Briana laughed. "Right. I followed." A little more seriously, she said, "Are you…okay?"
Laurie took a deep breath, and again to his astonishment, Briana put her hand over his heart as he did so. His heart thumped under that touch, and he risked folding his hand over hers, somewhere between thrilled, confused, and relieved. "You meant it, didn't you," he asked a little hoarsely. "About starting over?"
"Clean slate," she repeated, her gaze on their hands for a moment before she met his eyes. "Yeah, I meant it. Because I'm seeing that I probably wasn't being fair to you, and because…like, don't take this the wrong way, but we've kind of got bigger problems right now and wasting time being petty about my preconceived notions seems like…well, a waste of time."
"I need to be clear that you weren't being all that unfair, either," Laurie said with reluctant humor. He ducked his head and brought her hand up to his mouth, pressing his lips against her knuckles. It wasn't exactly a kiss, but it was intimate, and she didn't pull back, which was worth a lot. After a moment, Laurie said, quietly, "I know the exact thing you didn't want was a mate who only got his act together under your supervision, and that's what I'm turning out to be."
The corner of Briana's mouth turned up in that adorable half-smile. "In your defense, you're kind of doing better than that. I'm not actually supervising your…"
"Improvement?" Laurie supplied, and Briana made a face.
"I was trying to avoid that word."
"Which is whyIsaid it." Laurie smiled, and Briana chuckled softly, then took a deep breath and let it go slowly.
"Look, I'm not gonna lie, I'd be happier if it didn't feel a little like you were inspired to get your act together because you finally met me. On the other hand…I don't know, Laurie. It also kind of seems like you would have stepped up with this disaster anyway. Maybe I would have seen this side of you anyway and decided I was being a bit of a dick myself. So I'm just trying to get over myself here, and if I'm being perfectly honest…" She wrinkled her nose. "You may actually be somewhat charming, if I'm being honest about it."
Laurie laughed. "Onlysomewhatcharming?"
Briana sniffed. "You're going to have to work harder for an upgrade."
"Challenge accepted." He smiled down at her, realizing that her hand was still enfolded in his, and wondering whether she'd punch him with his own hand if he tried kissing her.
Better not risk it,his bear said wisely, and Laurie agreed. Aloud, he said, "Although before trying to charm you, I should maybe try to charm the Faire council into giving me a position on it?"
"Good plan, except I have the vague idea that they're actually always desperate for more people even if it's not a disaster, so I think it might be less you trying to charm them and me trying to keep from being volunteered."
"Oh? You don't want to run the Faire?"
"I absolutely do not," Briana said with great sincerity. "It would eat up all my free time and trust me, you do not want to be my mate if I don't get to go rock climbing at least twice a week. I bite."
Laurie's bear took a mental half-step backward, nonplussed.A goat would not bite a bear…?
Laurie, aloud, said, "I think a goat would bite almost anything," and Briana snickered.
"It would, yes. Including a bear, yes. Goats are mostly fearless. So maybe we should split forces, after all. I really don't want to be volunteered, and I don't know if I could say no. I'm happy to help out right now, in the middle of the actual crisis, but…"
"Yeah. Maybe so. I'll see you in a few minutes, then?" For the second time, Laurie nearly gave in to the impulse to kiss Briana. This time, though, as she loosened her fingers from his hand, he thought that maybe she, too, was squashing the same impulse. Instead they smiled at one another and went their separate ways, but Laurie felt like he had a particular spring in his step as he headed deeper into the government buildings to find the Faire council offices.
He knew there were several people involved in running the Faire, though the one he knew best, the fiddler Pete Collins, wasn’t in the office. Two others were: a big friendly red-bearded man named Brian Nisbet who Laurie had always thoughtshouldbe a bear shifter, but was not, and a slim, short whip of a woman called Kathleen Mitchell whowas. They were both at desks, surrounded by paperwork, though as he knocked on the open door and entered, it was pretty clear neither of them were working at the moment. They both just looked exhausted and beaten-down, which Laurie could very much sympathize with right now. Kathleen said, “Laurie,” in a tone of faint surprise and confusion. “What can we do for you?”
No time like the present,Laurie told his bear as if was the nervous one, and straightened his shoulders. “I was kind of wondering what I could do for you, actually. I know the Faire organizational group is always understaffed, and with what’s happened, I thought…maybe you needed an extra body to help out?”
Kathleen and Brian exchanged glances before the red-bearded man said, “That’s an understatement, but your taverngot wiped out along with half the rest of the Faire. Are you sure you don’t need to be focusing on that?”
“Honestly, I’d say helping to get the Faire back on its feet is the best thing Icando for the tavern. At least, for the Faire version of it. The main business runs just fine without me.” That was maybe slightly less true than Laurie pretended, but it was also maybe more true than he wanted to admit. He wasn’t reliable enough to make a real difference there.
Yeah. He was lucky Briana was giving him a clean slate.
Both the Faire organizers exhaled heavily, exchanged another glance, and nodded in weary tandem. “In that case, yes,” Kathleen said. “The five of us have split the work as best we can, but there’s too much of all of it, especially with the fundraisers people are setting up. We need them all,” she admitted. “It’s just alotto try to organize from the top.”
“If you’re willing to share the financial information people will need with me, I can take that?” Laurie offered. “It would keep me out of the way of dealing with stuff that probably needs institutional knowledge, like insurance, but it’d take that off your plates?”
The other two exchanged looks again and Brian nodded. “That’d be great. You know there’s something being organized at the Harlequin tonight?”
Laurie shook his head. “I didn’t even know all of this was going on,” he said with a jerk of his thumb in the direction of the parking lot. “It looks like people are really coming through in a crisis.”
Kathleen said, “Yeah,” crisply. “Speaking of which, we also have the little exposure problem to deal with.”
