“You look like shit, I’m gonna guess you didn’t sleep last night because you didn’t have him to hold while you did.”
“And I’m gonna guess that makes you happy,” Graham growled.
“Nope, ‘cause I know how shitty that feels. Every single
member of the band has fallen asleep cuddling him, like having a life-sized
stuffed animal. Speaking of which, has he showed you his collection yet?”
“Collection?”
“Of stuffed toys, I’ll guess not from the confused look on
his face. He’s probably got them hidden in the music room thinking you’ll laugh
or something when you see them.”
“The only one I’ve seen is the one Brooks gave him the other
night after dinner,” Graham admitted. “It was a moose. I joked that Zane was
trying to replace me in bed, but I would never laugh at him for collecting them.”
Dalton nodded. “I believe you. He’s special, and the fact
that you’re so stressed out right now over one day apart from him tells me you
recognize that, so, I’m gonna help you out this time. Let’s not make it a
habit.”
“Deal.”
Yet, instead of opening the door, Dalton stepped out into
the hallway, pulled it closed behind him and headed for the stairwell. “You
coming or what,” Dalton remarked when Graham didn’t move fast enough.
“Yeah,” Graham said, hurrying to catch up with him. “I
wasn’t sure you were being serious when you said he wasn’t there.”
“I was. I don’t believe in those kinds of games. If he’d
been here, I’d have told you, and I’d have told him you were at the door so he
could decide if he wanted to speak to you or not.”
Dalton led him back outside and down the block to, of all
places, the daycare center, where the lights were on and almost a dozen wolves
were hard at work, covering the walls in bright, vivid colors. Among those hard
at work were Wilder, Emrys and Zane.
“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed yet, but when Zane is
stressed or anxious about something, he tends to resort to cleaning to help
settle himself down. Wilder and Emrys are the same way. They need something
physical they can do that’s so repetitive it’s like meditation for them. When
they got wind about this project, they decided to volunteer their time, rather
than dwell on the issues that were bothering them.”
“I’d noticed, about the cleaning.”
“When the weather gets nice, he’ll be out in the yard. I
hope you don’t mind him putting in flower beds and a garden.”
“Not in the slightest.”
Staring through the window, Graham watched the way Zane was
so focused applying even strokes up the wall. Someone had given him a roller
with a long handle on it so he could reach the full length of the surface, and
from his vantage point, Graham saw a few splatters of paint decorating that silvery-white
hair he loved running his fingers through. He’d missed doing that last night.
“I don’t want to pull him away from this,” Graham said.
“Then don’t. The coffee shop across the street is open. We
can grab some cocoa ‘cause lets face it, coffee at this time of night wouldn’t
be good for either of us. You can talk to him when they’re done.”
“Fine, maybe they’ll even have some chocolate chip cookies
left.”
“Can’t hurt to hope,” Dalton replied as they headed across
the street. As they went, Graham caught sight of a stuffed koala in the window
of the shop next door.
“Does he have one like that yet,” Graham asked, pausing and
pointing it out to Dalton.
“Nope. It’s cute as hell though. And now that you’ve taken
my personal Koala away, I might have to resort to buying stuffed companions
myself.”
“As long as it’s not that one,” Graham said. “I intend for
that to be the first in what I hope doesn’t turn into a long line of apology
gifts I bring home for him.”
“Good luck with that,” Dalton replied. “Though if I were
you, I’d put in a standing order with the Gunderson’s and be done with it. Their
family has been making critters like that for years. You might wanna keep a few
on hand for nights like this, save you the trouble of running out searching for
one the next time you forget to think before sayin’ the wrong thing.”
“You might be on to something with that.”
“Trust me. When it comes to saying the wrong shit, I’ve got
a PHD. Unfortunately, it’ll take far more than a stuffed animal to undo the
messes I’ve made.”
Death Growl, book three of the Comet Lake Chronicles is slated for release this summer. In the meanwhile, you can enjoy books one and two, available on Amazon now.
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