Getting It On With Gargoyles: A Sweet Small-Town Gargoyle Romance (Haven Ever After Book 1) by Hazel Mack

Author:Hazel Mack [Mack, Hazel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-16T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

THEA

I’m naturally a joker. Any kind of joke is good. A sexy joke, a dad joke, I love them all. But I’m not usually comfortable enough with new people to be myself right away. It takes me a minute or two to warm up, and I blame that on being a triplet. Wren and Morgan are my girl gang.

Sisters before . . . everybody else.

God knows what’s come over me with Shepherd. Well, I suppose I do know.

I’m comfortable around him in a way I’ve never been around someone new. And that might mean something. Could I be somebody’s mate? And is it even fair to him to pursue this if we don’t intend to stay in Ever?

A pang aches deep in my chest when I think about leaving him behind and going back to my job. It hasn’t been the same since Dad died, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to work in that office with his ghost.

My mood goes somber, and I pick at the watch around my wrist.

Shepherd’s long fingers wrap through mine and bring me back to the present. When I look up, his eyes dip to the watch and back to mine. “Where’d you go, Thea? Wanna talk about it?”

I squeeze his fingers but raise the watch so he can see it better. Its scratched, worn surface is a comfort to me.

“My dad gave me this watch when I made detective. It was given to him when he made detective a million years before. It’s almost a comfort blanket to me at this point, like a little piece of him is still with me even though he and Mom are gone.”

Shepherd pulls my hand to his chest and strokes the back of it. “You’ve mentioned him a few times. It sounds like you were very close.”

“I am a total daddy’s girl,” I admit. “I loved my mother fiercely, but she and Wren were two peas in a pod. Neither of my parents would ever admit to having favorites, but Morgan got the shit end of the stick if I’m honest.”

“That explains a lot, actually,” Shepherd murmurs, looking toward the Annabelle, which is across the street from the garden. “Morgan seems to wear her emotions and confidence almost like a set of armor to protect herself. Maybe she finds it easier that way.”

It hurts my heart a little that he can tell that from just a few days around us, but he’s not wrong. My parents loved all of us, and I know Morgan felt loved, but she’s always joked about not being anyone’s favorite. Except I don’t think it was much of a joke. At least, not a funny one.

“Maybe she’ll find her place here,” Shepherd says. “Maybe all along, she was just waiting to get here to fit in perfectly.”

“With the Keeper?” I snort. “And her ‘Bite Me’ shirt?”

“Oh, I give him a couple of months before he’s losing his mind,” Shepherd says. “Nobody’s meant to be alone, Keepers least of all.

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