Part 13 (1/2)

”Fairy tales,” Boone agreed, accepting the wand before running a finger over a bronze cast of a snarling wolf. ”Or the occult. A fine line between the two. Your last movie chilled my blood even when it made me laugh.”

Nash grinned. ”The humor in horror.”

”n.o.body does it better.” He glanced over at his daughter. She was staring at a miniature silver castle surrounded by a moat of rainbow gla.s.s, her eyes huge, her hands behind her back. ”I'll never get out of here empty-handed.”

”She's beautiful,” Nash said, wondering, as he often did, about the children that would be his before much longer.

”Looks like her mother.” He saw the question and the concern in his friend's eyes. ”Grief pa.s.ses, Nash, whether you want it to or not. Alice was a wonderful part of my life, and she gave me the best thing in it. I'm grateful for every moment I had with her.” He set the wand down. ”Now I'd like to know how you-the world's most determined bachelor-came to be married and expecting twins.”

”Research.” Nash grinned and rocked back on his heels. ”I wanted to get out of L.A., and keep within commuting distance. I'd only been here a short time when I needed to do some research on a script. I walked in here, and there she was.”

There was more, of course. A great deal more. But it wasn't Nash's place to tell Boone about the Donovan legacy. Not even if Boone would have believed him.

”When you decide to take the plunge, you take it big.”

”You, too. Indiana's a long way from here.”

”I didn't want to be able to commute,” Boone said with a grimace. ”My parents, Alice's parents. Jessie and I were becoming their life's work.

And I wanted a change, for both of us.”

”Next door to Ana, huh?” Nash narrowed his eyes. ”The redwood place, with all the gla.s.s and decks?”

”That's the one.”

”Good choice.” He glanced toward Jessie again. She'd wandered around the shop and had worked her way back to the little castle. She hadn't once asked for it, and that made the naked desire in her eyes all the more effective. ”If you don't buy her that, I will.”

When Ana came out to restock a few shelves for Morgana, she saw not only the silver castle being rung up on the counter, but the wand, a three- foot sculpture of a winged faerie she'd had her eye on herself, a crystal sun-catcher in the shape of a unicorn, a pewter wizard holding a many- faceted ball, and a baseball-sized geode.

”We're weak,” Boone said with a quick, sheepish grin as Ana lifted a brow. ”No willpower.”

”But excellent taste.” She ran a fingertip over the faerie wings. ”Lovely, isn't she?”

”One of the best I've seen. I figured I'd put her in my office for inspiration.”

”Good idea.” She bent over a compartment containing tumbling stones.

”Malachite, for clear thinking.” Her fingers walked through the smooth stones, testing, rejecting, selecting. ”Sodalite to relieve mental confusion, moonstone for sensitivity. Amethyst, of course, for intuition.”

”Of course.”

She ignored him. ”A crystal for all-around good things.” Tilting her head, she studied him. ”Jessie says you're trying to quit smoking.”

He shrugged. ”I'm cutting down.”

She handed him the crystal. ”Keep it in your pocket. Tumbling stones are on the house.” When she turned away with her colorful bottles, he picked up the crystal and rubbed it with his fingers.

It couldn't hurt.

He didn't believe in magic crystals or stone power-though he did think they had plot possibilities. Boone also had to admit they looked kind of nice in the little bowl on his desk. Atmosphere, he thought, like the geode he'd bought to use as a paperweight.

All in all, the afternoon had had several benefits. He and Jessie had enjoyed themselves thoroughly, riding the carousel at the Emporium, playing video games, just walking down Cannery Row and Fisherman's Wharf. Running into Anastasia had been a plus, he mused as he toyed with the creamy moonstone. And seeing Nash again, discovering that they lived in the same area, was gold.

He'd been missing male companions.h.i.+p. Funny, he hadn't realized it, as busy as his life had been over the past few months, with planning the move, executing the move, adjusting to the move. And Nash, though their friends.h.i.+p had primarily been through correspondence over the years, was exactly the kind of companion Boone preferred. Easygoing, loyal, imaginative.