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I chuckle. “Obviously.”
“She has my temperament,” Gordy says from somewhere among the shelves.
Alice’s expression softens as she looks at her daughter. “She’s the best of both of us.”
My heart squeezes at the love on her face, making me yearn for a husband and family of my own. An image of a little girl with honey-blonde hair and amber eyes pops into my mind, and I nearly choke on my next breath.
Oh, for heaven’s sake. You’ve barely managed to get two consecutive sentences out of your grumpy neighbor, and you’re already imagining the beautiful babies you’d make.
Alice moves around the counter and hooks one hand lightly through my arm. “Come on. I’ll show you the important sections.”
We pass romance first, then local history, folklore, spell craft, cryptozoology, cookbooks, and a shelf labeled DO NOT OPEN AFTER SUNSET.
I point. “Joke?”
Alice keeps walking. “No.” She pauses near a section devoted to supernatural biology and pulls out a thin volume. “New resident reading.”
The title is Living with the Changed: A Practical Guide to Screaming Woods.
I turn it over, looking for the author. Dr. Karloff. The name is familiar, obviously. Anyone who researches Screaming Woods knows that he’s the man responsible for Frankenpunch, the scientist whose mistake transformed half the town overnight.
Alice watches my face. “He’s a good man. The internet makes him sound like some mustache-twirling mad scientist conducting experiments on unsuspecting townspeople.”
I shrug. “The internet also said Screaming Woods is cursed, tourists regularly disappear, and one of the local restaurants serves human fingers. I make my own mind up about people based on how they treat me, not what strangers say about them.”
Alice nods approvingly. “Oh, you’re going to fit right in here.”
Gordy appears at the end of the aisle with a book, which he holds out to me.
I look down at the cover.
The Wolf Next Door: A Guide to Pack Behavior, Territorial Instincts, and Bonding.
I slowly lift my eyes to his.
Gordy gives a small shrug. “Might be useful, considering your neighbor.”
I look back down at the wolf book as Gordy disappears among the shelves again. “I met Hewit yesterday.”
Alice gives me a knowing look as she leans one shoulder against the shelf. “He told you to stay away.”
“How did you—”
She chuckles. “Lucky guess. He doesn’t like people getting close.” Some of the teasing leaves her voice. “That’s not the same as not liking people.”
“I’m beginning to think you’re trying to convince me he’s secretly lovely.”
Alice snorts. “Lovely might be pushing it. Hewit is difficult, private, and stubbornly independent. He’s also very good at making people believe he wants nothing from them.”
“That part I’ve noticed.” Heat creeps into my cheeks. “It took him coffee. Thought I was being neighborly.”
Alice reaches out and taps the wolf book still resting in my hands. “Keep that one. Welcome gift.”
A soft cry comes from the basket, and Alice hurries back to the front of the shop. She scoops her daughter up, settles her against one shoulder, and sways automatically.
Gordy reappears, and one of his snakes reaches toward the baby. Lyra grabs it, and I brace for disaster, but the snake simply curls around her tiny fist.
Gordy looks down at his daughter, and everything about him changes. He doesn’t smile or coo, but his shoulders ease, and he touches one finger to Lyra’s cheek with extraordinary care.
