Chapter Four
Lux
Another day, another fifty deliveries. Things were getting busier, and some days, I was concerned I wouldn’t finish everything, so when I saw the big box for the motel, my temper spiked.
“We just brought them out a case of bleach,” I spluttered.
“I don’t mind going there, but it seems odd they’d get another one.
Usually that quantity lasts them six months. It looks like a mistake.”
The supplier this came from had a record for duplicate or mistaken orders, and the motel was well out of the way of the rest of my deliveries for the day.
But the dispatcher shrugged. “Your job is just to deliver, not to question.” He was a recent hire after the previous guy retired, and I had a feeling Bobby’s mom had nothing to do with this guy’s tenure.
She had a great eye for people who would be an asset to her son’s company.
“And you’re killing time. If you don’t get going, you’ll be on overtime. ”
Something Bobby wouldn’t mind at all. He knew my work ethic, but he’d asked me to give the new dispatcher a chance before demanding he be fired. “Fine.” I could be a team player. “But I still think you should check with the motel before I go all the way out there.”
“We get paid even if it’s rejected.”
Yeah, we did, but that wasn’t the point.
I couldn’t afford to waste time—which I was doing as we spoke.
Without another word, I grabbed the case and carried it out to my truck.
At least it would be interesting to stop at the motel and hear about their cast of characters and fascinatingly quirky guests.
With all the shifters they got there, it was no wonder.
Our people were a vastly different bunch, even among similar animals.
Nobody would ever mix a polar bear shifter with a black bear, of course.
Or one big cat with another. Not if they didn’t want a major kerfuffle to break out.
With all the rest of my stops in the opposite direction, I turned the truck toward the motel.
I’d get that delivery out of the way then head off to do the rest in an organized fashion.
Back with the previous dispatcher, I’d never have been expected to make a single delivery so far out of the way, but the new guy was learning.
He’d get it eventually. Hopefully. And if not, I’d make it work.
As I left the warehouse, the temperature was a cool 22 Fahrenheit with not a cloud in sight.
The sky a gorgeous blue bowl overhead and winds at about three miles per hour out of the west. Wind mattered in a slightly top-heavy truck like mine, so I kept track of those things.
But today, it was just enough to ruffle my hair as I drove down the highway.
I might have been cranky about the bad route planning, but it was hard to stay that way on such a beautiful morning.
Especially with the motel on my list. Not an efficient run, but I would have the opportunity to visit a minute or two, and a certain take-out place with the best fried chicken in five counties lay along the way.
I’d treat myself on the way back—even if it was too early for breakfast. Technically.
Arriving at the Mates Motel, I stood up and grabbed the case from behind my seat then climbed down the couple of steps to the ground.
The smell of the chlorine bleach clung to my nose, even though it was in plastic jugs inside the box.
Shifter senses were an asset sometimes, but not this one.
The parking lot held at least twenty cars, a higher number than usual, so business must be good.
Nobody came out to greet me this time, Geoff probably still slumbering away in his comped room, so I headed for the office to unload my burden.
“What are you doing here?” Bennett asked, looking up from his ledger.
“Real friendly.” I plopped the heavy box on the desk in front of him. “Considering how far I went out of my way for you.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” He chuckled. “But I thought we got everything the other day. What is this? Bleach?”
“Seems like it.” I held out my tablet—a new and modern addition to our service. Bobby only bought into the system because the big companies who hired us required it. “Sign here.”
“We got the bleach in the last order…”
“I told the dispatcher that. But he said bring it on.”
“Bet you suggested he call and check?”
I nodded. “New guy. He’ll learn in time.”
“Well, it’s not like it’s going to go bad or anything.” He signed the tablet with his finger. “We can always use extra. Maybe the universe is telling us that we need to be cleaner.”
“I’ve never heard anyone say a negative word about your cleanliness.”
“No.” He slid the box off the counter and carried it through the door behind the desk then returned. “All the other places keep trying to steal our housekeeper, but he’s loyal. Anyway, can I get you some coffee or maybe a muffin?”
“I’m good. Gonna stop at Fred’s Fried Chicken in a few.”
“He is open this early?” He shook his head. “Good to know.”
With the bleach in the other room, my nose started to clear the smell, and I inhaled deeply in relief.
If I hadn’t had it so close to my seat, it would have been better, but I for sure didn’t want it buried in the deliveries for the other side of the county.
Although bleach was never a shifter favorite, Bennett insisted on absolute hygiene.
It was his thing, and if you couldn’t stand the bleach, you could stay somewhere else.
Considering how disgusting other motels could be, it seemed worth the annoyance. But there was something more…an enticing scent that made the hairs rise on my nape and woke my fox inside me.
Releasing the breath, I inhaled again. “Bennett, did you have someone new here? A one-nighter or someone who stopped in for directions even?”
“No, no one checked out. We do have a new guy kinda long term. You heard about that house fire? The guy lost everything and is staying here while he rebuilds.”
“Oh yeah. I remember hearing something about it. Was he just here in the office?” Because the scent that had my fox crying mate was fresh in my nostrils.
“A little while ago. We don’t get many humans here, but he really wanted the room, and he seems like a good enough guy.”
I reeled. My mate was human? My fox should not be all in on this.
He knew the story of our family. My dad’s true mate was human and had rejected him.
Sure it worked out because he and my father had found one another and, even if not fated, had a great life.
But he’d never forgiven the human race. All of them.
He was not going to take it well if I showed up with a human. If the human even wanted me. My dad settled. I’d sworn it would never be enough for me. All or nothing.