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Elliot glanced over, gleefully. “Pillows, pillowcases, sheets, and shit.”
“The couch is fine.”
“Mom will skin me alive if I make you sleep on the couch. It’s not even a pull out. But the cabin is tiny, so it might not fit more than a queen on the living room floor.”
He thought about Aunt Charlotte. “How is your mom?”
“Good. Excited about your visit. She misses your mom.”
“Mom misses her too.”
Since Aunt Charlotte called all those years ago, Callum’s mom had only seen her sister in person once, when Aunt Charlotte had brought the kids down for a visit. They’d spent a week playing with their cousins, only to have it end abruptly when his parents had pushed for Charlotte’s family to stay in Maine. His aunt hadn’t given up hope that Uncle Kenneth would come back one day.
After that, they had spoken through phone calls and more recently via video chats.
Elliot glanced over. “Your parents are doing well?”
Callum shrugged. “Seem to be. They like retirement.”
“They’re living in Florida now?”
“Most of the time, yeah, though I don’t think they’ve decided to stay there permanently. And with Fredrica’s mating, there’s a good chance they’ll move back, even part time if talk of babies starts up.”
Elliot chuckled.
“How about your mom?”
“She’s good. Busy with her shop.”
Aunt Charlotte liked to knit and crochet. She owned a little store where she sold all kinds of homemade trinkets, blankets, toys, and clothing.
“What are you going to do with a queen mattress after I leave?”
Pulling into a packed Tim Hortons drive-thru, he shrugged once more. “Sell it, give it away. Swap it out for my mattress. I don’t know. You want anything?” Using the hand crank, he rolled down the window. “No Tim Hortons up where we’re going.”
As an American, Tim Hortons didn’t hold the sentimental value that it seemed to for Canucks like Elliot. Nonetheless, he decided a coffee couldn’t hurt.
They both placed their order. Callum drank a regular coffee as Elliot dragged him to a mattress store, Walmart, and the liquor store. But the caffeine kick couldn’t keep him from yawning, as they packed up the truck.
“Why are you so tired?”
“It’s been a long trip. I slept on the bus here, but I was on a midnight run with a pack from Sudbury last night.”
“Well, you can nap in the truck on the way home. It’ll be a good four hours. But once we get there, you’ll have to meet Thatcher immediately.”
“He any better?”
Elliot lifted two big canvas bags into the truck bed, placing them near the mattress. “You keep your mouth shut and your head down and you’ll be fine.”
Callum sawed his molars. “How can you live like that? You’re an alpha!”
“It’s live like that, or end up dead in a ditch somewhere.”
Had that been what happened to Uncle Kenneth? They’d never know.
“Why don’t you guys come back with me? Drew would happily accept you, your mom, and Sydney into the pack.” Maybe that was the real reason he felt compelled to come north. He could finally get his extended family out of that toxic pack and away from the manic pack alpha.
His cousin didn’t respond, instead he checked the bungee cords to ensure the mattress was secure.
