25. Distinctively Red Palm
Sacha
Wrapping a blanket from the bed around my waist, I step into the main room of the cabin without Bailey. If she needs a chance to collect herself, I’ll give it to her. I’ll give her anything she wants.
I know it’s too soon for this. I wanted more time for her to get used to me—used to my odd cryptid quirks—before she met my less-civilized parents. I have no regrets about sleeping with her, but I needed the next twenty-four hours alone, to find the courage to explain to her that we are meant to be together forever. Instead, I have my mom standing in the kitchen area with an armload of dirty moss, and random mushrooms that she foraged from the forest.
“Sacha!” When she spins around and spots me her face lights up. She tosses her items to the table so she can throw her arms around me in a tight hug. I wince at her outfit choice—a brown tank top that almost blends into her fur and nothing else. She’s completely naked from the waist down. She’s just an inch shorter than me, with paler fur from her more northern heritage.
“Mom.” I lean into her embrace and familiar scent. It reminds me of every childhood memory: the late nights around the fire, fishing, hunting, foraging for food with my parents, and the long hours I spent reading alone, learning everything I could about the human world hoping that one day I could join it.
My mom leans back with a giant smile, her eyes scanning up and down my figure like she expected me to grow another inch when I hit my 30s. “You look good! I didn’t know you would be here! So happy we ran into you! You should have told us you were coming!”
“It was just a last minute trip. I thought you were in the forest for the summer.”
“Your dad wanted to use the smoker.” My mom waves her hand in the direction of her mate standing in the doorway.
“Caught an elk.” My dad, looking pleased, offers this explanation before he even greets me. He’s much taller than my mom, with darker fur. In one hand he carries a large chunk of dead animal, that leaks small amounts of viscera onto the porch floor. He also carries his distinctive, unpleasant odor, somewhere between roadkill and skunk; it’s apparent even from across the cabin. He’s only wearing a pair of ratty shorts, which were probably a color at some point but now look to be mostly mud.
“Your dad has been obsessed with that smoker since you bought it for his birthday,” my mom begins. “Are you staying for dinner?”
“I was planning to leave tomorrow, but if you two want some time alone, I could get out of your hair earlier—” I offer.
Mom cuts me off, “Of course you should stay! We hardly ever get to see you anymore!”
“It will be nice to catch up.” My dad grunts as he steps into the cabin.
“Abe, do not come into the house with that!” She sniffs, then flashes me a wide grin. “And who is staying here with you? A young woman? A human? You finally met your mate!”
“Mom, please. Humans don’t have fated-mates.”
“Nonsense. Your cousin Boris is with that nice little human man.”
“Anthony.” My dad ignores my mother’s request and crosses the cabin to stand near us. “Boris’s mate’s name is Anthony. They just moved to Puget Sound. We should visit them.”
“Maybe we can go after Solstice,” Mom says.
“If you could not mention mates in front of her—she won’t be comfortable with that word—”My mother only scowls as I try to explain, until her eyes focus on something past me and her face lights up with glee.
“Oh, here she is!” Mom cuts me off again, and pushes past me.
Glancing over my shoulder, Bailey has emerged from the bedroom in a fresh outfit. Blue jean shorts and a flirty floral top that is still totally appropriate to meet the parents in, not too much cleavage, and just enough leg to look absolutely delectable.
“Bailey.” I breathe out her name.
My mom beams and, before I can stop her, scoops Bailey into a tight squeeze that briefly lifts Bailey’s toes from the ground. “So great to meet you. I’ve always wanted a daughter! I can’t believe my son was going to hide you from us.”
“I wasn’t hiding her, Mom.”
“Look at her! Look at you! She’s perfect! You are gorgeous, honey! What’s your name?”
“Bay. Bailey, really, but you can just call me Bay, if you want.” My mate’s eyes dart wildly from me to my mother and back again. There’s a small amount of water welling up in her eyes. I step in before she can truly panic.
“Bay, this is my mom, Yvette, and my dad, Abe.” My heart is racing. It feels vital for everyone to get along.
My dad moves the bloody elk carcass to his empty hand and extends a distinctively red palm for Bay to shake.
I start to intervene, but Bay is already taking his grip and giving my father’s hand a firm shake. Abe smiles at her enthusiastically, showing far too many sharp predator teeth. “Are you staying for dinner? Do you like elk?”
Bailey, to her credit, smiles and gives a nonchalant shrug. “I’m not sure I’ve ever had it before, sir.”
“Sir. Ha! Did you hear that Yvette? I’m a sir now!” Dad pounds his chest with his empty fist. “A respectable male, just like my boy.”
“Maybe we should get out of your hair?” I target the question at my parents, but keep my eyes firmly on Bailey. She glances at her hand and inconspicuously swipes at the smear of blood my father left on her palm. “I can call our ride back earlier.”
