Small mistake, because that led to the memory of hugging Noelle goodbye, thinking it would only be a few weeks before I saw her again.
“I told Noelle at Thanksgiving…” My voice thickened, and I had to swallow down my regret. “I told Noelle at Thanksgiving that the next time she saw me, I’d have this updated hairstyle—that I’d be looking fresh to def. And she was like, ‘Mom, nobody says fresh to def anymore.’”
“I personally never said it,” Zion admitted over the buzz. “But I’ve often admired the Black American tendency toward wordplay. It expires and evolves with such remarkable speed, yet wields worldwide influence.”
I let out a small chuckle because that was one way to describe AAVE.
But then I sobered. “Now I can’t even bring myself to face Noelle. Or Holly. And they’re so close.”
Zion didn’t respond. For so long, I wondered if he was judging me. But then he said, “I haven’t talked to my only daughter, Mara, in thirteen years.”
“Thirteen years?” I repeated, unable to keep the surprise out of my voice or from asking, “What happened?”
“She was bearless, you see—that is how the Ayaska refer to shifters who cannot turn, even at the full moon. Therefore, Niska exiled her. For her own good.”
He kept his tone professorial as he answered, but I could hear the conflict underneath it. “I thought she should stay, perhaps take over my position as the town’s school teacher. But then, there was an encounter with an unsuitable bear—a rather mentally unstable shifter who would go on to become the leader of a notorious motorcycle gang. Niska exiled Mara in the hopes of saving her from a lifetime of misery with that unsavory fellow.”
“But Mara didn’t see it that way,” I said quietly.
“No, she did not see it that way.” Zion tipped my head down to get at my kitchen. “She keeps in contact with her womb twin, Takoda—your daughter Holly’s first maul. But she hasn’t spoken to me or Ravik since. She didn’t even come home for her mother’s funeral. So you see, Bell…”
The clippers clicked off. He brushed away the last of the curls from my neck. “It could be much worse. You’ve only been out of contact with your daughters for a few months.”
He was right. My failure to connect with Noelle and Holly suddenly felt not nearly as bad after hearing Zion’s estrangement story.
I sat there for a moment, feeling the weight of his loss compared to my own avoidance. The silence stretched between us, and I knew I shouldn’t show an interest in his personal life. Not if I wanted him and “his maul” to stop thinking of me as a possible love interest. But I found myself turning on the couch to ask, “So you just gave up on ever reconciling with her?”
“Actually, I’d planned to move to Vancouver after the school year ended. To track her down and stay somewhere closer to her.”Zion placed the clippers back in their carrying case. “Even if she never finds it in her heart to forgive me.”
He looked down at the floor. “But your arrival changed my plans.”
Something warm flickered inside of me before I could stop it. But then, I said, “What? No, you should still go.”
“Oh, I will travel to Vancouver after the school year ends in December.” He removed the towel and went to the old metal trash can beside the kitchenette to give it a gentle shake. I watched the old curls tumble into its void. “But then I’ll come right back to our maul, Bell. Don’t worry.”
I hated the way a knot I didn’t even know had formed in my chest loosened when he promised to come back.
Or how long it took me to remind him, “I probably won’t… I probably won’t even be here after the wedding.”
“Alright, sweetheart.” Zion lifted an eyebrow, folding the towel with deliberate care. “Would you prefer an uncomfortable conversation for which you are demonstrably unprepared, or shall we watch some telly?”
21/
backstory
BELL
“Well, that’s just criminal,” Zion declared. “She’s overworked the batter. Anyone can see that.”
I’d chosen television. Then scooted as far as I could into the arm of the two-seater couch while Zion pulled up a re-run ofBritain’s Got Bakersfrom at least ten seasons ago—back before the two co-hosts, Suzie Brighton and Nigel Fleming, had shocked the world with the reveal of their torrid love affair, which had produced a child they’d named Dyana.
On screen, Suzie was comforting a woman whose Victoria sponge had collapsed, but Zion didn’t appear to have much sympathy for her. “This is why you must foldgently. Respect the chemistry.”
I found myself smiling, despite the anxious buzzing under my skin at his nearness. “You bake?”
“Ursa, no. I’m atrocious in the kitchen. But I appreciate the craft.” He gestured at the screen, where a man was piping perfect rosettes onto a cake. “Look at that technique. Consistentpressure, elegant execution. It’s rather like conducting an orchestra, truly. But no…”
He looked over at me with a wry smile. “Ravik does all the baking in our maul. And all the cooking. Which was why he was so incredibly pleased to receive those sugar cookies from you—before your row.”
