by Marie, Carly
I tapped on the browser bar, beginning my search for my dragon. My phone buzzing in my pocket interrupted me.
Trent: Talked with Logan. He says he thinks he saw a dragon hood on this website. He said you're going to have to look around though, it's buried somewhere. It seems dragon play isn't very common.
Me: Thanks.
Me: Hey, Travis, do you mind if I ship some stuff to your office?
The response came back nearly immediately.
Travis: Absolutely not. Send away.
I forwarded the link to the tablet and tapped on it. Logan wasn't kidding when he'd told Trent that I'd have to dig. I finally looked up dragon in the search feature, kicking myself for not thinking about it earlier, when a single dragon hood popped onto the screen. It was similar to Logan's but all black with light purple accents, and the snout of the dragon's face was more rounded than Logan's puppy hood had been. The ears and frills along the entire top of the head seemed to sparkle on the page.
I saw the words Last one and didn't even look at the price as I added the item to my cart and checked out. It wasn't until the confirmation email came through and I nearly groaned at the price that I questioned my decision.
Nearly an hour later, I was scrolling aimlessly through the browser to see if anything caught my eye when a weather alert pinged across the top of my screen. Before I clicked on the alert, Gray climbed up onto the couch with his dragon and the blanket and laid his head on my lap.
"Naptime?" I asked him quietly.
Gray nodded sleepily, his thumb already between his lips.
"Night, night baby," I told him as I ran my free hand through his hair.
He was out in seconds, but I didn't dare remove my hand from his head. Unfortunately, that made using the tablet more difficult. After a few failed attempts I grabbed a throw pillow and propped it on my lap to rest the tablet on and was finally able to click on the weather alert.
Heavy snow predicted across Nashville and surrounding areas.
We so rarely got snow that I assumed heavy snow meant two inches. To my surprise, the weather app was announcing that a snowstorm was developing to the west that had the potential to move into the area the following weekend. All the models showed high snow accumulations that would likely cause the area to grind to a halt.
Tension built behind my eyes and at the base of my skull. Treacherous roads and winter weather would be nothing but a headache for all of Nashville. Then I remembered I wasn't on call and my mind began to formulate a plan.
I'd call my brother later, but even if he couldn't watch the kids, I had a list of people I could call to watch them for a few days. I had the perfect opportunity to have a few days totally uninterrupted with my husband. Hopefully, that dragon hood would arrive in time.
Snowstorm in central Tennessee? Bring it.
Snowed in with nowhere to go sounded like the perfect opportunity to get to know my dragon better. Gray had been my everything since we'd met, and nothing could—or would—change that. He was the perfect storm of love, unpredictability, and strength that kept me going every day. The perfect husband, father, and dragon any man, or Daddy, could ever ask for. No matter what Grayson wanted or needed from me, I'd give it to him and embrace him just as he was.
I ran my fingers through his thick hair and whispered into the room. "Love you, baby."
Gray made a soft humming sound and settled back onto my lap.
Perfection.
Chapter Six
Grayson
Panic buying in Tennessee was nothing like I'd ever experienced before. Spencer and I had lived in Oregon, Texas, New York, and had even spent a winter in Montana. We knew snowstorms, we knew what to expect, but that didn't mean that the lovely citizens of Tennessee did.
So when the chance snow predicted five days earlier had turned into a winter storm warning with threats of upwards of seven inches of snow in areas, central Tennessee panicked. The stores in Nashville had been nearly wiped clean by Wednesday morning for a storm that wasn't due to hit until Friday afternoon.
I'd tried two local grocery stores and found the parking lots to be so full of cars I couldn't even get in. At that point, I'd thrown my hands in the air and headed down toward Kingston Springs. Not that Kingston Springs was rural, but it wasn't anywhere near as populated as Nashville, and just a few miles south of the city I was finding that grocery stores were less busy.
"Fucking panic buyers," I muttered to myself as I pulled into the grocery store's parking lot. "Thirty minutes from home just to get the week's groceries." Thankfully, the parking lot wasn't too full, so I found a spot to park and double-checked I had my coat, phone, and wallet.
