"Beer sounds good."
"Beer it is. So tell me a bit about you, Yaeger. What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a truck driver with the Thorne Bay Beasts logging crew."
"So you're a logger, but you don't have the more dangerous job. What brought you to Thorne Bay?"
"A job offer I couldn't pass up. I love what I do, and getting to be on a crew with other shifters, I don't have to hide what I am. We're more than a crew, we're a family."
"So you don't see yourself leaving anytime soon?"
"No, ma'am."
"Good to know. Sit, dinner's ready."
Frankie helped bring the food out and soon they were enjoying the meal.
"So when are you going to make an honest woman out of my daughter?" Melody suddenly asked.
Frankie nearly choked on the bite of food she was eating. "Mama!"
"What? It's an honest question."
"As soon as she'll let me," was his reply.
Frankie just looked at him. Was he being serious right now? Or was he just saying what her mother wanted to hear? She couldn't tell.
"Good answer," Melody said with a chuckle. "You know my stubborn girl well."
"That I do."
"She's always been a stubborn one, but it got worse after that bastard, Rick."
"Don't get me started on him. If he ever shows his face in Thorne Bay again, I'll be hard pressed not to beat his ass for what he did to her," Yaeger growled.
"Oh, I like you," Melody said.
"You know, Iamsitting right here," Frankie cut in.
"Sorry, darlin'. We got a little carried away."
"Ya think?"
"Sorry, sweetheart," her mother said. "It's true though. You are stubborn."
Frankie threw her hands in the air. "I give up. You're incorrigible," she said with a laugh.
"Since you ladies did the cooking, let me take care of the dishes," Yaeger said. "I insist," he added.
"Well, if you insist, who are we to argue?" Melody replied. "After the dinner dishes are done, we can have dessert. I made a blueberry white chocolate cheesecake."
"That sounds delicious, Mama."
"Now, want to tell me what's bothering you?"
"What makes you think something's bothering me?"
"Call it a mother's intuition. Talk to me, sweetheart. I know it's not that man in my kitchen doing the dishes, so what is it?"
