That made Jem grin.He collected their trays and dumped the trash, and as he was turning back to their table, Sheila whistled.
She was somewhere in her late fifties or early sixties, no more than five feet tall, and she had bangs with a lot of highlights.She wore one of the McDonald’s visors, the kind Jem hardly ever saw anymore, and she’d promised he could have it when she retired.Right then, she was standing behind the service counter, holding up two freshly made McFlurries.
“You’re an angel,” Jem said.
“Your friend looks so sad,” she told him.“I thought you needed something nice.”
“You’re amazing.You’re the best.You’re going to be my best man at my wedding.”
Sheila laughed and flapped a hand at him and headed back into the kitchen.
When Jem got back to the table, Tean said, “Did I hear you tell her she could be your best man at our wedding?”
“Yeah, but she said she’d better not, because she doesn’t like to leave her dogs for that long.”
Tean was obviously still thinking about this as he accepted one of the McFlurries.“Wait, when did she say that?”
“The first time Scipio and I asked her.”
Tean moved the spoon around in his McFlurry—another classic move to make it look like he was eating.“Shouldn’t Scipio be your best man?”
“Scipio isyourbest man.I asked him, and that’s what he told me.”
“I don’t want a best man.He can be your best man.”
“Stop!”Jem pointed.“That bite has an M&M in it.”
Tean’s face—eyebrows knotted together, mouth hardening into a momentary line—said he knew he’d been busted.But he raised the spoon and ate the M&M and soft serve.And then he said, like he wasn’t being forced to eat it, “It’s very good.Did we pay for these?”
“Nope.That’s why Sheila’s the bomb.”
Tean stirred the McFlurry some more; Jem, meanwhile, was already about halfway done with his.You had to eat fast in case Tean decided they had to return the McFlurries in order to be ethical people, or even worse, offered to pay for them.
But then Tean said, “Why does it bother you that they killed Tess?”
Jem frowned over another spoonful of soft serve.“Huh?”
“You said it still bothered you.Why?”
“I don’t know.It just hit me as weird.This definitely isn’t the week to take my word for it, though.”
“Don’t do that.You’re an exceptionally intuitive person.You’re also smart, observant, and a badass.”
“Swear jar.”
“You said it two minutes ago.”
Jem shrugged and held up his spoon helplessly.
“What is it that bothers you?”Tean asked.
“Well, just the fact that they did it, I guess.They’re, like, this group.This pack.There’s Kai and Zeb and Reed and Tess.And they’re tight, you know?It’s more than being friends.It’s more than even being in love.They’re out there killing people together.That’s some serious dedication.”
“So, what?She wouldn’t have betrayed them by leaving?”
“So, I don’t know.If she did, why?She didn’t seem to have much of a life.These guys were her friends.She was living out at that UFO campground.Maybe the ranch isn’t comfortable, but I don’t think she cared about that.I don’t think any of them did.”He scooted forward as he worked on another bite of the McFlurry.“What does it take to get someone to kill with you?It’s not like you can just say that to your friend.It’s not something you can bring up in casual conversation.It’s not like asking them to drive you to the airport, you know?”
“All right,” Tean said slowly.“There’s a level of commitment that goes beyond an ordinary relationship.But there might have been a difference, for Tess, between the initial phase of—whatever we want to call this.The initial phase of belonging, let’s say.Feeling like she was part of an exclusive group.And, I suspect, drawn to Kai and, at the same time, afraid of him.That’s a typical dynamic in situations like this.”
