The Pagan Stone Page 0,102

made her lips twitch. "But you'd rather be irritable."

"Maybe. And we can factor in that now we've got two pregnant women instead of one to worry about."

"Both of whom have proven themselves completely capable, particularly today. Pregnant Layla managed to keep her head, to reach into her very stylish handbag and yank out a can of pepper spray. Then to blast same in that poor kid's eyes. Saving herself, potentially saving both Quinn and me from any harm. Certainly saving that boy. I would have shot him, Gage."

She sighed as she packed up food. The tension, she realized, wasn't simply about what had happened, but what might have happened. "I would have shot that boy without an instant's hesitation. I know this. She saved me from having to live with that."

"With that toy you carry, you'd have just pissed him off."

Because her lips twitched again, she turned to him. "If that's an attempt to make me feel better, it's not bad. But Jesus, I could use some aspirin."

When he walked away, she continued bagging food. He returned with a bottle of pills, poured her a glass of water. "Medicine cabinet in the bathroom," he told her.

She downed the pills. "Back to our latest adventure, both Layla and Quinn came out of this with barely a scratch-unlike the potential outcome we saw. That's a big."

"No argument." He went behind her, put his hands on her shoulders and began to push at the knots.

"Oh God." Her eyes closed in relief. "Thanks."

"So not everything we see will happen, and things we don't see will. We didn't see pregnant Layla."

"Yes, we did." She gave his hands more credit than the aspirin for knocking back the leading edge of the headache. "You didn't recognize what you saw. We saw her and Fox in her boutique, this coming September. She was pregnant."

"How do you-never mind. Woman thing," Gage decided. "Why didn't you mention it at the time?"

"I'm not really sure. But what it tells me is that some things are meant, and some things can be changed." She turned now so they were eye-to-eye. "You don't have to die, Gage."

"I'd rather not, all in all. But I won't back off from it."

"I understand that. But the things we've seen played some part in helping our friends stay alive. I have to believe they'll help you do the same. I don't want to lose you." Afraid she might fall apart, she pushed the first of two grocery bags into his arms and spoke lightly. "You come in handy."

"As a pack mule."

She shoved the second bag at him. "Among other things." Because his arms were full, she toed up, brushed her lips over his. "We'd better get going. We'll need to stop by the bakery."

"For?"

"Another Glad You're Not Dead cake. It's a nice tradition." She opened the door, let him pass through ahead of her. "I'll tell you what, for your birthday-when you're still alive-I'll bake you one."

"You'll bake me a cake if I live."

"A spectacular cake." She closed Fox's door firmly, glanced at the plywood Gage had put up where the glass pane was broken. "Six layers, one for each of us." When her eyes stung and welled inexplicably, she pulled her sunglasses out of her bag, put them on.

"Seven," Gage corrected. "Seven's the magic number, right? It should be seven."

"July seventh, a seven-layer cake." She waited for him to put the bags in the trunk of his car. "That's a deal."

"When's your birthday?"

"November." She slid into the car. "The second of November."

"I'll tell you what. If I get to eat a piece of your famous seven-layer cake, I'll take you anywhere you want to go on your birthday."

Despite the ache in her belly, she sent him an easy smile. "Careful. There are a lot of places I want to go."

"Good. Same here."

THAT WAS JUST ONE OF THE THINGS ABOUT HER, Gage thought, that kept pushing at his mind. There were a lot of places they wanted to go. When had it stopped being he and she in his mind, and become they? He couldn't pinpoint it, but he knew that he wanted to go to all of those places with her.

He wanted to show her his favorite spots, to see hers. And he wanted to go to places neither of them had ever been, and experience them together for the first time.

He didn't want just to follow the game any longer. To simply go wherever and whenever alone. He wanted to go, to see, to do,