Werewolf single dad, p.24
Werewolf Single Dad, page 24
“Well, I guess that means this meeting is adjourned.” I texted both the new numbers on my phone right away so the bears had my number. “In some way, it’s a good thing we all met today, isn’t it?”
“Well, I don’t know about that.” Red rolled her brown eyes, but I could tell there was some warmth beginning to emerge from her.
“When we have Jackal’s head on a plate, you’ll believe me,” I said with a smile. “Until then, I’d appreciate it if you could bring me up to speed with anything that comes to light. And especially text me if you see him, or if you learn where he’s going. You say he’s recently claimed this area. How recently?”
“A few hours ago,” Red said in a bleak tone.
“So there’s a chance he hasn’t caught my scent yet,” I mused. “But there’s also a chance he will very soon, and he might take umbrage to it, or he might just think I’m visiting-- which I am-- and back off. Though, given his track record, I doubt that. Either way, I’ll keep a lookout, too, and I’ll tell you if anything happens.”
The werebears nodded in agreement, and after a few more moments of waiting with our breaths held, we decided it was safe to exit the DR we had been hiding out in.
Ally pushed on the door with her enormous muscles and opened it with ease, and the three of us stepped back out into the fresh air.
I’d gotten pretty good at pretending the smell of the werebears hadn’t been bothering me in there, but as soon as I stepped out, I couldn’t help but take a greedy gulp of air, and a huge sigh of relief escaped my chest.
“Sorry, just… yeah.” I chuckled nervously, and the bear-women both rolled their eyes, but I was sure I saw them both smile.
The bears told me they’d text me if they learned anything new, and we parted ways with a nod.
I took the long way round to get back to the convenience store, and I texted Trent, apologized to him about running a little bit late, and told him I’d explain when I got back.
When I approached the store, it seemed the crowd and the police had all dispersed, so I relaxed my shoulders as I picked up a gallon tub of Neapolitan ice cream and paid for it at the register.
When I eventually took the ice-cream back to the kids, they told me off for taking so long, but they were soon appeased when I served them up a bowl with an ‘extra large’ scoop of strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream each.
Of course, I actually kept their scoop sizes pretty modest since it was definitely a little late for them to be eating ice cream, but Trent was right in what he said earlier.
Life was hard, and eating ice cream helped, so I wanted them to feel like they were getting an extra-special treat.
As I served myself an actual extra-large bowl of ice cream, I thought about the encounter I’d just had with the bears, and I checked my phone sporadically for any messages updating me, but none seemed to be coming in.
I figured they might be nervous about talking to me, or wanted to run things by their friends, husbands, or whoever first, so I didn’t think too deeply about it, and I just hoped they’d be in touch when the time was right.
What I did think deeply about, however, was the fact this Jackal character had just killed the Alpha who ran the area Trent lived in, and the fact he’d possibly be coming after me when he picked up my scent.
After what the bears had said, I couldn’t help but feel a little worried that some kind of Titan Alpha wolf would soon be lusting after my blood.
I focused on my ice cream, and I tried to shake off my paranoia for a while. If Jackal came for me, I’d deal with him then, but for now, there was no use in getting myself worked up. Jackal owned this territory, and I’d make sure to leave within the generally-accepted fourteen-day visitation period.
Shoot, I still needed to call Grace and confirm that with her.
An hour or so passed before Trent and I put the children to bed, and when they were all settled, we ordered a couple of pizzas, and Trent put Jackass on the TV.
But even watching Steve-O wear a jellyfish as a sombrero and trying the world-famous Chicago deep dish pizza couldn’t pull me away from all the busy thoughts I was having about The Jackal Pack, and Trent soon noticed something was up.
“What’s up, buddy?” Trent asked. “You seem a bit distant. You were fine before you went out for ice cream. Did the walk stir some stuff up inside you? Like, emotionally because of everything that’s happened catching up with you?”
