Page 11 of Wolves’ Midlife Reunion (Shifter Nation: Enchanted Over Forty #3)

“You be good for Tina, okay?”

“I will. I always am,” Sage reminded her father. The doll tucked under her arm was wearing a dress that matched her own.

“Of course you are.” He kissed her forehead and then looked up at Tina. “I’m just going to get some errands done and stay out of your way. You think about an hour?”

“Yeah, that should be fine.” She felt her wolf dragging her toward Dex, but she couldn’t act on it right now. Whatever the two of them were, whatever they worked out to be, she wouldn’t step on his toes and display her affection for him right in front of Sage.

“I like this,” Sage said when Dex had gone. “Your house is so nice.”

“I’m glad you think so. Do you want some milk and cookies?” She brought Sage over to the couch, where a tray was perched on the coffee table. The day was gloomy, but gray sunlight came in through the big window.

“Cookies?” Sage bounced up onto the couch. “I thought I was here to learn.”

“You are,” Tina agreed, leaning in with a conspiratorial smile, “but I don’t see why we can’t do both!”

Sage giggled. “Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.”

Tina already knew that, because she’d asked Dex. She wanted to make Sage feel as comfortable as possible. Learning magic when tense or worried didn’t work very well. “They’re one of my favorites, too, but I like oatmeal raisin better.”

“Ew!” Sage said with a giggle. “My daddy likes those!”

“Speaking of your daddy, he told you why you were here, right?”

“Uh huh.” Sage finished chewing and then swallowed her bite of cookie. “He said you can show me how to do things with my magic.”

“That’s right.” Tina had reconsidered her offer a couple of times. She knew Dex was a gifted witch, especially considering he’d only had a little help from his grandmother. He could probably show Sage quite a bit if he were willing to explore his talents more.

“Why don’t you show me what you already know how to do?” Tina suggested.

“Okay. Um.” Sage tapped her finger on her lips as she looked around the room. She looked down at her shoes and then back up. “Do you have any shoes that tie?”

“I sure do.” Tina fetched one of her sneakers, which she’d slipped off without untying. “How’s this?”

“Perfect. Put it right there.” When Tina had set it on the floor in front of the couch, Sage bent down and wiggled her finger in the air just above the bow. The laces released themselves, pulling out of the double knot and falling to the side.

“That’s very good!” Tina enthused.

Sage beamed at her. “Really?”

“Yes. That was tied pretty tightly, too. Is there anything else you’ve already figured out?”

“Hmm.” Sage looked around again. She squinted her eyes and pushed her finger through the air, making a ballpoint pen fall off the breakfast bar. “Sorry! I’ll get that!”

Tina was impressed. “You did a good job.”

“But it was just a pen,” Sage said, her little brows scrunching up with worry.

This sweet child wanted approval from her, which made Tina all the more eager to teach her. “It doesn’t weigh much, and it would take more skill to move something heavier. What I’m impressed with right now is that you picked up after yourself.”

“Oh!” Sage put the pen back on the breakfast bar next to Tina’s grocery list. “Daddy says we have to pick up after ourselves, otherwise we’re leaving the mess for someone else.”

“He’s right.” Tina had immediately gotten the impression that Dex was a good dad. Plenty of single dads pretended to be caring and attentive only to impress others, but she had a good feeling it was genuine with Dex. Her wolf knew him well.

“So, there are several different kinds of magic,” Tina told her, hoping she could break this down well enough for a young child to understand. “You can send your energy out into the world to change things, like this.”

Tina held out her hand, watching Sage’s eyes widen as a lavender orb of energy formed in her palm.

“Ooh, purple!” Sage breathed. “I want to do that!”

“Eventually, you will. This kind of magic can be very dangerous, because it can damage things. So can the kind of magic that you’ve been doing.

That’s why I was so happy to see you pick up the pen.

It shows me that you understand there are consequences to anything you do.

That’s true in life, but it’s especially true in magic.

You always have to think about what’s going to happen if you use your powers. Okay?”

Sage bobbed her head, still fascinated by the purple orb. “Okay.”

