Page 68 of The Diamond in the Rough

“Forwhat?” I asked, startled. Mason was not exactly the law-breaking type.

Ward rolled his eyes. “Attempted murder, once,” he replied.

“Of who?” I asked.

“Me.”

“What? When?”

“Before we met,” he replied. “Hedidn’tattempt to murder me, obviously, but the shitheads in Hanover County PD didn’t bother to ask me first.”

“Did someone attempt to murder you?” I asked him.

His eyes were sharp. “The ghost who put me in this chair,” he replied grimly.

Oh. I nodded. I remembered that part. I hadn’t knownwhat had happened to Mason, but that’s how I’d found Ward to begin with—because he’d gotten tied up with that ghost, who had himself been a death witch, and because I was also a death witch, I’d been able to feel that there was something wrong. I couldn’t tellwhat, but I could tell there wassomething. I’d sensed Ward’s magic trying to stop what the ghost’s death magic was doing and found him through his dreams.

And then begged him to help me—which is how he, Mason, Beck, and Hart had found and shut down Tranquil Brook.

“But it will work out?” I asked, referring back to the adoption.

“The lawyer thinks so, yeah,” he replied, and the smile returned to his face. “There are several potential kids—well, babies. We’ve been pre-approved, we just have to visit with the families and hope that at least one of them approves of us, too.”

“You’re adopting multiple kids?” I asked.

“Not all of them will probably want to give their kids tous,” he replied. “So we’re upping the odds that one of them will say yes by asking multiple families.”

“Oh. So just one?”

“That’s the plan,” he replied, smiling again. It was clearhewas excited about it. “I just wanted to let you know that Mace and I will be gone a bit more often—and since Beck is gone a lot anyway, I don’t want to make you have to hold down the fort by yourself if you’re not comfortable with that.”

I didn’t really like being alone at Beyond the Veil when clients or potential clients came in and they got annoyed that I couldn’t immediately help them, but as long as people were polite and just let me make them appointments, itdidn’t bother me. And it made it more likely that I could get homework done at the desk if we didn’t have people coming and going all day. “I don’t mind,” is what I said out loud. “If you would still like me to be here.”

Ward shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t much care either way, but Mason thinks it’s a good practice to keep regular business hours even if we’re not here, so if you don’t mind…”

“I don’t mind,” I repeated.

He smiled at me again. “Great. I’ll try to let you know when we’ll be out, but sometimes things come up last-minute.”

I nodded. It honestly wasn’t all that different from normal—because they could get called out by Detective Maza or by Hart and Raj at pretty much any moment, anyway. “Okay,” was what I said out loud. “Thank you for telling me.”

Ward’s smile softened a little. “Thanks for being flexible, Rayn. I know… that’s not always the easiest thing for you.”

I felt myself flush a little, then just nodded, unsure what to say.

Ward took pity on me. “That’s all I’ve got for you,” he said. “Unless you have any questions, you can go back out.”

I nodded again, then stood. “I—hope everything goes well,” I said, feeling like I had to saysomething.

It was apparently the right thing, because Ward grinned. “Thanks,” he replied as I left the office. “Me, too.”

I wasout of things to make for dinner, so I grabbed my stack of tote bags—most of which had been stolen from the giant collection of totes at Beyond the Veil that we kept getting from companies as promotional materials or which Masonacquired from various conferences at which he’d been invited to speak—and headed the handful of blocks to the grocery store.

I hated getting groceries, mostly because anything I bought I had to carry, and groceries get heavy very quickly when you’re carrying three or four bags per shoulder.

I was aware that I could probably get a ride-share to pick me up, but that cost money, and I didn’t have all that much of that, despite the rent-controlled apartment I’d secured courtesy the psychic placement branch of social services. I had enough to get by and occasionally splurge on restaurant meals or a new videogame. But I didn’t have enough to ride-share every week or two to get groceries when I was capable of carrying them. I just didn’t like doing it.

I also dislike the process of shopping itself. I don’t like having to follow the organization of the grocery store aisles, and I inevitably end up having to go back to an aisle I’d already been through because I missed something on the list. I also disliked the process of having to decide between types of things—if I needed peas, there were multiple brands in multiple sizes, and having to consider both the per-unit price (which sometimes varied by weight or volume or count) and the capacity of my smaller-than-standard freezer and refrigerator.