Chapter 17 #2
“No, because the whole thing is about how I’m trying to source local ingredients and that I’m working with the strawberry farm on the south side of town. It’s all supposed to happen there. I’ve got to go!” Brianna whipped off her apron.
“You go on, then, and Nia and I can stay and finish what you’ve got going on here,” Wendy suggested. She peeked into one of the assembled goody bags. “I can finish these, and we can wipe the tables and mop the floor.”
“Really? Thanks, Mom.” Brianna kissed Wendy’s cheek and rushed out the door.
Nia watched her pull away. She hadn’t even known that Brianna was working with the strawberry farm, but it was a brilliant idea. She wished they’d had the chance to talk about it together, that they would both be standing there in a patch of strawberries and smiling for the camera.
“Perfect!” Wendy announced with a clap of her hands. “Now we can get down to why I’m really here. I brewed up some coffee while Bri and I were in the kitchen, so I’ll get us each a cup. You still like cream, no sugar?”
“Uh.” Nia slowly lowered her rag. She’d always liked Wendy. She was a blunt, eccentric woman who was unlike anyone she’d ever known, but she was suddenly worried about exactly where this was going. Politeness won over. “Yes, please.”
“Good.” Wendy bustled about in the kitchen and returned with two generous mugs of coffee and a plate of muffins. “Brianna won’t mind if a few more are missing. She’s just going to make more for tomorrow, anyway. Come, sit.”
Nia sat across from her and took a sip of her coffee. “Thank you.”
“Darling, do you happen to have your cards with you?” Wendy interlaced her fingers under her chin and braced her elbows on the table. “Brianna told me about your talent, and I’ve just been dying to get a reading from you.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Nia fumbled the deck out of her pocket. The cards felt clumsy and awkward in her hands as she shuffled them. “Sorry, I’m a little out of practice.”
“That only makes sense. You’ve been busy since you got here, and I don’t imagine there’s been much time for something like this.”
“Not really. I did a few readings for some of Brianna’s packmates, but that’s mostly been it.
” Mostly, but she still wasn’t sure how to describe the foresight-infused magic sphere that’d encapsulated Joel.
Of all the people in the world who didn’t have magic, Wendy might be the one person who would understand, but this would probably be the last time she saw her anyway. “Do you have a specific question?”
“Just a general reading is fine.” Wendy watched the cards with interest as Nia laid them out.
She flipped over the Queen of Wands, sitting on her carved throne with her staff in one hand and a sunflower in the other.
A black cat sat patiently in front of her as she gazed off to the right, toward the future.
Nia knew the card just as well as she did the rest of the deck, but her mind felt cluttered.
“This card is about intuition and expectation. Um, growth. It’s about trusting your instincts. ”
Not that Nia could trust her own instincts at the moment. Her lynx wanted to be there with Cole. Even her human side wanted to stay in Red Lodge, and it held fiercely onto the idea of having a new life and working in the bakery. It just couldn’t happen.
“I’m sorry.” Nia collected the cards and tapped the deck to straighten it. “I might have to do this later. I’m having a hard time.”
“That’s all right.” Wendy laid a cool hand on the back of Nia’s. “It’s understandable, considering everything that’s happened.”
Nia looked up. Did she know everything?
“Brianna called me and told me all about it,” Wendy informed her.
Oh, shit. Not that she should’ve expected Brianna to keep her own mother in the dark, but Nia didn’t need to get a private lecture about her relationship from Wendy.
She’d earned respect from the Montclairs for her efforts in the battle, and she wanted to leave Red Lodge with at least a bit of her pride and dignity intact.
“I understand that you and Cole are fated?” Wendy took a sip of her coffee, watching Nia over the rim of her cup.
She might as well be honest. “We are.”
“So, you’ve felt that connection? The telepathy, when in your other forms? The absolutely irresistible urge to be together, no matter what? Something much more than simple attraction?”
Nia picked up her mug, but she only managed to get the tiniest amount of coffee past her lips. Was Wendy trying to make sure this was real, not just a cover she and Cole had made up? “Yes.”
Wendy picked up a muffin. “You know, I’ve been waiting a long time for Cole to find his mate.”
