24. Chapter Twenty-Four

I took my time on my shift, enjoying munching on all the leaves that were still high up in the trees. I had even found some berries and my giraffe was ecstatic. After finishing my grocery run, I had checked in on Grayson and Julianna. She had been content, happy as a clam in his arms, as he had sat reading her a children’s book. She was much too young, and couldn’t possibly understand what he was saying, but my heart had warmed at the sight.

Since I believed it was never too early to introduce books to a child, and had read to her while she was still in my womb, it had made me happy to see Grayson reading to her. Julianna was just starting to recognize voices, and she had stared at him, fascinated.

The cabin smelled even better than it did earlier, the lovely scents of the vegetables and broth of the soup more enhanced. I found myself looking forward to having lunch with Grayson. Giving him my lists was a huge step forward in whatever our relationship ended up being. It was something I had never shared with anyone, and I was trusting him with a piece of myself.

Because deep down, I did trust Grayson. I always had, from the very first moment he opened that hotel room door. It’s part of what had made me not turn tail and run like a chicken that night. I’m sure he would say that’s because we were fated.

The past weeks had given me a ton of time to think and sort out my feelings. Not to mention researching more on fated mates. I had been surprised at the number of articles citing actual research on fated mates, and all the folklore surrounding them. Talking to Bash, Wade, Ryan and that group of friends had helped too. They all were fated, and while they had some differing experiences with how they had met their mates and what had happened, they all agreed you couldn’t really stop what was meant to be.

Wade and Finn had tried the hardest to fight it out of the group, going five years without acknowledging they were fated to anyone. They had definitely had an enemies-to-lovers relationship, but Fate had still gotten her way in the end. Three pups later, they were ecstatically happy.

Wade had some off-the-wall notion that it all had something to do with his house, that he now rented out. The house had belonged to Quinn originally, and when he met Lachlan, he had eventually sold the house to Wade. Which was when he and Finn had finally gotten over their hatred of each other. After that, Wade rented the house to Ryan, who had met Brendan, and then Bash had come to town and ended up renting the house.

It didn’t matter to Wade that Quinn had pointed out numerous inconsistencies with Wade’s logic. Like the fact that Ryan and Brendan had met before Ryan had moved to Sweet Alps, as had Jamie and Bash. Gabe had pointed out that he and his mate Asher had never lived in the house. Wade had countered with the fact that Gabe was his neighbor and Asher had bought the house across the street, which was close enough in Wade’s world of wisdom. That conversation in the chat had been lively and had made me laugh out loud more than once.

While I didn’t believe Wade’s theories of a magical fated mate house for a second, I had enjoyed being a part of the conversation. I had never had a friend group before, and it was nice. I’d been a little afraid when I had chimed in with scientific facts surrounding fated mates, because I hadn’t wanted to make any of them angry, but Wade had countered with some nonsense and laughed my facts off breezily. But he hadn’t been mad, had just carried on with his wacky theory.

Little by little, I was already feeling a part of the community of Sweet Alps. I had made friends, even if they had been Grayson’s friends first. But it was more than that. It was a feeling of knowing I was where I was supposed to be. Sweet Alps felt like home, something I didn’t think I’d ever really felt anywhere before. Like it was where I was meant to be.

Frowning as I picked my way across the grass on my long giraffe legs, I thought back to the phone call I had finally made to my parents to tell them Julianna had arrived.

My father had congratulated me in his quiet way, asking if I would send some pictures of her. Then my mother had commandeered the phone and demanded to know when I was going to get over whatever I was going through and come back to New York. As if I was a child who was having a tantrum and had run away from home.

“Mother, I told you, Sweet Alps is my home now. I’m not coming back to New York.” Then to add fuel to the fire, I had added, “And I’m not coming for Thanksgiving. I can’t get the time off and the drive is too much with a baby for a day.”

She had sniffed into the phone, “Really, Wyatt, there are planes, or you could leave the child with a nanny. I’ve been going over several offers for you, Wyatt, some look promising. I was hoping to discuss them with you.”

It wasn’t like Thanksgiving was a family affair. My parents had a catered event the night before Thanksgiving and invited a guest list of who’s who in the academic world. It was a world I no longer wanted to be a part of, and I didn’t want Julianna to have to endure one holiday like it. “I’m not interested, Mother. I’ve told you that. I have the daycare and the baby. This is my life now. I won’t be home for Christmas either.”

“We’ve scheduled a vacation over Christmas so won’t be in the country then anyway. Honestly, Wyatt, you’re going to get bored playing babysitter to snot nosed children, and will wish you had some of these projects to challenge your mind.”

