Page 17 of Highland Heat

“A hundred percent.”

He half shrugged and then waddled towards the register as I pushed the cart behind him, loving my view.

When we were all checked out and to the car, I pulled out my phone to see what places there were nearby to grab something to eat. This wasn’t our normal town to go shopping and we weren’t familiar with the area. We’d only come here because the store had the car seat we’d settled on in stock, and it wasn’t farther away, just in the opposite direction of where we usually ventured.

“What are you in the mood for?”

“Hmm. Tacos… No. Scratch that. Ice cream… No. A burger.” He kept going on like that, unable to decide.

Each time he named a new food, I would type it in just as he changed his mind. We went through every cuisine I could think of before he settled on breakfast. Breakfast for lunch it was. I found a diner that served it all day, and we took the short route right there.

It was exactly what you’d expect from a diner from years gone by. I couldn’t tell if it was designed to look retro, or if it actually was old. But it was perfect for what we wanted. I could smell the grease the second I got out of the car.

I reached for my mate’s hand to help him get out and steady on his feet, and didn’t let go until we reached our table. My mate was no longer able to fit in booths, much to his chagrin.

“Have you ever been here before?” I asked, and he looked around as if he wasn’t quite sure of the answer.

“Maybe,” he said.

The server came over before I could ask what he meant by that, and he ordered a breakfast special and I ordered a burger. When we first got together, I felt a little weird eating beef in front of him, given that he was a cow—not really a cow, a bull, but I had spent most of my life calling all of them cows, so it was a hard habit to break. He insisted it was fine because I’d never eat a shifter. And I believe that to be true, despite the fact that my mate could have easily ended up being sold for food that day. He swore he’d have shifted in front of someone, if that were the case. It still had me shivering at the thought of it.

“When you said ‘maybe,’ does that mean it looks familiar, or...”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t look familiar, but it feels familiar. Is that weird?”

“Yes. But also, what about our lives hasn’t been weird since we met?”

“That’s true.”

My food came quickly, and it was good. Nothing I’d dream about at night, but not a place I’d avoid either. And just as we were about to leave, a woman came over to our table.

“Sue Ellen. I haven’t seen you in forever.” She hugged my mate.

I half remembered that she had been his grandfather’s neighbor, the one who had slept away an entire month and who gave birth in a barn. The first part didn’t worry me, the second kept me up some nights.

“Look at you! I heard you were having baby, but I didn’t realize you were just about to have a baby.” She squatted down and talked to his belly, and unlike with other people, I didn’t mind. I hadn’t minded the hug, either.

“You be good, little one, and do your daddy a solid. Come and meet us when you’re in the house and not the barn.” She stood back up. “Did you guys come here because you heard we bought it?”

“Nah, I hadn’t heard, but then again, maybe I did because I sort of remembered this place.”

“That’s because my parents took us here for lunch. When your grandfather...” She never finished the sentence.

He’d mentioned losing his grandfather and how the neighbors had been so supportive during that time. It didn’t take a sleuth to see this was all connected. If he wanted to share it with me, I’d gladly listen, but everything about his body language shouted he was ready to move on with the conversation.

“You must be his mate.” She turned to me.

“Yeah, I’m Graham,” I lowered my voice, “Can you give me some hints on how to keep the baby from coming in the barn?”

She chuckled. I didn’t see the humor.

“Well, don’t let your mate be stubborn and decide he wants to eat all the hay after his due date.” She ruffled my head like I was a little kid, despite not being much older than me. “Be sure to invite me over when the baby comes. I want to meet them. If luck is on their side, they’ll look just like Graham.” She winked and off she went, grabbing the check the server had left on the table and ripping it in three.

“I should be offended,” Ewan said, “but it’s hard to be offended when lunch is free.”

Fate seemed to know that conversation was exactly what I needed because everything felt lighter when we left the dinner to head home.

Knowing that the horror story of giving birth in the barn hadn’t been an average birth gone wrong, it had been a stubborn, very food-motivated shifter who refused to give up their hay made it preventable. And while I too had a very food-motivated shifter at home, he looked truly terrified to repeat her mistake. I was glad.