11. Adeline
ELEVEN
Adeline was more excited for the day than she was willing to admit. While the situation with Tobias was still rather tenuous and being held over her head like a gavel ready to fall, she felt suitably distracted and rather safe.
The rolling hills of Vermont provided mesmerizing scenery. Every farm they passed gave the girls reasons to point out the cows and sheep.
They were driving into Shelburne, a quaint little town that was considered one of the most picturesque areas in all of the American Northeast. She read out loud the history of the festival from her phone to the kids, admiring the captivating beauty and splashing vivid tapestry of scattered wildflowers they drove by.
“So, Deanne, Jodi, listen to this,” she said. “The Cheesemaker Festival is held at an old farm built in the 1880s on Apple Street.”
Jodi was leaning forward in interest while Deanne stared out the window. She was captivated by colorful flowers and farm animals.
“That”s old,” Jodi muttered.
“It is, honey,” Adeline replied. “It’s a big farm, too. They use it to teach kids about animals and how they milk the cows, which is where cheese comes from.”
“They have cows there? What else do they have?” Deanne asked.
“Well, it looks like they have cows, baby goats, and even chickens. Chickens! Jodi!”
Jodi began to laugh. It was always the most beautiful sound to Adeline and healed something in her every time it blessed her eardrums. Deanne was getting to the age where she didn’t want to admit not knowing something … those angsty pre-teenage years were on the horizon … so she didn’t show her excitement initially.
“Are they gonna show us how they make the cheese?” Deanne asked.
Adeline scanned the website she had been reading from while they drove on. “Hmm, I’m not sure if they are going to show you, but probably tell you while you’re there, yes?”
Griffin hadn’t said a word since they’d left his property, and she wanted him to jump in. Their banter in the kitchen was intriguing, as was their conversation the night before. She wanted to know what was going on behind those somber eyes.
Though, she wasn’t entirely sure why. Men had disappointed her time and time again, which was part of the reason why she opted to adopt on her own without anyone else in tow. It had been far too exhausting to find someone that fit into her life like a puzzle piece.
That didn’t mean she didn’t date … not within the last few years since adopting the girls, though. She wasn’t exactly a babe magnet on the apps. A single woman with two adopted wolf shifters and a proclivity for impulsive vigilante-type behavior didn’t draw many eyes.
Sexually, she could satisfy herself. Technology was way more reliable to get the job done than any man she’d met. So, she’d let that all go.
At least, she thought she had. Something in Griffin had reawakened a desire she thought long dormant, but she was doing her best to ignore that.
“Griffin, will they show the girls how cheese is made?”
The man was a damn wolf, so she knew he could hear their entire conversation. But when he piped up, it sounded like his mind had been elsewhere.
“Hmm? Oh, yes, they should. I’m pretty sure there is a demonstration of the milking of the cows, then they bring in the milk and do their magic there …”
“Milking cow’s udders!” Jodi called out, cackling.
That was the limit of the girls’ attention span. They arrived at the farm, aptly named Apple Street with an assortment of the glossy fruit lining the farmland road with glittering allure.
The parking lot was already packed with parents and kids pulling each other along. Adeline felt a twinge of jealousy at the sight of the full families moving about the farm, then realized a longing deep inside her had reared its head in the most peculiar of times.
They eventually found a parking spot. “All right, girls, let”s get to it!” she said, helping them out of the back seat.
Griffin took Jodi’s hand promptly as unskilled drivers soared by. It made her heart warm to see how natural his concern for the girls was, all without any pressure from her.
“Where do you want to go first?” Adeline asked Deanne, who took her hand as they crossed the parking lot.
“Hmmm, I want some cheese!” Deanne exclaimed.
“No, I wanna see the animals!” Jodi responded.
“Let’s take a look around first. There’s a lot to do,” Griffin said.
They met up with Griffin’s sister, brother-in-law, and their kids once they were safely out of the parking lot. Griffin was looking stoic, his eyes glued to the children as they ran off into an oversized chicken coop to hunt for plastic eggs. Educational imprints lined the walls, telling tales of how eggs were formed inside the chicken, laid, and then sustainably resourced.
Though the kids didn’t seem too interested from an educational standpoint, they were certainly distracted enough to not notice Griffin’s big blue eyes on them … like a predator watching for prey.
“Have you been to Vermont before?” Mari asked Adeline as the girls ran amuck inside the make-believe chicken coop.
They had bought coffee at a stand nearby while Griffin refused the offer of caffeine. His eyes were laser-focused on the kids, his big arms crossed over his chest, resembling tree trunks.
Something about the way he stood as she and Mari chatted set something off inside her. He was obviously concerned for their well-being as much as he was concerned about her own. It was insanely attractive despite how often Adeline tried to tell herself the man was just doing his job.
“No, I’ve never been here,” Adeline replied, catching herself taking a peek at Griffin every few seconds. “It’s really beautiful. I had no idea it was so scenic.”
