“You’ll have to earn the ice cream.”
I should’ve known he would say that, too. “Fine.” I threw up my hands and crawled to my feet. “I’ll do it, but I won’t like it.”
“That’s fine. Just try to keep from thinking about Jared Graham’s dreamy eyes when you’re practicing, huh?”
I wanted to find a hole to crawl into. “I can’t believe you just said that.” I stomped across the yard. “He doesn’t have dreamy eyes.”
“Your heart feels differently.”
He was right. It did feel differently. That didn’t mean I would admit to harboring a crush on the neighborhood stud. “A really big bowl of ice cream. I’m going to bathe in it.”
He chuckled. “We all have different things we want to achieve. At least you have a goal.”
I did indeed. I wanted to make him proud, and to be ready should I ever run into someone stronger. Those were my main goals.
Of course, sneaking a kiss from Jared couldn’t possibly hurt either. That was another discussion, though.
One
Present Day
“We’re five minutes out,” Cormack Grimlock announced, strolling into the control room underneath the aquarium on Belle Isle and fixing me with an expectant look.
“I’m ready,” I reassured him.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
I furrowed my brow. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“It’s the first time, at least to my knowledge, that the gate has ever needed to be rebooted.” He inclined his head toward the empty opening in question. On a normal day, the shimmery surface would be zipping with energy, offering a low-volume hum that served as comforting white noise. Now it was completely devoid of life. “If I were in your position, I would be nervous.”
I hadn’t been nervous until he suggested I should be nervous. Then, suddenly, all I could think about was the way my palms sweated and my ears itched. “Well, I’m totally fine.”
As if on cue, perhaps calling me a liar, Lily Taylor laughed like a loon. Her grandfather had her secured to his chest — apparently he was babysitting and getting the gate back online at the same time today — and he looked perfectly normal in his three-thousand-dollar suit with a baby hanging from his front.
I fixed the little girl — she really was a knockout with her dark hair and lavender eyes — with a pointed scowl. “This is not funny.”
Lily laughed again. She was only a few months old but already the apple of her family’s eye. Although, come to think of it, I’d never seen any of them eat a piece of fruit. She was more like the ice cream sundae bar of their eye. She was doted on to the point I knew she would be spoiled rotten and yet she was bubbling with happiness.
“It’s really not funny,” I repeated.
Lily laughed again and mimed clapping her hands.
“She’s just like her mother,” I muttered, shaking my head as I went back to staring at the empty gate.
“She’s the best girl ever,” Cormack cooed, stroking her dark hair as the baby kicked her feet. Someone had dressed her in a cute pair of denim shorts and paired it with a shirt that read “I’m Grandpa’s favorite.” Since she was the only grandchild in the Grimlock family, that was a given. Still, she looked thrilled to be part of the festivities.
“You’re the reason she’s going to be spoiled,” I warned him, slipping my gaze to my co-worker Oliver Samuelson. He was fixated on the gate, to the point I worried his mind would implode if he didn’t unclench a bit. “Not that I’m not happy to see her or anything — she’s always welcome here — but do you think it’s wise to have her present when we’re about to try something we haven’t ever tried before?”
Cormack’s hand was busy as he stroked Lily’s soft hair but his smile slipped. “She’s not staying for when we flip the switch.”
That was interesting. “She’s not? I didn’t realize she could wander away on her own. She’s getting so big.” I smiled at the baby, who offered me a gummy smile in return. Given the fact that she’d spent the first few weeks of her life wailing in despair because she picked up on the emotions of her overwrought mother, the constant giggles and smiles were welcome.
“Ha, ha.” Cormack rolled his eyes. “Cillian is picking her up. He texted from upstairs, in fact. He should be down in a second. I want to make sure she’s safely away from the gate before we throw the switch.”
Cillian, one of the middle Grimlock children, was the most responsible member of the family as far as I could tell. I was relieved to know he would be removing his niece from what could turn into a fraught situation. “That’s good.”
As if on cue, Cillian picked that moment to stroll through the door. Like the other Grimlocks — honestly, they were like a breeding experiment gone awry — he boasted black hair and purple eyes. Unlike his other brothers who wore their hair shorter, his brushed the top of his strong shoulders.
“What’s good?” he asked, immediately heading for his father, a huge smile on his face. “How’s my favorite girl?”
Lily laughed in delight when she saw him and immediately reached out to grab a handful of hair. She made a “sah” sound as she made contact.
“I don’t think Maya’s going to like it if she hears you’ve been saying stuff like that,” Cormack warned, although he didn’t put up a fight when Cillian plucked Lily from the carrier. Once the infant was free, he unfastened the device and handed it over. “No one wants to be supplanted, son.”
In addition to being Cillian’s girlfriend, Maya Taylor was also Lily’s father’s sister. I found that if I thought too hard about the way the two families were connected, I gave myself a headache. The important thing was that they didn’t seem to believe it was weird. I was just happy to be included in the fun.
“Maya loves Lily, too,” Cillian countered, wedging his niece on his hip and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “She understands that Lily’s stolen my heart.”
“Lily has stolen everybody’s heart,” Cormack agreed, offering his granddaughter one more smile before turning serious. “Did you do the other thing I asked?”
Cillian nodded, his expression matching the one that had clouded his father’s face. “I checked on her. She’s ... unhappy with life.”
I didn’t have to ask who they were referring to. It wasn’t exactly a secret. Mary Grimlock, Cormack’s mother, had spent the better part of the last few weeks locked in a jail of her own making. Cormack had arranged it, fudging the truth about his parents’ interest in sabotaging the reaper council under wraps ... at least for the time being. It seemed there might be a mole in our midst — more powerful even than his rich parents — and he was trying to ascertain who was on which side before announcing what his parents had done to the masses. Only a handful of higher-ups in the organization were aware.
“How is Mary’s health?” I asked when the conversation lapsed. “I mean ... is she feeling any better?”
Cillian shook his head. “She’s frail, weak. That doesn’t stop her from cursing my existence whenever I stop in to talk to her. She’s a very unhappy woman.”