They quietly let themselves out of the house and he drove them home. She’d gotten a ride with Myra, so they didn’t have to worry about a second car.
He made them pancakes and she juiced oranges and heated maple syrup. Which gave him interesting ideas. She saw him eyeing the bottle, and the twinkle in her eye and the shit-eating grin told him she was on the same page.
They ate a lot of pancakes and decided they weren’t feeling quite that sexy with full stomachs, so they took his laptop to the bed and checked out different houses and blueprints. Naked.
“These three,” Cindy said. “Definitely one of these three.”
Jonas nodded. Then pointed. “That’s the one.” He’d noticed how many times she’d come back to this particular plan, and he liked it a lot.
She nodded. “Yeah, that one.” She said it softly and turned to him for a kiss.
He moved the laptop to the bedside table, then slid down, pulling her on top of him as he did so. She rested her arms across his chest, dropped her chin to her arms and stared at him.
“I think we’re doing pretty well with this whole mate thing, don’t you?” she asked.
“I think we’re doing very well with it.”
“I wonder if Brenda would have turned out differently if she’d met her mate. I wonder if she still will.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Seems like she started taking advantage of people pretty early.”
“Yeah.”
“Did your dad call you?” he asked. He figured she’d have told him if they’d spoken, but it had been several days, so he asked.
“He tried, but I didn’t answer. I texted him and said you’d told me about the chat you guys had, and I was thinking about things, but I wasn’t ready to talk to him or Mom yet.”
“Fair enough. Did he answer back?”
“He said he would be there when I was ready.”
“That’s a fairly good sign.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go visit your brother. You don’t have to see your parents, you can decide when we’re there if you feel like it. I’d like to meet him and his family.”
“Okay.”
“That’s it?” He ran a finger up and down her back, lightly, not starting anything, just feeling her.
“Yep. I want to visit, too. I want you to meet them. I think it’s time, now that the pack’s settled down a little. Although I wish we could do something to help Olivia find a job. I thought about trying to fit her in with the blog, but I’ve got everything handled with people I love, so there’s really no room for her.”
“I was thinking that Mom and Dad could buy the truck stop, and she could stay on as manager. They could have fun with that, I think.”
She gasped. “That would be amazing! Do you think they will?”
“I don’t know how it works, with the investigation. If the business can be sold or what. But it would be pretty cool, because it would be a source for other jobs. Olivia mentioned to me that once she got her feet under her as manager, she was going to make some suggestions about increasing business, which would allow for more employees.”
“A good spot for future pack members.”
“If my parents do like the idea of the truck stop, I’ll help them with it. It’s a bigger venture than what I first suggested to them. It might be cool to help set up different businesses, get them going. First the truck stop, then a pub or café or whatever. Then something else. Maybe involving other pack members with each venture.”
“And all businesses that offer employment to pack members, so we can keep growing, which in turn grows the businesses.”
“Exactly. But to start, I don’t know about the investigation,” he reminded her.
“Still, it will be cool to see what your parents think.”
