The Things We Water

I had an idea something was going on when I dropped Duncan and Agnes off at the nursery and caught Pascal waving at me shyly.

From what I’d learned about him in the time we’d spent together, the shy bones in his body were the size of the tiny ones found in people’s ears… if he had any to begin with. I didn’t count how quiet he’d been around Matti the day of the Jenny Greenteeth incident because I had a feeling that had been more shock than shyness that had stolen his talkativeness.

I didn’t put too much thought into his wave though. There were other things on my mind. Things like my biological parents, the gnomes and their mysterious desires, Henri, Duncan, and that asshole Dominic. Agnes too. And I’d needed to start my shift right afterward.

That afternoon, after working in the room where all the action had gone down the night before, I’d realized without a doubt that something was definitely up when I made my rounds to the nursery. Because when I got to the little window of the door, every single puppy had been sitting properly, some on their hind legs and some on their human butts with their legs crossed in front of them.

But they were all facing the door. Each and every one of them. Little ears pinned back and down. Eyes bright.

I’d never seen all the kids on their best behavior at the same time.

Standing there with her arms crossed was Maggie, their teacher. She waved me in like she’d been expecting me.

I opened the door like I was going to the principal’s office, and every puppy tail started wagging. The blackest one of them all was the fastest, and I couldn’t help but blow a kiss at Duncan first before saying, very slowly and cautiously, “Hi? Is everything okay?”

Every pitch of “awoo,” from small squeaky ones to some much deeper, answered me, and it made me grin. I wish I could’ve saved it as my ringtone. It was so cute.

“Everything is fine,” Maggie answered. She was tall, around six feet, her build reminded me of a pin-up model, and I wondered again what kind of magical being she was. Then I asked myself why such a nice person could be on Spencer’s radar. That was another question on my list for Henri. “I made a deal with your fan club, and I promised to hold up my end of the bargain if they held up theirs.”

I scratched my cheek, not sure what half of that meant. “All right… what’s going on?” Had she said “fan club”? The tails in the room wagged even faster.

It was sweet Shiloh, still one of my favorite of all the kids because he was the kindest and most patient one, who spoke up. “We heard.”

He was in his human form today in shorts and a T-shirt for a popular kids’ video game. I could see the signs of his pretty, graceful mom in him when he was like this. He didn’t know it, but the thank-you card he’d made me for “saving his life” was on my nightstand. Phoebe had delivered it the day after we’d spoken at the diner.

I crossed my arms over my chest and hoped I didn’t regret the next question out of my mouth. “What did you hear about?”

“Love!”Duncan sent me, kind of surprising the hell out of me with the potency behind it. When had he learned how to do that? He’d started projecting louder and more clearly but not like that.

“About….” Shiloh’s big brown eyes widened in a way that seemed like he wanted me to guess.

“The gnomes?” I tried.

Pascal, who was beside my sweet buddy, made a farting sound. “No! You stood up to Dom!” he shouted, throwing his fist in the air like it was a battle cry.

“Yeah!” what sounded like a dozen different voices agreed.

“No yelling,” Maggie shushed them.

I just looked at them. “I stood up to Dom?” How did they know about that? How did he know about that? He’d been asleep.

Hadn’t he?

“Yeah! Everybody is scared of Dom,” Pascal answered at a normal volume with a nod like it was a fact.

“Nuh-uh, not my dad,” a boy around five added, one of the ogre children.

“Franklin’s not,” someone threw in.

“Not Henri,” another of the younger boys argued.

Pascal nodded so enthusiastically, I couldn’t believe how or why any of them could be so excited about me standing up to someone. Was Dom really that much of a jerk? Could his personality be so infamous that they were celebrating me talking back to him?

A terrible thought came to me. Had that MFer been mean to my little friends?

“How did you do it?” an older boy in the back shouted before wincing. “Sorry, I’m not yelling, Miss Maggie.”

