Wolf home from Arizona. Cope had been so busy being a father he hadn’t had time to print that image. His friends had done all of that for him. There were even pictures he’d never seen before that others had taken of him and the baby. He couldn’t have asked for a better welcome back.
Adding his photograph to the rest, Cope turned on his computer. He could do this. It was ten minutes past eight. He’d already managed to make it through twenty minutes without Wolf. His heart pinched in his chest knowing that his son’s favorite show came on at eight thirty. It was the one about dinosaurs. Cope had to admit he was a fan of that show as well. It wasn’t the end of the world. Cope would watch Dinosaur Train with Wolf again, just not today.
Cope’s inbox was full to bursting. Thankfully, Fitzgibbon had set it up so that all his email would be forwarded to Jude during his paternity leave. He was able to quickly skim through messages and responses about new cases before moving on to the more important interoffice messages.
“I brought you this.” Jude set a cup of Cope’s favorite coffee on his desk. It was a habit Jude had gotten into when they’d started working for the Magick shop. West Side Sweets, owned by Cole’s wife, Cassie, adjoined the store, allowing customers access to both businesses without having to go outside.
“Thanks, I could really use a jolt of caffeine.” Cope hadn’t eaten very much before he’d left the house that morning. He’d been too busy worrying about how Wolf would deal with being left at Kaye’s. He lifted the flap and took a long sip from his cup. It was perfect. He’d have to make his way over to the bakery later on to thank Cassie, not only for the coffee but also for being a godsend after Wolf had come home. She’d checked in on him and Jude a couple of times a day, sent over lunch twice a week, and had always been there day or night, when Cope had a question he thought no one could answer.
“I’ve got a couple of cases I want to discuss. How about if we get together in the conference room in half an hour to go over them?” Jude was all business now.
“That’s a good idea.” Cope was so blessed to have Jude as his husband. He knew what Cope needed most was to be kept busy. Reading case files and deciding which one of them to take would be the perfect way to get through the rest of this morning. That, and another cup or two of Cassie’s famous brew.
As Cope continued to scroll through his email, his thoughts turned not to Wolf, but to his birthday present from Jude. He’d been so busy giving the baby a bath and putting him to bed that he hadn’t even taken the typewriter out of the box it had come in.
He hadn’t mentioned it to Jude prior to getting the typewriter, but he’d been contemplating writing his life story. Born the son of a natural gas millionaire and a fifth-generation legacy witch would have been enough to make his life story a bestseller, but add in the fact that he himself was psychic and met his husband thanks to advice from a spirit, and hell, it had Netflix written all over it.
“What’s got you smiling like the cat who ate the canary?” Jude sat down on the edge of his desk.
“I didn’t get a chance to tell you last night, but I know how to start writing my memoir. Getting the typewriter was a sign that this project is absolutely what I’m meant to do.”
“If anyone can write a bestseller, it’s you.” Jude’s smile stretched from ear to ear.
“Do you really think so? Our lives are so busy as is and I spent most of the morning crying in my coffee over the fact that I’m not home with my son.” If he started writing a book, that would mean even more time away from Wolf.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I think you can do it. There’s always that hour at night after we’ve put the baby down where we do our own things. Why don’t you use that hour to write?”
“That’s the time we always use to clean up after dinner and do laundry.” They’d always done chores together.
“I can handle those chores while you’re upstairs writing.” Jude made it sound like a