Page 100 of Just A Little Magic

At my words, Elizabeth swung her head around and gave me a withering look that spoke volumes.

“If you don’t want it to happen, stop running off. And don’t give me that look either.”

While I was fussing at her, Barrett had been looking at the boards.

“Babe, there’s a board loose.”

Barrett messed with it until it popped free, but it was too dark to see inside. Elizabeth peered over my arm but thankfully didn’t try to run off again.

Barrett pulled out his phone to use the flashlight and see what was there. “Ha! Elizabeth, you are a clever one.”

She preened and purred in response to his words.

“What’s in there?” I asked as I tried to look over his shoulder.

“The bear didn’t eat the keys because”—he paused to reach into the hole—“here they are!”

When I looked down at her, she rewarded me with a nose bump. “Elizabeth, you are the best girl.”

Barrett: January

“Babe, you are ready for some lunch?”

Owen was ensconced in the office, working on the proposal for the second-place bidder from the auction in the fall. The last time I peeked around the corner, he’d been knee-deep in swatches and pattern books.

This time, he and Elizabeth were on the floor with a piece of string and the new cat that Ryan had asked us to foster. Thecat had shown up in the alley behind Ryan’s vet clinic without a chip but with a collar that readHexe.

The city shelter had been full, and we were only supposed to hold her for a few days. We were a foster-failure family. Within a day of fostering, we’d known the temporary visitor was staying if no one came forward to claim her.

Hexe was a tortie Maine coon cat who was as large as Elizabeth was small. They were mismatched in size but inseparable after the initial introduction. The only time they were apart was when Owen went back to his house. When that happened, Hexe moped around my house until Elizabeth returned.

“Can we talk first?” Owen’s pensive tone spurred me to hurry and drop to the floor beside him. “Relax, Bear, it’s nothing bad. Promise,” he added with a smirk.

“What’s up?”

I racked my brain, trying to remember anything out of the ordinary. We’d had our first holidays as a couple, which had been even better than sharing them as best friends. We’d headed out to central Washington to spend a few days with Owen’s mom and met up with my parents in Portland for a few days. Neither of us, especially me, understood their newfound friendship, but they seemed happy enough.

Nothing had happened that would seem to need a sit-down talk.

“I’m not sure how to start this.” Dread grew in the pit of my stomach as the weight of his words sunk in. “Christ, this is awkward.”

“Babe, just spit it out.” The air in my lungs had stopped moving.

“I don’t want to be at home anymore.”

Uh, what?

“I’m gonna need more context.”

The cats had moved between us and demanded attention. Ifocused on stroking their silky fur while I waited for Owen to elaborate on whatever it was he couldn’t say directly.

“We spent the month living together so you could be my Da full-time, and then I went back to my house…” Owen held his hand up when I started to speak. “I know that’s what I said I wanted because I needed to be sure.”

“And now?” Hope bloomed in my chest.

“I hate being split between the two places. I want us to be a real family.”

“You, me, and the cats, babe.”

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