Page 88 of Horn in My Side
“Jasmine?Are you okay?”
“I’m ...fine ...”She cleared her throat and nodded her thanks as she took the napkin he offered.“Went down the wrong pipe.”
Once they arrived at the shop, Jasmine proceeded with her morning routine downstairs while Mal finished breakfast duties upstairs, then they went to the office to feed Clawdia.Bowl in hand, she went over to the pen and she barely had time to open the gate before she was hit with a burst of happy emotion, but also that distinct pang of hunger, like she hadn’t just eaten a huge breakfast that morning.She quickly let the hatchling out and put the bowl down, not wanting to further delay her.
“She’s awfully hungry this morning,” Mal observed.
“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you.”She relayed what happened the previous night when Clawdia told her about the fire.“It’s weird.It was, like, at first she communicated with pictures and emotions, then it was, like—bam—I could actually feel the heat of the fire.”
“Hmm, sounds like you’re gaining more control of your magic.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, it’s the only explanation.I’m so happy for you, Jasmine.”
“I wouldn’t even have discovered my abilities if it wasn’t for you.”And for that she would always be grateful.“One more thing ...I also finally posted a picture of her online.”
“Really?”A genuine smile spread across his face.“That’s great, Jasmine.How did it go?”
“Actually, I’m not sure.I posted it right before I heard the sirens.Let me see ...”Taking her phone out of her pocket, she opened up the Picstagram app.“Let’s see ...Oh my.”She pressed the phone to her heart.
“What’s wrong?”
Waving the phone at him, she burst out, “Five hundredthousandhearts!”
He steadied her hand.“What?”
“You and Clawdia broke the internet,” she laughed.“Oh my ...all these comments.”Despite scrolling and scrolling, she still hadn’t reached the end.“They all want more pics.”
“Then you should give it to them,” he encouraged.“Don’t be afraid to share her.She’s really special.”
“She is.”
As if sensing that they were talking about her, Clawdia padded away from her empty food bowl and pawed at Jasmine’s leg.“All done?”she asked as she picked her up.
“Why don’t you play with her for bit?”Mal suggested.“I noticed she’s not sleeping as much as she was when she first hatched.Some extra activity would benefit her.”
“But what about the shop?”
“I’ll take care of things out there, don’t worry.”He scratched at his chin.“I’ll work on casting a soundproofing spell in here, at least, so she doesn’t get bothered by the noise outside.And I’ll have to expand her cage soon.In a couple of months, once she’s strong enough and you’ve got her trained, you’ll have to let her out of here.”
“I know.”It was not something she was looking forward to.
“But we’ll worry about that later.”He leaned down and planted a kiss on her temple, then tickled Clawdia’s chin, which made her trill in excitement and squirm in Jasmine’s arms.“Take your time.”
Jasmine decided not to worry about the future—Clawdia’s anyway—and enjoyed her time playing with the little hatchling.Over the last three weeks, Clawdia had seemingly grown into her own personality—spunky, a little bit naughty, but definitely sweet.Jasmine also spent a few minutes doing some training until Clawdia simply didn’t respond to treats anymore, indicating she was ready to go down for a nap.After letting her inside the cage, the hatchling curled up into her blanket and closed her eyes.
“Thanks for taking care of stuff out here,” Jasmine said to Mal while making a beeline for the counter.She noticed that a bag of canine treats had fallen from the shelf, so she changed her course.
“No problem.”He came up behind her.“By the way, I wanted to ask you something.”
“What is it?”she asked absent-mindedly as she put the bag back in its rightful place.
“Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
She chuckled and whirled around to face him.“Dinner with you?”
“Yeah.”His expression was dead serious.“It is our third date, and since you didn’t ask me out, I thought I’d do the asking this time.”
