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“Hey, Miss Athena,” I said when I walked in the door and almost crashed into my niece, who was doing laps around the couch.

“Hi hi,” Athena said, still doing her zoomies. I had no idea what well of energy toddlers drew from, but I wanted some of that.

“Athena, can you stop for a minute? I want to introduce you to someone.” Tenley carried the pizza box and the bags with appetizers and salads from Nick’s Pizza, which was the main restaurant in Arrowbridge, and also happened to be the best.

Athena put on her brakes and skidded to a stop in front of me, seeing Tenley for the first time. Her little eyes went wide as I took the food from Tenley.

She crouched down to Athena’s level. “Hi, I’m Tenley. It’s nice to meet you, Athena.”

“Tenny,” Athena said. Close enough.

“You can call me Tenny if you want,” Tenley said. “It can be a hard name to say.”

Confident that Tenley had Athena in her thrall, I went to the kitchen to set the bags down as Ingrid came out from the bathroom, her eyes wide.

“Oh, I thought I heard you come in. I had to pee so bad and I was hoping my little monster didn’t destroy the house,” she said. Ingrid looked exhausted. Even more so than usual. Her tired face made a pang of guilt go through me. I needed to step up more and help out. She was doing this whole thing alone and it was impossible. Fucking impossible.

“This smells amazing,” Ingrid said, popping open the pizza box.

“Yeah, you can’t miss with Nick’s.”

Ingrid looked over where Tenley and Athena were chatting as if they were bffs and snorted. “Looks like your girlfriend has already charmed my daughter.”

I couldn’t hide my smile as Tenley looked up at me and winked. “Looks like she did.”

* * *

Ingrid pulled me aside after we’d devoured the pizza and Athena had only had one small toddler moment before demanding that Tenley look at all her toys and then sit on the couch to watch cartoons with her. Tenley didn’t object at all and seemed enchanted by Athena and somehow knew all the names of the characters and had already seen Athena’s favorite movies.

“She’s a witch,” Ingrid said, shaking her head as we talked in the kitchen. I wanted to know what she thought about Tenley, but I was afraid to ask.

“Not quite. Just one of those people that everyone loves,” I said. “She is kind of magic, though.”

Ingrid nodded. “I can’t make a full assessment after one dinner, but I take my daughter’s opinion very highly and I’m pretty sure Athena is about to ask her to move in with us, so that tips everything way over in Tenley’s favor.”

She pulled me in for a hug and sighed. “She’s great, Mia, you know that. You don’t need my approval.”

“I know. But I like having it anyway,” I said as Athena babbled something to Tenley and she talked right back, making Athena laugh.

“You’ve got it,” she said, releasing me from the hug.

* * *

Athena needed to go to bed soon after and insisted that Tenley come with her. Tenley laughed and went with her. I headed out to the garage to fiddle around with my equipment. Part of me was still a little apprehensive about showing her this part of me, but two days ago she’d let me read some of her unedited work (which was flawless, as far as I could see), and now it was my turn to reveal myself.

I did a quick inventory of my colors, making notes of what I was low on so I could place an order before I ran out.

“So this is your secret space,” Tenley said, and I looked up to find her hovering in the doorway between the house and the garage.

“This is it. My humble workshop where I produce my bespoke toys,” I said as she came toward me. Tenley wandered around, looking at everything, including the shelves that had toys on them.

“You know I’ve been thinking, about that one toy I like so much. I think it could be improved if you added bubbles like this,” she said, picking up a toy that was ridged.

“I can do that,” I said. My plan to make her a custom toy was still in the works in my head. “If I did make one, what colors should I use?” I gestured to my selection.

Tenley skipped over and looked through them all.

“Pink and purple,” she finally said. “Swirly. With glitter.”