After nearly eight years in Tennessee, I should have been used to the cold, but I missed the milder winters of the West Coast. "Cold, wet, miserable, don't know how to deal with snow." I was well on the way to working myself up to a tirade as I headed toward the store entrance.
"Gray?"
"Stupid. Panic buying. Long trips."
"Gray?"
"I can't believe—"
"Grayson!"
I stopped my sentence midway and looked around to see who had called my name. Now that they'd yelled it, I remembered hearing someone saying something, but I'd been too lost in my own head to fully register it until they'd called out my full name.
A man with a red knit cap, a dark blue scarf, and a pair of leather gloves was hurrying my way from across the parking lot. When he caught up with me he was chuckling. "I was beginning to think my eyes had been deceiving me!"
Had it not been for the big plastic glasses, I'd have never known Aiden was the man under all those layers. "What are you doing here?" I asked dumbly once he'd finally caught up with me.
Aiden bounced from foot to foot in an attempt to stay warm. "We live about ten minutes from here; it's the nearest grocery store. This forecast keeps getting worse every time I see the news." He started to walk, using his head to motion toward the door. "What are you doing out this way? I thought Trent said you lived closer to Nashville."
Just finding a friendly face in this chaotic day had my mood improving, and I found myself walking faster to keep up with Aiden's brisk steps. "The grocery stores are a madhouse in Nashville. My normal store had a line to get into the parking lot!"
"Oof, that sucks. I'm trying to get groceries for the weekend for us. It's gotta be hard with the kids around, being stuck in the house."
"It's not that bad. We have a big plot of land and we're off the beaten path. We'll just chuck the kids outside."
We both got shopping carts and headed toward the produce section. Aiden removed his scarf and coat and laid them in the seat. "Why do they put the produce at the front of the store? When I do a full shopping trip, it always gets smooshed by the end, or I'm playing a game of move the produce around the last half the trip." His pout was genuine and it had me smiling. "I'd skip the veggies, but Daddy says we have to eat them. And I'm pretty sure that Logan's DNA is half-vegetables, half-meat. He eats a lot."
We both giggled at Aiden's statement.
Logan was big bulky muscles—I could only imagine that he ate a lot.
I followed Aiden around the produce section, partially in awe of the number of vegetables and fruits he was putting in the cart. His complaint about smooshing them seemed valid.
"How have you been? Caleb says you're doing okay, but are you really? Like, you're not just saying that. Right?"
I was touched by the genuine concern I heard in his voice. "Caleb says Dexter is intense, but I gotta tell you—I think one of them learned it from the other because Caleb has been like a bloodhound since we were at DASH."
Aiden raised an eyebrow in question as he searched through the bin of avocados. "Really? He's so quiet. I mean, I like him, but he doesn't often say much to me."
"Really. He's texted me numerous times. I keep assuring him I'm fine, but he doesn't seem to believe me."
Aiden pursed his lips as he placed three avocados into the cart. "Y
eah, I could see that. Caleb and Dexter really do complement each other well. Don't tell them I said that, though." He chuckled to himself. "Caleb, for as shy as he is, has the biggest heart. He just wants to make sure that you're really okay. Learning"-he looked around the produce section to make sure that no one was paying attention to us-"new stuff about yourself can be stressful."
I grabbed a grapefruit and a bag of pears. "Yeah, I know. I kinda threw Spencer into the deep end there."
Aiden shrugged my concern off. "You were nervous. I get it. Being"-he dropped his voice as an older woman approached us-"little isn't easy. There's a lot of emotions that go into it. I've known for most of my life that this is part of me. I've had a long time to accept it, and it hasn't always been easy."
He pushed on toward the meat department. "It's funny. People panic buy all the crap… or the super perishable stuff like milk and bread, but then leave all the really good cuts of meat and the stuff that can freeze really well." He shook his head and took a number to wait for the butcher. I followed suit, interested to see what else he might have to say about his experiences being little.
