So keep pretending we didn’t have a full moon ménage? Got it.
“Did you know they were coming back?” my sister asked once we were in the house and the door shut behind us.
“No,” I replied, confusion washing away the anticipation building in my mind. “And from our conversation last night, I don’t think they did either.”
Chapter6
Oakley
“Maybe they were trying to surprise you?” Hazel offered, scooping up some puréed sweet potato and making it soar into Aspen’s mouth. “Some grand romantic gesture?”
“Maybe…” It made enough sense and things had been ridiculously hot between us all during our long-distance rendezvous, but my insecurities were creeping in, making me question everything. Circumstances had shifted so quickly between our night in the pines, case developments, the Wellses’ arrest, and then them leaving for Salem.
Considering their new boss was my ex and would be around a lot between the case and co-parenting, everything was about to get pretty complicated.
A buzz sounded from the counter, and Hazel got up from her chair to check her phone. She frowned down at the screen, then swiped, bringing her cell to her ear. “Hey. Now’s not really a good time.”
Her voice was low. Serious. As whoever on the other end continued talking, her gaze moved up toward the ceiling, as if biding her time to hang up.
“I know,” she replied, sighing deeply. “Are you doing okay?”
Aspen gripped the small bowl of purée and knocked it to the floor, creamy orange gunk splattering in all directions.
“Fuck!” Hazel’s eyes went wide, and she moved to begin cleaning up, but I held up a hand, scurrying over to the highchair. She tossed me a towel, and I clutched it in my hand, reciting an incantation to dampen it before swiping it over the mess on the counter until it disappeared.
There definitely were some major perks to having access to my magic again.
“What do you need?” she asked, pulling the phone away from her ear to swipe and type into it. Then she brought it back up, rushing through her words. “Okay, okay. I’ll see what I can do.”
A moment later, she hung up, exhaling like she couldn’t be more grateful for the call to be over.
“Who was that?” I asked, wiping down the highchair before taking Aspen out of it. His onesie was splattered with orange, so I lay him on the floor, waving a hand over his sullied outfit to clean it off.
“Just a client.” Her tone was short. When she went to put the phone on the counter, she hesitated a moment, slipping it into the pocket of her jeans instead. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I tickled Aspen’s belly and gave it a raspberry, relishing the fit of giggles that burst from his tiny body. The material was still damp, even with the cleansing spell, so I headed into the nursery to grab a new outfit.
“You said it wasn’t really a good time, but it’s not like you couldn’t handle a call,” I said loud enough for her to hear from the other room while I picked out a set of pajamas with inky pumpkins scattered across the white. When I brought it into the living room, Hazel was on the floor playing with Aspen’s toes. I handed her his jammies. “I’d understand if you needed to work.”
“I know that, but I’m trying to set some better boundaries.” She fed Aspen’s arm through the sleeves, then zipped it up before pulling him into her lap and nodding to the pile of fabric and sewing supplies spread across the coffee table. “Besides, I’m more excited to help you get things set up for the relaunch.”
“Well, thank you.” My attention dropped to the floor. I didn’t know why I sometimes was embarrassed to be pursuing this dream again despite all my excitement. “It means a lot.”
I went over to the clothes, picking up the needle. Waving my other hand, the nursing pad pocket scuttled onto the lacy bodysuit, lying flush as I twisted my palm to move it into the correct position. Then I pricked the pad of my finger with the needle before casting the sewing enchantment to the pattern I’d laid out in front of me. Magic filtered through my palms, spicing the air, and the needle began steadily stitching the pocket onto the piece I’d retrieved from storage, following the directions on the parchment.
“Given any more thought to Atlas’s proposal?” Hazel asked, interrupting my concentration.
A strangled sound escaped my lips, and the needle wobbled with my loss of focus. “No. We aren’t getting married, Hazel.”
“Notthatproposal.” She rolled her eyes. “I meant the one for leasing that space in Mystic Square.”
“Oh yeah. Duh.” My face heated. I inhaled deeply, gaze pinned to the needle threading the bodysuit in front of me. “Still thinking about it. It feels weird for him to do something so big for me. It’s a large investment.”
After our pumpkin patch outing, I’d promised Atlas I’d go see the space. Hazel had scheduled a visit for a few days from now. Luckily, she’d be there as a buffer. It was hard to keep him at arm’s length, even with Aspen third-wheeling.
He was certainly attractive when we were dating, but that paled in comparison to watching him care for our child. I recalled the memory of the two of them together at the pumpkin patch, Aspen seated in Atlas’s lap as he slid down the hay bale slide. My heart squeezed in my chest, tears building in my eyes, but I blinked them away before any fell.
You chose this, Oakley. And with good reason.
