“I wanted to, and I won’t hear any more about it," he replies.
My brother wastes no time diving in, and I beam around the table as my family chatters.
“So, Raya,” Mom turns to me, “tell us all about your trip. How was San Diego?”
“Oh it was great!” This part I can talk about, no problem. “It was hotter than I expected, but nice to be in the sun for a few days. Honestly though, the food was the best part. There are little Mexican places all over and oh my gosh. I can’t even tell you, it was so good.”
My dad is likely the only one who really cares about the food, but they all nod along anyway.
“And how was the work? You had some presentations, right?” Mom asks.
“Yep, it went well. I was worried since they kind of threw me in last minute, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. Ihad some help from my coworker too, so that was nice, not to be completely alone with it all.”
“Good, good. Glad to hear it, honey. How did the full moon go?” Dad asks, and I feel my face flush. Naturally, my sister pounces on it.
“What isthat? Why are you turning red?” Jo says, planting her elbows on the table. This, of course, only causes me to redden even further, and I feel the tell-tale tingle start to zip up my spine. I close my eyes, inhaling a deep breath through my nose and letting it out slowly through my mouth as I open them again.
“Oh. My. God. Raya, spill!” my sister says, and Jo’s intensity causes even my brother to start paying attention.
“It’s nothing!” I try to put them off the trail, but no one is having it.
“Okay, so I have this coworker, Asher," I start, ignoring Jo’s widening eyes and gleeful smile. “He’s a vampire, actually, but he was able to really help me with the shifting. He taught me some ways to manage my breathing and emotions and stuff, and I was able to partially shift on purpose a couple times, and I’ve been getting better at holding it off too. I even did it just now.”
“Just now?” Dad’s eyebrows pop up.
“Yep. Like, thirty seconds ago," I say. “I felt the weird tingle that always happens before I accidentally shift, and that’s why I closed my eyes. So I could focus and stop it.”
“Oh, honey.” Mom’s eyes are a little glassy, which causes me to squirm in my seat. “We are so proud of you, that’s wonderful.”
“Mhmm yeah, great job being a shifter.” My sister is awesome, like, ninety percent of the time. This is not one of those times. “I want to hear more about this “coworker.””
“You’re seriously the worst sometimes," I grumble under my breath, but everyone, even my brother, is looking at meexpectantly. “Okay, fine. We spent a lot of time together this week, and we sort of hit it off. We’re going to talk to HR about our relationship on Monday, see if we can get it approved or whatever.”
“Oh shit, girl. That’s serious," Jo says, leaning back in her seat.
“Language, Josephine!” our mother admonishes as I reply.
“Yeah, I guess it is. He’s really nice.”
“Vampire, you said?” Dad asks, not one to be deterred from the important details.
“Yeah, one of the good ones, though," I assure him, hoping I’m speaking the truth and haven’t completely misread Asher.
Dad gives me that classic dad look, the one with the uncompromising eyes as he replies.
“I expect we’ll be meeting him soon then.”
I should have expected that.
22
HAPPY DANCES SHOULD BE ILLEGAL
ASHER
The week passesin a blur of debriefing meetings and follow up video calls with the client when, predictably, someone decided they could “fix” a software problem on their own rather than putting in a call to the team (me) who knows it backwards and forwards and is paid to solve those exact problems. When it’s ultimately made even worse by said meddling, I end up with an extra stack of work on my plate.
I came in early today, on a Friday of all days, to try to get to the bottom of it before the weekend. Especially since I have a date with Raya planned for tonight, and I don’t want to have any lingering work stressors hanging over my head.
