“Are you involved with the pre-school?” he asked, wanting to learn more about her. “In amongst all the confusion yesterday, I never did get to pick up one of your pamphlets.”
Diana nodded, swallowing her last mouthful of waffle with what looked like regret. “I’m one of the teachers there.”
A teacher?he thought, impressed. It made perfect sense – Diana was caring and smart, and she’d obviously done a wonderful job with Ash. He was glad that the children of Girdwood Springs were getting such a good start in life.
Oblivious to his train of thought, Diana went on, “The playground there is really on its last legs. It’s still safe at this point in time, but we want to replace it before it becomesunsafe, of course. And it was never very impressive to begin with.”
Calvin watched, entranced, as her eyes lit up with obvious passion for the project.
“We want a place where kids can really interact with the world around them. I’d love to put in a garden at some point – something with herbs and vegetables and fragrant flowers. And maybe even seeing if we could get the kids themselves planting some vegetables or starting a compost heap. But the playground is first and foremost, and that’s going to be enough of a challenge – the rest of it is just a pipe dream at the moment. But we’ll get there one day.”
We shall pull the metals from the very earth itself with our bare hands, and forge them into whatever shapes our mate desires, the wyvern proclaimed.
Or we can purchase the materials cheaply from one of my trusted contacts, and build a playground according to the relevant safety regulations,Calvin shot back.Do you even listen to yourself?
And you call yourself a romantic,the wyvern sneered.
Repressing a sigh, Calvin refocused on the situation at hand.
He didn’t know how much help he would actually be in this situation – it was obvious that this was going to be a long-term project while the funds were being raised. And if Diana ended up not accepting him as his mate, well, he wasn’t about to make her uncomfortable by continuing to hang around in Girdwood Springs.
But he was determined to do whatever he could to help her. Whether it was building play equipment or hosting bake sales, he was willing to do it.
He opened his mouth to tell her as much, but was cut short by a sudden pained yell, followed by a muffledCLANG!
“That came from the kitchen.”
He was on his feet before he even realized it, instincts taking over.
Diana was hot on his heels. Calvin knew he was probably overreacting – diner kitchens weren’t exactly quiet places – buthere in the presence of his mate, he wasn’t about to take any risks.
“Hello?” he called out as he dashed through the doors, skidding to a stop on the kitchen tiles. “Is everything okay in here?"
“Over here,” came a pained-sounding voice that he quickly recognized as Brandon’s.
Worry seized him, and behind him, he heard Diana gasp.
“Brandon?” she called out, as the two of them followed his voice. “Are you okay?”
They rounded the corner to see Brandon clutching his hand, his expression somehow both pained and sheepish. On the floor was an enormous frying pan… and a spray of what appeared to be half-cooked waffle batter.
The giant gas burner stove was still lit, throwing off waves of heat into the already-stuffy space, and Calvin surreptitiously set his cooling powers to work. If Brandon had burned himself – which seemed the obvious source of both the yell and the clang – then being in a room that resembled a sauna probably wouldn’t help matters at all.
He hesitated at the idea of turning off the burner, unsure if his curse would affect it – but luckily Diana was on the ball, reaching over and turning the knob with a brisk motion.
“Quick, come over here,” she said, leading Brandon over to a trough and running some cool water from the faucet, testing the temperature with her finger until she was satisfied.
“Put your hand under there, and don’t move it,” she said, her tone calm and authoritative.
Of course, it made sense – as both a pre-school teacher and a parent, Diana was probably well-versed in first aid. Calvin was as well, given his role on construction sites, but it was clear that Diana had things well under control.
“Where’s your first aid kit?” he asked, and Brandon gestured with his good hand.
Calvin fetched the kit, checking that it had adequate burn supplies, and returned to the other two.
“What happened?” Diana asked Brandon. “I didn’t know you worked in the kitchen.”
The sheepish look from before returned tenfold. “I don’t. But it was so quiet that Tom – he’s the cook today – went outside for his break, and, ah, well…”
