Chapter 2 #2
They’d laughed some more, and Rick swiped a stray tear from the corner of his eye.
It was a silly conversation, and what they said couldn’t really be that funny, but when was the last time he’d laughed until he cried?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there were entire bakeries devoted to dogs.
I guess I’ve had my head in the sand for too long. ”
“Even I questioned myself on the idea for a bit,” Carol admitted as Barney came trotting up to her.
She only had to spread her fingers slightly, and the scruffy dog set his chin right on them.
“It was this little guy who convinced me to go ahead with it. He’d been rather nice company over the last couple of months, and I wanted to give him a little something.
It’s not as though I was in the habit of putting Milk Bones on the grocery list, though.
I found a recipe and baked him a batch of biscuits, and I felt a little silly.
Why would anyone put such effort into such a thing?
But it was like Barney knew exactly what I was doing, and he was right there at my side the whole time.
One batch turned into another, and the next thing I knew, I was having too much fun and had too many treats on hand.
There’s only one thing I could do, then. ”
“Open a dog bakery,” Rick concluded.
“Precisely,” she agreed with another becoming smile. “It’s just in its very beginning stages, but I’ve been enjoying it so much. My only regret is that I didn’t think of it sooner. It’s a lot of work for retirement, of course, but that’s better than the alternative.”
“It seems like when folks retire, they do one of two things. They either pack up all their bags and travel all the time, or they just rot in front of the television. I’ve worked too hard to just spend every day watching documentaries.
” Rick had seen people not much older than him who’d already settled into a daily routine of clicking through the channels, and it bothered him.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Carol enthused. “I would like to do some traveling, but not all the time. I like my own bed too much! The bakery is a nice balance, even if I’m still adjusting.”
She was so easy to be with. Rick wondered when he’d felt so comfortable, even around the rest of his new clan.
That thought reminded him that he wasn’t speaking to one of the Brighams. Carol was human.
“And how are you adjusting to living next to a bunch of shifters? I can’t even imagine what it must be like for someone to find out who—and what—we are. ”
Her eyes glinted with hidden knowledge. “I didn’t have to acclimate nearly as much as you might think.
Yes, I admit it’s a bit unsettling still when I see someone change forms at the drop of a hat right in front of me.
It leaves me feeling a bit dizzy, but I’ll get used to it.
The thing is, I’ve known about shifters for a long time.
Before I’d even met Stacey’s father, in fact. ”
Suddenly remembering that he still had the beer in his hand that Pierce had given him, Rick took a swig. “How did that happen?”
Carol flicked her fingers carelessly in the air. “I had a little fling with a handsome man when I was younger. We were having a great time, just being ourselves and not worrying too much about plans for the future. Even so, he trusted me enough to share his true form with me.”
“And?”
“And it scared the shit out of me,” she admitted with that evocative laugh.
“At first, anyway. As I’m sure you know, that’s not the sort of secret that one finds out every day.
Or even once in a lifetime, for most. Once I got over my shock and terror, I was fascinated.
Then I was accepting. But he ended up finding his fated mate, so we both moved on. ”
Rick had raised his beer bottle to his lips once again, and now he nearly choked on the stout as his wolf twisted in alarm and surprise. He pounded his chest and cleared his throat.
“Easy now,” Carol cautioned, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t have to call your coworkers to come to revive you, do I?”
She couldn’t know that the mere touch of her hand against his skin was only making this harder to deal with.
Ever since Rick had shown up there tonight, he’d been wondering what his wolf had been trying to tell him.
No, he knew what it was trying to say, but he’d been patently ignoring it.
Now that even Carol had mentioned it, Rick felt like the universe was slapping him with the obvious information.
“Are you good?” Ross, the middle Brigham son and the clan’s beta, came hurrying over.
“I’m fine,” Rick gasped. Only his pride was hurt, really. “Just got a little down the wrong pipe, that’s all.”
“Okay. I had to check. When you work in a restaurant, hearing that sound is like a fire alarm!” Ross laughed at his own joke, but then he paused to study the two of them. His finger swiveled in the air, pointing at each of them in turn. “And what do we have going on here?”
Was the whole clan trying to push them together?
Not that Rick minded the time he was spending with Carol, and he was far past worrying what others thought, but he didn’t want to make Carol uncomfortable.
He knew, if he were honest with himself, what was happening with his wolf.
She was a human, though. It wasn’t the same for her.
“Just having a nice conversation, Ross. How are you?”
“Oh, you know me. I’m fine. Just fine.” But Ross was grinning at them, his hands pressed together under his chin and his fingers waggling together. There was no doubt he was brewing something up. “Why don’t you two let me make you a special dinner over at Captain’s Quarters?”
“You don’t have to do that,” Rick replied.
“But I want to!” Ross insisted. “I can reserve the best table for you, overlooking the bay.”
“That’s very sweet of you,” Carol said with a shake of her head, “but you really shouldn’t go to the trouble.”
“Actually, you guys would be doing a big favor for Hart and me. We’ve got some new menu items that we’ve been dying to try out, and we can’t spring them on just anyone. We need folks with a curated palate, people who are going to give us their absolute honest opinions.”