“Hm? Ah. Naw man, it’s not that.” I felt a bit bad when I realized what Trent was alluding to, and now suddenly Katherine’s death was being overshadowed by my newest lot of problems. “When I went out for ice cream… the reason I was late… ah, man.”
“What is it?”
“I ran into a couple of werebears,” I said.
“Yuck!” Trent faux-vomited exaggeratedly. “Dude, I’m so sorry to hear that. I thought I could smell something funky on you. I just thought it was another Alpha pheromonal thing, so I didn’t bring it up. Damn. Explains why I feel kinda irritated, too. Did you kick their asses? I’m assuming you did, because you’re here now. Eesh. No wonder you were gone for such a long time.”
“It’s actually a pretty long story,” I sighed. “Though, to be honest it started out as an ass-kicking…”
“Of course.” Trent nodded as he took a bite out of his slice of pizza.
“We got into a little bit of a street brawl… But then the cops came, so we ran away, but we all ended up running kinda in the same direction. I saw a DR in the distance, so I led them there-- ”
“Ah, so you could smash their brains in in private? Clever, dude.”
“No, it was more so they wouldn’t get caught and bring me down with them,” I said honestly. “While we were in there waiting for the cops outside to leave, they started shouting at me. They were really riled up and saying things like ‘We know what you did,’ which confused me a little, and then I remembered the Alpha back at the preschool. Didn’t it strike you as weird that he told us he’d been warned about me?”
“Oh, yeah, now that you mention it, that was kinda weird,” Trent said as he chewed on his cheese-oozing pizza. “I just thought the guy was a bit of a fruit loop.”
“Yeah, so did I,” I said. “But when I got the bears to talk to me, they told me there’s an Alpha called Jackal who’s been killing all the other Alphas so he can grow his pack, and that must have been who the guy at the preschool thought I was. It’s certainly who the bears thought I was.”
“And you believe what a pair of werebears told you, do you?”
It felt like Trent was a therapist psychoanalyzing me, and I doubted my judgment for a split second. But when I thought back and saw the tears in Red’s eyes and heard the grit in her voice as she spoke to me about her murdered children, I knew I wasn’t wrong for trusting what the werebears told me.
“I have to,” I said. “This Alpha and his pack have been taking over territories in order to take control of the city, and they’ve been picking fights with werebears and killing their children just for fun.”
“Ah, man.” A gentle sadness tinged Trent’s voice. “I hate werebears as much as the next guy, but leave the children out of this.”
“Exactly.” I nodded. “And we’ve got our own children to think about. Whatever our views are on werebears, we’ve got to protect our kids. The way I see it, I had no choice but to believe them… so I gave them my number.
“You what?”
“I told them to contact me if they hear any more about this Jackal guy and his pack… and we’re kinda teaming up now to stop him,” I explained.
“Oh, shit, for real?” Trent asked as his eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. “Like a werebear and werewolf vigilante justice team?”
“That’s about the size of it,” I chuckled lightly as I reached for another slice of pizza. “Just until this jackass is brought to task. Then we’ll continue hating each other’s guts. Like nature intended.”
Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket, and my stomach churned as I anticipated it to be an update from the werebears about Jackal.
But to my surprise, it was a text from Whitney.
Hey, hope you’re having a good evening. Scheduling conflicts with another senior staff member at WC tomorrow means I’ve actually got the day off. I was wondering if you’d like to go on that casual stroll we talked about?
Of course, I was over the moon, and I replied instantly.
Hey! I’d love that. Did we say something about a picnic?
Whitney seemed to take a while to respond, and I guessed she was trying to figure out the best thing to say.
Soon, she replied that a picnic sounded great, and she added a creative array of food-based emojis to act as illustrations to her message.
I told her I knew the perfect spot, and that I’d meet her in the parking lot of the little memorial garden at noon, since it was better if staff or other parents at WereCare didn’t see us meet.
