Page 4 of Culture and Curiosities
She hadn’t appreciated my questions about if it was appropriate to have adult gear in the diner either, and I didn’t think she was going to like being asked about mochi tomorrow.
But it was better than her texting me every two hours like I was a baby who needed to be fed.
“Shopping time and then Pierce owes me a reward for talking to her so she didn’t call him.” He wasn’t my Daddy because he was my cousin and not the kind of cousin someone would play doctor with, but he was good about watching out for me and buying me dessert when I told him I’d been well-behaved.
Training him had been difficult and time-consuming, but so far, it’d been worth it. His mate, whoever that turned out to be, was going to appreciate all my hard work.
“Gonna find my Daddy and then I’m gonna escape somewhere fun with no cell service.” Like another planet. “Then she won’t be able to call me and she’ll have to find someone else to obsess over.”
Being an only child was hard.
“But it’s time to shop first and find my Daddy second.” I just knew he was wandering around there somewhere. I could almost feel him in the diner earlier but no one in there had been quite right.
My Daddy was going to be smart enough to know he couldn’t bring sex toys into the diner and sweet enough to give me attention right away. I didn’t care if he was a mage or a dragon, but smart enough to handle my mother and me was a must.
And if he could help make decisions about what we were going to do with the portal, that would be great because, so far, the locals kept shrugging every time it came up. They seemed to be playing a game ofNot Itwhen it came to making decisions.
But even I knew we couldn’t just leave a portal to another planet randomly open without supervision and making some decisions.
Duh.
“Okay, no more worries, candles for going through the portal because who knows if batteries will work and maybe some new lotion.” Then there was the crystal shop and I still had to meet the lady who did palm reading. “So much to do and so little time until the meetings start.”
I couldn’t decide if that was going to be fun or painful, but as I climbed out of the car and bounced toward the door to the candle shop, it became obvious. “Both. Definitely both as long as everyone else is just as much fun as the locals.”
I wasn’t sure about all the visiting council members, though. They’d been avoiding the magical locals and some of them had even decided to stay out at the hotel by the highway instead of in town. The men at the diner said their wives had been horrified at their manners.
So I was hoping that meant more chaos at some point, but I couldn’t figure out what flavor that would be. Somehow they madeeverythinginsane, so it wouldn’t be just a general scolding over bad manners.
Nope.
We’d get something fun and dramatic, and I hoped I had popcorn when it happened.
“Portals and drama and manners, oh my!” Hmm. “I need to work on that.”
Oh.
Walking into the candle shop, I fell in love and decided I was never leaving the Blue Ridge Mountains.
“This is amazing.”
Candles and twinkle lights and teas over in one corner…I’d found home.
“Thank you.” The smiling woman over by the teas could’ve been anywhere between twenty and forty, I didn’t understand women well enough to guess, but she was happy until her eyes widened. “Oh.”
Did I stand out as little?
Dragon?
Drama queen?
“You have to keep your clothes on and can’t ask about sex toys.”
All of the above.
“I’m just visiting.” She seemed relieved and worried about that at the same time if I was reading her expression right. “I can behave. I’m not local.”
One eyebrow went up.
