Ronan laughed. “What idiot have you wrangled into getting dunked all day?”
Ten’s lips quirked into a brief smile. “Someone you know pretty well.”
Jude snorted and tried unsuccessfully to cover it with a cough. Everly giggled and slapped her hands over her mouth. “Do you want to tell him, honey, or should I?”
Everly was laughing too hard to answer. Jude joined her. Together, they sounded like braying donkeys.
“Well, there’s good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?” Ten asked.
“Oh, no.” Ronan shook his head. He knew what was coming. His darling husband had volunteeredhimto the be the idiot.
“The good news is that we got you a cool bathing suit. The bad news is temperatures are only forecast to be in the mid-sixties.” Ten grimaced. “But with your sexy figure you’re sure to have a huge line wanting to dunk your dumb ass.Repeatedly.”
“Take my money, please!” Fitzgibbon said with a smirk.
“Just think of it, Ronan, with all the money you’ll raise we’ll be able to send the kids on one of those rockets into space!” Tenbit back a laugh when Ronan turned a withering look in his direction.
“Who’s going to take care of my dumb ass when I catch pneumonia after all the dunkings?” Ronan asked with a sneer.
“We’ll pack you up and send you over to stay with Nana Kaye. You loved her chicken and stars soup the last time you were sick, remember?”
Ronan remembered the way his loving family had exiled him to Kaye’s house like a leper. Although, he did have to admit she’d waited on him hand and foot. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all. The money raised would be for an end of the year class trip that all the kids would enjoy. “Fine. I’ll do it, but I want to be fully compensated.” He waggled his eyebrows at Ten, knowing his husband would catch his drift.
“Deal!” Ten said far too easily.
The ringing doorbell interrupted Ronan’s saucy comeback,comebeing the operative word. As he reached for his wallet, he couldn’t help but think how excited Everly would be that her father was going to be the star attraction of the elementary school fundraiser. At least until the hypothermia killed him.
2
Tennyson
It had been a quiet Monday at West Side Magick, with only a few shoppers. Ten and Cope had one reading client each and by half past one, Ten had started watching the clock. The end of summer brought an end to the huge tourist crowds Salem attracted, at least for the time being.
Ten knew this lull was only temporary. Halloween was next level in the Witch City. When Ten had first moved to Salem, spooky season officially began around the middle of October. As the years had passed. That date moved back toward the beginning of the month. Now, crowds started showing up around the Fall Equinox, toward the end of September. If the trend continued, Halloween celebrations would start right after the Fourth of July.
Ronan loved the fact that stores started selling Trick or Treat candy around Labor Day. Ten had no doubt that before too long Halloween tourism would grow to encompass all of September and there wouldn’t be a gap between summer and fall crowds,but for now, he and West Side Magick were in a bit of a slowdown.
A knock on Ten’s door broke his concentration. “Come in, Cope.”
“I’m bored,” Cope grumped before throwing himself into one of the chairs at Ten’s reading table. Let’s go do something fun before the kids get off the bus.”
“What’s fun?” Ten asked with a snarky smile.
“You know, that thing we used to have before diaper changes and PTA meetings took over our lives.”
“I hear that.” Ten sighed. It had been a while since the last time he’d had some time completely to himself. He wouldn’t trade being a father for anything in the world, but there were times when he wanted to sit in front of a cozy fire and spend an uninterrupted day reading a book. “How about a trip to the bookstore?” Ten was fully aware that shopping for and buying books was a completely different hobby than sitting down to read them.
“That sounds good! We can go to that cat café across town where they have stacks of used books and cats who browse the shelves with you.”
“Then we could get pumpkin spice lattes and enjoy them hot instead of cold because we got distracted by the kids.” It really was the simple things in life that brought Ten the most joy. Pumpkin spice was one of them. Until recently, Ronan had been a coffee snob and didn’t think it should be flavored with anything, French Vanilla, hazelnut, and peppermint included. Ten accused Ronan of sucking all the joy out of life and in an attempt to redeem himself in his husband’s eyes, Ronan had agreed to try Ten’s coffee. He’d been hooked from the first sip.
“I’ll grab my keys, they’re in my office.” Cope sprinted out the door.
“Slow down, where’s the fire?” Carson asked Cope before, sticking his head into Ten’s office.
“Since there are no customers, we thought we’d play hooky until it’s time to get the kids off the bus.” Ten couldn’t wait to get out of the office and spend the next hour or two doing something just for himself.
Carson’s face lit up. “I want in on that action, but there’s someone here to see you.”
