"Well, that's…weird."
Briana snickered. "Right? But a relief. We actually had a nice little talk. His mom named him after Laurie fromLittle Women."
"I have no idea which one of the little women is Laurie, but what, did she want a girl? He's got a ton of older brothers, right?"
"No, Laurie's a boy inLittle Women, the girls are Amy, Jo, Beth and…" Briana broke off and stared at the hat shop being stocked just down the way.
"Bree? Are you stroking out?"
"No, just trying to remember the other sister. Not Emily, that's of New Moon, not Mary, that'sThe Secret Garden, it's…shoot, what is hername!"
"I'd say you have the internet in your pocket and could look it up, but that's not the answer you want to hear, is it."
"No. It'll come to me. Anyway, Laurie's a boy in the books. Short for Laurence." Briana shook her head and went to work, which involved talking to a handful of early-arrival kids about forging and letting them know the first demonstration would start at noon. "Actually," she said in her best confiding voice, "usually once we get started there's somebody here working all day, so you can come by any time."
The adult with them gave her a grateful smile, like being released from a specific time table was a blessing, and the kids ran off with their grown-up in tow. Bree smiled after them, and kept smiling up until Laurie Torben strode down the other pathway with an entiretrayof drinks balanced between his hand and his shoulder.
We could head-butt him,her goat offered, and if she had not been in full view of a couple dozen fair-goers, Briana absolutely would have shifted and done just that. Instead she stood there, ears practically steaming with futile indignation as Laurie, with irritating grace and charm, handed out root beers and lemonades to the entire smithy staff. The rest of them chorused delight while he made some nonsense noises about promotional giveaways and fostering good relationships with other vendors.
"This is not being chill and doing our own things," Briana hissed at him when he came to offer her the last lemonade, which she refused on principle.
Laurie widened his big brown eyes. "I don't know what you mean. This is a Thunder Bear Brewery outreach program for fairvendors. Maybe we're thinking about doing a holiday bazaar at the pub and I'm cajoling people into considering it."
"Maybe pigs fly, too!"
They shared a brief, loaded silence in which they were all too clearly both considering whether there were any flying pig shifters. Laurie eventually said, "I know there are supposed to be some mythicals around, but I'm not sure flying pigs count as mythical."
Briana had also heard of mythical shifters—pegasuses, dragons, that kind of thing—but if they existed they were too rare to show up even in a shifter-heavy town like Renaissance. And if it had been anybody but Laurie Torben trying to ingratiate himself with her, she probably would have had a great time talking about it. Instead, she scowled and pointed up toward the tavern. "Go. Go away."
"You might as well take the lemonade. Otherwise it'll just get tossed, and that would be a waste."
It would be, and unfortunately for Briana, the Thunder Bear lemonade was really, really good and she wanted some. "If I take it will you not do this again?"
He studied her a moment, and she put some effort into not noticing his blond good looks, or the way his trousers fit him like a glove. Eventually he said, "All right. Sorry," and while she didn't particularly believe either of those things, she took the lemonade and he did, at least, leave the smithy premises. Briana had a long cold drink, then turned to put the mug on the wooden half-wall between the forge and the shop.
Every single smithy employee in the shop was grinning openly at her. Even Damien, who normally kept his nose out of everybody's business, was grinning. He was the one who said, "So Laurie Torben, eh?"
Briana said, "Oh my God, no," and everybody else wentOooOOooOOOooohand dissolved into giggles like they wereeleven years old. Everybody but Dahlia, who clutched her mug of root beer and looked apologetically guilty, like everybody else's behavior was somehow her fault.
Damien's grin got bigger, if possible. "You danced with him last night and now he's bringing you lemonade in the morning."
"It's nothing, Damien, I swear to God." Briana's gaze flickered to Doll, who shook her head minutely, indicating she hadn't told her brother that Laurie was Bree's fated mate. Nobody else would guess, because the rest of the smithy employees weren't shifters, but Damien had a knowing smirk when Bree's gaze came back to him.
"I'm sure that's true. Just a tall, good-looking guy bringing you lemonade for no reason at all. How nice for you. And all of us."
Briana was going to kill Laurie, simple as that.
But not until after she finished her lemonade, obviously.
For the moment, though, she said, "Let it go, please, Day," quietly, and Damien looked momentarily startled, then apologetic.
"Yeah, of course. Sorry. All right, everybody, back to work, these trinkets won't sell themselves." Dahlia's slab of a brother shooed everyone back to work while Briana took a wistful moment to wish hehadbeen her fated mate. He was good-looking, dedicated to his job, thoughtful about his employees, concerned about the welfare of both his business and the town… Briana would haveunderstoodfate choosinghim. She didn't understand Laurie Torben at all. Even if she overlooked his flirtatious charmer persona, she just couldn't see how they had anything in common.
Well, besides the Faire itself, which obviously spoke to both of them on some level. But it was literally a family business for the Torbens. Laurie was long since old enough to have stopped attending if he didn't still enjoy it on a personal level, so Breeassumed he actually liked it. Or at least he liked the attention he got by being a big tall Viking-elf-looking-guyatFaire. Honestly, if he just had pointy ears he'd be Legolas's brawny older brother.
She found herself wondering, very briefly, if she could talk him into wearing some of those ears.
Then she physically shook herself and put the thought away. She was sure he would, if she asked, but that would be giving him an inch and Briana knew he'd take a mile if she did that. But he hadn't been entirely awful when they'd spoken last night, or even when he'd brought the lemonade down. It was faintly possible she should give him a little more of a chance than she was doing.
