Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 107(@200wpm)___ 86(@250wpm)___ 72(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21482 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 107(@200wpm)___ 86(@250wpm)___ 72(@300wpm)
“Oh!” Delight fills Carolyn’s expression. She leans forward, eyes eager on me. “Truly? I’ve always been sorry that we haven’t kept the place up after my father passed. At one time, Frank and I considered retiring here instead of the Keys, just because the idea of bringing the farm back tickled me so much. In the end we decided it was more work than we wanted to put in—but if you want to, nothing would make me happier. What say you girls? Especially you, Sam, as that property will go to you when I’m dead. Or before that, if it saves you on taxes. I plan to speak with Frank’s financial advisor about that soon.”
“Dunno.” Eyes on her food, Samantha tears apart a chicken breast, her fork and knife scraping the plate in a way that makes everyone at the table except for Carolyn cringe. “Sounds like more work than Brandon seems inclined to put in before he takes off again.”
“Well, even if it’s only short term, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone out on the farm with you. I know you’ve been real lonely out there this year—”
“Mom!”
“You know it’s true. You can’t pretend with me. Alicia noticed it, too, and—”
“So I’ll get a dog.” Sam throws her sister a vicious look that has Alicia hunching down in her seat a bit.
“You can’t leave a dog alone out there while you’re gone all night and sleep all day. You’ll be keeping it company four hours a day? At most?” The resemblance between Carolyn and Samantha was never so apparent as Carolyn seems already offended on that imaginary dog’s behalf. “And I, for one, would be relieved to know that someone’s out there with you.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“No one’s questioning that. But especially after all this trouble with the Pierce boy—”
“Trouble?”
That’s a chorus of growls from three of us—me, Travis, and Alicia—and Carolyn looks up, surprised.
“You didn’t know?”
Sam closes her eyes. “How do you know about it?”
“I’m in Florida, not some backwoods cabin off the grid. I keep in touch with my friends here. And Karen’s daughter, Kimberly, you know she—”
“Works in Dispatch.” Heaving a sigh, Sam pinches the bridge of her nose. “Great. So everyone knows my business.”
“I didn’t,” Alicia says quietly, her eyes glowing a bit. Sam looks up at her, bites her lip.
“It’s nothing. Really.”
“Uh-huh.” Alicia doesn’t sound as if she believes it. She turns a smile on Carolyn. “I think having Brandon stay out there sounds like a great idea.”
Sam drops her hand down to the side, and I know she’s flipping off Alicia where their mother—and my parents—can’t see.
Then she says softly, “I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow.”
Alicia nods.
Carolyn turns to me again. It’s not real surprising that she’s carrying most of the conversation. Shifters tend to focus on eating—mostly because we’ve got a pile of food to eat. “So maybe we’ll work out a lease, or profit-sharing if you don’t want to spend lease money up front, or some kind of arrangement that suits everyone.”
“I’ll work something up.”
“No rush,” she says. “Frank and I will be visiting again around Thanksgiving. That way you have time to work out the scope of what you’ll want to do, and we can hammer out the details then.”
“Sounds good.”
Except that Sam’s jaw is clenched, and she’s only looking at her plate, and I can feel her aching from here. Every bite I take drops like lead into my stomach, and I only half listen as Carolyn and Mama start discussing one thing and another and about babies and how fussy we all were compared to the angel Emma is, and only tune in again as Carolyn asks about Alicia returning to work.
“I’ve got leave through December,” Alicia says. “Then, I don’t know. I haven’t decided. I love teaching those kids. And Ranger loves his work, so neither of us wants to quit—and his work comes with this house. But if we’re both working, we’d have to find someone to look after Emma and...”
She trails off with a shrug, mostly because she doesn’t want to come out and say in front of her mom that Emma’s a little wolf and any caretaker would need to be aware of that.
“I can do it,” I tell her. “Samantha could pick her up in town when she gets off duty in the mornings, bring her out to the farmhouse, and I’ll watch her during the day while I’m working the farm.”
Carolyn’s brows arch up to her hairline. “While you’re working the farm?” she echoes.
“Yeah. Just put her in a chest sling and take her around with me.” Until she gets big enough to run around on her own two feet…or four paws.
“In the winter?”
Shit. Alicia and Samantha are also looking at me like I’ve lost my fucking mind, while my family is nodding along with me. Because even as a werewolf now, Alicia doesn’t likely know how resilient babies are. She’s thinking of human babies, who get sick and who get hurt easy.