“You tell Dork that I’ll kick his ass,” she answered as she walked into the spare bedroom. That’s where Aiden’s gaming computer was set up. She leaned down, giving him a quick kiss. Or at least, she tried to give him a quick kiss. He countered by taking his hands off the keyboard and tugging her onto his lap, giving her a much more thorough kiss. By the time he released her, she was breathless.
“We don’t have to play tonight,” she reminded him.
His gray eyes gleamed. “Yeah, we do. The new guy hasn’t done the FireMiser quest, and it’s all hands on deck for that. You know how hard it is, and we’ll need your tank.”
She sighed, standing back up. “Fine. But after we eat some dinner. I grabbed food from Ooba Tooba. You know how I feel about their carne asada.”
He made a humming noise of food happiness before typing rapidly. “Sorry, guys, gonna have to hold off for a little bit,” he narrated. He laughed. “DangerNoodle is saying that we’d better not be going off to have sex. We’ve been married for a year, and, I quote, ‘you ought to be done with that shit.’”
“I am so teasing him about that,” she said, with a laugh of her own. “C’mon. How was your day?”
He smiled, and she felt a feeling of quiet, all-encompassing happiness. “Good day,” he rumbled, following her to where their delicious-smelling food was waiting. “The new guy at work has been a game changer. Malcolm and I wondered why we hadn’t brought on a third partner when we started. Malcolm’s wife is thrilled too.”
She beamed at him. Ever since he’d bought back into the hospice business and they’d moved to the west side, he had focused much more on a work-life balance, something that Malcolm appreciated as well. They’d brought on a few more key employees, and they’d made sure to harmonize growth with their personal lives. She’d enjoyed getting to know Malcolm, his wife, their kids. They’d even been over to the house for barbecues, and met Kit a few times when he’d been home.
“How about you?” Aiden reciprocated, stroking her cheek.
“Finished the marketing-book edits and got a new high-fantasy project in the pipeline,” she said, sitting next to him and opening packages, handing him his burrito, and grabbing her own soft tacos. “Also went out and grabbed a few books from the library, grabbed a few groceries. Ran into Janie—she wants us to have dinner with her and Richard, maybe next week?”
He nodded. “As long as it’s not Thursday, should be fine.” He took a bite, then groaned. “How are these so good?”
“I know, right?” She smiled at him.
They spent a little while like that, eating and talking.
She’d been with Aiden for six months before deciding that she wanted a change. Fool’s Falls was a wonderful small town . . . but it wasn’t her small town. She’d known that, but hadn’t been ready to do anything about it, until Aiden. He gave her confidence, even while being patient.
She and Aiden had looked around frantically while her house was up for sale. They bought their current single-family house, and they’d moved in the Halloween of Kit’s sophomore year. She’d gotten to know Malcolm and his family; they still connected with the Blood Saga guild. Kit was by once a month, mostly to do laundry and raid the fridge. She still texted Rosita and Mac regularly. She even emailed Klara, back at the Falls.
“Man,” Aiden said, as they cleaned up the food. “I’m ready to food coma. I’m going to be slow as hell on this dungeon run.”
She hugged him, straightening up to kiss him soundly. “You’ll be fine, Otter.”
He smiled against her lips, framing her face with his hands. “That’s because I’ve got you . . . Bogwitch.”
She grinned. This was acceptance. This was her small town. This was where her heart was.
This was home. Aiden was home.
“All right,” she said, with one last firm kiss. “Let’s kick some ass.”
Acknowledgments
I could not do what I do without the help of the amazing team at Montlake. Alison Dasho, Krista Stroever, Cheryl Weisman, Jillian Cline . . . you’ve all believed in my projects, no matter how weird （and let’s face it, this one was bananapants）。
Tricia Skinner at Fuse Literary, thank you for championing my work and talking me off metaphorical ledges when I am convinced my writing is trash. （Every! Single! Time! ） Many thanks to the publicity team at Honey Magnolia, who have been amazing.
Finally, a big thank-you to my many writer friends, who have been a source of support and guidance.
Thank you all for being there for me.
About the Author
Cathy Yardley is an award-winning author of romance, chick lit, and urban fantasy. She has sold more than 1.2 million books with publishers like St. Martin’s Press, Avon Books, and Harlequin. She writes fun, geeky, and diverse characters who believe that underdogs can make good and that sometimes being a little wrong is just right. She likes writing about quirky, crazy adventures because she’s had plenty of her own: she had her own army in the Society for Creative Anachronism, she’s spent New Year’s on a three-day solitary vision quest in the Mojave Desert, and she had VIP access to the Viper Room in Los Angeles. Now, she spends her time writing in the wilds of eastern Washington, trying to prevent her son from learning the truth about any of said adventures, and riding herd on her two dogs （and one husband）。