AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, what?”
“He ate Poopmachine.”
That was not what I’d expected. I guffawed in surprise. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. That’s horrible.”
She shook her head, taking a big bite of sandwich. “Not at all. That’s just nature,” she said around the mouthful. After swallowing, she said, “Pickle was a bullfrog, and they’re freaking strong. I had him in a tank, and he learned he could strong-arm that lid right off. We had to start keeping a heavy textbook on it after Dad found him in his shoe one morning.” Her eyes grew fond. “Pickle was my gateway frog.”
“You had others?” She was so animated talking about this I didn’t ever want her to stop.
“Oh yes, I also had two White’s tree frogs named Bean and Poko. But in the end, I couldn’t handle having to raise the crickets to feed them. I’m terrified of bugs. I devised this contraption with a paper towel tube, Saran wrap, and an elastic so I could pick them up and toss them in with the frogs before they could get loose. Even using tweezers was too close for me. Then one night there was a jailbreak, and we woke up to crickets everywhere.”
I had been just about to ask if she wanted to take up keeping frogs again, but now I held my tongue. I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with cricket jailbreaks.
She giggled. “The tiny bit of cat in me insisted I go chase after them. Which meant I’d chase one and smash it, but then freak out because it touched me. It was very confusing. Needless to say, that science project ended right then and there. We returned Pickle to his pond and found a collector for my two Whites. But the crickets serenaded us for months afterward from all the nooks and crannies of our house. We couldn’t actually find them, but we heard them.”
I grinned, imagining her as a kid trying to fight her feline nature while the human part of her freaked out over a smashed cricket. I’d always wondered how shifters dealt with their nonhuman side.
“I still think frogs are really cute, though,” she chattered on. “Did you know frogs swallow with their eyeballs? Seriously. They do this.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “When they push their eyeballs down, it forces the food into their stomach.” Then her face turned an adorable shade of pink. “Oops. I’m sorry. I’m talking your ear off about frogs, aren’t I?”
“I don’t mind. Because no, I didn’t know frogs swallowed with their eyeballs. That’s cool.” I liked learning more about her, and I loved that she got so passionate about something like frogs. “There are tons of frogs out on the stiller shallows of the lake. You can hear them calling all summer long. We’ll sit out there next spring and listen to them. Maybe catch a few.”
She grinned. “I’m holding you to that.”
As we loaded our dishes into the dishwasher—yes, I had one here—we got a call from Shelby, who was monitoring social media and gossip magazine websites for any mention of my name.
“It’s already starting,” she giggled gleefully. “There’s the article we leaked about you two secretly dating but suddenly needing a rush wedding to stop some mysterious snow leopard shifter organization from taking her away. But there’s also a photo of you two sharing a tender moment at a café. And videos of you getting into your car and driving off after the wedding. Oh, and someone went and interviewed the sales lady at the jewelry store who says, and I quote, ‘Gunnar isn’t anything like I thought he’d be. He’s absolutely in love with her and so sweet. They’re super cute together, and I hope they come back for their anniversary bands.’”
I chuckled. Of course she would. Mindy was on commission.
“So it’s working,” Lillian said. “What about The White Claws? Any talk there?”
“We didn’t mention them by name on purpose,” Shelby explained. “But there’s a lot of speculation on who it might be. We’re waiting for them to show up here at the building to leak that part. You know, feed it to the public one tantalizing tidbit at a time. Keep that buzz up.”
“I’m glad one of us knows how this stuff works,” Lillian muttered.
“Oh, it’s not me. I did my part posting about yourgown fitting,along with photos from the wedding, and I commented on and reshared any photos or posts about the two of you I came across. But it’s mostly our contacts at the EA doing this. Apparently, some of them owe Eamon favors. And others are just bored. This is a lot more fun than their usual paperwork.”
“You can say that again,” I said darkly. Filling out paperwork for the EA was one of the least favorite things in my life and one of the reasons I avoided taking on any bodyguarding jobs for them.
“Anyway, I’ll let you guys go, but I’ll keep you updated. Enjoy your time at the cottage!”
Chapter 16
Lillian
IstaredintoGunnar’sfreezer, amazed at the giant selection of meals he had ready to go. When he’d told me he had a lot of freezer meals, I’d expected the ones you’d get from the supermarket. You know, whereground beefactually meant textured soy protein with a smidgen of beef flavoring, andchickenwas mechanically separated poultry product.
Instead, rows and rows of neatly arranged meals in uniform foil trays, clearly homemade, stared back at me from the chest freezer. One stack was labeledHigh Protein,and the other was labeledComfort Food.There was even a stack of pies, cakes, and other desserts.
“So, this is where you spend your extra income,” I teased.
“Yeah. It’s hard to get delivery all the way out here,” Gunnar said from behind me.
“Right. Well, I love to eat, but I don’t particularly like to cook, so that’s fine by me. I do like to bake, though,” I admitted. Then I giggled. “Spending your money on gourmet freezer meals made by a personal chef is a whole lot better than spending it on drugs and whores.”
“Haha, yeah…”
I twisted around and leveled a devastating look at him. “Explain,” I said, crossing my arms.
