Page 3 of Prayers for the Prickly

Snarling, I shoved my hands behind my back, immediately taking offense, until August’s eyes went wide, and his laughter evaporated. Desperate to salvage the mood, I feigned a cough, which turned into a real one when I leaned too close to the workbench and inhaled a bunch of sawdust. Doubling over, I tried not to hack up a lung, while Olly pounded on my back until I flapped my arms, desperate to wave him off.

Groaning, I pinched the bridge of my nose, chuckling at the absurdity of it all. “Sorry, wood dust.”

“I can see where it would get dusty in here,” August replied, grinning.

For some reason, it felt good to have put the smile back on his face.

“So, Olly says you’re looking for something specific,” I said, trying to swing things back to a more businesslike tone.

“Yes, actually, for my sister’s birthday,” August explained. “It’s next weekend and she loves whales, but most specifically, humpbacks. She’s been fascinated by them since we were kids, and Olly said you have one or two back here.”

I had almost interrupted, hell, I scowled at Olly because there were two narwhals, an orca and a sperm whale out in the shop already, but the humpback pieces, newly finished and not even priced yet, were on the upper shelf in the corner. Olly just grinned in the face of my scowl and wiggled his eyebrows at me.

Okay, fine, there was nothing to forgive. This time.

“I have a few pieces,” I declared and went to get them down.

One by one I set them on the workbench beneath the window, where they gleamed in the sunlight as August crossed the room to look at them. One was a humpback with her baby by her side, frozen in motion, like they were majestically swimming beneath the waves. The other was a large humpback, breaching, flippers extended in mid backflip with resin sea spray all around it.

“Oh, oh wow, they’re magnificent,” August said. “I’d like to purchase both.”

“You don’t even know how much they are,” I sputtered.

“So, tell me, so I can pop over to the ATM if I don’t have enough on me,” August said. “Either way, I want them.”

“Four hundred,” I blurted, while Olly’s eyebrows shot up before he blinked and studied me like he’d never seen me before.

Yeah, I knew that I could have gotten three just for the breaching humpback, but I liked the way August smelled, and those colors on him made me want to spend long hours licking him from head to toe.

Holy shit, where the hell had that come from?

“No problem,” August said, while I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to find bubble wrap.

The quicker we wrapped things up, the better. Thankfully, Olly led August to the front and the register to ring him up, while I carefully wrapped the sculptures, and fit them in foam padded boxes. The fact that August had come prepared to pay that much, and maybe even more, showed that the man had an appreciation for artistry. I had lost track of the number of times someone had gotten indignant with Olly when they were quoted a price of more than forty or fifty dollars, like they could just walk into a supercenter and purchase one-of-a-kind driftwood art right off the shelf.

“I’ll carry them out for you,” I offered, and watched my brother’s eyebrows shoot up again, disappearing beneath his bangs.

I did not need shocked looks from my brother to tell me I was acting out of character; I knew the moment I made the offer. Hell, my words shocked me, too. Like with the discount I’d uncharacteristically given, I’d been unable to help myself. There was just something about the scent of him that made me want to jump through hoops just to make him happy.

“Thank you so much,” August said, lunging and catching me in an impulsive hug that left me frozen as I was surrounded by that sweet, sweet candy scent.

Even after August had driven away, windows open in his sky blue SUV allowing the echo of Pearl Jam to escape, I just stood there staring as his taillights rounded the corner, grinning at the thought of him lookin’ like a bag of Skittles while rocking out to “Even Flow.”

Chapter 2

August

“Whoa, dude, did you make all of those?”

I turned to see Oliver, call me Olly, from the driftwood shop staring through the glass candy case at the treats inside. The raised floor let me see over it as Olly drooled over the confections.

“Every last one,” I replied.

“Wow. How long did all of this take to make?”

“Well, not as long as you might think, considering some have the same base ingredients, which is always helpful,” I explained as Olly slowly made his way from one end of the case to the other.

“Licorice, taffy, lollipops, hard peppermints, soft peppermints, sour candies, extreme sour, gummies, jellies, is there even a difference between the two?” he murmured as he checked them all out.

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