Page 67 of Just A Little Magic

I wanted this to be our life.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

OWEN

Concentration wasn’t easily found today. I wasted more time than I had to give staring into space and reliving the previous evening. In theory, I needed to conceptualize a new design for an expanded banquet area of Quill. It was the flagship restaurant, and Barrett always wanted to ensure it shined. Unfortunately, my thoughts were preoccupied with my first evening in my temporary new home.

After he bathed, diapered, and fed me, I spent the evening first playing with Elizabeth and building towers with my soft blocks. Bear had sat with me for a bit before he fixed dinner but still kept a close eye on me from the kitchen. When it was time to eat, I made a mess, and it was easier for him to hand-feed me.

I’d told myself for so long that I didn’t need a Da, but now that I’d been around one, it was beyond me how I was supposed to return to being on my own. One night wasn’t forever, and it hadn’t proved much of anything. I was so preoccupied with my own thoughts that I didn’t hear anyone coming into my office. I jumped a foot in the air when it broke through myconcentration that my office had a second occupant sitting directly in front of me.

“Mr. Strega, you’re like a ghost. I didn’t even hear you come in.”

My heart still raced, but I willed myself to even out my breathing. I needed a bell or something on the door.

“Owen, I’m sorry. I thought you’d hear me when I yelled your name, opened the door, and sat directly in front of you.” He pursed his lips and took a critical look around my office. “It seems kinda early in the day to be drinking.”

“Hydration is the key to life.”

I rolled my eyes internally but schooled my expression to stay as neutral as possible. Well, as Owen-possible, anyway.

In all the years I’d known Barrett and, by extension, Mr. Strega, he’d never popped into my office. Ever. Owen’s mom? Sure, she’d drop in on her way to see him, grab me, and we’d all end up at lunch together. It wasn’t quite a guarantee I would regret this shindig, but it felt like it was headed in that direction.

“Anyway, sorry to startle you, but I wanted to speak to you without Barrett being around.”

Oh, lord, this was headed to Hell-No-Ville quickly.

“Mr. Strega, do we have that type of relationship? It doesn’t feel like it to me. Why don’t we call Barrett down and ask his opinion?”

I started to reach for the phone, but something in his soul-deep sigh made me pause. “Are you all right? Physically, I mean?”

“That’s what I want to talk about.”

“Are you sick?”

“No, I’m fine. But my brother isn’t.”

Of course I knew the Stregas had family in Oregon. They lived on the beach and communed with nature. Barrett said heand his brother used to go down there all the time when he was a kid, and it was like a whole new world down there.

“I’m very sorry to hear that, but I’m not sure what that has to do with me.”

“It just reminds me that time is short, and no one is getting any younger.” He paused and fiddled with the hem of his golf shirt. He must have been headed to the greens when he popped in here. There weren’t many days left before it would be too wet and cold to get out there. “I want my son to be happy.”

“I want that for him too.”

“He won’t be happy with you in his life.”

“Pardon me? I must have misunderstood what you said. It sounded like you said your son, my best friend, can’t be happy with me around. Surely that’s not what I heard because, if it is, I’ve gotta tell you I’m not super cool with you hanging out in my office.”

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

“I know that sounds terrible, and I really don’t mean it in a bad way.”

“Yeah, it does, and there’s no way to mean it in a good way.”

Maybe Mr. Strega saw what kept me away from Barrett, but that didn’t mean I wanted to hear it from him.

“That came out all wrong.”

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