He reached out casually as if he didn’t have a worry in the world and plucked the container from my hand. Skirting me by a wide margin, he approached the shelf and studied the figures I had ready.
I expected him to pick them up to look at them, but instead, he leaned down and put his face right against the shelf. One by one, he looked at them all before settling on a dark-haired warlock with royal blue robes and a ball of teal magic forming in the palm of his hand. He gently placed the warlock into the plastic container and ignored me as he turned to my dice collection.
Remembering his familiar, I approached my animal minis and scanned the shelf. I knew I had a black cat somewhere he could use. Spying her in the back, I reached up and grabbed her from the shelf. Making enough noise to warn him of my approach, I held out my hand with the cat sitting on my palm as I joined him.
“I think you might need this,” I said, placing the little figure in the box next to his warlock. “They make quite a pair.”
He lifted the box to his face and smiled at the tiny cat sitting next to his warlock. “Thank you.”
“Have you picked out your dice?”
He bit his lip as he lowered the box he held and looked once more at all the choices. “There are so many.”
“I do have a bit of a dice problem,” I agreed.
Miller looked at me very quickly and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know,” I said, maintaining my soft tone even though I wanted to hit something. “I was teasing.”
“Oh, of course you were,” Miller said, forcing a laugh to cover his unease.
“Well, pick out whatever speaks to you. I think three sets will be good.” Knowing I was making him uncomfortable, I backed away. “I’m going to go see what Lee is up to. Take your time.”
I turned around and forced myself to walk away even though everything inside of me wanted to pull him into my arms and give him a comforting hug. I paused in the doorway and looked back. Miller tentatively reached out and brushed his fingers across the small drawers. He pulled one out and gently touched the baby pink resin of the dice set nestled inside.
Leaving him to it, I returned to the dining room and was about to start interrogating Lee about his friend when another knock sounded at the door. I glanced at the clock on the stove, realizing our hour had passed much faster than I’d perceived and that the rest of the group would be arriving soon.
Approaching the door, I opened it to see Red and Nate waiting.
“Hello!” Red, the ever-energetic, green-eyed little bounced in place as his Daddy gave me an apologetic smile.
Nate started explaining before Red could, “We went and saw a movie. I think Red might have had too much sugar.”
“I got sour patch kids, and skittles, and nerds!” Red bounced with each candy he named. “The nerds were Daddy’s, but they looked so yummy that he let me have them.”
“A bit,” I said dryly as Red placed his hands between my side and the doorframe, wiggled past, and then shot toward the table.
“Yeah,” Nate said, drawing out the word while trying to hold in his laughter. “Good luck with that one.”
“Thanks.” I sighed, giving him a dirty look.
Nate looked around me at his sugar-charged little. “Red,” he called out, waiting for his boy’s attention before continuing. “Behave.”
Red nodded, but we could both see the devious sparkle in his eyes. “Yes, Daddy.”
“I mean it.” Nate lifted his brows to show he was serious.
“Yes, Daddy.” His not-so-innocent eyes fluttered.
Nate sighed. “You’re lucky you’re cute. Well, I’ll be back in a couple of hours,” he said to me, already turning away from the door and his rambunctious little.
I was about to close it when I heard Nate’s voice waft back up the stairs. Knowing only a few people had the code to get in, I waited at the door for either Niles or Chelsey. A minute later, I nodded a greeting at Niles when he rounded the corner and was pleasantly surprised to see Chelsey following close behind.
“You guys are right on time,” I said, waving them in.
“I was cutting it close,” Niles said as he made his way toward the table. “I started running into traffic on my