She ate some of the delicious omelet and looked at her friend. “Seriously, you managed a crab-meat omelet in the short time I was in the shower?”
“What can I say, I’m magical.”
“Truth. Anyway, I don’t foresee any issues, but you never know.”
“Also, truth,” Cindy agreed. “You going to see your parents today?”
“Yeah. And then I think I’m going to fly to Idaho. I’ll only have a day before I head over to California for the ceremony, but I’d rather take that day now than wait until after to go see him.”
“Okay, well, keep me up to date and let me know if there’s anything I can do on my end.”
Myra swallowed another bite of deliciousness. “I think you’ve done your part, here,” she said, forking up more.
It was early enough that she could be reasonably certain her parents hadn’t gone anywhere yet, but late enough that they would be up, so she headed straight for their house. On the way, she called one of her pack members who was a travel agent. They worked out the flights and when she pulled up to her parents’ house, she texted Adam.
Arriving today 5:25pm; leaving for CA Sun 11:25am.
One night, one full day, and one morning. Hopefully that wasn’t asking for too much. Pushing too hard. She turned the phone to silent and went inside.
Her parents were at the table, clearly just finishing breakfast, but her mother offered to make her more.
“No, thanks Mom, I stayed at Cindy’s last night, and she made breakfast.”
“That’s okay then. That girl certainly can cook. It amazes me she prefers to spend her time typing stuff on the internet rather than actually cooking.”
“She likes the cooking to be for fun, and not having the pressure of making her living from it.”
“I know, I just don’t understand these blog things and how she can make money from it.”
“That’s all right, her accountant understands it well enough,” Myra said with a laugh.
Her father folded his newspaper shut and gave her his attention. “What’s up, sweetpea?”
“Cindy and I are thinking about making a change. It’s…pretty radical.” She drew in a breath. “We’re actually thinking of moving to Arizona. Or New Mexico. The new pack.”
Her father blinked at her and her mother gasped. “Leave St. Louis?”
“That’s right. Try something new, change things up a bit.”
“Us downsizing the house is a bit. You changing packs is a lot more than a bit.”
“But is it a bad idea?” she asked, knowing the answer, but wanting to hear her parents’ opinion.
Her mom sighed. “No, it’s not a bad idea. And it will mean more travel for us, which is good. Get us off our rumps occasionally.”
“Maybe we can get one of those RV things,” Dad said. “Drive out that way, see the country.”
She listened to them debate the merits of various methods of travel, gave her opinion on how many miles a day it might be reasonable to drive, and what the ideal turn radius might be. Eventually, she gave them both hugs. “I have to head out, I’m flying to Idaho this afternoon and then California Sunday for the transfer. I need to talk to Deacon and Kendra first, see what they think.”
“You know they’re ready. That’s partly why you want to leave, isn’t it? Need to leave, because you feel them ready to take over.”
She kissed her dad’s cheek. “Yes, I’ve been feeling it for a while but couldn’t quite pin it down. Now it all makes sense. But I need to talk to them.” And she needed to call Marco in California, make sure he was on board with the plan. It wasn’t her intention to saddle him with a decision as she exited the leadership. She wanted his input.
Her conversation with her firsts went exactly how she’d expected. Surprise and even a little upset at the idea of her leaving, then a calm understanding, a knowing that it was right. By the time she left, they were excited, though a little tearful. Well, Kendra and Myra were, at least. She would miss them, greatly, and knew it would be some time before she found such easy cohesion with her new hierarchy, whoever they might be.
She checked her phone, which had beeped while they were talking, pulled up a text from Hillary. A picture appeared, of Alexis and Adam playing cards at a table, a huge grin on Alexis’ face, Adam’s tipped back as he laughed. Her heart fluttered. She studied Alexis’ expression, so happy with how far the girl had come. Then she double-tapped on Adams face, making it big enough to fill the screen.
His laughing face, his pleasure, his happiness, did funny things to her insides. Her nose tingled and she pulled the phone away, took a deep breath. Now was not the time to get emotional. She needed to call Marco and discuss her thoughts on being the alpha for Arizona, it was a call that deserved her full attention and shouldn’t be made while packing or driving to the airport.
