Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“At what?”
It seemed to take her a moment to realize the lights should’ve been a different color, and when she did realize, she grinned.
“I guess this means you owe me a Christmas present,” she said brightly, then winked at Bram and went back inside.
Mr. Purcell held up the Halloween light ransom note, and said, “All right, I get it. Don’t break the chain.”
Then he, too, winked, saluted them, and walked next door, dragging his neighbors out to see the miracle of the color-changing lights.
“So,” Zachary said. “You’ve lived here for five seconds and already started a neighborhood prank war. I hope you’re proud.”
“Excuse me. You started the neighborhood prank war when you dumped paint on Snaggletooth.” That was the name he’d given his dragon in his head.
“That wasn’t—I didn’t mean to—Yeah, okay, fine.”
Bram grinned at him and hooked his arm through Zachary’s elbow. They continued down the street—after all, Hem did need her walk—and when they got back to their own houses, Bram took a gamble.
“Don’t suppose I could tempt you to come hang out at my place instead of going back to work for—” he checked the time “—one hour and six minutes?”
Zachary hesitated like maybe he was considering it, so Bram played his ace card.
“I’ll show you how the cat boxes are coming along...”
Zachary bit at his lip and Bram could see the actual discomfort it caused him to contemplate not working his usual full day. He was just about to tell Zachary never mind, in fact, when Zachary blew out a breath and muttered, “Screw it. Yeah, okay,” looking up at Bram.
Sunlight coursed through Bram. “Yeah? Yay!”
Something like a smile answered him on Zachary’s face. It was uncertain and a little hesitant, like maybe he’d never known the joy of skipping school or sneaking in an extra-long lunch break. Or maybe, Bram mused, he couldn’t believe that his presence and company would cause anyone excitement.
That was unacceptable. Bram squeezed Zachary to his side and led him through the front door.
Usually when they spent time together it was at Zachary’s house. Bram knew his space was messier than Zachary enjoyed. But he’d straightened up that morning, hoping to make Zachary more comfortable there. Fortunately, since he didn’t have a lot of stuff, the mess was easy to contain.
He was using the living room as his workspace, and he led Zachary inside.
The week before he’d gotten the logs—which were actually tree trunks—and hollowed them out in Charlie Matheson’s woodworking studio. It was where he’d also cut all of the wood for the cat boxes that would go downtown.
Zachary immediately knelt to examine the boxes, running curious fingers over the hollowed-out tree trunks.
“These are larger than I’d imagined,” he said. “But I can see that it’s good to have them longer for warmth.”
“Yeah, exactly. That’s why I left one end closed too. So the wind wouldn’t blow through. Plus with more than one cat in there it’d be warmer.”
Zachary continued on to the in-town boxes.
“Is this for the Odeon?”
“Yeah. I talked to Henry and he was very into the idea. He said he’d put a donations box in the lobby too, where people can drop off cat food and blankets and stuff. Rye and Charlie helped him with the Odeon reno so he’s happy to help out.”
Bram was happy Zachary had noticed that one. It was his favorite. The shape echoed the Odeon’s proscenium, with a red velvet curtain framing it. The entrance to the box was in the back with an offset piece to protect the opening from cold and wind that was shaped like a box of popcorn. It was large, since the theater had a large sidewalk in front of it—easily big enough for four or five cats to curl up, were they so inclined.
Bram had painted it the night before and the scent of paint still hung in the air.
“Want some help?” Zachary offered. He looked enthusiastically around the room.
“Sure. Do you want to paint the one for the coffee shop? It’s all put together.”
Zachary inspected it.
“You went with the spilling coffee—awesome,” Zachary said, eyes bright.
“Yup. Can you see how it’s supposed to go?”
Zachary nodded. He was, Bram realized, the last person he needed to help see structures that weren’t quite there.
Hemlock flopped onto her cushion in the corner and Bram got out the paints.
“Do you want to borrow something so you don’t get paint on your suit?”
Zachary looked down at his impeccable outfit like he’d forgotten what he was wearing.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“You could just paint with no clothes, if you want,” he said with a wink.
He’d been going for flirtatious, but Zachary said, “You’re right.”
He stripped out of his suit and hung it neatly over the back of a chair. Then, in his underwear, he picked up the paintbrush.
“Oh, jeez,” Bram said, eyes magnetized to Zachary’s lithe form. “That’s...okay.”