Chapter 25
Gregor
It was getting easier to leave the shop before we closed, what with Olly not only overseeing the gallery, but the construction crew working on the gallery’s expansion. He also ensured that the fresh seafood delivered each morning to the house was stored in the proper refrigeration unit, so it was fresh and ready for me to make supper each night.
Tonight, I’d be making oysters Rockefeller and crab stuffed lobster to serve with the cranberry orange salad August had been craving. That I’d found the same sort of soothing meditation in cooking that I’d found in my woodwork meant that I’d taken to dropping into the Little Village Bookstore more often, to select a new addition to the cookbook collection I was building at the house.
I couldn’t wait to try my hand at some of the fun, kid-friendly recipes I’d come across, excited about the prospect of homemade popsicles and sandwiches cut into adorable shapes. I’d already picked up a few metal sandwich cutters to start the collection, including a duckie, a mousie, and holy shit….
Some badass wolverine shifter I was supposed to be, already thinking of things in the same terms as August’s nieces and nephews, but dammit all, those little hoglets had been too damned cute for words.
And there went the soft, gooey feeling in my belly again, leaving me tingling with anticipation at the thought of holding my little ones. Every time I looked at my mate, I pictured the miniature versions of August we’d soon have filling our home, their little giggles and coos adding to the brightness of a place I already loved.
As I headed up the boardwalk toward the house, a bright splash of lavender caught my eye, sitting in the window of the toy store.
Lavender Bunny’s Teatime Eggstravaganza.
A yellow and red clearance tag marked it and the rest of the collection of Easter leftovers, the Teatime Eggstravaganza book not the only children’s cookbook among them. It was like the fates were throwing up a giant neon sign telling me to get me ass in there and grab them while I was already thinking about treats to make for my little ones.
It was a no brainer to duck inside and look for a cart the moment I’d swept the cookbooks, and several critters with bunny ears that were definitely not rabbits into my arms. My eyes landed on the cart and a stuffed mouse almost as big as my mate at exactly the same time. With those big, floppy pink and brown ears, and fluffy brown, tan and gray body, it looked like a giant replica of a field mouse.
I'd never thought there would be a reason for me to care about the texture of anything save for how finely I sanded the grains of the wood I worked with, but when I touched that stuffed toy, it was like stroking fur. I plopped my clearance items in the cart and snatched up the mouse, tail whipping myself when I slung it over my shoulder. At least the ceilings here were high.
“Would you mind keeping this up here for me until I’ve finished shopping?”
I asked the somewhat familiar looking redhead behind the counter.
“Gregor? Gregor Erickson?”
the slightly built man asked as he reached to take the mouse from me. It was bigger than him, but not bigger than the mammoth man who stepped out of the office and effortlessly plucked it from his hands to place it on one of the wide shelves behind him.
“Umm, yeah,”
I said, still trying to place him. “I’m sorry, have we met? You sort of look familiar, but I’m afraid don’t know your name.”
“It’s okay, we haven’t actually met,”
the redhead explained.
Now, when the mammoth man turned, I did know him and chuckled as Brendon stepped around the corner, ignored my proffered hand and swept me into a bone crushing hug.
“He recognizes you from me chasing you all over the damned ice from seventh grade until we graduated,”
Brendon explained. “That’s Janie, my mate.”
A lightbulb went off as Brendon turned me loose.
“You proposed to him after the championship game senior year,”
I said, kicking himself for how many times I’d walked past here without ever recognizing it was owned by my longtime rival on the ice.
“Yup, you guys got the championship, but I got the guy who’d always been in my corner, even when I couldn’t see how important he was to me,”
Brendon said, casting a look over at Janie with love and devotion shining in his eyes.
One of the things I’d always appreciated about Brendon was the man’s ability to play hard but clean the same way I’d liked to play. We’d pushed each other, bumped, bruised and even slammed each other around from time to time, but the gloves had never come off, and afterwards, we’d always held on to a healthy respect for one another, even after the numerous times we’d competed over the years.
