He hadn’t been ready to see them walk in at ten thirty, both of them looking tired and frowzy but okay.
They’d ordered their coffee—large, with cream and sugar but nothing fancy—and then Kayleigh had dropped a kiss on Scout’s cheek and run out of the store with a wave. Lucky assumed she’d gotten an unexpected shift at her own job, and then the weekend ferry had docked, and Lucky had been too busy to even go back and ask Scout about it. Usually the Saturday morning rush died pretty hard by eleven, but Lucky was very aware that Scout had to go perform at twelve.
He wanted his break before then, and hedidn’twant Mr. Super-hot Rich Guy and his giggly cousin to have a chance to go seduce Lucky’s innocent, awkward, super-sweet magician with the dancer’s body and the dreamy eyes.
If Lucky had any idea how to work those moves himself, he was damned sure Scout wouldn’t have been distracted enough by ghosts in the living room to follow them out to the damned beach.
He’d finished up the kid’s frappe and gotten him change when he realized that finally,finally, there was no more line and Helen was working on restocking.
“Go say hi, Lucky,” she said softly. “I can tell you want to.”
Lucky had relayed the whole “Scout disappeared and then reappeared with half of the Atlantic,” story as they’d opened that morning. She’d been concerned, but he’d been very aware that everything from his body language to his voice had been borderline hysterical.
Finally, Helen had stopped him cold by saying, “Lucky, he was fine. Remember, Scout and Kayleigh deal with big magic all the time. It’s not quite so scary for them.”
Lucky had glared at her, and she’d reconsidered.
“Was this why you didn’t want to get attached?” she asked after a moment, her voice hesitant.
He’d shifted uncomfortably and remembered the first time he’d met Scout—or really, had run away from meeting him.
“People are hard,” he’d said at last, miserable. “I’m pretty sure you only get one.”
Her face softened. “I think that’s dangerous,” she said after a moment. “I thought like that for the longest time. And then… then I got in a fight with my one and I thought I had none. I wronged a lot of people—an entire coven of witches, it turned out—because when I realized I couldn’t deal with my own mess by myself, I just left them. Deserted them, because I knew that my mess would destroy me. They fixed it themselves, and I… well, I’ve got a lot of karma to make up for since then. Don’t make that mistake, Lucky. Don’t limit yourself to only one person. Embrace as many as you can, and remember to forgive. Trust me. You’ll be happier if that’s a lesson you can learn.”
Lucky had stared at her then and had wanted more details, but at that point people had started to come in, and he’d been locked with that, with Scout and the feel of Scout’s body against his, and his worry, all swirling around in his stomach.
Sure, he may have wanted the big triple-caffeinated dessert thingy, but the odds were even that it would also make him throw up.
Which was why he was judicious when he chose the bran muffin for himself and the chocolate croissant for Scout before he practically jogged to the back of the store.
What he found there made him relax a tad.
Scout was hunched over a book, so close it looked like he was about to fall asleep between its pages, and Mr. Clean-cut Snooty-voice was trying desperately to get his attention.
“Uhm, there’s a light over here. Uhm, Gestalt? I mean, that can’t really be your name, right? But you’re welcome to come sit here with my cousin and me.”
Lucky slowed as he neared the end of the bookshelf that led to the reading niche just to see what Scout’s reaction would be. It turned out Scout was one of those people who could read through bombs going off around him. He hadn’t noticed the flirty rich guy at all.
Right when Lucky was about to pop his head out from behind the bookshelf, the girl gave the flirty rich guy an impatient kick in the shins and a meaningful glance. He scowled at her, but then, after a furtive look around the reading niche, blinked three times at the torchiere lamp that sat behind Scout’s table. The lamp clicked up about three notches brighter, and Scout’s shoulders relaxed. Lucky could hear an actual sigh of relief coming from him as he yawned and rubbed his eyes and then went back to reading.
Lucky looked back to flirty rich guy, who grimaced sheepishly at his cousin and shook his head, and Lucky suddenly understood.
No, Scout wasn’t paying him any attention, but he’d needed the extra light, and flirty rich guy could fix that with his one small magic. So he did.
Lucky swallowed, suddenly feeling like a heel. Scout had proven himself oblivious to pretty much everybodybutLucky, and Lucky had to trust in that.
“Here,” he said, going to flirty rich guy and his cousin. They both startled guiltily, as though afraid they might have gotten caught doing something wrong, and he pushed on through, pretending he hadn’t seen a thing. “I’ve got an extra bran muffin and an extra chocolate croissant from the counter. You guys game?”
“Ooh, those look good,” the girl said, smiling at her cousin. “Yes, please. Are you sure it’s okay?”
Lucky nodded and set the pastries down at their table. “I’m gonna go get my boyfriend a refill and bring him his own breakfast. You guys enjoy.”
With that, he turned and put his hand on Scout’s shoulder. “What do you want to eat?” he asked gently, and Scout blinked up at him as though he were coming awake from a long sleep.
“What you just fed them,” he said softly. “But if you’re out of chocolate, I’ll take almond.”
Lucky opened his mouth, not sure what to say, but Scout blinked and squeezed the hand on his shoulder. “Go get our breakfast, Lucky. I’ll be here when you get back.”
