Chapter 40 Lemon
Lemon
“You’ve done a lot with this place in a few short weeks.”
I turn and smile at Varek as he waves at the paint cans by my feet. His pit hell lies by his feet, gazing lovingly up at him. I haven’t seen a bonded one yet, but it’s definitely something deeper than even the way Bebop loves Furyon and me.
“Yeah, I don’t know why she let me in, and why she’s okay with other monsters coming now to help.” I shrug as I stare at the front entrance to the Keeper’s house. “She’s waiting for something, something that’s coming, I think.”
Varek slides his big hands into his pockets, eyeing me thoughtfully. “You ever done the Keeper test at headquarters? Maybe you’re what she’s waiting for…”
I smile at him as I hand him a paintbrush.
“Nah, I don’t think so. I don’t feel drawn to it at all.
Potions are my thing. But she wanted a friend, and she wanted me for that.
There’s a reason she wants to be fixed up now.
We don’t know what it is, but it’s like a lot of things in PG, it happens when it wants to. ”
He snorts, the gold ring in his nose flopping. “You don’t have to tell me, Lemon. I’ve learned that the hard way.”
I smile as he grabs a paint bucket and starts working on the inside of the front door. We work in silence for a few minutes. But eventually, I turn to him and lean against the wall, which is thankfully dry.
“How are you feeling about things these days, Varek? The whole imprisonment bit was a tad awkward.”
He laughs, giving me a wry look. “I’m thankful I was able to have a private conversation with the sheriff to clear it up and convince him of my innocence.
All I can say is, had I known Letitia took you after I left her office, I’d have tried to help.
Folks around here don’t give me credit because they think I wanna change Pine Gulch, that I want to modernize it in ways that’ll make them uncomfortable.
” He shrugs. “If the Gulch herself thought that, she’d already have thrown me out like all the Keepers they keep sending who don’t stick around. ”
“Oh, don’t I know it. You met the new one?”
He laughs. “I don’t give that girl two weeks.” He waves around us. “You don’t see her in here, do you?”
I poke his side. “Shall we bet on that? I got fifty bucks in my pocket.”
“Done.” He keeps on painting slowly and methodically.
Furyon’s name appears over my comm watch band, interrupting my response.
“Hey, baby, what’s up?”
My mate’s throaty chuckle warms me from the inside out. “Betty’s Bar tossed the new Keeper out on her ass. She’s in the middle of the street with her luggage in hand, waiting for Mabel to show up.”
I burst into laughter, and Varek shakes his head, a smile curving his lips upward.
“Whatchu doin’, country girl?”
I clear my throat. “Painting the Keeper’s house with Varek’s help. I did ask the Keeper to come help, but she declined. She was afraid. And ‘cause of that I just lost fifty bucks.”
Furyon growls softly. “No surprise there. Hey, Varek, behave around my mate, please.”
The giant minotaur laughs. “I’m the goodest boy, Furyon. Don’t worry about me; I'm just painting the front door.”
“He’s an excellent helper,” I confirm. “You want to come down here and help us?”
“I’m comin’ to you now. Got a package for you from the post office, too.” That’s all he says as he pushes adoration through our bond. Golden rays of love warm me from the inside out.
“Love you,” I whisper into the watch. “See you soon.”
When we hang up, Varek looks at me, his smile gone. “You found yourself here, Lemon. You’re radiant like this. I’m jealous ‘cause I want that for me too.”
I didn’t mean to find love in this wild, free place where the land kisses the sky. But find it I did. Happily ever after was right there in front of me. I just had to be brave enough to grab it.
Smiling, I dip my brush into the paint can and continue on, knowing my mate will be with me in moments. Like everything, we’ll tackle this together. Furyon is in my corner, always and forever.
A few minutes later, he shows up on the front steps with a hydrangea plant in a big gray pot. The mansion creaks out a warning, and he laughs.
“Pretty girl, I brought this for you as a gift, if you’ll accept it?” He lifts the potted plant up as I glance around.
One of the two half columns at the base of the porch shimmies its tile top as if to say “put it here.”
Furyon moves forward and sets the hydrangea down, then pulls me into his arms. “Looks good to add a little bit of color, don’t you think?”
“It’s perfect,” I whisper, resting my head back against his chest.
The house is looking so good, allowing us to fix her up bit by bit. What we really need is a troll builder to come fix a couple spots in the back yard that need more than I can do with help from the other Gulchers.
“Hey,” Furyon whispers against the top of my head. “The auction house is auctioning off all the stuff from House Rookwood, now that they’re suddenly out of business for their part in Letitia’s plan. They got a few pieces I think might look pretty nice in your room. You wanna go check it out?”
Gods, that feels like absolute kismet.
I turn to Furyon with a giant smile. “Hells yes, I do.”
Twenty minutes later, I’m scowling and debating violence as we battle it out with a minotaur couple over the most stunning wooden potions cabinet. It’s all curvy lines and intricately carved wood but deep enough shelves for some truly spectacular storage containers Furyon recently bought me.
“Two hundred,” he says, lifting our paddle.
“Two fifty,” the minotaur male counters, lifting their number.
A few hundred gathered monsters watch as we duke it out over the cabinet. Apparently, it’ll take nearly all day to auction off everything from the other potion house and some items are still arriving from Rainbow, where Rookwood is headquartered.
“Five hundred,” Furyon shouts.
The minotaur male scoffs, and even though his mate scratches plaintively at his arm, he shakes his head and drops his paddle.
I glance at Furyon, eyes wide. “Five hundred bucks?”
He shrugs and shoots me that lopsided smile. “I need you to have it, and I’m tired of fightin’ with that dude. Plus, I wanna see the look on your face when you realize it's yours.”
A joyous grin overtakes me when the gargoyle auctioneer slams his gavel and announces we’ve won the cabinet. We pick our way through the crowd to the payment counter, making arrangements for someone to deliver the cabinet to us next week.
“There’s that smile.” Furyon slips his card back into his wallet. “I need that smile every day, city girl.”
I waggle my brows at him. “I think you mean country girl, Ranger Zayle. I don’t live in the city anymore.”
He grins crookedly down at my sparkly pink boots. “You’ll always be my city girl, though, won’t you? Although country girl does sound pretty nice.”
Slinging my arms around his neck, I move up onto my tiptoes. Furyon bends down, brushing his lips over mine.
“City, country…it doesn’t matter as long as you’re with me, mate.”
I swear Furyon’s smile could light up an entire room.
I push out of his arms and toss him a saucy look over my shoulder. “That package is a pair of sparkly chaps I ordered last week. You wanna come home and teach me how to put ‘em on? I don’t know the first thing about chaps.”
His nostrils flare. “Are you teasin’ me, Mrs. Zayle?”
“Always,” I say on a sassy little growl. “Let’s go, Ranger.”
He tips his hat at me, stalking past me to grab the passenger door of his new pickup. “Don’t mind if I do, Lemon. Don’t mind if I do.”
THE END