“Man, it’s good to see you. I’ve been meaning to drop into your shop, but each time I think I’m going to get out of here early, we get another rush. I hate leaving Janie to handle everything himself, but I hear you’ve got some amazing creations in there.”
“They’re unique,”
I said. “I pride myself on that. I’ll let the rest of you decide if they’re amazing or not. I just love making them.”
When Brendon nodded, I could tell he appreciated the sentiment and my refusal to toot my own horn, even if I did think each one was something truly special.
“Shocked I’ve never seen you at open ice,”
Brendon said. “Please tell me you didn’t stop playing after we graduated?”
“For the most part, yeah, unless it’s a family pickup game. Just didn’t see the point when I didn’t intend to continue playing in college.”
“Dude, I thought you’d been offered like, a dozen scholarships?”
“I was, just wasn’t interested.”
“Damn, so you’ve been here the whole time?”
“Yup.”
When Brendon shook his head, I could see the confusion in his eyes and appreciated him not saying anything more about it.
“I know you went away,”
I said, turning the focus onto Brendon and Janie. “I’m guessing you both did. What made you want to come back here to open a toy store?”
“Just wanted to bring a bit of joy home with us,”
Brendon explained. “What with Janie’s folks passing away and leaving us the building, we wanted to do something that would be a tribute to them while sharing the love they had of making people smile.”
It took a moment before it dawned on me why else Janie’s flame bright hair had seemed familiar. The fox shifter’s parents had been absolutely amazing acrobats.
“This was where all those tumbling and acrobatics classes were held,”
I said as I looked around again, trying to picture the place the way it had been when one of my sisters had been taking lessons here. “Your parents were performers.”
“Yeah, they were,”
Janie said. “They traveled with several different carnivals before us kids started coming along. Something about this place called to them when they were in town for the fair, and they decided to buy it and raise us upstairs while teaching classes and holding some impromptu performances down here.”
“My sister took them for a little while, before she discovered that she loved being on the ice as much as the rest of us.”
“Having been checked by her, I remember what a vicious skater she could be,”
Brendon said. “Tell me she’s still playing at least.”
“Semi-pros, down in Portland, where she is under the ruthless direction of our aunt, now that she’s taken over coaching there.”
“Damn,”
Brendon said before glancing over his shoulder at his mate. “We’ve got to get tickets. What do you think it will take for Cammy to cover for us so we can catch a game?”
Janie sucked in a breath over his teeth, squirmed and looked pensive. “You may have to part with one of those bottles of Scotch you brought back from our trip last month.”
“Seriously?”
Brendon’s groan sounded downright painful, and while I wasn’t a Scotch drinker, I could appreciate what the sacrifice would mean.
“Fine, but only if he agrees to open the next day so we can sleep over and not have to drive back after the game.”
“I think he’d go for that,”
Janie said, fingers already flying over the keypad on his phone.
“He’d better,”
Brendon grumbled, “’cause that’s the best deal he’s going to get.”
“Oh yeah, he’s down,”
Janie declared seconds later, then hurried to ring up a waiting customer.
“It was good seeing you again,”
Brendon said. “I’ll let you get back to your shopping, but I hope you’ll think about popping down to open ice sometime. Would be nice to see how we’d do playing on the same side after so many years.”
I couldn’t deny that the idea held some serious appeal, but I’d wait and see if it went away before I decided to put in an appearance, and even then, it would only be sporadically. I had responsibilities to consider and doubted there would be much spare time in my future to indulge in things like that. Not until the whelplets were older anyway.
Whelplets, not hoglets. We’d decided to combine the names of our species’ litters into one to give us something truly unique. Our families had already embraced it, especially my Nana and August’s Gram-Gram, who were already working on a wall quilt for the room, and had requested the correct spelling so they could include it.
Even the thought of that had me excited. Whatever they unveiled, I knew it would be amazing. My Nana was talented with a needle of any kind, and several of the quilts August had brought over in a gleaming wooden sea chest had been his Gram-Gram’s creations. They’d be welcome additions to our bed come winter, while one already dominated the center of our nest. August loved to trace the different triangles that made up the pinwheel designs, stemming while they talked about anything and everything.
