AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She rolled her eyes, but he could smell her happiness. “Are you enjoying your party?”
“I am,” he said. It was only a partial lie.
She studied him for a few minutes before taking his hand. “I know today isn’t easy, lion shifter. Not with Derek gone, but like I tell Boone, you can’t hide away forever, can you?”
“No, ma’am,” he said.
“But that’s exactly what you’re doing. You and that grandson of mine,” Nan said moodily. “The four of you have never recovered from your loss, and I get it, I do, but all of you are alive.” She poked him hard in the chest. “This world is for the living, and that’s what the four of you are. So, you need to stop hiding and start living. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said dutifully.
She growled in irritation and dropped his hand when her nails sharpened to claws. “You and my grandson, two damn peas in a pod. You say all the right things, but you think I can’t tell you’re lying to my face?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m not… that is, I don’t mean to…”
“Never you mind,” she said with a weary sigh of resignation. “There’s nothing an old woman like me can say that’ll get through to you or my grandson. It doesn’t matter that I’m eighty-four years old and have buried three husbands. What do I know when it comes to grief, right?”
“Nan, I…” he had no idea what to say.
She sighed again before saying, “I have a camcorder.”
“I’m sorry?” The sudden topic change made him feel slow and off-balance.
“I have a camcorder. Boone said you needed one, asked me if I still had mine, and I do. It’s back at the house, but I’ll get Boone to drop it off to you.”
“Thank you,” Wes said.
“Ayuh. Don’t break it,” she said.
“I won’t,” he said.
She suddenly grinned at him and patted his cheek. “I know you won’t. You’re one of the good ones, Wesley.”
“So are you, Nan.”
She glanced across the room at where Eleanor stood. “That little bit of a human sure does have a thing for you. How come you’re not giving her the D?”
Wes’s mouth dropped open, and Nan cackled with laughter, pressing against her stomach with one hand and her healing hip with the other. “My God, the look on your face, lion shifter.”
She laughed again and then winced. She waved irritably at Boone when he started to cross the room. “I’m fine, Boone. Just a little twinge.”
She patted Wes’s knee. “Part of not hiding is accepting love from other folks, Wesley. You’re not to blame for Derek’s death.”
“I know,” he lied.
She studied him, her faded blue eyes piercing into him. “I’ll forgive you for lying to me because it’s your birthday, lion shifter. But don’t ever do it again.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
* * *
“Coop, I love it.” Wes held up the crocheted blanket and grinned at his boss. “It’s fantastic, and it’ll look great on my couch.”
Cooper looked pleased, if not a little red in the face, as he slipped his arm around Daisy’s waist. “I tried to match the colours to the pillows on your couch.”
Boone snorted laughter, and Lusa whacked him in the gut. “Shut it, Boone.”
“Hey, it’s fucking awesome,” Boone said. “If I don’t get a granny square blanket for my birthday, I’ll be pissed. I mean that, Coop.”
