Chapter 5
Dinner with Luke Saturday night shouldn’t have had any sort of bearing on her plans, but it had.
Not only was he the sexiest guy she’d ever met, but he was so dang charming and such a sweet guy.
She’d loved hearing about his life, and being a bear, and she marveled at how close they’d been all these years – just over the river – but never met.
Then she invited him up to her apartment after dinner, to the Murphy bed surrounded by packing boxes, and he took her to heaven two times before he roared his pleasure to the ceiling and cuddled her like she was the most precious person in the world.
She woke Sunday morning in a bed that felt empty because he wasn’t with her, staring at the ceiling and trying not to think too hard about the choices she’d made. When she sat up and swung her legs down, her toes bumped into one of the stacks of boxes and she glared at it.
Everything was exactly as she’d left it last night before she went to dinner with Luke. The boxes, the packing tape, the suitcase she’d only half-packed.
Everything was the same as it was, except it all suddenly felt wildly different.
She thought about Luke leaving last night, and how he’d kissed her so tenderly at the top of the steps, like he was savoring the kiss in case it was the last one. He hadn’t been pushy, hadn’t demanded she stay for him. He’d just looked at her with deep brown eyes and told her he’d see her soon.
She got up before she thought too much about his hands and wicked tongue, and hopped in the shower.
Twenty minutes later, she headed down the stairs and made her way to her parents’. She found them on the back porch on the swing that her father had refinished years ago.
When she was a kid, she’d thought her dad’s weekly trek around to look at what people put on the side of the road for trash pickup was embarrassing.
But now she knew that he saw value where people saw junk.
He could see beyond the scratches and cracks and worn surfaces, to the potential underneath.
He turned trash into treasure. The same way her mom could bend wire and make beautiful jewelry.
Her parents were hippies, free spirits who’d encouraged her to follow her heart and do what made her happy. Until she met Luke, she’d been content with her choices.
“Morning kiddo,” her dad said. “The kettle is still hot if you want tea.”
“Morning,” she said. “I’m good.”
She sat on the bottom step of the porch and leaned against the post. Kevin wandered over and waited for his ear scratches, then ambled back to the shaded corner of the porch where one of his doggy beds was.
“You okay, honey?” her mom asked.
“Yeah.”
She saw them exchange a quiet look.
“Don’t do that thing where you talk to each other without talking.”
“We didn’t say anything,” her mom said.
“But you said plenty anyway.”
Her dad’s mouth twitched. “I’m innocent.”
“I doubt that,” Valley said. She leaned her head back against the post and sighed.
“How was dinner?” her mom asked.
“Wonderful.”
“That Luke fellow is pretty nice,” her dad said.
She gave her dad a side glance.
“What? I can’t notice that he carried the sideboard like it weighed nothing? Or that he looks at you like you hung the moon? I’m great at noticing things.”
“Unless it’s dishes in the sink or where socks go,” her mom said.
“I notice things that matter.”
“Guys,” Valley said. “Focus.”
“How are you feeling about things?” her mom asked.
“Confused.”
“About Luke?” her dad asked.
“About everything.”
The porch went quiet save for the hum of insects and twitter of nearby birds.
After a few moments, she said, “I’m leaving Friday.”
“We know,” her mom said.
“I have so much already set in stone. I took money from Margie to pay the rent on my new place, I agreed to help her start her business up. I can’t just not go.”
“No one is saying you can’t go. Or that you have to. The question is, do you want to?” her dad said.
Valley looked down at her knees and rubbed her thumbs over them. “I wanted to.”
“Which isn’t the same as wanting to,” her dad said.
“Are you excited for the life waiting there because you’ve made the plans? Or are you worried that you’re heading down a path that you’ll end up going alone?” her mom asked. “Two hours is a long way when the heart is involved.”
She suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe, so she rose to her feet and stepped down into the grass. “I need to get back to packing.”
“Honey, I didn’t mean to upset you,” her mom said.
She smiled even though she didn’t feel like it. “Mom, it’s good. I love you guys.”
She walked away, her eyes stinging a little.
Why did life suddenly feel so unfair?
When she reached her apartment, she stared at the stairs, knowing what waited for her at the top of them. Instead of climbing the stairs and getting to work, she got behind the wheel of her car and drove into town.
