I cover my face with my hand.
But I know what’s happening. Aiden has arrived at the big central ice sculpture beside me and is looking at it, then me, then it, then me.
“Harper,” he starts. I just sigh. He goes on, almost whispering, “Why’ve you got a big statue of a knob in the middle of town?”
“Ugh!” I growl under my breath, “For the millionth time, it was a bunny with two big Esther eggs on either side! It was cute!”
“What are Esther eggs?” Someone asks.
Another voice asks, “Wait, is Esther in the Easter story?”
“Obviously she meant Easter not Esther and I can confirm it was skillfully done, hella expensive and very cute!” Steven says.
“I promise it was,” I try softly.
“Yeah, well, that was twenty degrees ago, lady. Now my kid just keeps taking pictures next to your big ice dick!”
Half the crowd grumbles, half laughs.
“Perhaps get a hold of your kid, then!” Aiden snaps at him. “Everyone! Move along. We’ll get this sorted.”
As always, Aiden speaks, and people obey. Freaking Dark Lord, indeed. This time, though, I’m grateful for his freaky magic powers.
I’ve yet to uncover my face or open my eyes.
“It’s…not that bad,” Aiden tries.
I finally drop my hand and open my eyes to glare at him.It’s absolutely that bad.
“You’re right. It’s bad,” he says, clearly fighting a smile. I lift my eyebrows, waiting for him to give me the lecture that’s on the tip of his tongue. He makes a show of looking around and asks, “Well, how was the market going before the cockup?”
I snort.
I can’t help it. He said the oh-so-British term for screw up on purpose and I can’t hold it in anymore. I throw my head back and laugh. Really laugh for the first time in maybe months and—
Holy Good Friday!
Wow.
Aiden laughs too. He’s got a wide, bright smile of perfectly white, straight teeth. His tanned skin crinkles by his dark eyes. His irises shift from midnight black to a warm brown. His facetransforms right before my eyes like when Beast turned into his human form, but hot.
Then I see him shut it down, the transformation.
Like he doesn’t like laughing?
He clears his throat and straightens, but I still giggle anyway. He’s still smiling a little bit as he takes a step back. He looks up at my latest huge mistake again. It’s already a lot less phallic. Soon it’ll be a puddle.
He looks at me and starts to frown. It’s like his smile sours as he says, “Right. Yourmany winscontinue, well done, again.” Then he gives a weird salute and says, “Until the next one.”
I open my mouth to say something, probably call him a name or just growl in frustration, but he’s gone. He turned and pulled a Harper, almost running away.
Weird.
_____
Ding!
The little crowd in the store turns to look at the doorway, then deflates.