“It really is. Orion and I love it here. So do the kids. There’s so much to do when it comes to farm life and environmental education.”
Mari smiled at Adeline, then gave her brother an elbow to the ribs. He remained still, a stone statue perpetually on guard.
“What do you think, Mr. Grumpy?” she asked, sliding her tongue out her mouth with a devilish look.
Griffin kept his eyes glued to the chicken coop. Adeline could still see Jodi and Deanne, who were attached at the hip like they always were, getting along swimmingly with their new pals. It was reassuring to know that someone with heightened senses like Griffin was keeping an extra eye on any potential threat.
Having a shifter around helped her relax more than she would have thought possible just a few days earlier. It helped her let her guard down. And she wanted him to let down his.
“Yes, it’s stunning,” Griffin replied in a clipped tone. “It”s a great place for a pack to thrive, that’s for sure.”
“It sounds like it would be.”
Griffin glanced at her for the first time since they’d arrived. The pale blueness of his eyes often gave off a reverent vibe, but in that moment, there was something else, shallowly buried. She gave him the same playful grin she gave him that morning in the kitchen. When his countenance began to break, Adeline’s heart fluttered madly.
What the hell was going on?
“All right, I think Jodi is arguing about an egg with someone,” Mari said, then entered the oversized chicken coop.
The kids collectively decided to move on, and from that point forward, Griffin appeared far more relaxed. He sauntered next to Adeline with Mari always a bit of a distance away. Adeline was starting to get the feeling that it was intentional.
She really didn”t mind it, though.
“I wanna feed the goats!” Jodi pleaded with Adeline.
It was nearly lunchtime, and Adeline knew the sound of a hungry child well enough. They had spent the morning milking cows and trying samples of the farm’s cheese. It was delicious but not exactly filling.
“Let’s have lunch first, honey,” Adeline said, taking her daughter’s hand. “The goats will be waiting for us afterward.”
After a little bit of expected complaining, both Adeline and Griffin managed to convince Jodi that lunch was a good idea. All eight of them gathered on a bench shaded by a massive tent, eating hot dogs and corn that was locally sourced.
“That was delicious,” Deanne said. “Now, the goats, the goats!”
Griffin and Adeline exchanged a look. Griffin raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
“It looks like both of them are big fans of goats,” he said, widening his eyes with animated amusement.
Adeline chuckled. It was a nice feeling. Like the way he had touched her lower back during breakfast. That was nice, too.
“All right, onto the goats, we go.”
All four of the children were thrilled to try their hand at feeding goats. Mari and Orion offered to take all of them into the pen and to help with the baby bottles along with the farm hand while Griffin and Adeline watched outside the fence.
Much to Adeline’s surprise, Griffin agreed.
“We’ll wait right here. Thank you, Mari.”
The kids walked into the pen with Mari and her husband, with Jodi far more hesitant than her pomp had previously expressed. Adeline felt good about Mari and Orion. They were parents, after all, like her. She loved Mari already despite just meeting her. She exuded the same level of compassion that Griffin did, albeit in a different, more boisterous fashion.
Adeline was glad to have some time with just him. Her attraction was growing, and though it wasn’t like her to get so caught up in a man so fast, she wanted to embrace it on the sheer basis that it felt good.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to eat cheese again,” Griffin remarked as he leaned against the fence.
Adeline giggled, not expecting his comment. He was gazing at her, appearing splendidly serene.
“So you’ve lived in Vermont your entire life, and you’ve never been to the Cheesemaker Festival?”
She gave him a frisky shove, and he responded with a deep laugh. She could feel him slowly unraveling, letting those securely built walls fall.
“No, woe is me, I know,” he said, that handsome grin making Adeline press her thighs together. “It certainly appears that I’ve been missing out on something truly astounding.”
They laughed and watched as Jodi slowly but surely started to feel braver in the presence of the goats. It was quite adorable, watching her face her fear and overcome it with childlike wonder. Watching the girls together felt like they were bonding over something special.
When they returned, Jodi’s smile could have cracked her cheeks in half. She ran over to her mother, arms wide with accomplishment.
“I fed the goats. I fed them!”
Adeline captured her in her arms, and they both giggled on a high. The other kids seemed over the moon as well. What a gift it was to watch them learn and try new things.
“Did you have fun, too, Deanne?” Griffin asked.
To Adeline’s surprise, Deanne nodded enthusiastically, saying that she wanted to learn more about the dairy farm.
“I want to be a farmer, I decided,” she said proudly with her hands on her hips.
“Thank God. You can start paying some of my bills soon,” Adeline teased.
The rest of the day was a pure gift. She still had the thought of Tobias in her mind, but the worry had completely faded. Griffin was visibly on alert at all times but managed to enjoy himself, also. It was the most tranquil she had seen him since they’d met, and it made her want to get to know him even more.
“Did you want to feed the goats, Griffin?” Deanne asked, tugging on his hand.
He responded without hesitation, brushing some of the platinum blonde hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.
“I was hoping you’d ask.”