AllFreeNovel
Share Us
You’re just not used to it,he assured her.Try walking forward a bit.
She moved her back feet, then realized she’d have to move the front ones to get them out of the way. Ava tried one set and then the other, hopping like a rabbit more than walking like a wolf.
It’ll feel natural soon enough. I promise.Max moved alongside her, suddenly thinking a lot more about the cadence of his own steps, far more than he ever had before.There you go.
Wow.She picked her head up as her feet started to move more naturally. Her tail swished a little behind her, and her golden eyes lit up with excitement.This is wild!
He had to agree. Hunter had been so small when he’d learned to shift, just a chubby little pup. It was completely different with Ava, but no less special.Why don’t we pick up the pace and go find Hunter and Brody.
Let’s do it.It took her several starts and stops, and she stumbled over her feet a few more times, but they were soon loping up the hill toward the waterfall.
12
“Honey,didn’t we bring my favorite spatula?” Brody called out as he dug around inside a canvas tote bag.
“I’m pretty sure I saw you put it in there.” Robin shook her head and looked at Sarah. “The man is absolutely wild about his kitchen utensils.”
“Don’t shame me for being a man who enjoys high-quality kitchenware,” Brody chided. “You’ve even said yourself how much nicer it is to use than the cheap stuff. Even Miss Evelyn here prefers to bang on pots and pans with superior utensils.” He looked up from the tote to drop a kiss on his daughter’s forehead.
“I’ll help you look. Can you hold her for a sec?” Robin turned her hip toward Sarah.
Surprise took over her, but she quickly recovered and held out her hands. “Do you want to come to me?”
Evelyn regarded her with hazel eyes for a second before she launched herself out of Robin’s arms. Sarah quickly grabbed her, wrapping her arms around Evelyn and bracing her against her hip. “You’re a darling little thing, aren’t you?”
“She doesn’t know any strangers,” Robin agreed as she triumphantly pulled Brody’s favorite spatula out of the tote and handed it to him. “Every time I go to the store, she’s waving at every person that walks by.”
“It’s not like it bothers anyone.” Lori was at the sink, rinsing out a rag and getting the counters wiped down before Brody started cooking. “They ooh and aah over her and tell you what a doll she is. Believe it or not, strangers used to do that over my Conner at one point. As a college football player, he doesn’t really have that effect on people now.”
Robin and Lori laughed, but Sarah was completely entranced by Evelyn. She hadn’t held a baby since Ava had been one. In some ways, that felt like yesterday. In others, it felt like a different lifetime. She sat in one of the kitchen chairs and moved Evelyn to her lap, supporting her around the ribs and letting the little girl play with strands of her hair. How had her own children grown so fast?
What pained her even more was knowing she’d missed almost all of it. Hunter walked into the kitchen just then, proving her point to herself. He’d been just about Evelyn’s size when Sarah had been captured. Now he was practically a grown man, one who would soon start college and live his life for himself. He would never need her to wipe off his face or help him make sure he didn’t put his shirt on backward. He’d probably already been through his first crushes and heartbreaks. What could she do about any of it?
“Hunter, perfect timing,” Brody said when he saw his nephew. “I’ve got to get the noodles and the sauce going. I need you to chop some vegetables for me.”
Hunter’s lips pouted out. “Um, how do I do that?”
“Well, you can start by grabbing that red bell pepper and washing it,” Brody suggested.
Lori was finished with the counter, and Sarah let her take the baby. There was a lot she wouldn’t be able to do for her son, but at least she didn’t have to feel completely useless. “I’ll show you.”
Hunter brought the pepper over to the cutting board, looking at it like a foreign object. “Do I just chop it up?”
“Well, some ways are better than others,” she explained. She’d taught Ava these sorts of things before, but they’d started out much younger so Sarah could keep her daughter with her when she had to work in the Greystone kitchen. “Start by turning it upside down, then make angled cuts like this. Then you avoid all the seeds and the stem.”
“Oh, cool.” Hunter took the knife from her and imitated her cuts. They were a little rough, but he got the job done.
“Then you can cut these pieces into strips and chop them up.” Sarah quickly demonstrated what she meant.
“I never thought about this before,” Hunter murmured as he focused hard on the rest of the pepper.
“You’ll get another chance because I need some zucchini and an onion, too,” Brody told him.
With the red pepper chopped and in a bowl, Hunter grabbed an onion and placed it squarely on the cutting board. “Same thing?”
“No, actually. Not at all.” Sarah showed him how she chopped off each of the ends, which made it much easier to peel the skin off. “Then we can cut it in half, and chop each half into the small pieces that Brody needs.” It was a small thing, but it made Sarah feel infinitely better. Hunter was learning something from her. He wasn’t just tolerating her because she was his biological mother, nor was he trying to act like she had nothing to teach him.
“Like this?” He was slow and awkward, but he was getting the job done.
