Page 37

“Did you want them without meat? We can do that.”

My poor mate. He seemed so incredibly torn. “How about this,” I said, stepping in. “We’ll get one that has beef and one that doesn’t have meat, and you can try both. Whichever you prefer, you can have. Or if you love both, we can share them.”

“Oh!” Lewis looked back at the guy behind the counter. “Yeah. That. One beef, one no meat.”

“You got it,” he said. “Do you want something to drink? We have ales, carbonated drinks, and water.”

I knew this was also going to be a battle. “Do you have anything caffeine-free?”

“Yeah, we have lemon-lime or root beer.”

I chuckled at my mate after he gasped. “Two root beers, please, and a water.”

The guy nodded again and called out our order behind him. Then he started tapping on the tablet. “Cash or card?”

I held up my card before Lewis could even think about pulling his out. He gave me a look, but I wasn’t going to argue. I was just going to pay for everything. The green check mark appeared, and we were offered a smile. “Your order will be ready in just a few.”

“Thanks,” I said. We stepped to the side where I’d seen others collecting their food. Our drinks were already there waiting, as were the nachos without beef. The second order was set down as we were picking up the drinks.

“Oh, those look so good,” Lewis said. I picked them up, and we carefully made our way over to the covered eating area. Several picnic tables and benches had been placed under an awning to keep the snow off us. There were patio heaters all around, and I smiled at the effort that had been put forth to make this festival enjoyable for all.

“Do you know where the nacho people came from?” Lewis asked. “I’ve never seen any of them before.”

“I honestly think the one guy who was putting the food down works in the barbeque place down in Timber Valley. They all scented of wolves, so I’d guess they are from the pack.”

Lewis looked back toward the booths but shook his head. “I can’t see them, but you’re probably right.” He sighed. “I really need to get down off of the mountain more. I’ve usually just done everything here. I shop here, and if I can’t find what I need, I use magic. I try to shop here, though, because I know the proceeds go to helping those the council rescues and helps. I’m so lucky that I never had to deal with anything like that, and I know my contribution is small, but I want to help where I can.”

“That’s because you are a wonderful person,” I told him. I passed Lewis one of the root beers and the water, and we placed the nachos between us. He picked up one with the shredded beef on it, and I wasn’t surprised when he moaned.

“Oh, that’s good,” he said before grabbing another one.

“Then it’s probably a good thing we ordered both,” I told him.

“I need to share though.” Lewis tried to push it back toward me, but I wasn’t going to allow that.

“No. You eat them. I’ll eat the other ones, and then we’ll go find something else as well. We can hit every food booth if you’d like.” Nachos were a snack. I would certainly be eating something else tonight, even if it wasn’t here. Most likely, Lewis would as well.

We sat in silence for a few before others approached our table. “Can we join you?”

Lewis groaned. “No, you can’t. Why us?”

I laughed. Evan and Lukan actually looked surprised. “You can join us,” I told them. “He’s not being serious.” Lewis pulled his nachos a little closer. “You aren’t, are you?”

“No. But it’s been such a wonderful time without them being overbearing.”

“Little mate, they’re the reason I met you when I did. You realize that, right? It was Evan that invited me. He insisted I come.”

Lewis looked at me, then back to them. “Of course you can join us,” he told the pair of fae. “How have you been? I saw Beau a little over a week ago.”

Evan grinned as he climbed over the bench and sat. “He told me. It’s basically all he’s talked about since. Well, that and the fact that you are both pregnant and your kids are going to grow up being best friends like the two of you are.”

I could see that. I’d seen the memories of the two of them when they were younger. They truly were best friends who were more than that. They were closer than some siblings, and I was happy that my mate had Beau and Evan in his life.

“So how has work been going?” I asked.

Lukan groaned. “It’s been, ugh. Remember when the council was getting ready to start that massive wave of assignments when they were going after the trafficking ring?”

I laughed once. “No, and neither do you.”