“No?Is that why you spilled your milk four days in a row?”
“That was because you kept kicking my chair!”
“I was trying to warn you about your hair being in your soup.”
Their whispered bickering drew a curious glance from a nearby patron, and they both straightened, remembering their mission.Hannah was still holding court across the diner, apparently oblivious to their surveillance.
“You’re pulling your ‘serious alpha’ face,” Malcolm noted after a moment.
“I do not have a ‘serious alpha’ face.”
“You’ve had it since third grade.Right between your eyes—” He reached across as if to touch the spot, then pulled his hand back.“Same look you got before you challenged Bobby Parker for pushing Sarah in the creek.”
“Someone had to stand up to him,” Larissa muttered.
“We did.Together.”His voice softened.“First time we ever worked as a team.”
“And the last, until Vincent.”
Their shared memories of recent battles mingled with childhood recollections.
“We made a good team,” Malcolm said quietly.“Even then.”
“When we weren’t trying to outdo each other.”
“Or setting things on fire.”
“That was one time!”
“The obstacle course, the pack house kitchen, Ms.Everett’s lesson plans…”
“Those lesson plans were an accident, and you know it.”
“Like the time you ‘accidentally’ pushed me into the punch bowl at the spring gathering?”
“You deserved that one,” she said primly.“You told everyone I had cooties.”
“We were six!”
“And you still haven’t grown up much.”
But there was no real heat in her words, and when their hands brushed reaching for the coffee pot, neither pulled away immediately.
“Try not to push me into any punch bowls this time,” Malcolm said, finally taking the coffee pot and pouring more into both their cups.
“No promises.You’re still insufferable.”
“You love it.”
The look she shot him was equal parts exasperation and something warmer, more complicated.
Just like when they were kids, but different now.
Deeper.
Maybe he could avoid ruining it.
Don’t move too fast, he warned himself.She needs time.Give it to her.
