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With a farewell wave to Owen who diligently tapped away, Hunter went back to his office to putter
for a while.
What did the Dragon want? Crossing the boundary made him magicless, so what had he
accomplished during his time here? Did he have accomplices? Lots of questions rolled through his
mind, but without further info, his hands were tied for the moment.
A knock on the door had him calling, Come in.
An elderly, hunched over woman stepped in. Excuse me, young man, but you re a private eye,
aren t you? I need help finding my cat. She s missing.
Swallowing a sigh, Hunter stepped into his role of mundane investigator. Another not so exciting
day awaited, but once the Dragon was found, the real fun would begin.
19
Chapter Five
God, Suzie hated shopping with kids. It had been much easier when they were babies. Strap them
into a stroller and off they went. But they were too big for strollers now and, unfortunately, their new
grocery store only had the single-seater carts, so she spent a good portion of her time chasing down
giggling monsters. The rest of the time she spent pulling out groceries she hadn t put in the cart Lucky
Charms, double fudge cookies, chips. All the healthy stuff, of course. The kids whined when she put
them back and replaced their choices with Corn Bran, rice crackers, and shudder yogurt. Yucky,
slimy stuff. She wouldn t touch it, but all the kids books and magazines swore by it.
Finally, the groceries and other errands done, they piled in the car with their purchases to head back
home. They were pulling out of the parking lot when Jared said, Mommy, why is da man wooking at
uth?
Hmm, she said, only half listening. What man?
Over dere, he said, pointing.
Suzie tried to look in the direction Jared waved one pudgy finger in and caught a glimpse of a man in
black walking rapidly away.
I think you were mistaken, honey. Looks like the man was just running his own errands.
He was wooking at uth! stated Jared stubbornly.
Jessica started crying. I don wan him to wook at me!
Thankfully, Suzie s hands were on the wheel or she would have yanked her hair out. There is no
man watching us. But her claim did little to reduce the rising decibels in the backseat. A chorus of fear
that showed no signs of stopping.
Hey, how about we get some McDonalds? Okay, call it cheating, bribing, whatever you want to
call it, but guess what? The wailing stopped.
I wanna booger! said Jared.
Burger, Suzie corrected.
I wan noogies, said the now beaming Jessica.
Suzie didn t bother trying to correct her. The kids had stopped crying so who cared about a few
dropped consonants.
Pulling into the drive-thru, Suzie made a mental vow to give them extra veggies for dinner to
compensate for their lunch. Then had to amend her vow to include some extra veggies for herself when
she ordered a Big Mac with extra sauce. Hey, she needed to eat, too!
They finally got home with no further meltdowns and stranger sightings. She settled them in front of
the television to watch Franklin while they munched on their Happy Meals. Okay, so shoot her for being
a lazy mother. But the half hour respite she d get while they boob-tubed and ate was well worth it.
Besides, she d grown up with television and McDonalds and she d turned out all right for the most part.
Her mother might have been strict, but when she worked, she often took the lazy way out too.
Once she d finished eating her sin for the day, she put away the groceries and prepared the
ingredients for the kids to make cookies. And thinking of the cookies made her thoughts turn, once
again, to her handsome neighbor.
He d claimed to be single last night. A hot guy like him, he probably had women chasing him
constantly, though, and she had no intention of joining the crowd. And besides, she highly doubted
slightly chubby, single mothers fell into his usual type. Sure, she had a nice complexion, all pale,
unblemished skin. Her hair lacked pizzazz, though, just a thick mass of brown. Not golden highlighted
or layered, just straight hanging brown to match her normal brown eyes. Her body since the twins
wasn t exactly the kind that made men drool. How sexy can you be with several extra pounds around the
ass and hips, not to mention the stretch marks and not so perky boobs? Breast feeding might be the
20
healthier choice for babies, but they should have mentioned the effect gravity would have on her boobs.
Thank God for super support bras!
Having seen her children interact with Hunter yesterday, though, had made her realize how selfish
her decision had been to wall herself completely off from men. The children needed some kind of father
figure in their life. But this time, if she did get involved with someone, it would be for the right
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