Page 7 of Horn in My Side

JASMINE

“There, there,” she cooed at the fenrir cub who whined at her when she passed by its pen. “Don’t you worry. You’ll have your lunch soon. It’s not time yet.”

The tiny thing was incredibly food driven and eager to please, and she guessed it would make a good pet for someone who wanted to train it. After giving it a scratch on its chin, she continued toward the back office.

Pausing, she gave herself a little motivational pep talk before pushing the door open. Vrig’s office was exactly the way it was on the last day he came in. For all the care and effort he put in constructing the front of the shop, this space looked like any ordinary office.

Of course, while it was cramped for Vrig, as he had been seven feet tall, it was comfortable for her petite stature.

She walked over to the oversized table, running a hand over the surface, a thin layer of dust accumulating on her fingers.

She supposed she should clean in here, but it wouldn’t matter anyway.

Soon, this place, along with the shop, the building, and the creatures, would all be gone.

Circling the desk, she climbed up the office chair, settling into a cross-legged position. Mal was certainly in his rights to do what he wanted with Fantastic Tails and all of Vrig’s assets, and she wouldn’t be able to do anything.

But he didn’t have to be such a surly grouch about it.

It seemed impossible to her that he and Vrig were related by blood. Most people would look at Vrig and think he was some mean and fierce orc, but really it was the opposite. He spoke in a soft voice and had been so gentle and careful with his words and actions.

His nephew, on the other hand, was very orc-like in nature.

Not that she had encountered many of them, but they were known to be a menacing species, and also quite insular.

From what she’d read, they often lived in communities that were closed off; in fact, despite its reputation for being a multi-species community, Vrig had been the only orc living in Dewberry Falls.

Jasmine knew she could be quite sensitive to words and tones and that was something she worked on.

When she first moved to America, she had found the directness of the people abrasive and, having only learned English in a formal setting, it had been difficult for her to understand the nuances of the language and things like sarcasm and jokes.

Over time, she integrated into her new home, but frankly it had been difficult, not to mention inter-species relations, which added a different dimension to navigating everyday life in Dewberry Falls.

But much like her transition to a new country, she had fumbled her way through it and somehow found herself entrenched in this cozy little town.

And now she was going to have to start all over again.

This was not, as one of the first American idioms she learned said, her first rodeo.

She’d moved and started a new life several times at this point.

Her father had first been recruited to work as a nurse at a hospital in Los Angeles, where they stayed for a year before he found a better offer in Miami.

They lived there for two years, enough time for Jasmine to finish high school before they relocated again to Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

She was in her first semester at Pitt when she decided to drop out, as she felt college wasn’t for her, and she went to New York, then to Denver, then to San Francisco, staying a year or two in each city before the urge to move overcame her.

After two years in San Francisco, she’d decided to pack up her belongings and drive north with no particular destination when her car broke down outside the small town of Dewberry Falls.

She had planned to keep driving once her car was fixed, but then she saw the “Help Wanted” sign in the window of Fantastic Tails and Magical Scales Pet Shop.

True, she hadn’t meant to stay here this long and she could always start all over again.

I just don’t want to , she thought with a petulant pout.

Dewberry Falls had become her home. Why should she have to leave?

Maybe I can find another job.

The boutique down the street always needed a hand during busy days. There were also plenty of caregiving jobs available, or she could walk dogs and clean houses to make ends meet.

Or I could finish my nursing degree.

There was always that option. She could go live with her dad for a bit too; he said she was always welcome to come home—wherever home was, anyway.

Currently, Jed Gonzalez was a traveling nurse, but he kept a three-bedroom house in Coreopolis, just outside Pittsburgh.

She could go back and ask the admissions office at Pitt about re-enrolling or go to a community college.

Starting school again at thirty years old would be humbling, but it wasn’t like she would have a choice.

However, the thought of living with her dad again didn’t sit well with her, but she wouldn’t be able to afford to go to school and pay for rent at the same time.

And it wasn’t that she didn’t love her dad.

She did, very much so. But there was an entirely different reason she couldn’t live under his roof again.

There was a shadow over their relationship, one he had no idea existed.

This looming phantom was of Jasmine’s own creation, a secret she kept over the years.

Her father loved her, she was sure of that.

It was just difficult to reconcile that with what she’d overheard that day after her grandfather’s funeral.

It’s not fair , Jed had said. It’s because of Jasmine, isn’t it? The Inheritance should have been passed to me. I showed—

Ding ding dong!

The bell signaling someone had entered the shop startled Jasmine, and instinctively she rushed out to the front, calling, “Welcome to Fantastic Tails and Magical Scaa—o-oh!”

She stopped herself in time before she lost her balance, both her mouth and her feet stuttering as she saw who it was—Mal. He stood by the counter, looking tentative, and infuriatingly attractive all at the same time.

Jasmine groaned inwardly, remembering how he had answered the door in nothing but his towel last night.

His chest and torso were perfectly formed and his bare arms were like sculpted rock, just as she imagined.

It really did look as if he was green all over , as that towel around his waist had barely covered his most important bits.

“Hi,” he said, knocking her out of her very inappropriate thoughts.

Squaring her shoulders, she walked toward him. “Hello, Mal. Do you want to take a look around? I could show you the back office where all of Vrig’s things are.” He seemed to prefer the direct approach, so she dispensed with the niceties.

His dark eyebrows furrowed together. “Yeah. Something like that. Jasmine, could we—”

The doorbell once again rang and she snapped into customer-service mode. “Good morning! Welcome to Fantastic Tails and Magical Scales,” she greeted. “How can I help you today?”

A well-dressed, middle-aged cyclops woman took tentative steps inside. “Hello. We’re looking for a pet.” She gestured to the young boy next her. Jasmine guessed he couldn’t have been more than ten years old, at least in human years.

“Mom and Dad said if I got straight As, I could get a pet,” the boy said.

Smiling, she bent down to his level. “And did you?”

“Yes,” he proclaimed, the single blue eye in the middle of his forehead brimming with pride. “Even in math.”

“That’s awesome.” She quickly glanced up at the boy’s mother and recognized the look of apprehension on the woman’s face.

Children were Jasmine’s favorite customers, as she loved the pure happiness and awe in their faces whenever they entered the shop and left with a new pet.

However, they often proved to be the most difficult, or at least the adults were, and it was a challenge to find a creature that suited both parent and offspring.

“Do you have any idea of what kind of pet you wanted? I’m Jasmine, by the way.”

“I’m Alexios,” he said. “I was thinking a chimera,” the boy said, which earned an exasperated sigh from his mother.

“Have you taken care of a pet before, Alexios?”

He shook his head.

“Not even a goldfish? Or a hamster?”

“No, Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me.”

Alexios’s mother spoke up. “We lived in an apartment in Bayview City up until July. There was never any space for pets. But then we heard about Dewberry Falls and the fantastic school district, and that the community would be welcoming, so we decided to move here. Best decision we made.”

Jasmine grinned at the woman. “I’m glad.

This is a great town. So,” she said, turning back to Alexios, “chimeras, huh?” Choosing her words carefully, she began, “They are pretty fun and you can do all kinds of activities with them, but multi-headed creatures can be a challenge for first-time pet owners.”

“See, Alexios?” the mother interrupted. “Even she thinks you’re much too young to have such a big pet.”

Jasmine pursed her lips, stifling the urge to snap back at the mother.

She had avoided using the word “kids” or “child” as it sounded condescending.

After all, she had first-hand knowledge that children could be independent and responsible too, as she had learned to depend on herself when she and her dad moved to America with no support system.

But lecturing the woman or Alexios wouldn’t do anyone any good.