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“Oh. Yeah, sounds great,” I said, sitting back in my office chair and finally giving him proper attention. “What’d you have in mind?”
“I thought something closer to New Middle Bluff. Maybe at the office, since we bought it and never use it?”
I winced. He was right about that, and it was something I still felt a little guilty about. We’d purchased the building, done all these updates on it, and all it was doing was sitting in town, little more than a well-decorated factory.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ve been feeling bad about that.”
“I mean, it only makes sense,” Travis said. “We’ve been pretty focused on other stuff lately. You know, like running a pack and, uh, surviving, basically.”
“No kidding,” I sighed, running a hand down my face. “Lucky I have some savings put aside, and the subsidy from the state is enough to cover everything else. But we really should get to work on contracting again.”
“Why don’t you just hire someone to do all of that for you?” he asked. “Or sell the business?”
That wasn’t something I’d even thought about, if I was honest. “You think I should?” I asked.
“I mean, it might be a better idea than letting the business just fall to ruin because your focus is elsewhere.”
“Speaking of focus elsewhere,” I said, shaking my head. “Lana’s event.”
“Shit, right,” Travis said. “So, yeah, I was thinking we do a little fundraiser there, invite some educators. Get an idea of who’s on our side and who isn’t when it comes to the superintendent, and maybe do some elbow-rubbing with local politicians. Let them get to know us as a pack and all that. Make it a whole family event, you know?”
“Yeah. That’s smart,” I said. “Okay, let's set it up. When do you want to do this?”
“Let me ask Lana first,” he said. “The last time I tried to plan something on her behalf, she almost ripped my throat out.”
I snorted a laugh and shook my head. “She’s got you on a leash, my man.”
“Yeah, but at least it’s a long one,” he said with a grin. “How have things been since you’ve been back?”
“Eh, alright,” I said. “Just trying keep my head screwed on right when it comes to Marley and the gene therapy. Gramps and the rest of his folks who need to get fixed up are gonna be flying out next week, and that’s when Marley is going to start her transition, too. In the meantime, she’s been throwing herself into trying to get the rest of headquarters done, though you already knew that. You’ve seen it.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Half the time, your guys look like they’re afraid of her,” Travis joked.
“Not afraid of her. Just afraid of her new ideas,” I said with a grin. “She keeps coming up with new stuff she wants to do to the place, but honestly, a lot of the ideas are pretty good. Just tedious or tricky.”
“Yeah, but that’s less of a problem, thanks to her being so open to things,” he said. “I mean, it’s not like she’s a picky asshole about it.”
“Yeah, exactly,” I agreed. “And she’s right there with them, helping out unless it’s something she genuinely can’t do, like electricity and stuff.”
“How are you doing with the shifter transition stuff?” he asked. “You seem calm.”
“Doing my best,” I admitted. “But not doing great, either. Trying to stay positive and trust my wife when she says she’s gonna be okay, but it’s hard not to freak out. I’m just trying to keep myself from doing too much research on the process. Trying to cross bridges when I need to instead of preemptively.”
“I think that’s the best you can do, and I think that’s the approach Lana is taking as well. That’s part of why she wants to have an event—she wants to keep herself as busy as possible when the gene therapy starts. Says going through it with me was hard enough. She’s not ready to worry about Marley kicking the bucket, too.”
I nodded, understanding completely where Lana was coming from. Some days, I wished I could do the same, but I knew I needed to be there for Marley the entire time.
I didn’t resent Marley for the stress I was feeling. Not at all. But damn, was I tired of constantly feeling stressed out with everything going on.
Heaving a sigh, I crossed my arms. “How about the weekend after Marley’s first injection? Give her some time to acclimate to the way her body is feeling and all that?”
“Yeah, that sounds good…well, at least to me. Let me propose it to Lana in a gentle way so she doesn’t think I’m bossing her around,” Travis said, grinning.
“She’s perfect for you, isn’t she?” I asked, grinning back at him.
“Keeps me on my toes.”
We both heard a car pull down the driveway and watched as my mother pressed the keys to get into the house. The lock clicked open, and Noah ran into the house with his arms extended like an airplane’s wings, making the sounds of the jet engine. My mother followed a few seconds later, looking slightly out of breath.
