Page 16 of Treasure and Tarot

“I bet you’re right, man. Good morning!”

“Morning.” Xavi bustled out from the back to come give them a kiss and a one-armed hug respectively. “We had such a good night, didn’t we, Abby?”

“Uh-huh.” She bounced in his hold. “Can I color, Uncle Xavi?”

“Sure, kiddo. Bastian, will you get her set up? Ginger piggie, kiddo?”

“Uh-huh.”

Xavi looked at him. “Chocolate croissant?”

“God, yes.” He winked, and he took Abby to the little play table to lower her down, then looked for a free chair.

“Hey, Sebastian, you can have my table.” Shandie March stood up, coffee in hand, and grinned at him. “I have to head off to range the forest.”

“Good luck.” He winked.

She toasted him and walked out, waving to Xavi, who was steaming milk. He always set Abby’s aside to cool a lot while he made Sebastian’s.

“So, how’s it going, Sebastian?” Loyal Blanchet, who was a long-haul truck driver, leaned over from the next table. “Hear you’re having some house trouble.”

“Yeah. It’s been a wild ride.” Everyone knew by now, so why bother to try to hide the crazy? He didn’t want to have to worry about someone giving the TV crew a hard time. They were just here to work, and didn’t need a bunch of folks questioning their right to be there.

He needed this done. Abby had to be safe in the house, or he had no idea what they were going to do. He didn’t want to have to sell it. His family had built the damn thing.

“Well, if you need help, you holler. We got that little cabin down by the falls if you need a place to stay. I can help move stuff.”

“Thanks, Loyal. I really appreciate that.” He tried for a smile, even if he was tired of that when he didn’t feel like it.

“No problem.” Loyal grinned, his missing front tooth gap clear, and then he went back to his coffee and cinnamon muffin.

He took a deep breath, checking on Abby, who was gently coloring a green spiral on a picture of a dragon in a coffee cup. So cute. She was very Zen about it.

He did love his baby girl. She was such a happy kid.

“Here you go, hon,” Xavi said, bringing over the drinks. “I’ll bring the pastry right back. Abby, do you want your coffee? Do you want a booster seat?”

“Yes, pwease.” She carefully put away the crayons and brought her picture over to him. “Dis yours, Daddy.”

“Thank you, sweetie.” He lifted her as Xavi pushed a booster under her butt.

“Want my coffee!”

He fastened her with a look. “What do we say?”

Abby beamed at him. “Pwease!”

“Very nice.” He put the little sippy cup lid over her barely warm chocolate milk and handed it to her along with her gingerbread piggy breakfast.

He told himself that it was totally reasonable to have gingerbread cookies for breakfast, because there was butter, which went on pancakes, and flour, which went into pancakes, and ginger, which was good for digestion. And it didn’t matter, because that’s what she was getting was a gingerbread pig.

Xavi handed him his coffee. “How are you doing? You ready for today?”

Sebastian shook his head. “Absolutely not, but has to be done. Right?”

Xavi nodded. “Yeah, there’s only so long the three of us can all live up in my apartment.”

“Dork.” He cracked up. “I don’t want to live in your apartment. I want to live in my house. I was born there. My dad was born there. His dad was born there.”

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