Page 10 of Charmed Forces

“I stand corrected.”

“I’ll take a small red wine and then I’m going home. I have some days off coming up. Do you want to do something with Poppy?”

“I’m not sure I can spring her from her new daycare. That place has a contract with more pages than one of my mom’s top secret government documents! But if I can, shall we head over to the country park?”

“I’m still scared of that place,” I said, thinking about a recent night hike through there. The hike hadn’t been my choice and I was still gratefully surprised I managed to escape with my life. “What about the soft play downtown?”

“We can do that,” said Lily, “but I want to go to the fancy one with the nice coffees and the sweet staff, not the one with the tiger moms where they make the children speak in Latin.”

“Serena takes Victoria to that one,” I said, wondering if my young niece would grow up to become a clone of my sister, or if she’d rebel. It was hard not to feel gleeful about the latter.

“Exactly,” said Lily with a roll of her eyes. “Oh, look, here comes trouble.”

“Trouble?” I tensed, ready to defend myself. Unfortunately, I wasn’t armed but I did have a wineglass that, with one smash, I could turn into a shiv. I could probably smash the barstool over the incomer’s head too. I turned, ready for action. “Oh, it’s you,” I said, my shoulders sagging.

“Hello to you too,” said Maddox, smiling as he slid onto the stool next to mine. He loosened his tie, popped open his shirt button, and I caught a whiff of aftershave. Woodsy, masculine and very alluring.Infuriating!

“Where’s your partner in crime?” I asked, looking around for Special Agent Sadiq Farid. As well as being Maddox’s partner, he was also a friend; plus, he was dating my cousin, Tara. My mother had also taken a huge shine to him, ensuring he, alongside Maddox, was also regularly invited to our family dinners.

“Sadiq? He’s taking your mom to a specialty supermarket after work and then they’re going to a cooking class together.”

I looked at Lily, confused, and she shrugged. “News to me. Hey, why wasn’t I invited?” she asked.

“I think they wanted to go alone. Your mom really likes Sadiq. This is the second class they’ve taken together.”

“She thinks he and Tara might get married,” said Lily.

“I thinkshe’spitching to marry him,” I said.

“Your poor dad,” said Lily.

I browsed the red wine list Lily handed me. “I don’t think he minds.”

“What if your Mom runs away with Sadiq?” asked Lily. “What if he becomes your stepdad? Would you call him Special Agent Stepdad?”

I thought about it. “I think I’d be pretty impressed if my mom could pull that off. I don’t think I could call himStepdadthough.”

“Fair enough,” agreed Lily.

“You two are weird,” said Maddox. “And a teensy bit jealous of their bonding.”

“Pfft,” snorted Lily as she handed him a menu and me, my wine.

“I’m grateful,” I countered. “Mom hasn’t tried to sign me up for anything in weeks. She did slip me a pamphlet on panhandling for beginners so I expect that to come up in conversation soon.”

“She hasn’t tried to sign me up either, but to be fair, I’ve been very busy with the bar and haven’t seen any classes at the Adult Ed Center that sound interesting,” said Lily.

“How about sushi-making classes?” suggested Maddox.

I shot him a look, the unfriendly kind.

“I thought you might enjoy learning how to make Japanese food,” he said, holding back a laugh as he mimed using chopsticks. “Or what about parkour? Jumping over barrels, sliding under cars, burstingthroughfoliage?”

“You and Daniel looked pretty deep in conversation last night,” I said, changing the subject. Sort of.

“Who?” asked Maddox. “A beer for me. Thanks, Lily.”

“Daniel. My brother whom you were dining with.”

---