by Starla Night
He’d been wrong.
Rose knew the truth all along. Jasper had under-valued himself this whole time. To his allies, to his enemies, and most of all, to himself.
He finally understood.
So, he needed to act.
Jasper landed and strode into the Sweden office. Larimar hunched at the screen typing in the products and didn’t seem to notice he was late. “This is kind of fun.”
“I need a new phone.”
“Denied.”
He sat in an office chair and crossed his legs.
After a few minutes, she said, “What are you doing?”
“Awaiting orders.”
“You know what happens next.” She finished the hour-long order he would have processed in minutes and turned to face him. “Gather the products, toss the ones we can’t export, assemble the supply chains, and prepare for Mother’s arrival.”
“And I need a phone.”
“Denied. Use this terminal you’ve been using all week.”
“It’s inefficient and I have my own projects.”
“You’re not allowed to work on your projects. Only work on mine.”
He tilted his head. “If you argue for ten minutes over everything I request, then we won’t be half done when Adviser Wrathmoda arrives.”
She stood and flexed her claws. “That’s why you need to move!”
He checked his wristwatch. “Eleven minutes.”
“Now, Jasper. You’re a small, weak, low-caste dragon with dull scales in boring brown. Get back to work before I sit on you.”
“Twelve minutes.”
“I knew allowing you to meet your girlfriend would bite me in the tail.”
“Meeting with her made me realize that I’ve been blind. You limit me. Everyone has limited me. But you know what?” He stood. “This is Earth. I’m no longer constrained by arbitrary, ill-informed, and inefficient requirements.”
She narrowed her gaze. “What are you talking about?”
“I mean I am a small, weak, low-caste dragon with dull scales in boring brown. But none of that has any bearing on my worth.”
“It means everything.”
“I’m good at logistics. I think the whole process through, foresee and solve problems others can’t conceptualize, decide so easily you don’t realize what I’m doing, and I leave no one behind.” He faced her head-on. “You want this showcase for Adviser Wrathmoda set up your way? Or do you want it set up right?”
Her eyes returned to normal color. “I’m listening.”
“How long do you have?” He tapped his watch face. “I couldn’t even tell you everything I learned from Space Voyages Inc. What I’ve learned from the Onyx Corporation. From Rose. From Earth. It would take a decade just to train you to see the world the way I see it. Do you want that experience working for you? Then give me the tools I need and get out of my way.”
“All this over a stupid phone?”
He held up his watch. “Fifteen minutes.”
She rolled her eyes and stomped her foot. “You’re supposed to be helping me get funds to save my mate. We’re the same, right?”
“Sure.”
He held his ground, demanding his worth for perhaps the first time in his entire life. Certainly the first time since he’d been dropped off at the orphanage. He’d grown up knowing that nobody owed him anything, grateful for whatever friendship he got, and he’d improved his natural easy-going attitude to make himself likable no matter what it cost. Now, days away from a crisis, he knew that cost. He’d overpaid.
Jasper demanded the action from Larimar that he should have demanded from his siblings, from the housing authority, and even from Briar. Rose had seen it before he did. But he swore it wasn’t too late.
“You’d do the same as me,” Larimar insisted as she handed over a new phone. “If you switched positions. I’m not a bad dragon, just focused. Admit it.”
“If I ever held you hostage?” He cocked his head at her, smiling with his familiar pleasantness, but not censoring his words. “Okay, sure. I’d eat your phone and give you an hour a week to visit your mate, too.”
“Oh. No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Let’s put the past the behind us, Larimar.” He ignored her eager agreement to focus on his work. “It’s going to be a busy three days.”
Rose watched the sun descend out the back window while her heart took its sweet time breaking.
Grandma flipped channels on the couch. She liked drama, the higher the better, and so despite Liam’s absence, Rose’s apartment was still filled with arguments and tears. Rose rested her chin on her hand. The tears were easier coming from a four-year-old than the so-called adults on TV.
