“You don’t need my permission, but yes, of course. I’d love to.”
Lovewasn’t exactly the word he would normally have used for an afternoon of hanging out with his ex and her friends. But this time, it meant an afternoon of something with Cela that nearly approached a date, not to mention being around people who wouldn’t care if the twins shifted unexpectedly. They were a lot less prone to it than just a couple of months ago, or at least easier to get back into their human baby forms. But taking them anywhere in public continued to be a nerve-wracking proposition.
Cela was hardly interested in the papers; instead, she dithered wildly over what to wear. Tyr pointed out that it wasn’t a dress-up party, it was a backyard barbecue, and then got out of the way. By the time they were packing a baby bag and putting the kids in their car seats, she had worked herself into a state of intense nervousness.
“What if I do something wrong? What if everyone hates me?”
“Most of them have already met you and like you,” Tyr pointed out. “Gaby and Derek will be there, and Austin and Lissy. You’ll get to meet Gaby’s kids, and I’ve heard Ben’s daughter turns into a dragon.”
Cela still looked anxious as she climbed into the passenger side. Tyr started the car and twisted around to check on the babies in the backseat. “You know,” he said to Cela. “You should probably learn to drive. You could get a license for it now.”
“Is it hard?”
“Not in light traffic like we have around Autumn Grove. I learned how to drive in the city.” And Austin was old enough to learn. So far, Tyr hadn’t had much to do with that. He should ask the kid if he wanted to go out and practice sometime.
“I’ll think about it,” Cela said.
Tyr didn’t push her. He knew she was dealing with a lot, considering how many things in the modern world she’d had to get up to speed on. He had gone through the same thing, although most of it was second nature by now.
Or at least he had learned to cover for the things that weren’t. “You know, social stuff still trips me up sometimes,” he told Cela as he pulled out onto the highway. It felt like a huge admission. He would never have said so to most people.
“Really?”
“Yeah. There are a lot of nuances to the way people interact, and so many different details. Even humans don’t have it all figured out. They’re just good at covering, which is what I’ve learned to do.”
“I’m not good at covering,” Cela said unhappily.
Oops. He hadn’t meant to make her feel worse. He always felt the lack of touch intensely when he was near her, therewas never a time he didn’t, but it was even more acute when he wished he could reach out and comfort her.
“And people love you like that,” he told her. “You know it’s true. Gaby thinks you’re great, and Lissy and Austin both really like you.” He had been surprised how much his standoffish son seemed to be warming up to her, actually. But it was simply difficult not to. Cela had a genuine warmth and charm that everyone around her responded to.
“Really?” she asked hesitantly.
“Really. People love that you aren’t artificial at all. They recognize that about you. So don’t try to be someone you’re not. It wouldn’t be good for you.”
“And it’s good for you?” Cela asked.
He had walked right into that one. “I’m not being artificial. Do you think I am?”
“You don’t use your real name. And you hide almost everything about yourself.”
“We have to,” he pointed out.
“Yes, but ...” She hesitated, touching one knuckle to her coral-colored bottom lip. She’d added a touch of lipstick, and now that his attention had been drawn to it, he nearly drove onto the shoulder staring at it. He almost missed her next words. “You do seem different around other people.”
“What’s that?” Tyr asked, wrenching his gaze away from her full, kissable lips.
“You. I wouldn’t say artificial, exactly; that’s mean. But you’re so different with me than with other people. You feel so much more open and alive when we’re alone. When we’re out in public, it feels like you’re thinking about every word or movement beforehand. You’re very reserved.”
Was that how people saw him? “I have to,” he said. “It’s what I’ve done my whole life. I can’t be myself here, not fully.”
“But you said it’s good for me to be myself,” Cela said, and a dimple appeared in her pink cheek.
She was teasing him—but she wasn’t entirely wrong. As Tyr turned on the drive to Gaby and Derek’s farm, he wondered if he’d put himself on an unreasonably steep uphill road to making friends here.
Part of it was being a shifter, of course. All shifters had to hide their true nature to some extent. But he’d also assumed that everyone in town was friends with Paula and Dan first, and knew him only as “Paula’s ex.”
Still, Ben seemed to like him. He was bonding with his kids again. Maybe it was time to stop assuming that everyone was going to hate him and actually give them a chance to like him.
