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“I know, no ties,” he repeated with a sigh, his eyes worried. “But ties aren’t so bad, Bunny.” I held in my own sigh at his use of my nickname, listening as he continued his old spiel. “There are ways to keep in touch. How long are you going to hold people at bay? When will you decide its okay to let people in? You wait too long and one day you’ll wake up and realize you’re all alone.”
I peeked at him from around the refrigerator door, hearing an unfamiliar note in his voice. For a second, I thought I heard loneliness and my chest tightened. I hadn’t forgotten I was all Dad had left and it was one of the reasons I’d moved in with him. I wasn’t responsible for his happiness, but I couldn’t help the trickle of guilt I felt at knowing I’d be one more person to leave him when I went to college.
“Dad, I’m fine,” I answered instead, pushing away the guilt and the doubts. “I’m not closing off the possibility of friends and relationships. I’m just exerting caution. You should be happy about that.” I gave him a quick grin. “You don’t have to worry about scaring off any potential boyfriends.”
“You don’t know how relieved that makes me feel,” he answered dryly, seeing my diversionary tactic for what it was. “Funny though, I’m pretty sure I saw two guys picking you up this morning and dropping you off?”
“There was a girl too,” I was quick to add, not wanting to delve too deeply into who Dominic was. Caleb was easier to explain, but even my Dad would have to question why a teacher who looked like Dominic was picking students up and dropping them off. “By the way, we don’t have any food.”
“Oh, yeah. I was going to tell you that.” Dad wore a sheepish expression and I arched an eyebrow. “I meant to go to the store. Had your list and everything,” he rushed to explain, pointing at my list like it was some kind of proof. “But the contractors came by and they noticed some paw prints around the motel.” My heart stuttered for a second for no apparent reason as he continued, “I mentioned we’d heard howling and they recommended we place traps around the perimeter to discourage the wolves from coming to close to the motel.”
“You didn’t?” I questioned sharply, not understanding my sudden uneasiness. I found the nightly howls comforting, but it did make sense for the wolves to stay in the woods. Guests wouldn’t like a wolf padding around outside their rooms, but the idea of one of the wolves getting hurt twisted my stomach.
“Well, no, not yet.”
“No,” I shook my head instinctively and Dad gave me a puzzled frown. “We haven’t even seen a wolf,” I mentioned, trying to explain my sudden aversion to scaring off the animals. “They haven’t gotten into the trash or done anything. We shouldn’t be hasty.”
“I agree,” Dad said slowly, watching me carefully. “I told them it wasn’t necessary and if there were issues, we’d look into the possibility.” My breath left me in a rush as I ducked my head back into the refrigerator to cool off. My hands were shaking and I felt like I’d just avoided some horrible accident. My reaction didn’t make sense to me, but some instinct clawed at me, desperate to protect our nightly visitors. “Anyway, I never made it to the store, so if you want to eat, we’ll need to run out and pick up some groceries.”
I hesitated for a moment, remembering Dominic’s warning, and then finally nodded. I should be fine going to the store with Dad and, either way, I didn’t want to be left alone here.
When Dad turned right out of the parking lot, I panicked, thinking he was going to High Valley.
“Where are we going?” My voice was high and Dad gave me a questioning glance.
“The store….” He trailed off, his glance going back to worried. “Is everything okay with you?”
“Yeah, of course. I didn’t think we were going to High Valley is all.”
“We’re not,” he replied and suddenly I could breathe again. “There’s a bigger grocery store between here and there. Figured we’d stock up so we don’t run out again anytime soon.”
“Of course. Great idea,” I answered brightly, trying to banish the lingering fear. I hadn’t realized how terrified I was at the idea of meeting up with any of the Hanleys. I still couldn’t figure out what it was about me that made them so desperate to have me, but if their interest concerned Dominic enough to protect me, I didn’t want to face them alone.
Dad didn’t say anything else, thank goodness, but I caught him giving me a few sideways glances as he drove. I pretended not to see them as I fiddled with the strap of my purse, wondering if I should text Anna where I was going to see if it was safe. The ridiculousness of the thought hit me as I was reaching for my phone. What could she do, after all? And when had my life begun to need round the clock protection? I shoved the phone deeper into my purse and crossed my arms. I wasn’t going to be the helpless girl, too afraid to go to anywhere by herself, for the duration of my time here. It was impossible.