Taylor tapped on the front door and pushed it open, which irritated Rose because she always locked doors. “Hi Rose, hi Helen.”
Grandma waved. “Don’t bother to knock.”
Rose stood. “Actually—”
“Good neighbors are always welcome,” Grandma said. “Rose, start the tea.”
Taylor waved her hand trying to soothe the tension. “Oh, I just stopped by for the moment. Rose, I saw you talking to your young man. Dragon. He looked okay after all.”
“He’ll be okay,” she agreed, “probably.”
“Good.” Taylor faced Grandma again and lifted a black and red movie case. “Helen, you survived last night’s horror show, so how about Clown Sharks from Space? It’s like Jaws mixed with It according to my grandson.”
“How is your grandson? Did you send him the meditation book on enduring loss?”
“I did, thank you very much. We haven’t spoken since…well, I know I’ll never replace his parents, even if I try to watch the movies they used to watch. Who watches horror as a family? But it’s not my place to judge.”
“Of course you can’t,” Grandma assured her. “You’re just trying to be there.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“You lost your children, and that hurts you just as much as it hurt him to lose his parents. You’re doing a good thing, Taylor.”
“Yes, well, thank you. Anyway, come over whenever you like, and you don’t have to knock.” Taylor bid a good evening to Rose and closed the door.
Rose waited until Grandma looked engrossed, then got up and flipped the lock. How funny she’d been living next to Taylor for months and Grandma got her life story in a day.
Grandma intruded in the kitchen during the next commercial break.
Rose shifted her chair so Grandma could get to the counter. “You’re good friends with Taylor now.”
“We have a lot in common.” Grandma clicked the button for hot water and sat at the table with Rose. “You’re not supposed to outlive your kids.”
Rose rubbed her temples. “I’m never having kids.”
“Make sure a boyfriend doesn’t change your mind. The smooth ones will make you cry.”
“He’s not smooth, and he already made me cry. We broke up.”
Grandma lowered her tired head. “Better now than later.”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t want to be my age, kicked out of everywhere, and find yourself living off your granddaughter, dragging everyone down.”
“You don’t drag me down.” Rose rested a rough palm on her Grandma’s bony hand. “Besides, you took care of me when I needed it. Briar too, and Liam. You never got to relax into retirement because suddenly you were raising a bunch of extra kids.”
“That wasn’t anyone’s fault. Life throws you down.” Grandma stared out the window into Taylor’s flourishing summer garden. “Just be smart and don’t slip. Anyone who promises to make your life easier is only going to cost you.”
“I guess you learned that lesson. While you were beating cancer, my uncle lost your house.”
“He couldn’t help himself.” Grandma huffed a laugh and shook her head. “Always came back, hat in hand, promising this time would be different. He was too hopeful. Too naïve. He always fell for those rich suits, those shysters.
No matter how much I gave him, the money never lasted.”
“You shouldn’t have given him power of attorney.”
“He was always so embarrassed when he came back,” Grandma said as if she thought she was agreeing with Rose. “I just wanted him to succeed. Just once. And no one else understood. Your daddy used to get so mad.”
“My dad?”
“He said I was making your uncle a failure. Enabling him instead of sending him on his way. But what could I do? Family helps family.”
The kettle popped.
Grandma fixed a cup of tea. “The time I got a second mortgage and signed over Grandpa’s pension to your uncle, your daddy came to me in tears. Said he was going to change the will. If he left you with me, I’d make you homeless. He was going to send you and Briar to your mother’s aunt in Missouri.”
“I have a great aunt in Missouri?”
“You don’t know because she’s a stranger. Your dad rolled her tractor when he was courting your mom and tried to hide the damages. She didn’t approve of him after that and wasn’t shy about saying so.”
“Is she still alive?”
