“Make that four out of four of your hierarchy,” Myra put in.
Cindy glared at her best friend. “Myra. You know I like to pack the party stuff away.” Carefully. To be sure it could be used again.
“I know. I know how you like it done, too, so I can see to that. Besides, tell me right now what your plan is for all the decorations.”
“I’m going to donate them to the senior center. I talked to a wonderful lady there, and she said she’d be thrilled to take the decorations anytime I wanted to donate. She was very excited when I brought her the football stuff the other day.”
“Right. So you’re giving the stuff away, which means if it’s not packed exactly how you like it, it makes no difference. But, I still promise to pack it up exactly how you like it.”
“Hmph.”
“I think you’ve been outmaneuvered, my dear,” Candace said. “And you certainly deserve to go home and rest after all the work you did here. I’ll help as well, and Myra can show me what you like, so that in the future, more people can handle that part of things.”
“Um…”
She didn’t manage more as Jonas squeezed her again. “Why don’t we start with the goodbyes?”
“Well, I can see when I’m not wanted anymore,” she teased. “Seriously, though, thank you.”
“Don’t be silly. You don’t thank us, we thank you. The party was wonderful, everyone had a good time. I’m really proud of the whole pack for doing what we asked and speaking to all the visitors.” Myra said. “But now it’s time to send those visitors home. Let’s make the rounds!”
Following their alpha’s directive, Cindy and Jonas gave his mother hugs. Cindy turned to see who else was nearby and saw Olivia talking to Jen. The conversation looked deep enough that she decided not to interrupt, and save them for last. They made their rounds, had words with all the visitors and hugs with all the pack members, closing it out with Jen and Olivia.
By the time she made it to the car, Cindy collapsed into her seat. “Okay. I didn’t realize quite how done I was.”
“You should listen to your alpha. And your mate.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She was leaning back against the headrest, eyes closed, but she rolled her head towards him anyway. “It went really well, right? I wasn’t just imagining that?”
“It went really well. Our pack acted like a pack and some of the visitors will definitely receive invitations to join. And at least some of them will accept.”
She couldn’t quite suppress a yawn. “I want to hear all about your impressions.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Chapter Nine
Jonas couldn’t resist frequent glances at his sleeping mate, though he had to be careful on the dark drive home. He had precious cargo. He’d seen her working on the party plans, even helped put it all together, but he was still amazed at the end result.
He’d watched her off and on all night. She was a sociable person, and worked hard at making easy conversation with those who weren’t such naturals at it. Most extroverts weren’t so great at that, he’d noticed.
When he turned the car off, she mumbled.
“What was that?”
“The job.”
She blinked her eyes open and stared at him.
“The job?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“Were you talking in your sleep? You asked me about a job.”
She scrubbed her hands over her face. “Oh. Sorry. I really did fall asleep, didn’t I?”
“Yep. Sit there, I’ll just be a second.”
