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Chapter Sixteen
In the morning, though, when she cracked her eyes open, her bliss was completely shattered. Espie tried to tell herself that she hadn’t been used and discarded. She knew there was no reason to flip out. Luther had a taxing job, one he was probably even up on the mountain doing right now. She didn’t have to like that he was a miner, but at least she could respect it.
Before she could get out of her bed and make her way to the shower, Espie heard a quiet knock on the door and caught the scent of her mother. She had a sneaking suspicion that Bina had only come over because she knew something was going on, but Espie knew she couldn’t just ignore her.
“Good morning, Mom,” she said as she opened the door. “You’ve just caught me on the way to my shower. Did you have some job you wanted me to take care of?”
Bina smirked. “Oh, no, dear, nothing like that. Can’t a mother just come by to see her daughter and enjoy a casual morning chat?”
They could. They totally could, Espie was sure. Except when the daughter had sex hair and dark bags under her eyes. But thankfully, aside from her knowing smirk and her dancing eyes, her mom never said a word. Maybe she hadn’t noticed Luther’s truck parked outside her cabin last night.
After fixing some eggs and bacon and spending about half an hour talking about the resort, Espie told her mom that she needed to get cleaned up because she’d promised to meet some of her friends for lunch in an hour or so. Of course, at the time she was making it up, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get ahold of her girls just to turn the lie into truth.
“Well, then, I suppose I’ll just get out of your hair, mija,” she said, her tone a little disappointed. Espie knew her mom had been hoping that she would tell her about the man who had just spent the night with her, but somehow she just couldn’t do it. There was no way she was going to talk to her mom about a night of wild, crazy sex with a gorgeous polar bear shifter. That sort of conversation just wasn’t in the cards for them. And it would never happen, if Espie had anything to say about it.
***
Despite feeling better about her relationship with Luther, Espie still needed a little girl talk to help her sort her feelings out. Maida was too busy with school, unfortunately, but Maria told her she was free to have lunch, so Espie met up with her on one of Maria’s rare afternoons off, so that she could hash things out with her friend.
“Things seemed to be going well with Luther the last time we went out – I mean, really, really well. But now it’s already been a week gone by, and he hasn’t even called. It’s so frustrating, you know?” Espie told her friend as they sat at a table at Sammy’s Sandwich and Pizzeria. “I mean, it’s not like I’m wanting him to cling to me like a piece of plastic wrap, but I’d like to at least get a few texts asking how I’m doing or something.”
As she sat waiting for Maria to mull over everything she’d told her, Espie couldn’t help feeling a bit like she was cheating on Maida and her shop today. Usually if she was going for lunch somewhere on Main Street, she always went to A Cup of Beans. However, since Maria had organized their lunch date, she hadn’t been the one to pick the place.
But then she got her pizza and started to reconsider things. She giggled when the stringy cheese, hot and delicious, dangled between her mouth and the slice in her hands, then bit down harder in an effort to break it.
“Your inner grizzly must be very disappointed that you can’t even break some cheese apart, considering a bear’s jaw strength,” Maria teased. Her friend then reached across the table and cut the dangling bit of mozzarella with her finger.
“I was getting there,” Espie insisted, mouth full and chewed food on display.
Her friend wrinkled her nose and went back to her salad.
Espie’s inner grizzly might have been more interested in searching for berries or rooting through Maria’s salad, but she thought the pizza was more delicious. And these days, she was in the mood for delicious. Luther had awakened her appetite and then some.
“So, what do you think about all this?” she asked Maria as they ate.
“It’s a little odd that Luther went to all the trouble of having me match you up if he’s just going to ghost you right after,” Maria conceded. “But I’m a total pro at Facebook stalking and internet sleuthing, and I’m being sincere when I tell you that if I’d found out anything was wrong with the guy, I would have let you know. But also, I would have looked him up anyway once he’d wandered into your life. Because I love you, of course, not because I want to stalk him myself.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Espie grumbled, taking another large bite of her pizza.
Maria pursed her lips in thought, shaking her head. “He’s an enigma.”
Espie slurped her ice tea in response, eyes narrowed. “Thank you for that totally unhelpful opinion.”
Perfect. If the clan matchmaker was stumped by her new mate, where did that leave Espie? Sure, Luther had been forthcoming about the fact he’d been raised by his parents and then went off to start his career, and then later he’d mentioned how both his parents had died five years ago; but even that little tidbit was shrouded in mystery. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she just felt like there was something that Luther was hiding.
But damn it, they were fated mates – fated mates who had already bonded, for goodness sake. That ought to count for something.
“You know, it’s not a big deal to know everything about Luther from the start, Espie,” said Maria after a while. “What’s most important is how you feel about him. So, how do you feel about him?”
Espie smiled. “He’s a good guy,” she said without missing a beat – because it was true from what she’d seen. “Maybe a little too protective over me for my liking, but I told him, and he seems like he wants to work on that. He’s just…too mysterious, I suppose. I know pretty much everyone in Angel Fire, whether they’re in our clan or not. That’s how I’ve lived my whole life. And now I don’t know the most important person to me at all beyond what he’s elected to share. It's frustrating.”
“Yeah, I get that.” Maria cocked her head to the side with a gentle sigh, some of her hair loosening from her stylish sloppy bun. “But not everyone has a past they want to share. Not everyone wants to open up right away and air their dirty laundry. As long as he’s not a raging psychopath, maybe you just need to give him some time.”
“I guess.” She pursed her lips. “But you know I’m not a very patient person.”
Maria laughed. “For your fated mate, maybe you’ll just have to try.”
Just as Espie drew a breath, ready to fire back a witty retort, the sound of shouting outside caught her attention. Both she and Maria looked at each other, frowning, before pushing up from the table and hurrying outside to investigate.
Shouting in the middle of Main Street was never a good thing, and these weren’t the kind of shouts someone made when they were expressing joy or excitement. These were shouts of horror, and if there was anything Espie could do to help, her inner mama bear instinct demanded she do so—stat.