Right to Petals & Pine, where she found Eisley on the sidewalk, arranging bundles of flowers in plastic buckets on a display table.
“Well heya, girl. I was wondering when I’d see you again. How did things go with your bear?”
“Luke.”
“Yeah.” She wiped her hands on her apron. “What’s going on? You look distressed.”
She hesitated only a moment before word-vomiting the last thirty-six hours on her best friend.
“Why do you keep saying that you’re leaving Friday?”
“Because I am!” She threw up her hands.
“What’s wrong with your plans changing? Life threw you a bone in the form of a sexy guy and you keep giving him the old heave-ho because of The Plan,” she said, putting the last words in air quotes.
Valley picked up a leaf from the table and rolled it between her finger and thumb. “I’m scared. Of changing my plans for a guy I met less than two days ago.”
“It’s okay to be scared, but it’s not okay to let fear make you miss out on something that could be great. Maybe you should go talk to him.”
“I love you, you know that?” Valley said, hugging her friend.
“Of course, I’m wonderful. And I love you too. Now go figure out your life before you The Plan yourself into being a spinster.”
“Stop putting things in air quotes.”
“Never,” she said, using air quotes once more.
With a laugh, Valley walked away but instead of getting back in her car, she walked down Second Street to the bookstore and perused the shelves, her mind buzzing with thoughts about Luke.
“Hi, Juliette!” the woman behind the counter called when the door jangled as it opened.
“Hiya, Emery! I need a new notebook to write down recipes,” another woman said.
Valley walked to the end of the aisle and nearly ran into a petite blonde.
“Oops, sorry!” Valley said. “Hey, are you Juliette from The Amber Howl?”
“I am,” the kind looking woman said with a smile. “You look familiar. Have you been there?”
“Yeah, actually. Friday, my friend and I sat with the bears on the deck. Luke invited us.”
“Oh. Oh!” she said, her voice going a little high with excitement. “You’re Luke’s mate, how awesome!”
“His what-now?”
Juliette’s smile faltered. “Oh. I thought… he didn’t tell you?”
“Told me what?”
“Shifters know when they meet their truemate. It’s an instinct kind of thing. Like love at first sight on steroids.”
Mine.
The word slid out of her memory so clearly, Valley almost heard Luke’s voice in the bookstore.
He’d said it Friday night. She’d been too caught up in her bliss to really pay attention to it.
“You’re okay,” Juliette said, like she was talking Valley down from a ledge.
“Am I?” Valley asked.
“Yes, I promise. First of all, what’s your name?”
“Valley.”
“I know you’re okay, because I was. When I first met Sigh, I panicked. I actually ran off and he had to track me down. Sigh was so sure about things, it made me feel painfully human. Being with him was overwhelming, but it also felt very right.”
“Why does fate have such a fucked up sense of timing?” Valley asked. “If only I’d met him a month ago.”
Juliette smiled sadly. “I’m not sure. I’ll just tell you what my bestie’s mom told her when she was deciding whether to give in to her feelings for her wolf mate: if you can picture your life without them, they’re not your forever-guy.
But if, even after a day or two, they’re so entrenched in your heart that you can’t picture a day without them in it? Then that’s what really matters.”
Valley blinked as her eyes stung again.
Juliette gave her a quick hug. “I’m sorry if that was too heavy. I don’t know you, I shouldn’t be sticking my nose in your love life.”
Valley hugged her back. “No, it’s okay. I needed to hear that. All of it. And now I need to see the bear who called me his.”
“Go get him, girl,” Juliette said.
Valley left the bookstore, strode with purpose down the sidewalk to her car, and drove over the bridge. She followed the road as it curved around the lake and stopped in front of Luke’s house in a small cul-de-sac.
Luke was in the front yard, shirt off, broad shoulders gleaming in the sunlight as he worked on something set between two sawhorses.
She got out of her car and he looked up.
“Valley?” he asked, putting down the tool and walking toward her.
They stopped a few feet away from each other. Her gaze slipped immediately up and down his chest – yummy – and then she mentally scolded her wayward thoughts at the sexy, lickable abs.
“What does it mean that I’m your mate?”