“Yeah, that would be nice.” Sheri finished another bite of chicken salad and drank some of her water. “So my pain-in-the-butt boyfriend said you were dropping stuff off at a charity donation site.”
“Yeah, all my grandmother’s clothes. That’s what she wanted me to do.”
“Sure, that makes sense. And then he said you stopped by the food bank and dropped off more stuff?”
Elizabeth let her breath out in exasperation. “Some things Grandma ate that I didn’t.” Elizabeth made a face, as if emphasizing how much she abhorred the food. “What do they think? I’m going to just run off and live somewhere on my own? Try to join Cameron and Faith’s pack in Seattle when David is mated?”
David’s pack was actually living near Ely, Minnesota, not in Seattle, Washington, but that’s where the men were originally from before they were turned in Maine, and that’s all Kintail—and, she assumed, Sheri—had ever known about.
Sheri asked, “How’d you find out about it? David’s mate, I mean. Did you follow his Facebook page all these years?”
Elizabeth’s face heated with worry. She’d never let on that she talked to David at any time after she returned home. Yeah, she hadn’t wanted to leave him behind, and Sheri knew about that. And it was some of the reason she had never dated since. But a lot of it also had to do with the wolves in the pack not wanting to date her because of what she’d done. “Yeah, it was stupid of me, wasn’t it?”
“No, you had a real crush on him.”
More than a real crush.
“If I were you, I would have done the same thing. You never once reached out to him?” Sheri asked.
“No. Don’t get me wrong, there were times I wanted to. But what would be the point? He was there, I was here, and that wasn’t going to change. At least not while my grandma was alive. And now…now it’s too late. He found someone new. Besides, we aren’t the same people any longer.” Which she hoped wasn’t really true.
“Are you sure you aren’t thinking of going there anyway? I know how things are for you here. And you don’t deserve it.” Sheri took another bite of her chicken salad, never once taking her eyes off Elizabeth’s face.
“How do you think I would feel being with a pack where all the wolves are now mated, and the one I really had a crush on is too? I would hate to be around him, seeing the other she-wolf. So no, there’s nowhere for me to go. You ought to know that better than anyone.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. It’ll get better. People will come around once they all learn David is no longer available and you’re not leaving us.”
“Right. That’s why your pain-in-the-butt boyfriend is following me all over town. The mortuary? The food pantry? The charity shop too? It’s ridiculous.” Elizabeth was afraid their plan to pretend David was now mated and she had nowhere to go hadn’t been believed by some of the pack members. She wanted desperately to tell David so he could start thinking of a Plan B, but she couldn’t while Sheri was here, or she would confirm any suspicions her friend might have.
“I agree. I’ll let everyone know that too. It is just ludicrous,” Sheri said.
They finished eating and cleaned up; then they went out to say some words over her grandmother’s ashes. Even with Sheri’s suspicions and digging for information, Elizabeth felt better with her by her side. She only wished David could have been there. She knew he grieved too.
“Do you want me to stay with you for a while longer?” Sheri asked.
“I’ve got to run to the bank and get some paperwork done. It’s amazing all the things you need to do when someone close to you dies.”
“Oh, sure. Listen, if you need any of my help, anything at all, just let me know. I’m always here for you.” Sheri gave her a reassuring hug.
Elizabeth hugged her back. “I will, thanks.”
Then they packed up some of Elizabeth’s perishable food and carried it out to Sheri’s car.
Tears filling her eyes, Elizabeth gave Sheri another hug, like she often did in parting or in greeting, but this time, she didn’t want to let her go, knowing this would be the end of their friendship. Though if Sheri forgave her for lying to her, maybe she could be her new Skype partner. Wouldn’t that be a switch? Trading one for another.
But she didn’t want to get her friend in trouble, and she finally released her, tears in both of their eyes, as if Sheri knew what Elizabeth was up to and she felt saddened by the prospect, as saddened as Elizabeth felt at not seeing her friend ever again. Then she belatedly recalled she was going to have dinner with her and the tears were probably for her grandma, not for her. Elizabeth was so torn up about everything and worried about getting out of here without incident, she could barely think straight.
She waved bye, then went inside and grabbed her purse and her list of things to wrap up before she left.
First up, the bank. That much had been true. The amount of paperwork that had to be sorted through was overwhelming. Bentley and another of Kintail’s gofers followed her, but overtly this time, like they wanted to unnerve her. They did a good job of it too.
Fine. She finished up at the bank and then returned home and called David. “Okay, I’ve been thinking about how Amelia and I met. See if Amelia is good with us saying she and I met on a visit to Cameron Falls. We hit it off so much, we ended up taking a hike on Prospector Trail in Fred Henne Territorial Park the next day. She was there with a group to see the northern lights, to take pictures. She’s a photographer from Juneau and wanted to see if the lights could be observed any better in Yellowknife.”
“But you haven’t really left your grandma’s side since she’s been sick,” David said.
“Yeah, I can say we did it before I went to Maine, so before things got bad with her. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been up there hiking by myself, so I don’t think anyone would question it.”
“Okay, let’s run with that story. I’ll tell Amelia. How are things going for you, honey?” David asked.
She loved how he always used terms of endearment with her. “Good. I have a tail, but I’m not trying to lose them or anything. I’m going to a park I used to visit with Grandma. It’ll make me feel better, connected to nature, connected to her. And it will get my mind off worrying if we’re going to get away with this. If I could, I would run as a wolf, but I’ll save it for when I’m home with you.”
“I can’t wait.”
In the past, running as a wolf had always made her feel better, and thankfully Sheri had always come over to watch Grandma while Elizabeth took a breather.
“I’m going to call Sheri and ask if she wants to go to dinner, that I’m meeting Amelia—or ‘Amy.’”