The Rusty Skillet sits at the edge of town, right where the main street that goes through Cedar Run starts turning into empty highway.The building is small and battered, with a hand-painted sign out front and a smoker out back putting out enough hickory smoke to be visible from the road.The smell sets my stomach rumbling.
I park in the gravel lot and we all climb out, Danny grabbing his very pregnant wife and setting her down gently on the ground.Henrietta looks around."Wow, this place looks so cool!"she says delightedly.
For a second, warmth spreads through my chest.I made her happy.Me.I did it.That’s my job, to make her happy, all her life.She hasn't had enough happiness in her life, and I just gave her some—
Damn it.This still isn't working.
"Try again," I growl.“Are you saying you actually like this place?”
She winces."You're right.It is terrible.I hate it.Let’s go eat.I’m sure the food’s going to be disgusting.Let’s get this awful night over with."
Coral and Danny give each other puzzled looks.
We head around back to the outdoor seating area.Six picnic tables are set up on a patch of gravel and patchy grass, strung with lights that flicker and hum.A radio inside is playing 1980s heavy metal.The air smells like hickory smoke and meat.
I go inside to order, and when I come back with a tray piled with pulled pork sandwiches, brisket, ribs, cornbread, and coleslaw, Henrietta's face lights up.
We sit.She takes a bite of her sandwich and lets out a low, appreciative moan which makes me dizzy with desire.I never thought I’d be jealous of a sandwich.
"This is incredible," she says.She runs her tongue over her upper lip.
“Are you sure?”I prod her.
She rolls her eyes, takes another bite, and chews.“You’re right.This is terrible.”She takes an enormous bite, lets out a little moan of pleasure, chews, and then swallows.Then she speaks again.“We obviously do not have compatible tastes in food and therefore we are obviously not compatible with each other.”
Oh God, this is failing so hard.
“Yep,” I say.“Good thing they don’t have any pineapple pizza here.You seem like the kind of weirdo who’d enjoy it.”Why am I bantering with her?Damn it.
She smirks at me.“If they had pineapple pizza, I’d order it, and make you share it with me.And you’d enjoy every slice.”
Danny and Coral exchange glances again.
“She didn’t used to be this weird, did she?”Coral asks.“Did I just not notice before?”
Danny shakes his head, his mouth full of barbecue.“Definitely not.She was never like this before.Only since she started hanging out with this guy.”
“I am not hanging out with him!It’s work!And I hate every second of it!”Henrietta says around a mouthful of greasy, salty fries.
“We can tell,” Coral says drily.
Well.Just when I think I can’t fail any harder, I outdo myself.Not only are we failing to convince each other, we’re failing to convince other people.
We chew in silence for a while, as country music twangs through the air, and Coral and Danny give each other smooshy looks.I try not to be too jealous of how easy it seems for those two.
Then Henrietta tenses.
I follow her gaze.Roderick Frost has just walked up the path with two other Frostbane pack members.They don’t slow, they don’t even glance our way, but something about them is scaring my mate, which arouses every protective instinct in my body.
I mean Henrietta.They’re scaring Henrietta.Not my mate.
I still want to shred them alive for it.My wolf is snarling, and claws shoot from my fingertips.My fangs stab down from my gums.I shake myself and retract the claws and fangs.
"What's wrong?"I ask.She hasn’t been in town in fifteen years, she can’t possibly have had problems with the Frostbane a-holes yet.
"Nothing."She sets her sandwich down.She’s eaten three-quarters of it already."Maybe we should go."
I stare at Roderick and his packmates, who have just entered the shack."Because of the Frostbane guys?”