“Thank you for apologizing, Jurgis.” Maggie’s expression toward me seemed apologetic. “I only promised them that they could ask you what they wanted but you were under no obligation to answer anything. It’s all they’ve been able to talk about all day.”

“My dad said Dom was so mad… and my dad was a Navy SEAL, and he’s more tough than almost anybody, and he doesn’t like him… and Dad said you didn’t do anything when he got in your face,” Pascal spit one word out after another, rapid-fire, his face so wide and innocent and excited. “You didn’t move. You didn’t blink. Nothing.”

I smiled, and then I smiled even wider. Because when you put it that way….

“How?” the little boy asked. “Why aren’t you scared of anybody? How can I not be scared of anybody? Because my mom scares me a lot. She scares my dad too.” He didn’t mention the river crone, and I had a feeling that was on purpose.

I laughed. This was exactly why I loved coming in here after work. The kids said the craziest stuff. “I’m a little scared of your mom too, Pascal. I’m scared of some things but not a lot of them.”

Definitely not people like Dom.

A couple of kids yelled, “Like what?”

Now that they asked, I couldn’t think of a single thing that would be relevant to them.

I made a face. I didn’t kill spiders, the dark was pretty much my friend, heights were fine. They wouldn’t get my joke about taxes and credit ratings. Why couldn’t anything come to mind?

“See!” Pascal shouted, laughing like a maniac. “See!”

I swear, there was something wrong with werewolf children. They were insane. The older ones were nuts, but the younger ones were even worse. No wonder I had loved Matti so much.

I missed him. He had planned on coming to visit, but he’d had contracts come in that were good business, and we were postponing our reunion. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, and I was glad he was making money.

“Listen, I am scared of things, I just can’t think of anything right now. And there’s nothing wrong with being scared. But why are you scared of Dom?” I asked, trying to keep my tone light and not like I might have to escalate what had happened last night depending on his answer.

“Because he’s mean!” someone in the back shouted.

I tried my best not to react, but…. “So mean!” someone else said. “He broke my bat!”

“He told me I was annoying!” another child added.

Who in the world could be mean to these little sweethearts?

I was going to have to put water in someone’s gas tank.

Pascal started scooting over. “Do you,” he dropped his voice to the barest whisper in the middle of scooching even closer, “have superpowers?”

I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around the small, big-mouth wolf with the crazy imagination. And the small, big-mouth wolf hesitated zero seconds before wrapping his scrawny arms around me.

He whispered, again,“Do you?”

So I whispered back, “No, but I wish I did.”

His body sagged, and I had to fight not to laugh.

“I’m sorry.”

He hugged me tighter. “It’s okay.”

A damp nose nudged the side of my head, and I lifted it to find Duncan there. He put a paw on my knee. Was he jealous? I released one arm from around Pascal and wrapped it around my own pup, bringing him in close.

And before I knew it, there were multiple puppies surrounding me, and I somehow gave them all hugs—minus Agnes, who stayed back, but I made sure to make eye contact with her and smile.

I hadn’t even thought about how this conversation might affect her. Dang it. I’d make it up to her. It was my goal to bring her along to do more things with us. I wasn’t going to let her continued wariness stop me.

For the time being, I hugged and I cuddled, and then there were a few more children and pups that came in for thirds and fourths, and who was I to say no?

The entire time, Duncan sat halfway on my lap, possessive but not demanding and licking the occasional friend when they wandered over.

Maybe I didn’t need everyone to like me. Maybe I just needed a few who really mattered. That was something to think about.

“This is the life, Dunky.” I sighed with pleasure later that night.

A piece of jerky was hanging out of Duncan’s mouth when he turned toward me. “Yes,” he agreed, his mouth shaped the way that made it look like he was smiling. “Love.”

I held back a sigh at the familiar but different face sitting across the bed from me. His ears were longer, his jaw a little wider. And there was no denying the fact he was taller and his ribs were thicker. Even his flame was bigger.