This way, I could keep an eye out for Jackal at a turf he may well target, and Whitney would be able to drive forty-five seconds up the road and be on the neutral ground of WereCare if Jackal did show up.
I knew I could get through to Bluto, but I didn’t think he would agree to the idea of letting a rival Alpha luxuriate with a picnic in his beloved garden, so that’s why I was going to ask if he’d let me park my van up in the parking lot outside.
Then I had the perfect surprise for Whitney: I was going to fold the seats down in the back of my minivan and lay blankets and cushions down to turn the inside of the vehicle into the perfect cozy spot for us to have our picnic. Heck, I could even hang up some string lights.
I made a mental note to head to that little postage stamp of a public garden and pay a visit to my new friend, Bluto, in the morning.
Since he already knew about the Jackal Pack, I wondered if the Alpha of that tiny turf might be able to shed any more light on the matter at hand, or maybe I could give him my number, too, and get him to call me if Jackal approached him.
Before I knew it, I had already mentally enlisted Bluto in my version of The Justice League.
Since Bluto knew he couldn’t beat me in a fight, I thought it would be pretty easy to convince him to form an alliance with me, which of course would mean I’d help him defend his patch if the Jackal Pack came knocking.
The only thing I’d ask in return for my protection would be that he let me chill in my van in the parking lot of his garden to host my picnic, which I thought sounded like an extremely reasonable offer.
Whitney and I exchanged a couple more flirty texts before she sent me an emoji that let me know she was going to take a bath so she couldn’t speak for a while. I put my phone down for the evening with that wonderful image in my mind, and I tried to take some enjoyment from watching Bam Margera run through an obstacle course of cattle prods.
Which I found I was definitely able to do, now.
Trent and I went to bed at around midnight, and though I was kept up with a few busy thoughts about confronting Jackal and his pack, it was the thought of spending the day with Whitney tomorrow that filled up my brain for the most part, which I was thankful for, because I fell asleep with a warm, safe feeling surrounding me, rather than being on a constant cortisol high.
Charlie woke up crying just before six A.M., and I swiftly took him out of the room so I could feed and change him without Dionne waking up.
The sun peered through the kitchen window as I held Charlie in the crook of my arm and settled him with a bottle, and I thought about what the day would bring.
All before noon, I had a surprise alliance meeting with Bluto to instigate and a picnic to source-- not to mention getting the children ready and taking them to preschool.
I’d asked Whitney to check if there was space for Charlie at the daycare last night, and she said there was, and they should be able to take him in. But if not, it wasn’t an issue, and he could just spend the day with us.
Charlie finished his feeding, and I kept him wrapped in my arms as I blinked in the light from the hazy rising sun.
Trent came down at about seven and started making the kids packed lunches, and he fried up some eggs and blood sausage for us to have on toast.
“Have you got much planned for today?” Trent made polite conversation while he brewed a pot of coffee.
“Kinda,” I said. “Do you?”
“Yeah, I’ve got to be in a meeting at the restaurant at ten,” Trent said. “I was actually gonna ask if you wouldn’t mind taking Archie in today.”
“Sure,” I said.
“Awesome, thanks,” Trent said as he tended to the eggs in his frying pan. “So, what’ve you got on today that’s keeping you ‘kinda’ busy? Another meeting with werebears?”
“I hope not,” I chuckled. “No, I’m actually going out for the day… with Whitney.”
“Dude, what?” Trent immediately spun around and looked at me with wide pre-coffee eyes. “Are you going on a date?”
“No one is calling it a date,” I laughed. “We’re just… gonna spend the day together. She’s off today and asked if I’d like to go out. Well, no. I actually said to her yesterday I’d like to spend some more time with her, and she messaged me last night and said there’s been a mix up with the shift rotation, and she’s got today off. So, I’m going to take her on a picnic.”
“You old dog, you,” Trent said with a smile. “That sounds awesome, I’m really happy for you. You two have definitely hit it off, and in such a short amount of time, too. Please, tell me to shut up if I’m asking too much, but do you feel okay going out with another woman so soon after… you know?”
