Page 78 of Forget Me Not

“I am not a Calvin Parker,” Ray rumbled in response, silencing the room. “I am also not a Callalily Parker, or an Oscar Benedict. I am here to assist them.” He turned to Cal, who was staring at him, wide-eyed, lips parted. Ray ignored the temptation. “Where do you plan to set up to do this work of yours?”

“Back room, or outside if it warms up a little.” Benny smiled. “Outside, Cal might get distracted. It will be tedious work. But he needs something to do while we work on your problem.”

“Going through statements from an old lawsuit,” Cal mumbled at last. “Hardly the work of the great Calvin Parker.”

Ray couldn’t tell if he meant that to sting or if he was painfully sincere. He leaned in to get a better idea and Cal swatted him off as if he knew what Ray was doing.

“Kid, you are persistent, nearly tireless, and you care.” Calvin shook his head. “You care enough to go through probably boring records for someone else because you don’t want to waste time, even though your mate needs you. And you’re one of them. That makes you the hero I keep telling you you are.”

Ray pulled in a sharp breath.

“We aren’t using the rhymes-with-late word,” Benny explained to Calvin, sotto voce. “I’ll explain later.”

Cal reached out to grab Ray’s arm but didn’t take his gaze off his dad. “I didn’t get my ability to sift through paperwork from mom. I’m not only the fairy half.”

Calvin blinked several times at Benny’s words, then shot a look to Cal that was almost startled. “Well,” he said finally, “if your human side lets you battle monotony for a righteous cause, I don’t mind that as a legacy.”

Cal nearly kept the squeak in his throat. Ray leaned in to sniff his hair, half-expecting to get swatted away again but this time, Cal let him. There was a lot to sniff. Moreaffectionandembarrassment,and then a cinnamon sort of a scent, but sweet cinnamon, not the spicy kind.

“Don’t say it,” Cal told his father in a faint voice, then shuddered when Ray exhaled over the tip of his ear. “Okay,” he said, in response to what, Ray had no idea.

Ray looked to Benny, then to Calvin, before studying Cal again. “You work on that and I’ll call Penn,” he suggested. “I can go get you coffee. Benny too, and for Calvin if you’re staying to help.”

“I’m staying.” Calvin was gruff and took his time looking over to Ray. “But I might give Ray a hand with the coffees first.”

Cal lifted his head to give his father a long study, then tightened his grip on Ray’s arm. “Sure!” he said brightly, his hand nearly as painful as the blood pressure cuff the doctors had used on Ray as though his blood pressure had caused magical amnesia.

Ray leaned down to brush the tip of Cal’s ear with his nose. “It’ll be fine.” And he needed the caffeine, truly, despite having just had some. He might also force himself to eat something. That was probably the real cause of his exhaustion anyway.

“Of course it’ll be fine!” Cal responded, still overly cheerful, and let go of Ray with no warning. “Do you know what to get us?”

“I bet Calvin does. But you can text me.” The scent of Cal’s fear—and it was fear, not mere worry—made Ray nuzzle Cal’s ear again before he realized what he was doing.

“Werewolves.” Cal sighed dramatically and slumped once more as Ray straightened up. “More people need to realize that weres are more about offering you food than ripping out your throat.”

“Although I am surprised there wasn’t a hint of that,” Calvin mused. “Not that Ray is especially violent but… someone is keeping his ma—macaron from him.”

“You can say it.” Ray put his shoulders back. “I can take it.”

Calvin’s eyebrows went up, then down, before he exchanged a glance with his son. “So we aren’t using that word,” he agreed, ignoring Ray. The goblin at the desk sighed longingly again. Calvin gestured to Ray. “Come on. Let’s get some fresh air while they get settled. We’ll be back in a jiffy. Everybody has their phones. So, as Ray said, it will be fine.”

“Jiffy,“ Cal echoed under his breath. “Fine.”

He clenched and unclenched his hands when Ray stepped away, so Ray came back and leaned down to place a kiss on the top of his head.

“I know what you’re doing,” Cal told Ray resentfully, but fluttered his wings until Ray kissed him again. “Just go and have your tough guy talk and get back here before I die of worry.”

“Text me your order?” Ray glanced to Benny, who nodded. Then Ray moved away, for good this time.

That he immediately wanted to sit down was not a good sign. He resolved to ask Calvin about headaches and fatigue, but also to not show a hint of either as he went out to the street.

“There’s a place not far,” Calvin said. He gave Ray a quick study as they walked, but didn’t say anything until they were some distance away from the center. “How much do you remember, exactly?” Ray had no way to answer that, which Calvin seemed to realize. “Sorry.”

Ray shrugged and looked out at the street traffic as they walked. They passed a tea and coffee shop, several small take-out only restaurants, and a space that looked to have been recently converted to an expensive art gallery, the kind with all-white walls and price tags that no one in the village could afford. They stopped at a corner before crossing the street with the crowd waiting on the light.

“How does the gossip reach you?” Ray wondered, slowing as they reached the other side of the street because Calvin left the sidewalk to enter the area set aside for the plaza. The whole space was not even half of the block, although it had probably been bigger a century ago. Cobbled paths lined with benches and a few flowers and small trees surrounded an old, stone fountain that had once been the water source for the people in the area who didn’t live directly next to the creek. The fountain had been refitted with new plumbing and discreet jets to fill the space with the sound of running water. People often used it as a wishing well or took pictures sitting on the low wall that had been built to go around it and hopefully discourage people from climbing in.

Several yards behind it was the mural itself, brilliant when the sun hit it, although it had small spotlights for night visitors. It had been painted in bright colors, reds and greens, pinks and yellows. Even the black and brown spots on the Beast seemed to gleam. Not the color scheme some would imagine for a supposedly murderous creature.

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