Growth was a good thing, I reminded myself, taking in the boy who had been the center of my life for the last two years.

And today had been a great day. A part of me was still riding high from the scene in the nursery earlier, getting more hugs in the matter of an hour than I’d probably gotten in an entire year at some points in my life. The kids were the best, and I wanted to thank all of their parents for raising them to be so great.

Now, with my favorite kid of them all, it had turned into an even better day, I thought, as I wiggled under the covers even deeper, snuggled up all nice and comfy with him beside me, tucked up against my legs as we watched a movie about an accountant who wasn’t really an accountant.

I scratched his butt with one hand and angled the pillows behind my back and head better so I could be propped up higher.

“I was thinking we should make some chicken jerky this weekend. What do you think?” I asked, reaching for the bag of jerky on my lap and taking a piece out. To my side, there was a plate of apple slices and sweet potato chips made with coconut oil. Dunky’s favorite snacks.

“Yes,” he answered immediately, back to gnawing on his jerky.

I dropped my voice. “Is it okay if we give Agnes some?”

“Yes,” Duncan replied without breaking his focus on the TV.

Love bloomed even brighter in my chest. “You’re a good boy, you know that?”

His head turned toward the door a moment before there was a knock.

“Henri?” I called out, finally sensing the strong presence of his magic. It was different from everyone else’s, big and bright, wild and solid at the same time. Just like him, in a way.

The door cracked, then went wider as the man I’d expected it to be appeared in the doorway. It was clear he’d showered from his glossy hair. His dark green pajama pants and white under shirt were a surprise though. I’d never seen him ready for bed so early.

“Hi, Fluff. I wasn’t expecting visitors.” I indicated down at the blanket tucked up under my armpits and the snacks scattered around my body, the beef jerky literally sitting on my chest.

From just inside the doorway, Henri nodded. “I can see that.”

He looked tired; he sounded like it too. He hadn’t been around for breakfast or dinner, and I’d thought he was supposed to have the day off.

I sat up a little. “Everything okay?”

His gaze moved around the room, landing on Duncan, the photographs of my parents, and us with Matti and Sienna on the nightstands, and then the toys piled on the dresser. Eventually those orange-brown eyes made their way back to me just as he cupped the back of his neck, hard muscles clinging to his thin white shirt in the process. I pretended not to notice that his nipples were hard. “I wanted to make sure you were all good after yesterday.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, thank you.” I watched him for a second, then contemplated for another second. “Do you want to watch this movie with us? It’s only been on ten minutes.” I gestured to my chest and to the plates. “We have snacks, and I washed the sheets today.” I patted the bed beside me and smiled at him. “No funny business. Promise.”

The faint smile that came over his mouth was one that touched my heart more than it had any business doing. Especially when he had the closest thing to dark circles around his eyes. How much sleep had he been getting lately?

“If you want,” I offered. “No one will come looking for you here. We can wedge something under the door so no one can open it.”

“They can still call,” he let me know, touching his pocket where the unmistakable angles of a phone pressed against the cotton of his pants.

“Yes,” Duncan said out of nowhere. It wasn’t that I thought he was scared of Henri anymore, and I realized he liked him more than Agnes liked me at this point, but I hadn’t noticed that he liked him this much, enough to invite him to hang out with us.

That’s interesting.

“Even Duncan is inviting you,” I translated for Henri, trying not to let the surprise show on my face. “No pressure though, Your Fluffy Highness.”

I saw the moment he made a decision, and I shifted closer to Duncan as Henri came straight over on those long legs, pulling the comforter back like he’d done it a million times and climbing into bed.

Into my bed.

Not on top of the covers but under.

He took a second to adjust the pillows, propping them up so he had his back to the headboard like I did, but straighter, all while Duncan and I watched him without even trying to pretend like we weren’t.