“I do, because it’s Whitney,” I said. “I know I’m not rushing into anything, and I’ve been nothing but clear with her that I’m not ready to fall in love again, so we’re just going out as friends. Well, it’s kind’ve a date, I guess. I do like her, so maybe it is kind of a date. But it’s a friendly date. I don’t know. I’m trying not to label it.”
“Hey, I don’t blame you there.” Trent leaned back on the stove and put his palms out in front of him. “In my business, labels are only good for telling you when your meat’s going to expire. Putting a label on something like this just screams to me that it’s got an expiration date. So don’t even tempt fate by doing it. Oh, shoot. The eggs!”
I smiled as I digested Trent’s early morning nugget of metaphorical wisdom, and my poetically minded, culinary genius of a friend spun around and rescued his eggs from charring at the bottom of the cast-iron skillet.
Though it still felt very surreal that I was going to be spending my day on a kind of date with a very attractive woman who I definitely was starting to develop feelings for, and there were definitely a few knots of guilt among the butterflies in my stomach, I felt at peace.
Katherine was gone, and as much as I loved her still, this could be the start of something really special with Whitney.
Although I knew it had only been a couple of days since I’d lost her, and I’d grieve for her forever, I also knew life had to go on. For now, Whitney was a friend and a happy distraction, and we were going on maybe kinda sorta a date, and there was nothing wrong with that, even if it was soon.
Sometimes, the best things come when you really are not expecting them to, and I knew Katherine would see it that way, too.
Trent plated up two plates of eggs, blood sausage, and toast, and we fueled ourselves to get ready for a big day.
“Mm!” Trent hummed just as he loaded his gullet with an ambitiously large mouthful of toast. “For your picnic. Take some meat out of the freezer.”
“Naw, man, I can’t do that,” I said.
“‘Course you can!” Trent gulped. “I get it all from my wholesaler anyway. I always make sure to order extra, then I take it home. I get great cuts for a good price because I buy so much in bulk. I’d love for you and Whitney to have nice stuff on your date-- uhh-- day out.”
“Alright… thanks, Trent,” I said as I loaded my toast slice into my mouth. “That really is generous of you. Tell you what, next time we go for a meal that isn’t at your place, it’s on me.”
“It’s cool, man, you bought the pizzas and the ice cream.”
“Yeah, because you’ve bought everything else,” I laughed. “Let me do this. To say thank you.”
“Alright, my brother,” Trent said with a smile as he polished off his eggs. “Thanks.”
Soon enough, it was time to get Dionne and Archie up and ready for their day at preschool.
Trent fed them and packed their lunches while I moved Archie’s car seat into my van, and after I’d dressed Dionne, I put together a cool bag of things from the freezer for Whitney and I’s picnic.
Trent was very enthusiastic about helping me, and he tipped boxes of meatballs, raw beef short ribs, and pork steaks into the cooler to defrost. And when the carnivorous selection of our meal was catered for, Trent even opened his cupboard and piled the box high with packets of breadsticks, chips, and a jar of olives.
When the time came, I loaded the kids and the cooler into the van, and I made my way around to the preschool.
I dropped Archie and Dionne off with Lucy, the senior staff member filling in for Whitney that day, and I walked Charlie around to drop him off to Jemma at the daycare.
I told the kids I loved them, even Archie, and then I walked back toward my van as nonchalantly as you please. As if I wasn’t about to drive forty seconds up the road to host a picnic for their schoolteacher.
But first, I had to stop by the memorial park.
Because now, it was time to drop in on my new pal, Bluto.
Chapter 15
When I got to the memorial park, as was expected, the big-bearded Alpha werewolf was already there waiting for me.
I knew he’d smell me coming, and as I walked up to him, I could tell he didn’t know how to react to my presence.
