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“Yeah,” she said, relaxing her shoulders a bit. “That bed is obscenely comfortable. I considered staying in it all day.”
Edward laughed while he set up the machine for her caffeine fix. “That would’ve been acceptable, female. But since you decided to get up, what would you like to do today?”
She shook her head. “Plans after coffee, please.”
I served up a breakfast buffet and grabbed a plate. She reached for the stack, but I moved them out of the way. She’d asked for old-school men and now she was getting them. “What would you like?” I asked.
She squinted those blue eyes at me, a nonverbal contest. It lasted for only a few seconds before she blew out a breath. “A little of everything, please. I’m starved.”
I filled a plate and served it to her while Edward poured her a glass of juice. We prepared our own plates and waited until she took the first bite before proceeding. Thank goodness we weren’t rusty on our manners.
“Where did you learn to cook?” she asked. We told her how we learned to cook and detailed some of the cooking classes we’d experienced in other countries. Italy had been the best treat in that department.
“So what would you like to do today, Monroe?” Edward brought the question back up. “Unless you’d like to stay here and read or take a swim. The pool is heated.”
“I think there’s some kind of mountain ladder that you can climb? That might be interesting.”
I cocked my head while my bear assessed her tone and scent. She wasn’t lying, but there was a hint of nervousness about her request. She was testing us.
That, I would accept.
“I saw that. We have to make reservations but let me call and see how soon we can do it.” I got on my phone to find their website.
Edward covered his mouth as Monroe’s face went completely pale. She even dropped her fork on her plate with a clang.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Are you sure you want to go there?” she asked. “It’s very high, and who knows how well they keep up those ladders. It could be dangerous.” Why had she asked if she didn’t want to do it?
Edward reached for her plate and put that and her fork into the sink. He would do the dishes if I cooked. It was a habit we’d gotten into when we realized our two fates were connected and moved in together. “I looked at The Mountain Climb a few months ago, but they were booked up. They inspect the ladder regularly, and it’s perfectly safe. Plus, they hook you to all kinds of ropes and safety equipment.”
“Oh,” she muttered. Gods, she was adorable. I bet she thought we would cower at the thought of climbing a mountain. “Don’t you have any other ideas of things we could do?”
“We want to do whatever you want to do. Ansel, are you calling?” Edward looked at me.
“Doing it right now.”
Chapter Twelve
Monroe
Nobody ever asked me what I wanted to do. My family all had their own agendas, especially Mom, and the only way I could ever fit in was to join them as half of a married couple in the most standard “acceptable” type of relationship. I didn’t know why they were so adamant that I do this. I certainly wasn’t living in any way that should embarrass them.
But considering the family life we had growing up, it was very much what a 1950s ideal might have presented. Mom had never worked outside the home. Even when things got really tight during a layoff at Dad’s plant, they just tightened their belts and squeaked by on his unemployment for a few months. If he hadn’t been called back, I don’t know what they’d have done. But it was their deal, and she expected him to hold up his end. After all, while he was waiting for the layoff to end, she continued to clean and cook and nag her children. She did her part.
My brothers were more modern, and their wives worked until they got pregnant, at which point they became stay-at-home moms. All of them were married and producing grandchildren for my folks. Couldn’t that be enough? If I was happy being a self-supporting spinster sister who doted on the nieces and nephews and showed up for Sunday dinners, why couldn’t they leave me in peace?
Sometimes, I thought they’d be disappointed if I ever did meet someone great and settle down because then who would they have to feel superior to? Looking at the two men I’d traveled here to meet, I knew they were beyond great. But I wasn’t here to settle down. I was appeasing my mother and, at the same time, doing it in a way she’d never be able to accept. If I went home and said, “Mom, I’ve met two men older than you, they are shifters, and I am going to move in with them and live happily ever after,” she’d be pinned in a corner, having to either accept them or back off, right? At least, that was the logic I was going on.
If they ever did ask me what I wanted and I told them, they’d have been more than disappointed. Shocked maybe. Judgy for sure. But here I was with these men, having committed to nothing more than a visit with them, and they were asking me what I wanted to do. It caught me off guard and instead of saying “Let’s stay home and read and pet the cat,” I blurted out the most preposterous idea I had ever come up with. I’d been reading the in-flight magazine on the plane and seen an ad for The Mountain Climb. Happy, athletic people wearing harnesses and helmets were climbing in the picture, and it had great reviews.
But when I said it, I think I wasn’t expecting them to agree. After all, when had anyone at home done that? If I’d suggested “suiting up” and climbing a series of stairs suspended up the side of a mountain, they’d have laughed me off. Never taken me seriously. At least there was the long wait to get a reservation, right? The in-flight magazine had a note about that.
But from the looks of it, these guys were not only taking me at my word that I wanted to do it, they were excited and ready to make it happen. Nobody saying, “Oh, Monroe, you just stay here in the kitchen like a good girl and maybe we’ll take you shopping.”
“I suppose it will be months before there will be an opening,” I murmured. “It’s probably not even worth trying.”
“It’s the only way to find out,” Edward said. “If that’s the case, we’ll take the reservation they offer and hope we can convince you to stay long enough to do it.”