Part of me hadn’t expected him to actually say yes, but I smiled when we made eye contact and held the bag with jerky out.

He reached in for a piece and took his time eating it, his eyes lighting up halfway. Those orangey-brown irises slid toward me.

I held out the bag again, and he took another two strips.

“Why’s it so good?” he asked, after he’d finished one of his pieces.

“I don’t add liquid smoke or sugar to it.” I winked.

Gaze still locked on mine, he took another bite with those strong white teeth.

Setting the silicone bag between us, I faced the television again and knit my fingers together over my chest. Duncan glanced over twice, and I handed him another piece of jerky before he turned back to the television, holding the dehydrated meat between his paws.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Henri take an apple slice after a little bit. The sigh he let out was so deep it could have inflated a hot-air balloon. Poor Fluff.

No one said a word until two commercials later.

“You ever take that bracelet off?” he asked out of the blue.

I startled and touched one of the beads, like I didn’t have them memorized. “Sometimes, but not that often.”

His “hmm” caught me about as off guard as his, “You don’t need to wear them around me, you know.” There was a long pause. “It’s only us in the clubhouse right now.”

Hooking my finger beneath the band, I gave it a tug. But… I left it. “Thanks, Fluff. Maybe some other time.”

His lips parted a little before his attention jerked toward the door at the exact time Duncan’s did too. Except my donut’s tail went up. He wagged.

“Yes,” he called out telepathically at the same time Henri raised his voice, “Ladybug?”

Agnes?

There was a pause before the doorknob turned, and a small face appeared in the crack.

I kept my expression as even as I could despite the fact my heart felt funny at the remote expression on Agnes’s features. She was so stoic for her age. Too stoic. “Come in, Mini Wolf,” I called out, waving her in.

Her body language was all serious shyness as she shuffled inside, her eyes bouncing from Duncan to me to Henri.

Whether it was Henri that reached for my fingers over the covers or it was mine that went for his, the backs of them touched, and I didn’t need Duncan’s telepathy to know we were on the same page. We both recognized why she was here.

And we both wanted her to stay.

I should not like him this much. I knew it. It was a waste of time and energy, and I had too sensitive of a heart for it. But, in that moment, telling myself not to have feelings for him, to not admire the kind of man he was, seemed like the hardest thing I might have ever done. Like telling myself to write with my left hand for the rest of my life. Like putting on mascara without squinting to do it.

“What do you need?” Henri asked, his tone kind.

Dressed in lilac pajamas with teddy bears on them, she went up to her tiptoes. “I was looking for you,” she replied, her voice quiet and very unlike the side-eyeing child who tried to bite people she didn’t trust.

“Does Sera know where you are?” he asked her.

She peeked up at us quickly before looking back down at the floor. “I told her I was going to the kitchen.”

“We talked about you disappearing on them,” he scolded her, already pulling his phone out with his free hand.

The one that wasn’t still touching mine.

“I’m sorry,” she said, not sounding that sorry at all… just hesitant.

“You’re not in trouble, Ladybug, but you can’t be doing that. It worries us if we don’t know where you are at night.” Henri unlocked his screen and pulled his messaging app up.

I knew because I was looking.

I cleared my throat and slid my gaze back to her before I got busted. “Mini Wolf, do you want to hang out with us?”

I tried not to smile as I patted the space to my right. “There’s a perfect, Agnes-sized area right here.” The movie was going to be gory, but I’d overheard kids younger than her in the nursery talking about what kind of video games they played, and they were not PG.

“Yes,” my donut agreed, his tail still wagging at the sight of his friend.

“Duncan said you should,” I translated.

An adult would have played hard to get. The child that she was, didn’t. She nodded instantly and made her way over to the side of the bed where Duncan was. Agnes petted him, giving him a kiss between those incredible ears, and with a careful avoidance of meeting anyone else’s eyes, she climbed up onto the spot I’d pointed out. I set the apple plate between us since I knew she was the only one who didn’t care for jerky much.