Though he hadn’t shifted, his teeth were bared, but his body language showed he was more on the defensive, and when I took a moment to breathe them in, his pheromones were sending me the message that he was more scared than territorial.
“Well, I don’t know about that.” Red rolled her brown eyes, but I could tell there was some warmth beginning to emerge from her.
“When we have Jackal’s head on a plate, you’ll believe me,” I said with a smile. “Until then, I’d appreciate it if you could bring me up to speed with anything that comes to light. And especially text me if you see him, or if you learn where he’s going. You say he’s recently claimed this area. How recently?”
“A few hours ago,” Red said in a bleak tone.
“So there’s a chance he hasn’t caught my scent yet,” I mused. “But there’s also a chance he will very soon, and he might take umbrage to it, or he might just think I’m visiting-- which I am-- and back off. Though, given his track record, I doubt that. Either way, I’ll keep a lookout, too, and I’ll tell you if anything happens.”
The werebears nodded in agreement, and after a few more moments of waiting with our breaths held, we decided it was safe to exit the DR we had been hiding out in.
Ally pushed on the door with her enormous muscles and opened it with ease, and the three of us stepped back out into the fresh air.
I’d gotten pretty good at pretending the smell of the werebears hadn’t been bothering me in there, but as soon as I stepped out, I couldn’t help but take a greedy gulp of air, and a huge sigh of relief escaped my chest.
“Sorry, just… yeah.” I chuckled nervously, and the bear-women both rolled their eyes, but I was sure I saw them both smile.
The bears told me they’d text me if they learned anything new, and we parted ways with a nod.
I took the long way round to get back to the convenience store, and I texted Trent, apologized to him about running a little bit late, and told him I’d explain when I got back.
When I approached the store, it seemed the crowd and the police had all dispersed, so I relaxed my shoulders as I picked up a gallon tub of Neapolitan ice cream and paid for it at the register.
When I eventually took the ice-cream back to the kids, they told me off for taking so long, but they were soon appeased when I served them up a bowl with an ‘extra large’ scoop of strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream each.
Of course, I actually kept their scoop sizes pretty modest since it was definitely a little late for them to be eating ice cream, but Trent was right in what he said earlier.
Life was hard, and eating ice cream helped, so I wanted them to feel like they were getting an extra-special treat.
As I served myself an actual extra-large bowl of ice cream, I thought about the encounter I’d just had with the bears, and I checked my phone sporadically for any messages updating me, but none seemed to be coming in.
I figured they might be nervous about talking to me, or wanted to run things by their friends, husbands, or whoever first, so I didn’t think too deeply about it, and I just hoped they’d be in touch when the time was right.
What I did think deeply about, however, was the fact this Jackal character had just killed the Alpha who ran the area Trent lived in, and the fact he’d possibly be coming after me when he picked up my scent.
After what the bears had said, I couldn’t help but feel a little worried that some kind of Titan Alpha wolf would soon be lusting after my blood.
I focused on my ice cream, and I tried to shake off my paranoia for a while. If Jackal came for me, I’d deal with him then, but for now, there was no use in getting myself worked up. Jackal owned this territory, and I’d make sure to leave within the generally-accepted fourteen-day visitation period.
Shoot, I still needed to call Grace and confirm that with her.
An hour or so passed before Trent and I put the children to bed, and when they were all settled, we ordered a couple of pizzas, and Trent put Jackass on the TV.
But even watching Steve-O wear a jellyfish as a sombrero and trying the world-famous Chicago deep dish pizza couldn’t pull me away from all the busy thoughts I was having about The Jackal Pack, and Trent soon noticed something was up.
“What’s up, buddy?” Trent asked. “You seem a bit distant. You were fine before you went out for ice cream. Did the walk stir some stuff up inside you? Like, emotionally because of everything that’s happened catching up with you?”
“Hm? Ah. Naw man, it’s not that.” I felt a bit bad when I realized what Trent was alluding to, and now suddenly Katherine’s death was being overshadowed by my newest lot of problems. “When I went out for ice cream… the reason I was late… ah, man.”
