The mirror showed no reflection at all. It would keep their secrets. Great. What she needed was someone shouting this is wrong at her, or offering pity rather than tacit acceptance.

Then Joe stuck his head out into the hallway from the store. “Jack, I need . . .” Jack spun around toward him, teeth bared. Charlie made a noise that might have been a growl although she planned on denying it later. Joe blushed so vigorously, his freckles vanished—which Charlie had to admit was fairly impressive since he’d been knocking boots with Auntie Gwen for four years. “Never mind.” Gaze locked on the floor, he waved a hand in their general direction. “Later.”

They took a step apart when the door to the store closed. As Charlie had already been backing up, her butt hit the window.

Jack’s eyes flashed gold. “I should . . .”

“Thank Joe for his timing?” Not that he’d interrupted anything. Much. They’d been flirting with the line, not crossing it. If Jack had kept advancing, Charlie would have stopped him. She wouldn’t have wanted to—she was self-aware enough to admit that—but she would have put on her big girl panties and stopped him. And possibly, putting on her big girl panties might not be the best bit of phrasing under the circumstances.

“But . . .”

“No buts,” Charlie snapped, trying not to think of why she might have taken off her big girl panties. “And you probably want to go and convince Joe that he didn’t see what he thought he saw.”

“But,” Jack repeated, folding his arms, “Joe didn’t seem to care about our ages. To hear you tell it, he should have called you a hag and chased you away from me with a broom.”

“Hag?”

“Crone?” His eyes twinkled. Literally twinkled.

Charlie shook her head. She could feel the condensation on the window soaking through her jeans. “He’s full-blood Fey, you’re a Dragon Prince, and you growled . . .”

“You growled.”

“That wasn’t me.” And there was the denial, as planned. “His instincts took over and he ran. I heard it in his voice,” she added. “He said ‘Never mind. Later.’ but I heard, ‘Don’t eat me.’ ”

“Oh.” Jack considered that for a moment. “So I guess I should apologize to him?”

“If you’re asking my advice, you guys should definitely square up before he talks to Auntie Gwen and she puts two and two together and comes up with thirteen years. Auntie math,” she added when Jack rolled his eyes.

“So I guess I should apologize to him.” Not a question this time. He turned to follow Joe. Turned back to the hall. “Be careful.”

Her soundtrack played Hedley’s “Young and Stupid.”