At least my jerky.

Pretending like I didn’t see her going for the fruit all sneaky-like a second later, I put my hands on my lap.

But I almost flinched when a fingertip grazed my cheek. I turned my head to the man beside me, trying so hard not to seem shocked by his touch. Please, body, don’t do anything embarrassing.

He wasn’t helping.

Henri’s thumb slid across my jawbone.

Thank you, he mouthed, flicking my earlobe with a rough thumb.

I didn’t dare freaking breathe.

And I was super grateful for it when he leaned over and pressed his mouth to my temple for all of point two seconds before pulling back.

I didn’t want to know what my face looked like in that moment.

While I was reeling over the fact that his mouth had touched my face, he said in a very low voice, “After high school and that year I lived in New Mexico, I moved up to Montrose to get my bachelor’s, spent two years working for the police force there afterward, and that’s when Matti’s mom died.” He paused, the silence so loud while his throat bobbed. “I didn’t know what to do, so I got Matti, and we moved here. I took a job with the county, finally took over my responsibilities, and I’ve been here ever since.”

He was finally answering my question from the car ride after the diner. Wow. Wow. Wow. “Thank you for telling me that, Fluff. I always wondered,” I admitted, trying my hardest not to make it a big deal over him sharing personal information.

His head rolled to the side so he could look at me. “You really didn’t know?”

“No, Matti almost never talks about anything family-related anymore.” I paused. “He never talked much about your side of the family to begin with.”

He frowned. “Not his mom or dad?”

I shook my head. “I can count on one hand the number of times he has in ten years.”

“Matti?”

“Big-mouth Matti, yes,” I confirmed, since he knew the magnitude of that behavior from his cousin.

His frown got deeper, his expression going thoughtful. “I’m not surprised he wouldn’t talk about me⁠—”

“Why’s that?”

“Because….” He suddenly looked a little uncomfortable.

“Because?” I whispered.

Henri wiped a hand down his mouth, and I almost expected him not to answer, but he did what I’d forgotten was a part of him—tell the truth. “I did a shit job watching over him back then. I didn’t know what I was doing. When I was grieving⁠—”

When had he grieved? Who had he grieved?

“—I wanted to be left alone, so that’s what I gave him. It wasn’t until after he left that I thought that might’ve been the opposite of what he needed from me.”

“He’s never said a single bad word about you to me or Sienna,” I told him. “He loves you. I’m sure he appreciates what you did. It was a s-h-i-t-t-y situation.”

One of those brawny shoulders went up and down. “He wasn’t happy here. He left as soon as he could.”

“That had nothing to do with you,” I tried to explain. “He loved his parents, Fluff. His life changed overnight. That was all. I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do for someone else’s broken heart.” I winced. “If it makes you feel any better, he’s a city boy. He told me he can’t live without food delivery and two-day shipping. He has a white couch.”

He rolled onto his side. “A white couch?” he repeated in disbelief.noveldrama

I nodded. “The interior of his car is white too, if you can believe it.”

He grimaced. “He doesn’t get it dirty?”

“I found a steam cleaner in their closet.”

A huff left his mouth, but the corner of it tipped up right after. “He’s such a little fucker, still. My first grays came in when he started living with me.”

I reached over and touched the side of his temple where a couple of silvery strands were mixed into the blacks of his hair. I’d never really noticed them before, but he also just didn’t have that many of them. But I couldn’t let this opportunity go. “Was it these…?”

The way he narrowed his eyes told me exactly who Agnes had learned her expressions from. “I bet I have a few on the other side from you talking shit to Spencer and having a tree thrown at you.”

We were joking then? “Sorry?” I tried to give him an apologetic look.

“The only thing you’re sorry about is being mean to him.”

I couldn’t argue that.

And if I thought it was adorable he knew me well enough to recognize that… I guess there were worse things in the world I could think were cute.