Fortunately, Brendon hurried to help Janie before I had to say anything, leaving me to see what else the store had to offer, now that I’d ventured in. Talk about a color explosion, like August when he’d first walked into my shop. Checking the time, I saw that I could spare thirty minutes here and still have the food on the table when my mate walked in. Determined to make the most of that time, I moved through the space, drawn to a creepy lizard puppet with a sly look on its face that just looked appealing to me.
I picked it to slip it over my hand only to discover there was a book attached. That alone cemented the deal. I added it to the cart before slotting my cart between two rows of shelves holding similar puppets and stories. Some books came with one big ones, others sported smaller finger puppet collections in a pouch attached to the book. I grabbed a few of each, fully intending to come back for more.
There were several big books, too, that looked as if they’d fit nicely in that big mouse’s hands, so I grabbed them, too, and a gaggle of soft music and sensory learning toys, including a trio of octopuses who had horns that honked, beeped, or rattled when you squeezed or shook their tentacles. We’d need two more, preferably with different sounds, but the three were the only ones available. Didn’t mean I ignored the elephants with trunks that made different sounds, I grabbed the two available, so at least we’d have something musical for each of the kids. Then I hurried to get in line at the counter before something else distracted me. There was a whole other section of the room I didn’t have time to explore, but as an expectant father, I’d be back, many, many times, and drop huge chunks of cash I'd be smiling to part with.
“Wow,”
Janie said when I reached the counter with cart, including the Warmies I’d grabbed while waiting in line, five of them, because there had been a huge selection to choose from.
The koala, stingray, giraffe, lion and panda gave off light scents, each different, as I’d been afraid that five lavender ones would be a bit overwhelming if they were all in the nest. Fortunately, the line had moved slow enough for me to research which went well together. Cedar, lavender, lemongrass, sweet orange, and chamomile, had been the choices I’d gone with after cross referencing the best ones for babies.
A far cry from the way I’d have shopped before August came into my life. It shamed me to realize that I’d never given this much care to the gifts I’d given my nieces and nephews over the years. The best I’d done was make sure it was age appropriate. Noise factor hadn’t been a consideration, either, as a few of my cousins were fond of pointing out now that I had my own little ones coming.
Revenge would be swift and amusing.
And I’d love every second of it.
“Okay, I’ve gotta ask,”
Brendon said as he passed over the giant mouse. “Are you jockeying for the position of best uncle ever or do you have a passel of little hockey players at home?”
It no longer shocked me, the way my face split into a grin when someone brought up children. “A passel on the way.”
“Damn, I didn’t hear anything about a mating, and usually, this place is rife with gossip.”
“We only just revealed the news about the babies to our families, and our handfasting ceremony is in just a few days, so it hasn’t made the gossip circuit yet.”
“Babies?”
Janie said, perking up with his hands clasped beneath his chin. “As in plural?”
“As in very plural,”
I confirmed. “We’re having five of them.”
“Holy goddess in the heavens,”
Brendon muttered with a long, low whistle. “Talk about instant family.”
“I know,”
I said as I passed over my debt card. “And it’s the best damned feeling in the world.”
Though a somber look passed between Brendon and Janie, I didn’t spare more than a second to think about it as I punched my code in and watched as my purchase was approved.
“I’ll be back soon, there’s still plenty more to get before they get here,”
I said as I took my receipt, bags and giant mouse, taking long strides now, as I headed out the door and turned toward home.
August had a policy about things not being put away until they were washed, and all tags and attachments were removed, so I put the bags and the mouse in the living room until I could care for them correctly, rolled up my sleeves, washed my hands, and dove into meal preparations.
Not only would August have a wonderful supper to come home to in less than an hour, but he was sure to be thrilled about all of the wonderful additions I’d brought home for the nursery.
For a grumpy as hell wolverine who’d considered myself good at very few things, I’d sure found something that came as natural to me as breathing.
And that was putting a smile on my amazing mate’s face.