I didn't have to wait long for him to start talking again, making sure to keep his voice down in case anyone was nearby. "I went through a period in my mid-twenties where I refused to even acknowledge it was part of me. I even packed away Hedge." His brows pulled together and his lips pursed, like he couldn't believe what he'd done. "I was an adult. I shouldn't have wanted to be little. I had a career, I'd finally gotten a place of my own, I bought a new car. I shouldn't have wanted to have a bottle at night or my binkie when I slept. I was too grown up for that."
The butcher called his number and Aiden gave me an apologetic smile. "To be continued."
Five minutes later, Aiden had pounds of roasts, steaks, and chicken in his cart, and I had a few pounds of chicken breast and ground turkey. The kids weren't big red meat eaters, and it wasn't worth the fight most nights. If we could get them to eat chicken, I was happy.
"What changed?" I finally asked as we pushed the carts along the back wall of the store and through the dairy section. I was glad we got there when we did. There was still milk, but the pickings were slim.
Aiden chuckled. "Stress. Not having that release got to me after a while. It all culminated in a week of nearly no sleep before I finally admitted that I was being a stubborn ass and it was time to stop. I went the next day and got my stuff out of the storage unit, went to DASH that weekend, and ended up meeting Logan shortly thereafter. We were friends for a long time before I met Trent. The rest is kind of history."
I thought about his words as we walked toward the cereal aisle. He'd hit on a lot of my reservations and discomfort. I was an adult, I had kids, I had responsibilities, I shouldn't want this.
Aiden bumped my shoulder with his. "This is my favorite aisle!"
"Why?" I was already reaching for a box of Corn Flakes, which we let the kids have. Hyped-up kids were bad at any hour of the day, but to start the day like that would be pure hell.
Aiden grinned. "I get to pick stuff out that drives Daddy insane!" He grabbed a box of marshmallow cereal and another of the sugar-and-cinnamon-coated stuff. "What do you like?"
The words were clearly English, but it took me way too long to parse together what he meant. "You mean for me?"
Aiden bobbed his head excitedly.
"Oh, uh. It's been so long I don't know. We just get the boring stuff. Spencer's a doctor; he hates the idea of giving the kids sweet cereal."
Aiden leaned over. "But that's the best part of being his boy. You’re not his kid—you're his baby."
"Dragon," I said automatically. Something about that idea had stuck in my head and it wasn't going away.
"Wait, dragon?" Aiden asked, eyes wide and voice rising. "That's so cool!" I hadn't had time to react and he was pushing his cart down the aisle. "Lookie, lookie, I saw these last week and I almost got them!"
He stopped halfway down the aisle and pulled the box off the shelf with such a flourish that a few boxes beside it toppled onto the floor, but Aiden didn't seem to notice. "Look! Treasure! Dragons like treasure! Oh, and there's this one. It sparkles!"
I looked at the two boxes he'd picked up. They had to have more sugar in a single serving than I normally had in two meals. How did they make that cereal sparkle?
"I'm guessing it's edible glitter," Aiden responded, pulling my attention toward the fact that I'd actually spoken my thoughts.
I scrunched up my face. "I don't know how I feel about sparkly poop."
Aiden laughed so hard he nearly fell over. "But dragons like things that sparkle!"
"Um, I think I'll save the stuff that sparkles for toys?" I hadn't meant to make it a question, but that's how it came out.
Aiden lifted a shoulder. "Okay. Then the treasure cereal! We'll find you sparkly toys later."
He'd been so matter-of-fact about the statement that it was natural to agree with him. "Okay."
The box of cereal went into my cart, and Aiden put the two boxes back up that had fallen. He was on a mission and we were on to the boxed meals section before my brain caught up with what he'd said earlier. "What do you mean we can find sparkly toys later?"
Aiden grabbed a few boxes of boxed macaroni and cheese off the shelf and tossed them into his cart. "Target's nearby. We'll head there after we put our groceries in the car. Oh! Look!" He never missed a beat as he picked up pirate-shaped macaroni. "Perfect! Wait, you don't have any allergies, do you?"