Carol glanced sideways at Rick. “I think that was just a nice way of telling us we’re old.”
“We’ll know for sure if he tells us that dinner is at four,” Rick snickered. He didn’t think of himself as particularly stuffy, but he felt far different around Carol than anyone else.
If Ross had any problem with their comments, he didn’t show it. His eyes were still alight with excitement. “Tomorrow night? Are you free?”
Rick looked at Carol. She looked back at him.
He knew he was free. He could be free just about any night of the week, and his wolf reminded him that he’d be happy to make himself free if it meant he got to spend more time with Carol.
Still, she was more of a newcomer here to their little stretch of beach than he was.
She was the one who had arrived without knowing about the Brigham clan, even if they weren’t the first shifters she’d encountered.
Most of all, he wanted her to want him. “What do you think?”
“Well, all right,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Why the hell not? Barney’s been my guinea pig in the kitchen every night this week, so I might as well be someone else’s!”
“Wonderful!” Ross enthused. “Captain’s Quarters, tomorrow night, seven o’clock. I’ll see you there! Hart! Guess what?” He ran off after his husband.
“He’s a lovely soul, isn’t he?” Carol asked.
“Yes, he is. I’d better get home, if you’ll excuse me. I’ve got some things to do, and I want to see Ruby before she goes to bed. I guess I’ll pick you up tomorrow night?”
“You know where I live,” she replied with a wink.
As Rick left the bonfire, he felt the chill of the fall air wrap around him. It was more than that, though. It was the immediate absence of Carol, of no longer basking in her gaze and smile. What a remarkable woman. She made him feel like a completely different person, younger, maybe.
He looked up at the stars, bright in the night sky, and he couldn’t help but think of Linda.
She’d been gone for eleven years now. Eleven years that he’d been living life on his own, without his mate.
He wasn’t entirely alone, of course. His boys had always been a big part of his life, even as adults.
Hayden and Pierce had both worked under him at the Eugene-Springfield Fire Department back in Oregon.
They’d both delighted him with grandchildren, and Rick was fortunate enough that he got to spend time with both parts of his family even though they now lived on opposite coasts.
But even with all that love and light, it was impossible to go through it and not think about Linda.
How much she would’ve loved seeing Hayden’s kids, Jack and Ellie, grow up and change.
She would’ve adored her new step-granddaughter, Paige.
Then there was sweet little Ruby, who’d made Pierce a father.
Rick had been carrying around a bit of sadness in knowing that Linda didn’t get to be there to experience it all with him.
Losing her was a heavy weight, and that was a burden he hadn’t yet figured out how to put down.
His feet sank into the soft sand. The way home would’ve been much easier if he was in his wolf form, balanced on four paws instead of two feet, his sensitive eyes taking the limited light and making it more than enough to see every nuance of the seashore.
Rick didn’t dare let it out now, though, not with the way it’d been pounding on the underside of his skin for the past half hour or so.
It knew exactly who and what Carol was. It had recognized her right away, and he could only ignore it for so long.
She was his mate.
Rick pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he turned that thought over in his mind.
Out there, by himself, without that incessant pull, he could think about it more rationally.
He’d already been fortunate enough to find his mate.
He’d had Linda. They’d gotten married, bought a house, and had a family.
Sure, he’d heard about others who’d been lucky enough to find another compatible soul, but why should he be that fortunate?
He swiped a hand through his hair as he stepped up onto the back porch, as though he could wipe away all these spinning thoughts. Carol had made him feel lighter, happier. She was bright, beautiful, and funny. She was attractive. And she made his wolf go absolutely nuts.
Holly was in the kitchen, rinsing out bottles in the sink with one hand while she braced a sleepy Ruby on her shoulder with the other hand. She smiled at him as he came inside. “Hey, there. Pierce said you guys had a rough day at work. You don’t look all that tired, though.”
“My mind is still plenty awake,” he replied quietly, tipping his head to look at Ruby’s face. Those chubby cheeks and the little curls of dark hair were enough to set his heart fluttering every time. “Is little miss ready to go up to bed? I’d be happy to tuck her in.”
“If you’d like. That would give me a moment to finish washing up down here.” Holly handed the baby over.
Ruby snuggled into her grandfather’s arms, tucking her soft little body into his chest. “Hey, that’s why I’m here, right?”
She smiled at him. “You’re wonderful, Rick. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you, and I can’t thank you enough for coming out here with us.”
“Aren’t you the ones who did me a favor? Making sure an old man had a place to live after his house burned down?” he teased. “I’ll get her down.”
He headed into the nursery, turning on only the lamp in the corner so he wouldn’t rouse his granddaughter any more than was required while he changed her diaper and put on her pajamas.
Rick knew that Pierce and Holly would’ve gotten along just fine without him if he’d stayed in Oregon.
They had her whole clan there, and they were good parents.
It was nice to know he was appreciated, and he did everything he could to pull his weight, but he needed them far more than they needed him.
Giving Ruby one last cuddle, he tucked her into her crib. He smoothed her soft hair and smiled down at her as she squirmed around, getting comfortable. “Good night, baby girl.” Rick turned off the light and stepped out, leaving the door cracked.