Hmm, butter. Where’s the butter? Nine hundred eggs, strawberries, blueberries, radishes, cheese… Why is there so much bologna? I thought wolves hunted and ate squirrels all day.
“Ah. Butter.” Then I searched the drawers for a butter knife.
“Gotcha.”
I jumped, dropping the knife onto the floor.
Archer moved in and grabbed it. “Sorry. I need to quit doing shit like that. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay. I just startle easily, that’s all. It’s not you.”
He set the knife on the counter and stared at it. “It’s no wonder.” Then his countenance switched to a warm smile—the Archer I knew. “Thanks for coming. I was starting to wonder if you’d show.”
I looked at his white socks and jeans and no longer felt underdressed in sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt. “Where’s your pink shirt? I’m disappointed you didn’t follow through.”
He quirked a smile. “Melody wanted it back before I stretched out the material.”
“We need salt,” someone called out from the dining room.
I searched the countertops until I found it.
“You don’t have to do that,” Archer pointed out.
“I enjoy helping.”
“Anything else?” Archer yelled back with irritation.
After an indistinct murmur, someone shouted, “Onions!”
Archer snorted. “Lucian and his onions.”
“Aren’t there onions in fajitas?”
He walked toward the dining room. “Yeah, but he likes to eat them raw on the side. Weirdo.”
When we entered the room, they’d lit candles. They had two long tables but only occupied the one by the back windows. Tiny lights were strung along the tops of the windows, and the wooden ceiling had dim, recessed lighting.
Mercy and Robyn waved me over to sit between them, which I was glad for since my chair faced the pretty windows. Bear sat across from Mercy, chin tucked in the palm of his hand as he smiled at his mate. Joy was across from me, sandwiched between Bear and Virgil. I must have been sitting in Salem’s usual seat.
“What’s wrong?” Hope asked.
“Nothing.” I quickly sat but then jumped when my chair scooted in.
Archer had given it a push before walking to the other side of the table and sitting between Virgil and Krys.
It wasn’t lost on me that Robyn and her mate were touching hands a lot beneath the table. During conversation, she squeezed his thigh. He draped his arm around the back of her chair and drew invisible circles on her shoulder. Montana looked different without his cowboy hat on. I could see his soft brown eyes much better. They twinkled when Robyn laughed about her and Melody getting stuck in the mud earlier.
In fact, all the idiosyncrasies shown by each couple at the table consumed my thoughts. They seemed so in love, and it only validated what I’d been missing in my own relationship.
I’d thought dinner would be awkward, but they made me feel at home. Everyone engaged in separate conversations, and fajitas were passed around along with Mexican rice, chips, guacamole, and tortillas. I watched and helped pass things around, deciding I would wait until the pack started.
“Sales are going good,” Joy informed me. “Mercy’s been helpful with the accounting, and Milly has been absolutely wonderful. Hasn’t she been wonderful?” she asked Mercy.
“The best,” Mercy agreed.
“She has?”What in the world was Milly doing at my store?
“Maybe we should set her and Calvin up on a date,” Mercy suggested with a mischievous grin.