“What is it?”
“I ran into a couple of werebears,” I said.
“Yuck!” Trent faux-vomited exaggeratedly. “Dude, I’m so sorry to hear that. I thought I could smell something funky on you. I just thought it was another Alpha pheromonal thing, so I didn’t bring it up. Damn. Explains why I feel kinda irritated, too. Did you kick their asses? I’m assuming you did, because you’re here now. Eesh. No wonder you were gone for such a long time.”
“It’s actually a pretty long story,” I sighed. “Though, to be honest it started out as an ass-kicking…”
“Of course.” Trent nodded as he took a bite out of his slice of pizza.
“We got into a little bit of a street brawl… But then the cops came, so we ran away, but we all ended up running kinda in the same direction. I saw a DR in the distance, so I led them there-- ”
“Ah, so you could smash their brains in in private? Clever, dude.”
“No, it was more so they wouldn’t get caught and bring me down with them,” I said honestly. “While we were in there waiting for the cops outside to leave, they started shouting at me. They were really riled up and saying things like ‘We know what you did,’ which confused me a little, and then I remembered the Alpha back at the preschool. Didn’t it strike you as weird that he told us he’d been warned about me?”
“Oh, yeah, now that you mention it, that was kinda weird,” Trent said as he chewed on his cheese-oozing pizza. “I just thought the guy was a bit of a fruit loop.”
“Yeah, so did I,” I said. “But when I got the bears to talk to me, they told me there’s an Alpha called Jackal who’s been killing all the other Alphas so he can grow his pack, and that must have been who the guy at the preschool thought I was. It’s certainly who the bears thought I was.”
“And you believe what a pair of werebears told you, do you?”
It felt like Trent was a therapist psychoanalyzing me, and I doubted my judgment for a split second. But when I thought back and saw the tears in Red’s eyes and heard the grit in her voice as she spoke to me about her murdered children, I knew I wasn’t wrong for trusting what the werebears told me.
“I have to,” I said. “This Alpha and his pack have been taking over territories in order to take control of the city, and they’ve been picking fights with werebears and killing their children just for fun.”
“Ah, man.” A gentle sadness tinged Trent’s voice. “I hate werebears as much as the next guy, but leave the children out of this.”
“Exactly.” I nodded. “And we’ve got our own children to think about. Whatever our views are on werebears, we’ve got to protect our kids. The way I see it, I had no choice but to believe them… so I gave them my number.
“You what?”
“I told them to contact me if they hear any more about this Jackal guy and his pack… and we’re kinda teaming up now to stop him,” I explained.
“Oh, shit, for real?” Trent asked as his eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. “Like a werebear and werewolf vigilante justice team?”
“That’s about the size of it,” I chuckled lightly as I reached for another slice of pizza. “Just until this jackass is brought to task. Then we’ll continue hating each other’s guts. Like nature intended.”
Just then, my phone vibrated in my pocket, and my stomach churned as I anticipated it to be an update from the werebears about Jackal.
But to my surprise, it was a text from Whitney.
Hey, hope you’re having a good evening. Scheduling conflicts with another senior staff member at WC tomorrow means I’ve actually got the day off. I was wondering if you’d like to go on that casual stroll we talked about?
Of course, I was over the moon, and I replied instantly.
Hey! I’d love that. Did we say something about a picnic?
Whitney seemed to take a while to respond, and I guessed she was trying to figure out the best thing to say.
Soon, she replied that a picnic sounded great, and she added a creative array of food-based emojis to act as illustrations to her message.
I told her I knew the perfect spot, and that I’d meet her in the parking lot of the little memorial garden at noon, since it was better if staff or other parents at WereCare didn’t see us meet.
This way, I could keep an eye out for Jackal at a turf he may well target, and Whitney would be able to drive forty-five seconds up the road and be on the neutral ground of WereCare if Jackal did show up.
