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I rolled my eyes, desperately fighting back the heat surging for my face. “Don’t start.”
Aya had a habit of “shipping” people. Anyone she thought needed to either get together or, in the very least, fuck, she paired them up in her head. The weird thing was, she had a high accuracy rate.
And unfortunately, she’d done it with Diego and me—day one of meeting us.
Aya winked, and I punched her in the arm again before turning to the cats on the island counter. “Buggy, Tuggy, how are you girls doing?”
The two Norwegian Forest cats, with coat patterns that looked a lot like armor, chirped. I happily scratched them under the chins, triggering them to purr.
“Buggy and Tuggy, that’s what you’re calling them now, Aya?” Tyr’s rumbling voice said.
I turned to see him leaning against the wall in the foyer, arms crossed, and fist clenched. His gentle demeanor with me from earlier had disappeared, and a stoic, hard one replaced it.
“Tyr.” Aya smiled. “It’s good to see you. It’s beenforever.”
Tyr’s expression didn’t change, and I noticed the tension in his shoulders. My eyes darted between the two. “You two know each other?”
“Sure do,” Aya said. “Our families go way back. I told him about this place before, but it’s taken him so long to come by, I thought he was ignoring me.”
“You never mentioned this place.”
She shrugged. “Or you weren’t paying attention. You’ve done it to me before.”
A prickling sensation trailed down my spine. Tyr was from Norway, just like Aya. It was supposed to be a coincidence. We occasionally had residents who came from other countries, and it just so happened he’d come from the same one as Aya. My dad’s words bounced around in my head.There is no such thing as coincidence.
“I’m noticing some tension,” Diego said.
Aya gave a tight smile. “We’ve had some family issues that we’ve been trying to work on for alongtime.”
“Very long,” Tyr practically growled.
I sucked in a slow breath through my nose. “If this is going to be an issue…”
“It won’t be,” they both said.
Aya turned her attention to me, smiling kindly. “We’ll work through it. That’s why I wanted him to come here. This place has themagictouch on people and relationships.”
I rolled my eyes. She always liked saying that.
Angel, now satisfied with the attention from Aya, wandered closer to the island with the two cats.
“Oh, this should be good,” Tyr said.
Angel stuck her nose on the counter, sniffing Tuggy. The large cat bopped Angel on the nose in response. She wagged her tail and tried poking Tuggy with her nose. Tuggy playfully pawed her back, lowering herself onto the counter so she could use both paws. Buggy watched, eyes squinted and the tip of her tail curling and uncurling.
Tyr shook her head. “You’ve replaced them.”
Aya laughed. “Nope, still the same two girls you know and love.”
“They don’t tolerateanycanine.”
Aya winked. “Angel is the exception.”
Tyr shook his head and left without another word. Disappointment prickled in my chest. I suspected that was the extent he was willing to tolerate Aya for now.Hopefully, they’ll be able to work through it here.The desire to ensure that was quite strong for me, in a rather startling way, too. Yes, Aya was my friend, but I’d never felt so strongly about helping a situation as I did right now.
“How was your trip, Aya?” I asked, trying to distract myself.
She smiled. “It was so good seeing my family. I missed them.”