“Her address is in my papers. But he never got up the courage to mend the bridge and she’s never reached out. When you were born, when your momma died, when your daddy passed. She never sent a single sympathy card.” Grandma continued with her story. “Your dad asked me what was I going to live on? But we got by. That’s what family does, Rose. We sacrifice.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. Grandpa paid off your old house and you got his pension, but you signed it over and took out a mortgage to give the money to my uncle?”
Grandma nodded.
“What did my uncle sacrifice?”
“You sound like your dad.” She grinned at her cup. “He wanted me to crush his brother’s dreams. And for what? When I stopped the money, your uncle left me for good.”
“Like when your money ran out and he moved to Reno?”
“Exactly. I wanted to have a relationship. What was a little money? We got by.”
“Except here we all are, for the second time in our lives, basically homeless,” Rose said flatly. “Why didn’t Dad change the will?”
“He got tired of arguing and gave up.”
“Dad just…gave up.”
“Your great aunt never cared when you were orphaned. At least Liam still has his mother.”
“Except his mother is an unstable wreck who cares more about hurting me than taking care of him.”
“Briar’s focused on her dreams, like your uncle, but she’ll come around. Liam will make her a better mother. You have to trust, Rose.”
“Why, Grandma?”
“For some, the maternal instinct takes a little time to arrive. You can’t tell her no.”
“Why?” Rose repeated. “Why can’t I tell her no?”
“She’s family.” Grandma checked the time, poured out and washed her mug, and hurried next door to Taylor’s. She left the TV running and the door open.
Rose closed and locked the door, shut off the TV, and she sat back in her chair.
She felt like someone had smacked her in the face. Her head throbbed. It matched the pain in her heart.
Today, she learned that she’d come from a long line of cowards and quitters.
Her dad had never intended on dying, of course. But he’d given up on arguing with his less responsible mother or mending bridges with a seemingly more responsible aunt. Grandma had given up a home over cutting off her grasping son. Now, Rose was expected to give up on Liam.
Grandma had never fought the hand she’d been dealt. When the 400-lb dragon of life sat on her chest, she endured until it crushed her—and she’d let it crush Briar and Rose, too.
Wouldn’t Briar have gotten better care if they’d had money? Wouldn’t she have had regular wellness checks, a kinder time at school, more friends and activities to keep her away from the “friends” who preyed on orphaned, injured teen girls?
And now Grandma shrugged and let Liam go because she couldn’t tell people no.
But Rose could.
She was an expert at drawing lines and setting hard boundaries. Jasper was right. Sighing and letting things go was not who Rose was, not now, and not ever. When had she gotten so mixed up?
She had to plan her attack.
Jasper said she needed a house. She needed a lawyer. She needed money.
She needed him.
He couldn’t rescue himself or else he would have done it weeks ago. The same way she felt powerless about Briar he felt powerless about female dragons. Everyone said his “female” had to rescue him, right? So, Rose had to do it, somehow. And what did she do when she hit an unsolvable problem?
Rose grabbed her phone and texted Patty. She got a swift reply, and then she endured yet another restless night with Grandma’s snores on the leaky air mattress in the bedroom. The couch had grown lumps from extra sitting, and right before the dawn, Rose conked out. A knock on her door jerked her awake.
Patty stood on the steps, bright-eyed, with Shawn and Elle behind her. “Ha, you’re still asleep! That’s what you get for working the midday shift instead of early morning.”
“I haven’t been sleeping well.” Rose stepped back to let them in.
“That’s fine, have a latte.” Patty pushed a medium-sized paper travel cup on Rose.
“Thanks.” She slurped the vanilla latte, set it on the table, and welcomed everyone else in.
Patty strolled around her apartment. “It’s just how I imagined. Oh, are you sleeping on that couch? If I’d known, I’d have gotten you a day sleeper.”
Shawn shouldered past carrying a big thermos.
Elle stood just inside the threshold carrying a paper travel cup in one hand and a plant in the other. “Thanks for inviting me over.”
“Thanks for coming over.”