I knew I could get through to Bluto, but I didn’t think he would agree to the idea of letting a rival Alpha luxuriate with a picnic in his beloved garden, so that’s why I was going to ask if he’d let me park my van up in the parking lot outside.
Then I had the perfect surprise for Whitney: I was going to fold the seats down in the back of my minivan and lay blankets and cushions down to turn the inside of the vehicle into the perfect cozy spot for us to have our picnic. Heck, I could even hang up some string lights.
I made a mental note to head to that little postage stamp of a public garden and pay a visit to my new friend, Bluto, in the morning.
Since he already knew about the Jackal Pack, I wondered if the Alpha of that tiny turf might be able to shed any more light on the matter at hand, or maybe I could give him my number, too, and get him to call me if Jackal approached him.
Before I knew it, I had already mentally enlisted Bluto in my version of The Justice League.
Since Bluto knew he couldn’t beat me in a fight, I thought it would be pretty easy to convince him to form an alliance with me, which of course would mean I’d help him defend his patch if the Jackal Pack came knocking.
The only thing I’d ask in return for my protection would be that he let me chill in my van in the parking lot of his garden to host my picnic, which I thought sounded like an extremely reasonable offer.
Whitney and I exchanged a couple more flirty texts before she sent me an emoji that let me know she was going to take a bath so she couldn’t speak for a while. I put my phone down for the evening with that wonderful image in my mind, and I tried to take some enjoyment from watching Bam Margera run through an obstacle course of cattle prods.
Which I found I was definitely able to do, now.
Trent and I went to bed at around midnight, and though I was kept up with a few busy thoughts about confronting Jackal and his pack, it was the thought of spending the day with Whitney tomorrow that filled up my brain for the most part, which I was thankful for, because I fell asleep with a warm, safe feeling surrounding me, rather than being on a constant cortisol high.
Charlie woke up crying just before six A.M., and I swiftly took him out of the room so I could feed and change him without Dionne waking up.
The sun peered through the kitchen window as I held Charlie in the crook of my arm and settled him with a bottle, and I thought about what the day would bring.
All before noon, I had a surprise alliance meeting with Bluto to instigate and a picnic to source-- not to mention getting the children ready and taking them to preschool.
I’d asked Whitney to check if there was space for Charlie at the daycare last night, and she said there was, and they should be able to take him in. But if not, it wasn’t an issue, and he could just spend the day with us.
Charlie finished his feeding, and I kept him wrapped in my arms as I blinked in the light from the hazy rising sun.
Trent came down at about seven and started making the kids packed lunches, and he fried up some eggs and blood sausage for us to have on toast.
“Have you got much planned for today?” Trent made polite conversation while he brewed a pot of coffee.
“Kinda,” I said. “Do you?”
“Yeah, I’ve got to be in a meeting at the restaurant at ten,” Trent said. “I was actually gonna ask if you wouldn’t mind taking Archie in today.”
“Sure,” I said.
“Awesome, thanks,” Trent said as he tended to the eggs in his frying pan. “So, what’ve you got on today that’s keeping you ‘kinda’ busy? Another meeting with werebears?”
“I hope not,” I chuckled. “No, I’m actually going out for the day… with Whitney.”
“Dude, what?” Trent immediately spun around and looked at me with wide pre-coffee eyes. “Are you going on a date?”
“No one is calling it a date,” I laughed. “We’re just… gonna spend the day together. She’s off today and asked if I’d like to go out. Well, no. I actually said to her yesterday I’d like to spend some more time with her, and she messaged me last night and said there’s been a mix up with the shift rotation, and she’s got today off. So, I’m going to take her on a picnic.”
“You old dog, you,” Trent said with a smile. “That sounds awesome, I’m really happy for you. You two have definitely hit it off, and in such a short amount of time, too. Please, tell me to shut up if I’m asking too much, but do you feel okay going out with another woman so soon after… you know?”
