Page 14 of The Baker and the Kraken

“He’s the shifter, isn’t he?” his dad said suspiciously.

Adam rolled his eyes. “Yes. Joseph’s a great guy.”

“You know what shifters are like,” his dad warned. “Just because they seem attractive doesn’t mean—”

“Dad,” Adam protested, “that wasn’t an expression of interest. He’s twenty-one. He hasn’t even finished school. I’m just saying he’s kind and really nice.”

His dad was silent for a long moment before finally saying, “As long as you’re being careful.”

“I’m being careful,” Adam repeated dutifully.

For a wild instant, he considered mentioning Calder. But it felt a little ridiculous to tell his dad that he’d made a friend, and he couldn’t truthfully say anything more than that at this point.

“Okay, good,” his father said gruffly. “And at least we’ll get fifty percent off chocolate on the fifteenth.”

Adam made a pained sound, and his father laughed, as expected.

“I can ship you something,” Adam assured him. “Please don’t eat drugstore chocolate.”

They chatted for a few more minutes, the mood lighter.

“Love you, kiddo.”

“Love you, too, Dad.”

Adam stared at the phone for a long moment after they’d hung up. His dad had been alone for twenty-four years now. Adam didn’t want that pain… but he wasn’t so sure anymore that just being alone and skipping the heartbreak was what he wanted, either.

If only there was a way to guarantee avoiding it. Two witches couldn’t bond—but that hadn’t helped his dad.

He leaned back against the couch cushions, closing his eyes. If only life were straightforward.

In the two weeks before Valentine’s Day, they kept the shop open on Sundays. Although Maggie did a lot of corporate events that kept Evie run off her feet, Valentine’s Day ensured a larger-than-normal proportion of individuals who were interested in the bakery, either for immediate consumption because sweet treats were on their mind, or in order to book something for Valentine’s Day itself. (In addition to cakes and cupcakes, dozens of cookies that were heart-shaped or decorated with something romantic were particularly popular.)

Adam had always agreed to have the Mondays off and get the overtime from Sunday along with his extra-long hours on the other days of the week. Maggie made enough during this period to cover it, and Adam, disliking Valentine’s Day or not, didn’t have anything better to do.

For the first time since he’d started working at Divine Confections, he wanted all his days off. He didn’t want to lose a day that he could be spending with Calder, but he couldn’t leave Maggie in the lurch now. No one baked as well as he did, and it wouldn’t be fair to change the plan this close to the damn holiday.

They were busy, and Adam was baking full out, making tray after tray of cookies and pan after pan of cakes. It was a good thing he’d gotten so good at the unbreakable and stasis charms. It was second nature to sketch the spell with his finger and then infuse it with his magic. There was a brief moment where the spell hovered and glowed with magic, and then it sank into his baked good or kitchen equipment, and there was a much better chance that he wasn’t going to destroy anything today. It was harder to maintain his concentration and focus when the speed picked up so much, and that meant more accidents were likely to happen.

They did happen, because Adam was Adam, but the equipment didn’t usually break, and sometimes the cookies even survived a fall, if it was the whole tray. It was more stressful than usual, that was for sure.

He was going to put his foot down next February. Yes, he’d make sure that they hired someone else, and he could spend more time with Calder, and…

Adam froze. Was he really thinking about next year? Was he planning his life around him and Calder still being friends and spending so much time together in a year? Did he actually… did he actually think Calder would like that?

Adam had spent most of his life watching people get annoyed with his clumsiness or not seem to find enough value in his friendship. He hadn’t had close connections in school for the most part, and the best friends he had now were his coworkers—mostly because Simon was stubborn and didn’t take no for an answer.

Adam wasn’t sure when exactly it had happened, but he’d mostly started assuming that distance was the norm, and he didn’t let himself get his hopes up because there were only so many times he could handle being disappointed. But now he was… hopeful? Making positive assumptions?

The thing was, even recognizing he was doing it now didn’t bring the stir of panic that he’d half-expected. Because Calder had defied all of his expectations from the moment he’d met the man. He’d accepted Adam just the way he was, had accommodated his hours and busy times, and had made clear at every turn that he wanted to spend as much time with Adam as possible.

Adam couldn’t even say that he’d been on his best behavior the whole time, because he wasn’t good about concentrating that long. He’d been his usual clumsy self in front of Calder multiple times, and Calder had truly never seemed at all bothered. He’d actually been amazingly good about steadying or catching Adam or whatever he was about to spill. Or laughing off the food or drink that had wound up on his person. (Because yes, it had happened more than once. The ketchup had just been the first time. Adam suspected there would never be a last. At least, not if Calder stayed with him… and it seemed like Calder wanted to do that?)

Adam ended up thinking about it a lot, including the next time he was with Calder, which probably explained why Calder had to call his name so many times to get his attention. Despite their limited hours, Calder always came up with things for them to do, and Adam cherished their Mondays together.

“Adam! Adam, is everything alright?”

Adam startled, turned, and stared into Calder’s eyes, a blue so dark they were almost black—fathomless, and yet they seemed to be filled with a warmth that Adam had never experienced before.