Page 35 of Magic and Mayhem

I was going to keep it simple. “He and I will figure out what I need to know after our third date. I’ve been okayed by the nosy old man in the diner last night and I hung out with Kenzie’s little side. He and I are good. You guys are driving me crazy and I’m going back to bed.”

Turning around, I called out over my shoulder as I started to shut the door. “And Lorne, you will be in the corner for days if you step foot in that store again.”

As Lorne called out an agreement, I shut the door as the human decided to be helpful again. “Told you he was a Daddy.”

Was it too early for a drink?

Chapter 10

Kenzie

“We’re being watched.” I was trying not to laugh, but Daddy was doing a better job of ignoring them. He looked bored and kept pretending not to see everyone peeking around the shelves.

Daddy scoffed and rolled his eyes at their antics. “If they’re not more subtle, the next time we need to grocery shop, I’m going to drive over to one of the completely normal towns where we don’t know anyone. Then no one will get to eavesdrop.”

Oh, Daddy was very good at putting down boundaries.

Half the people in the small grocery store suddenly found somewhere else to be.

“That would help them to learn their lesson, Daddy.” And it’d be funny to see who managed to show up anyway.

I was pretty sure all we’d have to do was tell one person and then they’d all follow us…because they wanted to make sure we were happy and getting along well together. That made sense since I was keeping Daddy.

Neighbors watching out for neighbors, as my grandmother always said.

But since my dad just said she was a nosy old bat, I wasn’t sure who to believe.

“Daddy.” Before he could respond, I looked down at the meat he was studying. “Do you know what to do with that?”

It was a roast. I knew that much, but I wasn’t sure what he would do with it or how he would cook it. “Do I have a pot for that?”

“Lessons are important, and yes, you have a pot and I know what to do with it.” Daddy picked up a fat, round one, then leaned over and kissed my head. “You like meat, right? You had a lot of luncheon meat in your fridge.”

I wasn’t sure what the question really should’ve been because he had a weird look on his face, but I nodded and tried to answer very factually. “Yes, I’m an omnivore.”

For some reason, that made people giggle but Daddy nodded like I’d done a good job. “Perfect. Then we’ll have the roast this week—you’ve got a crockpot that will make that easier—and then we’ll do steaks later. How does that sound?”

I had a crockpot?

“I like fire. I can help.” I was very good at that.

Daddy cocked his head. “Okay, but we’re going to have a talk at some point about what that means exactly…after our third date.”

Daddy was very good at planning.

“Okay, Daddy.” He’d let me push the cart, so I rocked it back and forth as he shifted over several feet to look at the chicken. “You know how to cook that too? The internet says there are lots of recipes for it, but they never turned out, so I gave up.”

I was pretty sure that was because chicken directions were always weird.

What was medium heat?

Why did some recipes say I had to marinate it and some didn’t?

Why did I turn around for just a second and chicken went from rubbery to burned?

Why did chicken get rubbery instead of cooked?

“Yes, there are a lot of different ways to cook chicken.” Picking out a pack and nodding to himself, Daddy finally turned to me. “How about we pick out a recipe together and I’ll make it for you?”

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