“Got it. Mum’s the word.”
“Great. I’m going to just do a sweep real quick,” Ardy takes off and zips around the corner. In seconds, I can hear something thumping upstairs, but moving far too quickly to be a man. “Oh, my gosh. Jasper doesn’t still have a cat, does he?” I ask Izzy.
The beautiful redhead shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Upstairs and downstairs look good. Let’s go, hon. Great to see you tonight, Loretta. Lock the door after us. I’m going to wait until I hear it click to go away.”
“Thank you so much for being so protective. I hope you don’t think I’m paranoid. My husband— Matt, I guess I’ll call him now that divorce proceedings have started, did make a lot of threats, but that’s what he does. He yells and pushes. He bullies and insults, belittles. I guess since I wasn’t in shoving range, he had to up the ante on the yelling.”
“If he calls again and makes any more threats, I want you to report it.”
“I will, I promise,” I say.
Pine Ridge may be a little strange, but they sure do look out for their visitors, and they really care about their community.
I think I could be happy here.
I walk silently up the stairs, Arianna’s carrier in one arm, the diaper bag over the other, and head to bed with a smile on my lips.
Chapter Eleven: Loretta
Idon’t want Loretta to think I’m drunk. That’s my immediate thought when I pry my eyes open. I drugged myself into a near-coma last night with three times my normal dose of wolfsbane extract. One keeps me calm and drowsy. Two, I’m mellow. I wanted to sleep straight through without a growl or scratch to terrify her, so I forced down a third dose, and now I have pee that smells like an herbalist’s shop blew up in my toilet, my tongue is stuck to my teeth, and I can barely navigate the flip top on my water bottle, let alone something like a zipper.
One and a half doses tonight, I think, as I stagger to the tiny bathroom that’s in the finished section of the basement. I dunk my head in the stall shower and gulp down water, then shiver my way into a towel and back for my clothes.
This time, I remember to vacuum up the piles of fur I’ve left behind and toss the pile of blankets in the wash.
“Hi!” Loretta greets me in the kitchen with bacon, coffee, and fried eggs.
“Ohhh, God bless you,” I groan, and fall into my mug, drinking greedily. “I pulled an all-nighter, and I’m dead on my feet.”
“Well, I made you something with lots of protein, and give me one more minute to finish chipping up strawberries, and you’ll have some fresh fruit. That should help you feel more alert.”
“No rush. You are treating me like a king, and I barely got to hang out with you and Ari yesterday. I’m sorry about my work schedule this week.”
Loretta waves away my apology and hurries to put a bowl full of fruit next to my plate. “Izzy told me about it. You’re working with some top-secret astronomy team, and you record for their documentary these nights, right?”
I’m going to have to have a long talk with Ardy if that’s the kind of crazy story Izzy comes up with—but Loretta actually seems to believe it.
“I have that good announcer voice,” I say. It’s not a lie, but it doesn’t answer the question. “I do other things these nights, too.” If I lie, she won’t trust me. She’ll hate me when she finds out. When she finds out, I’m going to lose her.
It feels like someone is clawing through my soul.
“How did you get interested in astronomy? Or is it just like, a good-paying gig?” she asks.
Not to sound like some chauvinist piece of trash, but Loretta has charm and skills that I find other women lack, at least in my eyes. The way she puts her chin on her hand and stares at me, face genuinely interested, deliberately asking about my hobbies and my work... “My family has always been interested in the moon in particular. My granddad got started long ago, when he was just a young man, on a camping trip in West Virginia. Growing up, my dad and I always studied it together. I guess that’s how I got into my gig. The research is fascinating.” That much is true. Explanations about why the werewolf exists, why other were-animals exist, why only one phase of the moon has the power to bring a beast out of a human skin... “I could yammer away for hours, but I have to wolf this down and go to work.” No pun intended. “Want to come with me?”
“I... I think I want to try staying at home again today. I haven’t gotten done a quarter of what I’d like to.”
“You don’t have to be a housekeeper. Not really. I mean, on paper, yes, but not really.”
“Well,” Loretta swirls her spoon in her coffee. “That wouldn’t be fair. Then I’d just be freeloading.”
“You could be investing. You c-could be thinking this would be a great neighborhood for Ari to grow up in. The Wymark twins are here, Dr. Ellsworth and his wife, Frankie, have a little girl, Bella, and Ian and Vanessa Kane have a baby boy. Lots of kids. Big yards.” I gulp down eggs in between hints.
“That sounds like you want Arianna and me to stay.”
I nod.
