Chapter 6 Summer
SUMMER
I tried not to think about how I had to be up in seven hours while I sat in Rosie’s Diner with my friends for a late-night dessert of blueberry pie.
We had finally found time to catch up after sweet-talking Char into staying open a little later for us.
I had missed them. They all looked great—cute summer dresses, glowing skin, and their omega perfume carrying the scents of their pack.
I looked down and found an old ketchup stain on my shirt.
Olive, Ivy, and Lucy chattered away happily about their packs. My plate was already scraped clean while their ice cream melted into sticky pools.
“Rome and James are in full house-hunting mode right now.” Ivy scooped a spoonful of pie and never brought it to her mouth.
“I keep telling them we don’t have to rush to find a pack house since they already stay in my nest every night.
But their lease ends in a few months, and they are determined to find something by then. ”
“What about Logan?”
“He’s even worse. He’s so attached to me I think he forgot he has a house.”
“The perfect alpha.” Olive laughed.
It didn’t occur to me until now that because each of my three friends was packed up, there was a total of nine men to discuss, and Jesus Christ, that was nearly a football team.
We were never going to pass the Bechdel Test at this rate.
“How is your pack house going, Lucy?” Olive asked. Lucy’s pack was all squashed in a rental apartment right now while they built their forever home right on the beach.
“Great. The floorplan is finally approved! King has been bribing Stanley nonstop,” Lucy giggled.
Her face dropped suddenly. “Oh god, what if all the bureaucracy is there for a reason? What if Stanley was meant to catch something and he doesn’t because of all our under-the-table corruption and the house won’t be structurally sound? ”
“Your guys would never allow that,” Ivy assured her.
“Just make Lars look over everything for free,” Olive pointed out. Her tallest, blondest alpha was a contractor and Lucy’s brother. “If he says no, I will change his mind.”
Lucy released a breath. “Perfect, you’re the best.”
“But if it did collapse,” I chimed in, “Wilder would just hold everything up with his tree-trunk arms.” I proceeded to mime out nearly being crushed under a falling roof before a muscular “Wilder” saved me, complete with sound effects.
Lucy’s big blue eyes were stunned and deerlike when I was done. Probably because I implied that her new house was going to fall down around her ears.
“I’m sorry,” I said, heat crawling up my face. “I’ve been up since 4:30 a.m. and can’t read the room right now.” I buried my head in my arms and decided this was the best way to spend the rest of the evening.
A gentle hand patted me on my shoulder. “Summer, is everything all right with Suns Out?” Ivy asked.
“Is it normal to be tired and happy and nauseous about failing all at once?” I mumbled.
“You will not fail,” Lucy said sternly. “You are too good at this to fail, and this town won’t let you. I mean, sometimes when my shop is a mess I wonder how I’m still in business, but the work always comes in. If I can do it, you definitely can.”
I swallowed my retort that Lucy was the only seamstress in town. My bakery was competing with every other lunch spot and a famous new patisserie.
“And to answer your question—yes. It’s very normal to feel all of those things when you’re doing something remarkable and brave.” Ivy’s compassion made her a wonderful teacher and friend, but it was still hard to accept her words as truth.
I sat up, rubbing my tired eyes. “I’ve never done something like this before. Worked for myself and relied on the income to keep a roof over my head.”
Olive squeezed my hand. “Everyone wants to see you succeed. Truly. You know my pack loves stopping by for lunch, and the honest truth is we would do that even if you weren’t my…
” Olive trailed off as her phone vibrated loudly on the table.
She looked at it quickly and squeaked, turning it face down.
“Your alphas wondering when you’re going to be home?” Ivy asked archly.
Olive’s round cheeks were bright pink. “Maybe.”
“You four are terrible.” Lucy laughed.
I loved my friends, but I didn’t know if I could handle another round of pack talk.
They each had three devoted men to fall back on if their careers ever took a turn.
Although being the town’s only seamstress, a beloved fifth-grade teacher, and the sole lighthouse keeper were all pretty secure jobs in my eyes.
“I need to get to bed.” I yawned. Extra big so they wouldn’t question it. “This was fun. Let’s do something again next week?”
A chorus of Yes, of course, definitely chirped back at me. I fished out enough bills to cover my pie and a tip and left.
Walking home gave me déjà vu of the night Lucien accompanied me.
