Sure, a parent might get overeager to pair up their son or daughter with Goldie to worm their way closer to Rían. Not even the Walsh clan was immune to ambition. It was human, and shifter, nature. With Rían mated, that avenue for advancement was off the table. Sucking up via fostering friendships in Goldie’s peer group was about the only option left. The obstacle course had been built with that in mind.
But also, I thought, with the hope some of those friendships might gain weight and turn real.
I had viewed the move to Brentwood as a great sacrifice for the Walsh clan, and it had been, but there was also reason to consider it embodied a fresh start for those who chose to come too. Including Goldie.
“I can handle it.” I tossed Liam another cookie in thanks for having my back. “I would like to introduce myself to more people, and I wouldn’t mind putting names to faces with the kids either.”
“Look at you with your parental instincts.” Sloane shoved her chair back as she rose and leaned over to squish my cheeks. “You want to handpick friends for Goldie, don’t you?”
Garbled noises clogged the back of my throat, but I couldn’t figure out how to arrange them into words.
“I recognize the look.” She stretched my face until I feared it would pop like a rubber band when she let go. “Mom wore it every time we hit a school event. She scoped out new kids and reevaluated who I had been hanging out with. I swear she wrote a pros and cons list on the back of the flyers they handed out, but Dad claimed that was my imagination.”
“Most kids don’t share their parents’ tastes.” Liam studied her. “Did you like anyone they chose?”
“Back home, the school was small, and my class was even tinier. I didn’t have a whole lot of options.”
She told me once the small Alaskan town had around sixty-five students. Total. Across all grades.
“That sounds like ano.”
“They chose better for me than I did for myself.”
“Definitely ano.”
“The move helped put it all into perspective.” She ignored his running commentary. “I understood why Mom was overprotective after I got into a couple of bad scrapes with people I should have known better than to hang with in the first place.” She snorted. “Part of it was culture shock, and I couldn’t get enough of this whole new world I was living in. The rest was probably plain ol’ vanilla rebellion for being ripped from everyone and everything I had ever known and dumped into this place where the rules I had lived by got turned on their heads.” She sighed. “Plus, no polar bears.”
Mouth pursing, Liam squinted his eyes. “Do you need a second copy ofBad Touches are Bad?”
“Message received.” I raised my hands in surrender. “I’ll leave Goldie to find her own friends.”
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t foster an environment where genuine connection was more likely.
“I don’t trust that look,” Sloane said dryly, “but I respect where it’s coming from.”
“You’ve got to work on your poker face if you’re going to meddle in people’s lives.” Liam patted me on the back. “Gran can give you lessons, if you want to get serious about it. She taught all of us. Rían isn’t as good as he ought to be. He’s too genuine, poor sap, but Goldie is a pro. She’ll surpass even me one day.”
Not sure that was the wisest course of action, given she had yet to hit her rebellious teenage years, but I wasn’t in a position to question their training methods.
“We should go.” Rían pushed off the table, which creaked under his palms. “I don’t want to keep anyone waiting.” He held out a hand for me. “Last chance to get while the getting’s good.”
“What did I tell you about trying to get rid of me?” I pinched his side. “You’re stuck with me, Legs.”
“That can’t be my nickname.” He slid his arm around my waist. “I would never live it down.”
“And what a long way down it is.” Sloane snickered. “Come on, Lizard Lips.” She gripped the back of Liam’s shirt. “We need to get into position too.”
“Lizard Lips?” Rían frowned down at me. “Maybe Legs isn’t so bad.”
Allowing him to guide me, we entered the living room in time to greet the first guests of the night.
A sleepy boy around the age of two dozed on his father’s shoulder while his mother looked on with love so bright it hurt to watch them together. That boy didn’t know how good he had it, and I didn’t envy him that. There was a whole world out there waiting for the chance to kick his legs out from under him. It did make me glad that, even if he stumbled, he had parents there to help him get back on his feet.
“This must be Ana,” the woman gushed, fingers clasped under her chin. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
And on it went for the next hour. Shaking hands, kissing babies, and smiling until my cheeks hurt. Names got exchanged, most of which I forgot on the spot, and congratulations were passed out to us like candy.
Aside from three or four attendees, whose faces I took pains to memorize, no one mentioned that I was a Sartori and therefore the root of the problem. The rest embraced Rían’s happiness, embracedme, and gave me confidence I could report back to Goldie that I had been silly to be nervous.
