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Mr. Alvarez looked from me... to Azaren... then back to me.

"I have questions," he announced.

"So do I," Mrs. Jenkins replied.

Mags stepped out of her little herb shop, wiping dirt from her hands onto her apron. She took one look at us. Then at our joined hands. Then at the way Azaren instinctively shifted closer when a delivery truck rolled past.

One of her eyebrows climbed. "Oh."

That was all she said. Just... "Oh."

Melinda came hurrying across the street carrying two paper grocery bags. She stopped so abruptly an apple escaped, rolled across the sidewalk, and came to rest against one of Azaren's boots. He looked down at it. Then, with surprising care, bent to pick it up. He brushed off a speck of dirt before handing it back to her. "I believe this belongs to you."

Melinda stared. "Thank... you?"

He inclined his head politely. She accepted the apple with both hands. As soon as we'd taken three steps, I heard her whisper loudly, "Well..."

Mrs. Jenkins leaned toward her. "What do you think?"

Melinda watched Azaren reach down to quietly move me to the inside of the sidewalk before a cyclist passed. She smiled. "I think..." She lowered her voice. "...he looks at her like Mr. Wilton used to look at Harriet."

The entire street fell strangely quiet.

Mrs. Jenkins sighed. "Oh."

Mayor Henderson nodded thoughtfully. "Well."

Mr. Alvarez folded his arms. "I suppose if she insists on dating a demon..."

"They're clearly past dating," Mags observed dryly.

Everyone looked back at us. Azaren had paused because I'd stopped to admire pumpkins outside the bakery. He wasn't impatient. He simply stood beside me with the resigned expression of an immortal who had accepted that humans apparently required several minutes to appreciate decorative gourds. I pointed excitedly at one shaped suspiciously like a duck.

He actually looked. Seriously.

"As vegetables go," he said after careful consideration, "it is... acceptable."

I laughed. Without thinking, I slipped my hand into his. He looked down. Then, almost unconsciously... smiled. Not much. Just enough for the little dimple to appear.

Mrs. Jenkins gasped. "Oh my goodness."

"What?"

"He smiled."

Mayor Henderson blinked. "I didn't know demons could do that."

"They usually don't," Mags said softly.

She watched us disappear around the corner before smiling to herself. "I think this one finally found his home."

After that... no one really questioned us anymore. They simply started setting an extra place whenever there was a town gathering. Mrs. Jenkins learned to keep infernal-strength coffee on hand. Mayor Henderson pretended not to notice the occasional scorch marks on park benches. Mr. Alvarez taught Azaren to play checkers, then spent three weeks trying unsuccessfully to beat him.

And Mags quietly began stocking a tea she labeled Infernal Blend.

It was unbearably strong. Azaren claimed not to like it. He drank two cups every Thursday.

Life settled into something wonderfully strange after that. The tether never disappeared. Not that either of us minded. Well... mostly. Every now and then I'd wander just a little too far on purpose. Exactly thirty-three yards. Thirty-four if I was feeling particularly mischievous. There would be the familiar whoosh behind me...