“I’m not unhappy,” Lola promised. “My life hasn’t been what I imagined it would be when I was eighteen, but I’m not unhappy, darling. I’m just…curious, right now. And confused. But I’m sure all the answers will be clear soon. You said…” She hesitated. “When we spoke on the phone, you said he had a reputation as a recluse?”
At Charlee’s nod, Lola exhaled a relieved sigh. “That’s almost good. That means I can take my time and get my feet under myself before I meet him again. Just running into him on the street—” She broke off, then laughed quietly again. “Well, for one thing, we’re old. Assuming he would even recognize me, I wouldn’t want to give the poor man a heart attack!”
Charlee examined her with a thoughtful smile. “I think he would,” she said after a moment. “You look a lot like yourself, Nana. Like the picture you had on your bedside table.”
The picture of herself and Sam, from their prom, just a few months before he’d gone missing, presumed dead. Lola had kept that photograph tucked away until her husband died, and one day found it again. No one had questioned the old photo on her bedside table: if they’d even thought about it at all, they’d all assumed it was the man she’d married, until Charlee had seen the same picture in a Virtue yearbook from decades earlier. Lola couldn’t help a brief smile, remembering the night the photo had been taken, although she turned it to a more rueful smile at her granddaughter. “I’ve gotten old, Charlee.”
“Well, so has he. He can’t hold that against you. But you’ve still got amazing cheekbones and a great jaw. I think he’ll know who you are.”
“I suppose we'll find out eventually. Now, I'm keeping you from your work, aren't I? I don't want to be a bother."
Charlee cast an unconcerned glance toward the kitchen. "Everybody back there knows what they're doing. They can spare me for a little while. Let me at least take your suitcase up to the apartment." She eyed Lola. "Youdidbring luggage, didn't you?"
"Yes, dear," Lola said a little guiltily. "I also got a room at the Jones' B&B for the night, just in case you weren't sure about having me stay with you. So my suitcase is already there."
"Nana!" Charlee put her hands on her hips, trying her best to look scolding. "Okay,fine, but first thing tomorrow you're checking out of the B&B and into Chez Bear, okay?"
"If you insist, Charlee."
"I totally do. I insist on walking you back to your B&B when you're ready to go, too."
"It's up half a block and across the square," Lola said dryly. "I'm not going to get lost."
Charlee laughed. "No, I know that, but I haven't seen you in ages and I just want to spend some time with you. I'll try not to suffocate you."
"Isn't that supposed to be my line? Tell you what, I'm finished here anyway. If you can take a few minutes off work and show me what's new in Virtue, that would be wonderful. It's changed a lot since I was last…" Lola hesitated over the final word, and in the end, chose, "here," instead ofhome.
"I'd love to," Charlee said happily. "You can tell me how things used to be, too. There's a new library!"
"I saw the old one had closed." Lola smiled at her granddaughter, who hopped up with the ease of youth and went to talk to her boyfriend, then returned to the table and offered Lola her elbow.
"One tour of New Virtue, coming up. And I told you, your money's no good here," she added in a scolding tone as Lola reached for her purse.
"If you insist," Lola murmured again. They left arm in arm to breathe deeply of the crisp early evening air, and Lola admitted, "I might have had a little walk around the square already, to see what was different."
"Did you try Imelda's? The doughnut shop," Charlee clarified, and when Lola shook her head, tugged her that direction. "I know you said your stomach was nervous, but she makes the best coffee in town and one of her apple fritters will do your soul a world of good. She's about your age," she added. "Did you used to know her?"
"I don't think so. I'd remember an Imelda. No, sweetie, I'm sure most of my generation have long since moved away from Virtue. There wasn't much to keep us here, fifty years ago."
"The new library's that way." Charlee pointed off the square as they approached it, but shook her head. "I've found out there's more to Virtue than I imagined, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are still plenty of people who remember you."
"I'd rather they didn't," Lola said flatly enough to slow her granddaughter, whose searching glance made Lola feel guilty. She didn't elaborate, though, and after a moment Charlee nodded, just accepting that, before she continued on with her plan to bring them to the doughnut shop. It smelled every bit as heavenly as the pub had, in an entirely different way, although even the scent of cinnamon and sugar didn't do much to restore her appetite. "It's fine," she promised Charlee over what was admittedly an excellent cup of coffee. "I don't need to eat as much as I used to, and I'm sure I'll be hungry again once I'm over being nervous."
"You're really brave, you know," Charlee said. "I'm already in awe of you coming at all."
"Hah! We'll see if I'm brave enough to stay," Lola said wryly. "I might just duck out the back and never return."
"No, you won't. You wouldn't have come at all if you were going to do that."
Charlee sounded absolutely confident, and Lola had to admit her granddaughter was probably right. Still, she had run away from this town once before, and she could by gum do it again.
But not until she'd at leastseenSam again. From a distance, maybe. Just to make sure he was…to make sure he was okay. To see that with her own eyes. Then, maybe, she could let the past go.
CHAPTER2
There werefox cubs in the yard.
Not shifters, obviously, although it wasn't that obvious, Sam Todd supposed. On one hand, there weren't all that many fox shifters. On the other, he'd fostered a couple, and there was always Hazel, the old female fox shifter he sometimes encountered in the woods. But these were true cubs, fluffy and grey and somersaulting over their own feet and tails.