Not one word about her granddaughter. Not one. She was probably including Julianna in with the ‘snot nosed children’. “My mind is just fine, Mother. Still a 187 I.Q. I need to go. The baby needs to be fed.”

Ending the call had been a relief. I had sent them pictures of Julianna, and my father had responded but nothing from my mother. It was what I had expected, truly, but a tiny part of me was hoping that maybe, just maybe, having a grandchild would make them better people. Wishful thinking on my part.

My stomach growled and I headed towards the tree line that separated Grayson’s property with this part of the woods. I had seen a few shifters out today, as the weather was still nice enough, even though there was a chill in the air. A cheetah had whizzed past me, and I knew that it was Julianna’s pediatrician, Asher Pierce, who was also Gabe’s mate. I only knew Gabe from the text chat, but he seemed very sweet. A bit shy at first, but he was funny.

Shouldering my way through the branches of the trees, I stepped into Grayson’s backyard. He was standing on his back porch, Julianna in his arms, waiting for me. She was wide awake, moving her arms a bit jerkily, in the way babies do when they are growing.

Grayson’s dark eyes lit up with warmth when he saw my giraffe. Shielding his eyes against the sun, he looked up and up. “You’re so tall, Wyatt.”

Preening, I walked gracefully forward. In my shifted form I stood about seventeen feet tall and weighed about thirty-five hundred pounds. For a giraffe my weight was on the small side, but I had always been skinny.

“Come closer,” Grayson urged, moving forward with the baby. Catching her swinging hand in his, he stopped her movement. “Let her touch you.”

Moving to where they waited on the steps, I ducked my long neck down, so Julianna could touch. Grayson moved her hand over my fur, and her little fingers tugged. She had a grip for someone so tiny. She gave a little squealy sound she had just started to make when she was happy about something. At least I assumed that’s what it meant.

Grayson’s hand covered hers, burying itself in my short fur for a few seconds, before he stroked my neck in a long pet. “Are you hungry? You were gone longer than I expected, but the bread’s still warm. Come inside and eat.”

He left me to shift and I quickly dressed in the jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt I had left in a neatly stacked pile on his porch. Entering his living space, I sniffed appreciatively. The air smelled heavenly. “It smells wonderful in here. Thank you for inviting me.”

My eyes fell on the sofa and area in front of his fireplace. The coffee table had been pushed to the side, and the floor was covered with a mound of soft looking blankets, stacked on top of each other. Two plates, silverware, and napkins sat on top of the blankets. A basket with thick slices of some kind of bread was in the middle. Bowls with handles were safe on the hardwood, placed beside each setting.

“What’s this?” I gestured to the assortment.

Grayson finished snapping Julianna into her bouncy seat, and deposited her safely on a corner of the blankets. Grinning, dimples in full view, he said, “It’s a picnic. What would you like to drink? I have coffee, tea, beer, wine, water. I’m not much of a soda drinker, sorry.”

“Um, water, please.” Staring at the picnic he had laid out, my heart did a pitter patter in my chest.

“Coming up,” he motioned for me to sit. “I know your list said picnic, and you were probably thinking outside. But it’s chilly, and picnics aren’t what they’re cracked up to be. There’s wind, bugs, and dirt. Uneven ground.”

Not knowing what else to do with myself, I sat gingerly on one side of the blanket, careful of the soup bowl, and the warm steam still floating from the top of it. There were enough blankets piled up, I barely felt the hard floor beneath me.

“I thought this would be comfier and would still count as a picnic.” He handed me an icy glass of water, then sank down and sat his cold bottle of beer next to him. “Eat up. The bread is sourdough. It’s good to dip into the soup.”

I didn’t know what to say to any of this. Not the soup this man had made me, without meat, full of perfectly seasoned vegetables floating in hearty broth. Not the fresh bread that was still warm from the oven. And certainly not the impromptu picnic he had thrown together from something I had put on a list of things I wanted to experience one day.

Wishing I hadn’t cut my hair so I could still hide behind it, I took a sip of the soup, not meeting his eyes. The broth was rich, thick and fragrant and the taste exploded on my tongue. It was the perfect blend of salt, spices, and roasted vegetables. “This is wonderful. You’re a good cook.”

He smiled, nodding his head in thanks. “My grandmother was the real cook in the family. She taught my papa, who taught me.”

Looking over his head at the pictures on the mantel, my eyes fell on the oldest photo, and the smiling couple standing outside the restaurant. “Octavia’s was her restaurant?” I guessed, putting the name together from when I had been looking at all the photos lining the mantle.

