, I bet."
"Oh, that's my dream," Anderson said with a roll of his eyes. "To sound like someone's mother. All right, darling, go forth, find your romantic hero while I try to find the romantic reject and sweep him off his feet."
Kayla bounced up on her toes to kiss Anderson's cheek. "You're a good friend, Andy, and you've got a squishy marshmallow center."
Anderson shuddered delicately. "Don't tell anybody."
"I won't." Kayla grabbed her hat and pulled it over her ears on her way out the door, not wanting to freeze, but even more, not wanting to show off her dreadful haircut any more than she absolutely had to. Though, she thought, making a face as she stepped out into the cold, in the movie she was making, the city boyfriend was so horrified at her hair that it was a factor in their break-up. Maybe she could just go scare Boone into backing off.
Too bad it wouldn't really be that easy. Kayla sighed and took her phone out, texting Jordan.We didn't agree on where to meet! Are you still available?
There was a pause before he responded, and Kayla tried not to read anything into it. It still felt surprised, though, and so did his answer:Of course I'm available. Want to meet at the market entrance in ten?
The town square was enormous, but it wouldn't take her ten entire minutes to get to the market entrance. She texted back,Make it five?
I'd love to but I'm walking back into town after dropping Barney back at home and forgot my super-speed boots.
Kayla laughed and texted a silly sad face, a zoomy little emoji, and a smile.See you in ten-ish, then.Hands in her pockets, she scuffed her way down the sidewalk, avoiding slick spots where the snow had melted thanks to the studio lights, then frozen into ice again. There were a lot of people around for a cold wintery evening, cars parked along the wide streets and pedestrians making their way from businesses and homes toward the holiday-lights-bright market.
The formal entrance itself was somebody's hand-carved woodworking, proclaimingWelcome to our Holiday Market!in arching letters above a broad entryway. Kayla paused, peering up at the smooth, warm-looking wood with the grain polished to a glow and lit by tiny colorful lights. After a moment she realized there were several subtle joinings in the wood, so the sign fit together like puzzle pieces, which made her smile. She bet it was less likely to snap in a strong wind, and also easier to store, with those break-points built in.
There was a donation box just inside the entrance, with a cheerful little boy sitting on a stool next to it. He caroled, "Hello!" at everybody who walked by, and although he was almost completely muffled in scarves, a hat, and his big coat, Kayla recognized him as the child who had been so helpful earlier.
"It's Noah, right?" she said as she went over to his side.
He pulled his scarf down with a mittened hand to reveal Noah's beaming face. "Yep! Hi again. How's your movie going?"
Kayla chuckled. "Not bad, thanks in part to you. Can I hang out for a minute? I'm waiting for Jordan. What's this all about?" She waved her own mittened hand at the donation box.
"Oh, it's to help Ms. Hobart bring the choir to New York to see a show. We did super great when I was little," he said with the fond childish authority of a nine-year-old looking back on his younger self, "and Kelly lives in New York now because she's performing on, uh,Broadway,and we're gonna go down and see her and surprise her!"
"Well, that sounds like a good cause." Kayla dug into a pocket and found some cash to drop into the donation box. "Have you hit up the rest of my cast and crew?"
Noah leaned in conspiratorially. "Mr. Anderson gave us enough for the whole trip. He said kids should see as much theatre as possible. I told him thank you like a million times but he said not to tell anybody so I can't figure out how to say we don't need any more money!" His eyes suddenly went round. "Also don't tell him I told you."
Kayla, trying not to goawwww, nodded a promise. "I won't. And I think both Andy and the people around here would probably be pretty happy if you all managed to fundraise enough for more than one trip, so maybe it's okay if you don't mention that you've already funded this one."
This was clearly not an idea that had occurred to Noah. He lit up, sat there considering it a moment, then gave a firm nod. "Probably! Thanks, Miss Walsh!"
"You can call me Kayla," Kayla said, amused, and Noah's eyes narrowed again, once more conspiratorial.