I’d been thinking about his scent for days.
Thinking wasn’t quite the right word. It had burrowed.
Permeated. Being around it was what felt normal now, not being without it.
Lucien was vast, a lemon orchard stretching far into the distance.
Inviting me to get lost in its earthy paths and stippled shade.
He, like Jae, was going to be another handsome obstacle to navigate this summer. It was a good thing Felix had been there the night he walked me home so I could use him as an excuse to make a speedy exit.
The mayor and his elegant feather-duster tail materialized from around the corner. What excellent timing.
“I need a snuggle buddy,” I informed him. “Jump in my tote?”
I knelt down, held it open, and waited. Felix sniffed it curiously, his long whiskers twitching, before diving inside. He wriggled violently before his spherical head stuck out the top.
“You’re the only man I need, Felix,” I declared before I continued on home.
Felix’s big fluffy belly rose and fell perfectly in time with his snoozy purrs. He was twisted into a loose spiral, one white paw resting over his eyes.
“I can’t believe I have to work instead of staring at you all day,” I grumbled.
The early mornings weren’t getting any easier.
After I had taken an appropriate number of photos of Felix, I hauled myself out of bed and immediately tripped over the sneakers I had left on the floor last night.
I’d forgotten to buy more toothpaste so I brushed my teeth with hopes and dreams. Then I battled with my shower for a good minute, only able to produce a tiny trickle or a blast of frigid water.
It was hard not to take it as a sign that I should quit everything. Or in the very least, figure out how I could switch bodies with Felix.
I felt less sorry for myself once I got downstairs. Just me and the dough Alvin and I had prepped yesterday and, of course, Blissa Nova. Just for Mercer’s listening pleasure. The hushed morning hours flew by quickly as I worked.
Despite my best efforts to not center men, my thoughts drifted to Jae.
Was he going to visit this week as well?
He’d come by every day for bánh mì and a slice of cake.
Maybe we could manage to say more than two words to each other.
We were hopeless after that first day. It didn’t help that I got a good look at the sparrows tattooed on the back of his hands and rings glinting on his fingers as he was paying.
I thought about them for an abnormal amount the rest of the day.
My tins gradually filled with batter and I placed them on trays, ready to get them in the oven. I froze mid-chorus, horrified by what I saw.
Water. A metric ton of it. Running down the wall from my apartment, directly into my oven’s electricals.
“Oh my fucking god.”
I took the steps two at a time, panic thinning the air in my lungs. What had I left on? How had I fucked up? Pressure coiling around my throat. Worsening as I squished through sodden carpet to reach my bathroom.
The cabinet beneath my sink was a crime scene, the join between the copper pipe and the PVC completely sheared.
Live in a cute old building, Summer! Do your part to preserve heritage homes and all your mirror selfies will look amazing.
Lesson learned. Don’t pick a home based on how the natural light made me look incredible.
How was so much water coming out? My hands slipped trying to line up the broken edges again, and I was immediately drenched in the icy spray. I clumsily wound a towel around it, and it soaked through almost instantly.
This was my new start, my home, something that was just mine. Now it was all going away, and I couldn’t do a thing about it.
Overwhelmed and utterly lost, I sank to the floor and started to cry.
“Summer!”
Firm hands gripped my shoulders and I stared up into concerned gray eyes.
“Where’s your main water valve?” Mercer asked urgently.
“My what?” His words scrambled into gibberish. All I could hear was the never-ending rush of water.
Mercer’s frown deepened. “Stay here,” he ordered me.
That I could do. It wasn’t like I had anywhere else to be.
The water gurgled, slowed to a trickle, and then finally stopped. A dry towel was wrapped around me.
“It’s all ruined,” I said blankly.
Mercer thankfully did not try to minimize what had happened. He used the corner of the towel to carefully dry my tears. “Come on. At least come downstairs,” he said, trying to guide me to stand up. “Is there anyone you want me to call?”
I blinked up at him. “I don’t know where my phone is.”
Mercer immediately held me back when sparks flew from behind the industrial oven. I made a choked noise and started to tear up again.
“Fuck, don’t cry.”
The towel fell from my shoulders as Mercer pulled me close. His broad palm splayed across the back of my neck, tucking me against him. A dusting of flour on his collar tickled my nose.
“This can be fixed. If there’s no one in town who can do it, I know people who can help.”