Elle handed Rose the small potted plant. The label said, Just try and kill me. “It’s a pothos. They’re hardy.”
“I enjoy a challenge.” Rose set it on the windowsill.
“If you invite me over sometimes, I’ll fertilize it.” Elle wandered deeper and stopped at the closet. “You still have the scarf I knitted you.”
“Of course I do.”
“You never wore it so I wasn’t sure.”
“Well, I can’t wear it to work. That’s alpaca! Anyway, I hope the next time you come over, it’s to see Jasper’s spaceship.”
Everyone oriented around her like an impromptu staff meeting; the energy changed in an instant.
“You have a plan!” Patty wiggled her elbow and nudged Shawn. “I knew she’d have a plan.”
“I don’t have a plan.” Rose held out both hands in a gesture of welcome. “I haven’t had a plan for a long time. And I’m not such an idiot I can’t admit when I’m wrong. I need help.”
“How can we help?” Shawn asked, and the others nodded uncertainly. “You’ve been here the longest and you’re dating our ex-boss, so…”
“Tomorrow, Jasper’s hosting an event for the adviser. The only way to save him is if I defeat her in a fight. We know the building better than anyone.”
“You know the building better than anyone.”
“And I’m no mastermind. I can’t defeat her alone.” Rose tapped the kitchen table; there were four chairs including the broken one she pulled over and took. “This is a brainstorming session. I’ll lay out everything I can think of. You guys, too. If it’s crazy, it’s crazy. But we worked great together. We accomplished so much. I don’t want to give up on Jasper because I was too egotistical to ask the team.”
Shawn started to smile. “So, you’re smarter than the new guy.”
“Yeah, too bad you weren’t the boss.” Elle pulled out her seat and everyone else took their seats as well. “Whatever we do, we have to set off the sewage pressure release right when he walks past.”
“You could rig up a motion sensor.” Shawn arranged her Goodwill silverware in a diagram to get the cr
eativity flowing. “Attach the window security node to the sewage dump tank and sync it to his DNA.”
“Could you program that?” Patty asked in awe.
“I bet we could.”
“Great, we will consider it if we need Peridot out of the way.” Rose drummed her fingers. “But how can we fight off an angry female dragon that’s twice the size of this house?”
“What are her vulnerabilities?” Shawn asked, returning to track. “Can we use the security lasers on her? The window force field cuts flies in half. Ask me how I know.”
But they all knew; the field shut down when authorized dragons flew in and out, and re-engaged mid-fly. It sensed and zapped larger creatures such as birds non-lethally, which was nice.
“Yeah, her scales are hard as a diamond,” Rose said. “So, what cuts diamond?”
“We don’t need to cut when we can etch,” Elle said.
“Or bleach, or laser,” Patty said. “A bad sunburn would make even the nastiest dragon think twice about picking on our Jasper.”
“We need info,” Shawn said.
“I know someone who would know.” Rose called Kyan’s number.
While she was waiting on hold to speak with him, Grandma emerged for her morning cup of tea. She eyed Rose’s friends with the same skepticism she’d trained on Jasper. They were too successful. She could sense the healthy savings accounts on them and it made her nervous.
“Rose is going to fight a female dragon,” Elle announced cheerfully.
Grandma mumbled into her cup. “It’s never going to work.”
Patty patted her elbow. “Of course we’ll be smart. This is Rose we’re talking about.”
“Going to bury another child…”
Elle glanced out the kitchen window. “Oh, um, I think your neighbor is calling for you.”
Rose followed her gaze. Taylor faced them on her porch, but she focused on tending her plants. “No, she does this all the time.”
Elle eyed her meaningfully.
“I, uh, mean she never does this. I think, uh, Taylor is definitely signaling you for help. Did you, uh, have rhododendrons at the old house?”
“Azaleas,” Grandma corrected, setting her teacup on the counter and heading to the door. “She better not trim them in this heat. Everybody’s got a death wish.”