I felt like I was being steamrolled but was smiling the entire way. "Um, no, no I don't."
Aiden dropped two boxes into my cart, and I had a fleeting thought of Spencer having a heart attack when he saw the groceries. "Oh great. We have boxed macaroni if Logan and I have been good. Fun food is a good reward. Nuggets and macaroni are the best." He was already pushing the cart down the aisle again, and I was hurrying along after him trying to remember to grab the groceries we needed, not just the ones Aiden was throwing into our carts.
By the time we got through the grocery store, I had shaped chicken nuggets, canned pasta, some weird fruit snacks that Aiden swore were delicious, and some vanilla teething cookies that he'd insisted I would like. I hadn't been so sure, but Aiden put two in his cart, giggling as he told me about Logan always going out of his way to bring them to him when they'd just been friends. And how they now always seemed to have extras because Logan kept buying them for him. If he liked them that much, they couldn't be all bad.
Aiden hadn't hesitated as he'd loaded our carts up on snacks, treats, and fun foods I hadn't had in years. As I swiped my credit card for my purchases, I knew Spencer was going to be seriously confused by our pantry when he saw it.
"Lunch? I've got so many questions I haven't been able to ask. Then we need to go to Target and get toys!"
I looked down at my watch. It wasn't even noon, and I didn't have to be home to get the kids off the bus until after three. "Yeah, I can do that."
"Great! It's not like anything's going to go bad in the cars." He gave an overly dramatic shiver and blew on his hands.
We loaded our cars quickly, neither of us wanting to be in the cold any longer than we had to be, then I followed him to the burger place.
My ass barely hit the chair before Aiden leaned across the table. "Tell me about being a dragon! I've never met a dragon before! How'd you come up with dragon? That's so cool!"
His questions were rapid-fire and he sounded so adorably excited that I hadn't been able to stop my smile. "I don't know. It's just a feeling. How did Logan know he was a puppy?"
Aiden looked puzzled, then pulled out his phone and began tapping frantically at the screen. "I don't know," he mumbled as he typed. "I can't believe I never asked. He's just always been my puppy."
I was actually really interested in the reasoning because I couldn't figure out exactly how I knew I wanted to be a dragon. It had come about sometime Friday afternoon when I'd been playing with my dragon toys on the floor. My cheeks
heated at the memory, but Aiden was too engrossed in his phone to notice.
Aiden's head popped up just in time for the server to come by and take our drink order. As soon as the guy was gone, he looked back at his phone. "Logan says that he came across puppy play by accident. He's an avid reader. Well, audiobook listener—the man couldn't sit still long enough to actually read a book. That said, he gets books on everything from military history to romance. He came across a puppy play book and says it stuck. I guess it called to him. He liked that he could let go and not have to think as much." Aiden looked up at me. "It's exhausting being in his head. He's always so go, go, go."
From what I knew of Logan, that made sense. "I think it's similar for me too. I mean, not through books. When I got to play with Curious at DASH, it just felt right. Something clicked into place that night. I was pretending to be a dragon, and it was a ton of fun. I liked being able to roar and wrestle and play. Is it strange that I liked not having to come up with words? I think in words all day; it's my job. There's never a time my brain isn't thinking about the best way to word something I'm working on. When it was just me and Curious rolling around on the ground, there were no words. It was nice to have a silent brain for a little while."
"Then I think that's perfect."
I sighed. "I looked online last weekend. There’re no other dragons I could find. What if I'm the only one?"
Aiden looked stumped for a moment. "Who cares? You can be a trendsetter. It will be great! And, you already have Logan, and me… and Caleb! We'll never let you be alone." His words were so earnest my heart swelled with happiness. "I can't wait until we all can go back to the club again."
I winced. "Do you think Spencer will want to go back?" That was a dumb question to ask him. He wouldn't know, but it had come out as quickly as I'd thought it.
Two drinks were placed in front of us, and we both startled slightly. We'd been more engrossed in the conversation than I'd realized, but thankfully we both knew what we wanted to eat.