“Nonsense! You came all the way out here to have a nice weekend. Don’t let us get in the way! You two just do whatever you were going to do, like we aren’t even here.” My mom waves her hand through the air dismissively.
Bay’s bright blue eyes meet mine as she gives me a small shrug. “We could stay, if you want? The helicopter will be here tomorrow, no matter what?”
I nod hesitantly. I don’t want her to feel pressured to stay here with my parents, who do not hide their monster behaviors like I’ve grown accustomed to doing.
They never even attempted to integrate with humans, preferring to adopt only the parts of civilized society that suit their lifestyles. Things like hot water from a tap and fancy meat smokers were an easy sell. Other things, like modesty, and table manners are far less popular with most cryptids.
“Helicopter?” My dad shakes his head. “This boy used to spend afternoons chopping wood to keep warm, and now he’s riding in helicopters. Can you believe it?!”
“We are so proud of him,” Mom tells Bailey, before shooing her mate toward the door, “Abe, you are dripping on the floor. Sacha, take your father outside and convince him to wash up before he makes more of a mess.”
“She’s just trying to get you alone and pry for information about your relationship.” Dad leans conspiratorially toward Bailey, who thankfully grins.
“Don’t tell the girl that! Now I won’t get anything useful out of her!” Mom scowls.
Dad leans over and presses a kiss to his mate’s cheek, erasing her disgruntled expression before she pushes him playfully away. Bailey catches my gaze before bashfully turning her eyes to the ground.
“Really though, Sacha never tells us anything about his life, and I need to know everything about you. Where did you two meet? How long have you been together?”
“Mom, please,” I interject, “Bailey isn’t here to be interrogated?—”
“It’s new.” Bailey cuts me off, stepping to my side and slipping her hand into mine.
My mom smiles slyly. “See? Don’t worry Sacha, I’m not going to scare the woman off.”
Dad barks out a laugh. “Yes, we’ll limit the childhood stories to the least embarrassing ones.”
“Actually, I can probably help with the smoker if you want.” Bailey steps past me toward the door. “I worked in a barbecue restaurant in college, so I know a bit about them.”
Abe flashes me another sharp-toothed grin. “I knew I liked her! Smart cookie. Come with me, Bay! You can help me load up the smoker.”
He waves a hand for her to follow him, and with one short glance back to me, Bailey follows him outside.
I hurry to put on actual clothing before racing outside to stop my parents from scaring my skittish little doe. My father has his smoker set up in a clearing behind the cabin, far from the tree line. My mom fills poor Bailey’s ears with embarrassing stories from my youth, while my father details the advantages of hickory versus oak for smoking.
I’m worried their enthusiasm will be too much for her, but my mate laughs while she listens, and when I step beside her she slips her hand into mine, granting me her beautiful smile. My parents fill her ears with all the cringe-inducing moments of my childhood: how I almost broke my arm jumping from the roof with homemade wings, the way I was obsessed with human society, and the entire year I spent refusing to eat any green food so that my mom had to burn every vegetable before she put it on my plate.
Bailey graces them with a toned-down version of trying to learn to fish like a Bigfoot and falling on her ass in the water, leaving out the inappropriate parts. My parents eat up every moment of the story.
“Thanks for putting up with them. Sorry for the imposition.” I lean in close to talk to her while my parents bicker about how long the elk is going to take to cook. The answer is, of course, far too long for any reasonable dinner time.
“Please. This isn’t an imposition.” She presses her hip against me. “Your parents are really sweet.”
“I know this isn’t what you expected your weekend to be like.”
“Not really, no,” she grins.
“I wanted to spend the whole weekend convincing you to keep dating me,” I whisper, so my bickering parents won’t hear. “I didn’t want your last memories of me to be about the time I accidentally sat on a wasp and cried when it stung me on the ass.”
She laughs. “You don’t want me thinking about your ass?”
“I was six.” I scrunch my nose. She laughs again. “I wanted you to have more lurid thoughts of my ass. I was hoping I’d get the whole day to get a few very different nude experiences burned into your brain.”
“You think that’s all it would take to convince me to stay with you? A whole day of sex?”
“I think it would be a great start,” I admit, wrapping an arm around her and tucking her into my side. “I think you liked those sections of the weekend a whole lot.”
Bay smiles, watching my parents bicker. “Actually, the whole weekend has been pretty good. Your parents are…”
“Embarrassing?” I suggest. “Overbearing? Loud?”
“They are really wonderful. You know that, right? They love each other, and they love you.”
“Yeah. I know.” I watch the faint, sad smile on Bailey’s face. “What’s your family like?”
She shakes her head and goes quiet as my parents rejoin us. My mom triumphantly declares that she is going inside to actually cook us dinner since the elk won’t be edible for another several hours.
“I can help.” Bailey leaps to her feet, leaving a cold wake in her absence.
She likes them, my parents, and my home. My chest feels tight watching her here. Every moment longer with her makes me more hopeful that my mate and I can make this work, together.