“I do, because it’s Whitney,” I said. “I know I’m not rushing into anything, and I’ve been nothing but clear with her that I’m not ready to fall in love again, so we’re just going out as friends. Well, it’s kind’ve a date, I guess. I do like her, so maybe it is kind of a date. But it’s a friendly date. I don’t know. I’m trying not to label it.”
“Hey, I don’t blame you there.” Trent leaned back on the stove and put his palms out in front of him. “In my business, labels are only good for telling you when your meat’s going to expire. Putting a label on something like this just screams to me that it’s got an expiration date. So don’t even tempt fate by doing it. Oh, shoot. The eggs!”
I smiled as I digested Trent’s early morning nugget of metaphorical wisdom, and my poetically minded, culinary genius of a friend spun around and rescued his eggs from charring at the bottom of the cast-iron skillet.
Though it still felt very surreal that I was going to be spending my day on a kind of date with a very attractive woman who I definitely was starting to develop feelings for, and there were definitely a few knots of guilt among the butterflies in my stomach, I felt at peace.
Katherine was gone, and as much as I loved her still, this could be the start of something really special with Whitney.
Although I knew it had only been a couple of days since I’d lost her, and I’d grieve for her forever, I also knew life had to go on. For now, Whitney was a friend and a happy distraction, and we were going on maybe kinda sorta a date, and there was nothing wrong with that, even if it was soon.
Sometimes, the best things come when you really are not expecting them to, and I knew Katherine would see it that way, too.
Trent plated up two plates of eggs, blood sausage, and toast, and we fueled ourselves to get ready for a big day.
“Mm!” Trent hummed just as he loaded his gullet with an ambitiously large mouthful of toast. “For your picnic. Take some meat out of the freezer.”
“Naw, man, I can’t do that,” I said.
“‘Course you can!” Trent gulped. “I get it all from my wholesaler anyway. I always make sure to order extra, then I take it home. I get great cuts for a good price because I buy so much in bulk. I’d love for you and Whitney to have nice stuff on your date-- uhh-- day out.”
“Alright… thanks, Trent,” I said as I loaded my toast slice into my mouth. “That really is generous of you. Tell you what, next time we go for a meal that isn’t at your place, it’s on me.”
“It’s cool, man, you bought the pizzas and the ice cream.”
“Yeah, because you’ve bought everything else,” I laughed. “Let me do this. To say thank you.”
“Alright, my brother,” Trent said with a smile as he polished off his eggs. “Thanks.”
Soon enough, it was time to get Dionne and Archie up and ready for their day at preschool.
Trent fed them and packed their lunches while I moved Archie’s car seat into my van, and after I’d dressed Dionne, I put together a cool bag of things from the freezer for Whitney and I’s picnic.
Trent was very enthusiastic about helping me, and he tipped boxes of meatballs, raw beef short ribs, and pork steaks into the cooler to defrost. And when the carnivorous selection of our meal was catered for, Trent even opened his cupboard and piled the box high with packets of breadsticks, chips, and a jar of olives.
When the time came, I loaded the kids and the cooler into the van, and I made my way around to the preschool.
I dropped Archie and Dionne off with Lucy, the senior staff member filling in for Whitney that day, and I walked Charlie around to drop him off to Jemma at the daycare.
I told the kids I loved them, even Archie, and then I walked back toward my van as nonchalantly as you please. As if I wasn’t about to drive forty seconds up the road to host a picnic for their schoolteacher.
But first, I had to stop by the memorial park.
Because now, it was time to drop in on my new pal, Bluto.
Chapter 15
When I got to the memorial park, as was expected, the big-bearded Alpha werewolf was already there waiting for me.
I knew he’d smell me coming, and as I walked up to him, I could tell he didn’t know how to react to my presence.
Though he hadn’t shifted, his teeth were bared, but his body language showed he was more on the defensive, and when I took a moment to breathe them in, his pheromones were sending me the message that he was more scared than territorial.
