“Which is?”
“The Omega Fund,” Jonah replies.
Both Gretchen and Shiloh look impressed and the large Alpha seems to let go of some of his nerves.
“I assume you no longer have a job?” Gretchen says to me and I smile.
“We’ll see how my meeting with my lawyer goes tomorrow,” I reply.
Shiloh grimaces at the end of the table, and I just give her a wink.
“What about you, pretty boy?” Gretchen asks my brother, and he clears his throat, his neck pink with embarrassment.
“I work from home. I work in online advertising,” he says, which isn’t completely true, but clearly he didn’t want to explain what a streamer is to a person of Gretchen's age.
“Well, you must have a golden coin hidden somewhere, Shy, you know how to find the rich ones.”
“Jesus Christ, Gran.”
The older woman shrugs and finally smiles, laughing at how uncomfortable she just made all of us.
“I have bingo next week. Think you can join me?” she asks Shiloh.
My Omega smiles widely and nods. Jonah or Mack are going to need to go with her. The idea of being around a bunch of old women might just send me over the fucking edge.
“Yeah, I’d love that.”
“So, are you all Eagles’ fans?” Gretchen says.
When Jonah grimaces next to her, she tsks. “Well, now you’re my least favorite.”
We laugh and the tension dials down a serious notch as we joke and enjoy the evening. But the best part is watching how comfortable Shiloh gets.
She smiles as her Gran talks. Her long brown hair falls behind her when she tilts her head back and laughs. Time has been moving at a warped emotional speed, and getting to see this side of her reassures me that she should be ours. I want to see her this happy all the time, and maybe I’m delusional, but I think we can do it.
Gretchen hugs Shiloh, and I walk her out to her car. She’s quiet for a long moment until we reach her forest green Subaru.
“I meant what I said at the table. She deserves the best, and after tonight I think you could give her that. Please, be patient with her. She’s not easy to get to know, but I promise when you do finally meet the real Shiloh, she’s the best thing that could ever happen to you.”
“I agree. We plan on making our intentions known tonight,” I promise her.
“Her last pack,” she says on a sigh. “Nevermind, that’s her story to tell. I’m the only person who has been consistent in her life and I don’t know how much longer I have on this shit hole planet we all live on. I just want to make sure that if I were to die tomorrow, she would be taken care of.”
It’s grim, but I understand where she’s coming from. It’s the same reason I left the Air Force and took custody of my brother. You don’t want the people you care about most to be left behind.
“As long as this is where Shiloh wants to be, we want her here.”
“Good. Well, goodnight,” she says, tilting her head and getting into her car.
Now that the inquisition is over, it’s time to lay out our intentions to Shiloh. Let’s just hope that she doesn’t call her grandmother to come back and pick her up.
I take a few steadying breaths as I walk back into the house and go up to the kitchen. They’ve moved over to the living room, Shiloh’s legs on Jonah’s lap, while my brother stares at them, and I wonder if he’s just as nervous as I am.
Shiloh gives me a small smile as I take a seat on the other side of her.
“Thanks for being such good sports about my Gran. She can be very vocal about her opinion.”
“She just cares about you is all that’s what family does. Though, I might have to start liking the Eagles to get back in her good graces, which feels like a crime,” Jonah says, and Shiloh scrunches her nose.
