Helenium

2. Max

'One minute he's happy, than unhappy and suddenly happy again. It's like his emotions are one gigantic rollercoaster.' I watch as my favourite feline walks away from the store, with a small smile on his face as he passes the front window. 'I wish I knew what causes him to smile, so I can see to it that whatever causes it is around every day.'

Finding my mother or even her scent in the store isn't all that surprising since she makes an effort to come around at least once a week despite being retired. "What are you doing here today mother?" I know I'm being rude to her, but couldn't she come some other time, I haven't even had time to calm down from earlier. The last thing I want to do is have to explain anything to anyone like how that damn stool breaking probably wasn't an accident. 'There's no way wood breaks with that straight of a cut. The question is who would do it and when did they have the time?'

"Maximus, you don't take that tone with me, young man." Mom stares at me as if testing to see if I'm going to challenge her, complete with her hands on her hips.

"Sorry, mom." I walk out from behind the counter where I had been using the extra time to hide the obvious tent my erection was pitching, since finding Snow in the stock room and trying his damndest to keep eye contact with me. 'Thankfully that isn't an issue right now or I would have some explaining to her.' Wrapping my arms around her in a hug in apology. "It's been a hard and difficult morning and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

Mom pats my back. "It's alright just don't do it again." She takes a step to the side and I let my arm fall to my side. "I see you finally had the store painted and while the walls needed a new coat of paint you could have picked a different color." She motions around, not pointing at anything. "Maybe something to make it more relaxing, while making sure to keep it bright enough so people can see without the help of artificial light while making it welcoming so people want to come in."

Laughing right now is probably a bad idea, but for a woman who claims that she's tired of making all the decisions for the store, which she claims is the only reason she retired, she has a never-ending list of ideas she would have to see happen. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Of course not dear." She looks around the store as if looking at it for the first time in years when in truth it's only been three days. "Though if you want ideas I suggest talking to Luca. I'm sure he could give you a list of ideas that you could do with this space."

'Snow? Why should I ask suggestions from him.' A sudden vision of late nights working side by side with him didn't sound too bad. 'Perhaps I can get him to help me paint the walls this time instead of hiring someone else.' The sight of him with spattered paint on his face doesn't sound all that bad. 'If it gives me a chance to spend time with him, I can't find anything wrong with that idea.' My lip twitched in amusement. "I'll keep that in mind mom."

"Uh hu..." Mom stares at me as if I'm some crazy person that she doesn't recognize. "Whatever your thinking about you should keep it to yourself and don't even think of terrorizing Luca." Her eyes narrow. "That boy is practically family and the last thing I want is for him to feel like he needs to quit because you think it would be fun to tease him for fun."

I hold my hands up in surrender. "I wasn't going to tease him mom I swear." I can tell that she doesn't believe me. "Honest, I'm not going to tease him."

"Good. Keep it that way." She huffs before turning away and starts walking around as if looking for something. "You can get back to work, you can't let Luca do all the unpacking now can you?"

"Now." I turn to go into the stock room. Call me if you need anything." Receiving a backwards wave, I grab the clipboard before walking into the back.

The first thing that gets my attention is the broken stool that I placed on an empty shelf so I wouldn't have to worry about us tripping on it. Dropping the clipboard on top of a box before returning to the pile of wood and looking over the broken leg once again. 'This looks to clean to have broken without help.' A growl works its way up my throat at the thought of someone trying to hurt someone here. Putting it back down to avoid causing more damage to it in hopes of getting it repaired. I freeze in place when I hear my mother's voice coming from the front and I don't remember hearing the door. "Who's she speaking to?"

"Honestly, I don't know which one is more stubborn." He can hear his mother sigh. "Would it kill him to ask others for help and advice?"

Taking a step towards the door my curiosity to see who she's speaking to, only to see her holding her phone up to her ear. 'Of course, she's on the phone.' I shake my head before turning around and getting back to work before she can notice me eavesdropping on her.

'Alright where to start.' I stare at all the boxes as if expecting an answer or for one of them to fly at me. I chuckle at the idea of flying boxes. 'That would be pretty amusing.' I shrug my shoulders before grabbing a box from one of the shelves only to stop when I see the stool. 'He couldn't find the latter.' Placing the box back and reaching for one of the higher boxes instead. 'If I don't find it by tonight I'll see if one of the local witches can do a lost item spell. It's not like it can grow legs and walk away.'

Opening the box to find at full of children painting kits he ordered after finding a note in Snow's handwriting a couple of weeks ago. 'I wonder if he would smile after seeing these?' Groaning, I drop my head on top of my arms that are now on top of the closed box. 'Damn I need to get laid.' I shake my head knowing that if it was that easy to get him out of his head, then he would have removed the feline from his mind a dozen times over in the past six months when he noticed that he was starting to care more about him then what would be considered professional. "What is wrong with me?"

Hearing the door open, he stands up straight and rubs his fingers through his hair as he walks into the store. "Welcome." He spots his mom sitting at the table where Snow was standing before he left.

"Hello." A young woman with long dark hair and not human according to her scent, but not a shifter or a vampire as she wasn't wearing the proper clothing to be out in the sun, which made him wonder what she was. "Is Luca here by chance?"

"He's out for lunch right now." At the unhappy meow of a cat which explained the scent of an unknown feline. He spots the small animal rubbing against one of the cases as if trying to leave its scent all over it. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh no I just wanted to thank him for some advice he gave me last time he was here." When the woman stops speaking, the cat begins meowing away as if it was taking part in the conversation.

From the dark red setting into the woman's cheeks. 'It's possible that the woman understands the chatty cat. A witch maybe.'

"Wilma, please stop." From the look on the woman's face, it's clear she's getting more flustered by whatever the cat is saying. "I don't need a picture of that in my head."

"Do you want me to let him know you dropped by?" There's a small part of me that doesn't want to hear the answer, but the professional in me knows it's the right thing to do.

"No, it's alright. I'll speak to him next time." The woman smiles. "Come on Wilma, we've got other places to go."

The cat does one final meow before walking to the door, only then do I realize that the cat is wearing a purple dress. I shake my head before returning to the stock room. 'Why do I not want there to be a next time? Great, I'm at it again.'