Cornbread & Crossroads

see you in Honeysuckle again.” Even I caught the sharp edge to my words. Clearing my throat, I tried to speak with less emotion. “When did you get back?”
Lee clapped Dash on his back while Alison Kate winced as she stood on her husband’s other side. “Dash is a board member of my business, so when we have a meeting, he’s invited to come since he’s invested in it.”
My eyebrows raised in general interest. “I didn’t know that.”
“It’s no big deal,” Dash brushed off. He had yet to take his eyes off of me or address anyone else in the group. Typical shifter dominance move, but I was not playing prey to his predator.
Mason pulled his hand away from mine and stuck it out. “Good to see you again, Dash. If I’m remembering right, and I might not be, you and I were in a bit of trouble together last time you were here.”
Dash stopped staring at me and acknowledged the detective. “Mason,” he said, pumping his hand up and down. “I had heard that your recovery went well. Good to see that it’s true.”
The wolf shifter had left Honeysuckle to deal with pack business after the now deceased broom racer Rita Ryder used her strong psychic powers to mess with both his and Mason’s minds. It was because of her that the detective’s memories of me had been stripped away. Due to luck or sheer determination, he’d managed to fight back and regain most of what he’d lost, much like my own magic had returned to me over time. The same but also a little different. And a little stronger.
With both men acknowledging their shared experience, the bubble of tension burst and everyone broke into normal small talk. Perhaps as a way of apology to me, Lavender hooked her arm around the shifter’s elbow to take him over to scrounge for whatever food was left. Blythe watched the two of them leave our group before she excused herself from talking to one of the new fae.
She stormed over to us and placed her hands on her hips. “Leland Chalmers Junior, just how long has he been in town? And why wouldn’t you tell anyone he was coming or even here?”
I loved my friend’s fierce protective nature, but while I stood next to Mason, I wished with all my might she didn’t act like the bull in a very big china shop.
Lee pushed his glasses up his nose. “What’s with all the questions? I thought y’all would be happy to see an old friend.”
Alison Kate pushed herself under Lee’s arm to get him to hold her. “Honey, remember when you asked me to let you know when you were being obtuse?”
“Yeah,” her husband replied, still not getting her meaning.
“This is one of those times,” she said, patting him on the back and giving me an apologetic gaze.
While deep down I appreciated the sentiment, all of my friends’ support cast more unwanted attention my way. Mason’s ease of character had evaporated as he stood stock still next to me. The hand he’d used to shake Dash’s squeezed into a fist for a moment. And then he shook it loose with a little chuckle.
His reaction surprised me. “What?”
“Nothing. Just dumb guy stuff.” He kissed my cheek and pointed at a picnic table where Dash sat by himself with some food. “Don’t make the poor guy suffer. Go talk to him.”
I opened my mouth to protest but no sound came out. Trying again, I touched Mason’s arm. “But you were getting ready to ask me something.”
He took my hand in his and kissed the back of it. “It can wait.” With a nod in the shifter’s direction, he squeezed me and let go. “Do what you do best. Make sure he knows he’s still a friend.”
In that one moment, a rush of conflicting emotions washed over me. Absolute adoration for the man standing next to me who knew my needs better than I did. And absolute dread to talk to the other. I didn’t want to lose the one just to talk to the other. Not trusting Mason’s reaction, I hesitated.
“Don’t worry, you won’t be the only one who wants to hear what’s been going on with him,” Blythe reassured me. “But we’ll give you a decent head start.”
With reluctance, I backed away from Mason, keeping him in my line of sight until I bumped into one of the new smaller fae and almost fell. Wanting to keep myself upright and not cause injury to anyone, especially a new resident, I turned to head to Dash’s table.
The shifter’s eyes flashed yellow with his wolf’s ability to see everything that had just happened, and the corner of his mouth twitched up while he chewed on some meat.
“I see you still manage to find trouble even when you’re literally not looking for it,” he teased in his growl of a voice.
For some reason, his ribbing restored a little of my confidence. “Must be a part of my DNA,” I responded in kind, sitting down across from him. “So, I’d say you’ve got about fifteen minutes to spill your guts before the hoard of nosy nuisances joins us.”
Dash dropped his chicken bone onto his plate, splattering a few baked beans onto the wood of the table. “What is it you want to know?”
Oh, how about everything that you never say when you text me back? I thought. Shrugging like I didn’t care whether or not he updated me on his life, I kept a blank face. “Like, when did you lose your spell phone?”
He wiped his hands on a napkin. “I own shares in Lee’s company. I always have a spell phone.”
“Oh? Then have you forgotten how to use it?” A flash of irritation raced through my veins, and I swallowed hard to maintain control. “Because I could have sworn when you left my house that night, we parted as friends.”
The gold in his eyes blazed hot for a moment before fading. “We did.”
I took out