With a swipe of her fingers, Tina dissipated the sphere. “We should start with what you already know and see how you can improve it. Here. I’ve got another pen on the coffee table. We know you can knock it to the floor, but let’s see if you can push it more slowly.”

Tina watched as Sage focused on the pen.

Her finger wavered in the air, bobbing back and forth as she fought between using sheer magical strength to move the object and slowing herself down so that it stayed on the table.

The pen jerked hard to the right, rolled more slowly as it came to the edge of the table, and stopped with just the cap leaning over the edge.

“That’s hard,” Sage told her.

Tina nodded. “That’s the thing about magic. It looks easy if you watch someone else do it, but that’s because they’ve already been through years of training. What’s hard for you now was once hard for me, too.”

Sage looked doubtful. “Really?”

“Absolutely. When I was a teenager—so quite a bit older than you—I wanted to use my magic to help me cook. I ended up with spaghetti sauce all down the front of my shirt.”

“Oh, no!” Sage giggled.

“Do you know what was worse? I was actually wearing my sister’s shirt! She was very mad at me, and I knew after that I had to be more careful with what I was doing.”

Sage pointed at the pen. “Do you want me to try that again?”

“Let’s try something else.” An object that rolled would be particularly hard to control, and Tina wanted to set Sage up for success.

She needed to come away from this first lesson feeling like she’d accomplished something, or she’d never come back.

She picked a cookie up off the tray and set it directly on the table.

It had a bit more friction to it than the pen. “Try it with this.”

“But I’ll get crumbs on the floor if I don’t do it right!”

Tina shrugged. “Those would be the consequences we talked about. We’ll just have to clean them up if need be. Give it a try.”

The rest of the hour went by swiftly as Sage practiced with the cookie.

It was easier than the pen, but it was still a challenge for her as she shot it back and forth across the table like an edible hockey puck.

After several tries, though, Tina could already see that she was improving.

Soon, Tina was setting up targets on the table for Sage to aim at.

Could she get it to touch the edge of a napkin?

Could she get it to the corner or the edge?

They talked and ate more cookies as the lesson went on, and Tina was liking this girl more and more by the minute.

It wasn’t just that she was cute, although there was no doubt about that.

She was also bright and intelligent. She showed her compassion for others by making sure Tina got enough cookies.

Her laugh made Tina’s heart feel as though it were glowing.

Something about teaching magic to someone so young gave Tina a deep sense of satisfaction, too, one she hadn’t expected.

She loved running the store, and nothing would change that.

She felt content stocking shelves and managing inventory, and most of the time, she was happy helping customers find what they needed.

Teaching Sage, though, allowed her to tap into an inner part of herself.

She found the young girl within her who craved knowledge, who wanted to always improve.

Dex’s knock on the door startled her. Tina rushed to answer it. “We were enjoying ourselves so much that I didn’t even realize it was time for you to come back!”

He gave her that warm smile, the one that made light and heat radiate through her body.

It was hard not to think about the night they’d shared right there in her apartment after the reunion.

She’d brought him back to her place simply because it was close and they were enjoying themselves, but Tina knew it symbolized more than that.

She was accepting him, bringing him in. She was leaving behind the differences that had once been such a big deal.

Whether or not that would mean anything in the long run, she had yet to find out.

Dex stepped inside. He looked as though he wanted to kiss Tina, but they both knew better. “I’m glad to hear it. I figured since I didn’t get any emergency calls with crying and whining, Sage wasn’t being too hard on you,” he said with a wink.

“Daddy!” Sage came running to him, wrapping her arms around his leg in a tight hug. “I had so much fun!”

“Did you?” He looked back at Tina. “A good report from both of you. I’m impressed.”

“I think you’ll be impressed with what she can do,” Tina told him proudly. “She’s a fast learner, and she listens well. Sage, do you want to show your dad what you learned?”

“Yes! Come here!” She pulled Dex by the hand into the living room and sat him on the couch, then grabbed Tina and put her next to him. Sage went around to the other side of the coffee table.

“We’re getting a whole show,” Dex commented with a smile.

Sage put her doll on the table. She carefully straightened its tiny dress and yarn hair before she took a step back and held out her hands, palms down.