Nia stared at her.
She dropped the wrapper back onto the plate. “Don’t look so shocked, sweetie! It’s not like I ever had any ideas of getting back together with him!” Wendy laughed, slapping the edge of the table with her free hand as she rocked back and forth in her seat.
A rush of heat filled Nia’s cheeks. “I’m sorry. It’s just that…you know…you guys are Brianna’s parents.”
“Yes, honey, but I’m well past all the melodrama of thinking I have any control over someone else’s life.
What Cole and I had was special in its own way, but it wasn’t a lifelong thing.
I mean, in a way it is because of Brianna, but that’s not the same thing.
” Wendy took another bite of her muffin and tipped her head back in pleasure.
“Young kids can have nights of passion without really thinking about it, if you know what I mean. We knew right away, even with the pregnancy, that we simply weren’t made for each other.
He went back to his pack, and I went back to my skulk. ”
“Skulk?” The odd word pulled Nia out of the real point of the conversation.
“I’m a fox,” Wendy explained. “You get a bunch of us together, and they call it a skulk, although I think they could’ve come up with a better term. But anyway, you don’t need to worry about any lingering feelings between Cole and me.”
“I’m glad you feel that way.” Nia felt like she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. Wendy didn’t care who Cole was with, which was great, but she was still Brianna’s mother.
“Cole is a good man,” Wendy said thoughtfully, licking the last few crumbs from her fingers.
“He’s very responsible, and it’s more than just a strict sense of duty.
He actually cares, you know? He genuinely wants everyone in his pack to be as happy as possible.
The same goes for his job as police chief.
Every single thing he does in his line of work is about the happiness and safety of the people of Red Lodge.
But you probably already know that. It doesn’t take spending much time with him at all to see that side of him. ”
“No, it doesn’t.” That was why Cole was so determined to help Eve and her babies, even when he didn’t technically have to.
“He has a lot going on,” Wendy continued, “but everything he does is focused on other people. Never himself. A man deserves some goodness in his own life, too. He needs someone to shake him up a little, and I think you could be perfect for him.”
She reached across the table and brushed her fingers along Nia’s jaw. “You’ve got a spark about you. Yes, I can see why the universe paired the two of you together.”
“Not everyone agrees with you.” Nia rubbed her lips and squirmed in her chair. Pandora’s box had already been opened, but she felt like she was pushing the lid open a bit wider. “I’ll be going back to Salem the day after tomorrow, once Brianna has gotten through the grand opening.”
“Mm, yes. Brianna mentioned you were leaving.” Those bright green eyes stayed focused on Nia as Wendy tapped the side of her mug. “I think you should stay.”
“You do?” Kendrick had thought so, too, but Nia was beginning to wonder whether they could possibly understand what it was like from her perspective. “I can’t pursue Cole at the cost of my friendship with Brianna.”
“Oh, honey.” Wendy clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth several times as she shook her head. “You’ve already paid that cost. Brianna is already furious. The damage has been done. Going back home isn’t going to change that.”
Nia slumped against the back of her chair as she mulled that over. The damage has been done. She was right. There was no way to undo what she’d done or to take back what Brianna knew. “Maybe not.”
“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy.” Wendy took one of Nia’s hands in both of hers. “It’s probably going to be pretty damn hard, but that’s life. Brianna is going to have to learn to live with it, no matter what happens.”
Nia frowned down at her muffin. “I don’t know.”
“She’s about as hard-headed as her father, something you’ve probably already noticed, but she always sees what’s right in the end. I think everyone else will, too.” Wendy nodded confidently.
She wanted so badly to believe Wendy was right.
“At least consider it, honey. It’ll be a lot harder to come all the way back here if you change your mind.” Wendy got up from the table and took her plate and mug to the kitchen.
Nia would have loved advice like that a week ago, but now it seemed too late. Wouldn’t it be impossible to deal with all the drama and tension that her bond with Cole caused?
She flipped over the Queen of Wands, still on the top of the deck: intuition and instincts. Listening to your gut. Being strong, creative, and persistent.
It was easy for the Queen of Wands to show it and for Wendy to say it, but could Nia actually do it?