“It was.” He answered, as I dipped a corner of a slice of bread in the soup. “Dad and Papa took it over after she passed, but I didn’t have time or the desire to run a restaurant when they were gone. It’s doing well, last I heard.”

“You don’t go back to Louisiana often, do you?”

Sadness flickered in his eyes before it vanished quickly. “My parents have been gone ten years now, and there’s nothing left for me there.”

“No other family?”

“My omega dad was an only child, and my alpha dad wasn’t close with his siblings. I have some cousins scattered around the country, but we haven’t been close since we were children. My past…occupation kept me busy and I traveled all over the world.”

We ate in silence for a few minutes, and when he handed me a second bowl of soup, he said, “Can I ask you something?”

Nodding, I sipped my soup, looking over the brim of the bowl.

“Why the screen name 187 on the app?”

Setting the bowl down, I replied, “It’s my I.Q. But I’m sure you already know that.”

His lips curved into an upwards tilt that wasn’t quite a smile. “I figured as much, but I wasn’t sure. Jamie and Bash’s son, Matty, is a genius too.”

“I’ve met him. They had me over for dinner a couple of nights ago.” Julianna fussed, so I rocked her bouncy seat. “Matty is a great kid. He’s lucky to have them as parents. When did she eat last?”

He was scrutinizing me in the way he did, where he tried to not look like he was doing it. Picking apart my words for hidden meanings. Getting to my feet, I didn’t wait for him to answer. “I’ll fix her a bottle.”

He spent the time I was heating her bottle to coo softly to her, which gave me a minute to try to calm whatever was happening in my body. The picnic was sweet, probably one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for me. Mentally, I drew a line through it in my head, marking it off my list.

When I sat back down, he took the bottle from me, feeding Julianna while she still sat in her bouncy seat. “Why do you say that? About Matty, I mean. Not that I disagree, because Jamie and Bash are amazing parents. But I heard something in your voice.”

“They are just very conscious of putting his needs first, and I can appreciate that. Trying to balance his academic needs along with his social needs. It can be tough and not all parents manage it well.”

“Your parents, you mean?”

Sighing, I ran a hand through my curls, uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading. “They weren’t bad parents.” I finally admitted quietly. “Just distant.”

“Wyatt–”

“What do you want me to say, Grayson?” I cried out, “I can’t say they were abusive, because they weren’t. They gave me anything I could ever want. They made sure I thrived, academically. But I’m very aware that I’m lucky nothing bad happened to me in school. High school was bad enough, with bullies and kids older and bigger. But college? Fuck.” I picked at a string on the blanket. “The chaperone they hired disappeared pretty soon after I got there, and my parents never even realized it. Not that I told them, so I guess that’s on me.”

“No, it’s not,” he said with feeling. “You were their responsibility. Would you do that to Julianna?”

It was a question I had asked myself a lot in the last three weeks since becoming a parent. Would I react the same way in the same situations with my own child? The answer was always a big, fat no. I wanted her to have the exact opposite of the childhood I had had. I wanted to be a very different type of parent than my own were. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, and neither will Jamie or Bash with Matty.”

“I know. I’ve put them in contact with some people that can help. There’s a lot Matty will be able to do online, without having to leave home before he’s ready.”

Belly full, I watched as Grayson fed Julianna, then burped her and got her into a fresh diaper. The sun was sinking into the sky outside, causing shadows to form in the room. I’d stayed out in the woods longer than I had planned, causing our lunch to be more on the early side of dinner. Standing, I carried my bowl to the sink. “Thank you for lunch, and for babysitting her.”

“She’s my daughter, Wyatt, it’s not babysitting. It’s parenting.” He deposited his dishes next to mine in the sink, his shoulder brushing against me. Heat burned through the fabric of my shirt where he had touched. His scent filled the spaces next to me, and longing curled slowly through my body.

“True,” I agreed. “We should get out of your hair. Thanks for today,” I said again, no idea why I kept thanking him.

Stop sounding like an idiot, my giraffe grumbled.

Being this close to him, talking to him this afternoon, had flustered me. Slowly, I found myself opening up to him, like I never had anyone before. Telling him truths I had never shared with anyone, and it had me off-kilter. Along with his delicious alpha scent floating over my skin.

Turning, I gestured to the blankets still laid out on the floor and where Julianna waited in her bouncy seat. I could see her eyes drooping from here. She’d had a big day too. “And for the picnic. I’ll just get her stuff and head out.”

I started to move, and his hand caught my wrist, stopping me. His fingers lightly encircled my wrist, and my nostrils flared, my heart pounding. That crazy electricity between us shot up my arm, not as forceful as the first time, but there, nonetheless. Warmth spread from where we touched, all the way up my arm.

“Stay.”