Page 49 of Wishes and Research

“I teach history and government at the local high school.” Daddy’s answer was such a surprise I must’ve looked silly. He laughed and kissed my nose again. “We’re on summer break.”

Yes, that made sense.

Nothing else about the town did, but his schedule was logical.

“We can discuss job mobility later.” Yes, we didn’t have to rush into things. “There are…there are probably other things to figure out first. Since you’re keeping me and all.”

Pressing his lips together, Daddy nodded and took a second to respond. “Yep.”

My sigh did not help his ability to control his laughter. “Stop looking so cute. I’m trying to behave.”

We had very different definitions of that.

“You’re being ridiculous.” That just made him giggle and hide his face against my head. “Ugh, fine. Dragging this out isn’t going to work. You’ll just spend the next few days giggling and making weird comments while the old men at the diner ask me stupid questions.”

“Unfortunately, you’re right about that.” Daddy pulled away, giving me one more kiss. “How about you sit on my lap? We’ll wrap you in the blanket if you want.”

Hmm.

“Is this an I’m going to need a quick getaway kind of thing?” I didn’t even know where to start guessing, but his shrug didn’t make me feel any better. “That’s not helpful. You were supposed to say no.”

He scoffed.

Still not helpful.

“I’m just trying to figure out how to explain this. I’ve never had to do the whole telling someone new thing.” Daddy looked so frustrated about not knowing whatever he was supposed to be doing that I couldn’t resist kissing his cheek.

“Yes, let’s cuddle. I like sitting on your lap.” And it would make him stop pouting. “Help me. I’m stuck.”

Somehow I’d gotten wrapped up in the sheets, and since it was probably his fault, I made him fix it. The slow and slightly frustrating process eventually came to an end and I could move, so I climbed up on his lap and brought the sheet with me.

Neither of us needed to be distracted and my body seemed to think wrestling with the sheet had also been wrestling with Daddy.

“That’s better.” He looked down at my lap and snickered. “You think so too.”

“You’re going to distract us.” Somehow, Daddy being nervous made me feel more confident. “It’s okay. My beetles disappear. I know something is weird and I’m actually glad to be able to talk about it.”

Even I’d started getting tired of saying they were just well-camouflaged.

“I can see that.” Finally back to looking more relaxed, Daddy settled back against the head of the bed and did a very good job of pretending to be confident. “Okay, so the reason the bugs keep disappearing is that they’re magic.”

I’d thought he’d say that, but I really hadn’t thought he’d say it.

“Okay, well, is it an evolutionary process?” How did we get insects that disappeared? Was calling it magic a colloquial term for some kind of evolutionary process? The local language was weird enough that nothing would’ve surprised me at that point.

“No.” Daddy sighed and rolled his eyes.

I knew that look. “It was one of the men in the diner?”

Daddy should’ve laughed but he didn’t.

He sighed again and nodded, giving me the same the locals are weird expression that I’d come to associate with all their strange questions. “More than likely. My best guess at the moment is that one of the local mages did something to one generation of beetles and then they spread. It was probably intended to be harmless, but dragons above, they’re just kind of stupid.”

After meeting the locals, I decided not to tell Daddy that was rude because he was right.

“Dragons?” Oh. “Someone at the bakery said I had the appetite of a dragon. I think he was being offensive, though? Is that…is it a slur?”

Had I been rude just quoting him?

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