Page 148 of Masters of Secrets

She didn’t get a chance to respond, though, before Julie turned back to them, her parents beside her. The tension in her body was clear; she held herself stiffly. To Sandra’s credit, she immediately moved away, saying something to Terry that had him nodding as they went.

“Connor, these are my parents, Sun and Daniel.” Her smile was a little strained, but she moved back to his side so she could face her parents while holding his hand. “Mom, Dad, this is Connor.”

“Hello, it’s so nice to meet you,” Connor said, putting his hand out. He wasn’t sure who to put his hand to first, so he kind of put it toward their general direction. Julie’s father took it first. He was only a little taller than Julie, so he had to tilt his head back a fair amount to look up at Connor.

“Nice to meet you, Connor,” Daniel said, taking Connor’s hand in a firm grip. Connor shook it before they released, and he offered his hand to Julie’s mom. At his side, Julie had a death grip on his other hand.

Her mom really did look an awful lot like Julie, and he’d seen this exact look on Julie’s face before. Blank, not giving away anything… which meant that she was displeased but refusing to show it.

Great.

“Nice to meet you,” she said in a short, clipped voice. It didn’t sound like she actually thought it was nice, so he was glad that Julie had prepared him for her parents’ lack of welcome. At least he knew it wasn’t personal. They’d gotten to know and love her ex-husband, welcomed him to the family, and were still struggling with letting go.

Hopefully, they’d give him enough of a chance that he could get them warmed up to him.

“Okay, well, I’m going to take Connor around and introduce him to everyone… and also go grab us a drink.”

“Drinks are in the kitchen,” her mom said.

“I know,” Julie muttered, tugging on Connor’s hand to lead him away.

He went with her, smiling at her parents as best he could, not sure of what else to do. There were an awful lot of people to meet, but he’d really wanted to make a better impression on her parents. That was hard to do if he wasn’t going to be given the opportunity to talk to them. On the other hand, he also needed to be here for Julie and what she wanted. So, he let her lead him away.

Rather than introducing him to anyone, she took him straight into the back of the house, quickly closing the door behind them.

“My parents have two cats,” she explained as she did so. “They like to try to escape. But you probably won’t see them unless they’re streaking past you out the door. They really don’t like people other than my parents.”

“Gotcha.” He’d known cats like that. His grandmother’s cat had rarely let anyone near her. Connor had eventually gotten her to come sit with him, but whether he’d be allowed to pet her was always up in the air. Sometimes, yes; sometimes, he got his hand scratched for his efforts.

It seemed as though almost everyone was in the backyard. The house was quiet and empty. The door had opened right into the kitchen, and she headed over to the coolers that lined the wall next to the fridge.

“What do you want?” she asked. “There’s water, beer, wine, sodas…”

“A soda would be good,” he said. At his size, he could definitely handle his alcohol, but he wasn’t sure how her parents would feel about him drinking the moment he showed up. He’d rather be firing on all cylinders, anyway. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” As she bent over to open one of the coolers, movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to look into the room that was connected to the kitchen. It looked like a living room with a couch and a coffee table. He didn’t have a full view, so he couldn’t see what else was in the room, but what surprised him—after Julie’s previous statement—was that the movement had been a cat. Not just any cat, either. It was the kind of cat he’d only ever seen in pictures—totally hairless.

Awed, he was drawn toward it. He’d never known anyone who had a hairless cat. It was pale with huge blue eyes that watched him unblinkingly as he slowly moved closer. Despite Julie’s claims of unfriendliness, it didn’t go running or even look like it was unhappy to see him coming into its space.

Sitting on the glass coffee table, it held completely still.

“Connor?” Julie asked from behind him.

“Shh, I’m almost to him,” he whispered, not wanting the cat to run. He really wanted to touch it, just to see what it felt like.

“Oh, that’s Avery,” she said, a little closer to him now. Obviously close enough that she could see the cat. “He’s the slightly friendlier one, though I’m surprised he’s out right now. Normally, when the backyard is full, they don’t leave the second floor.”

“Hi, Avery,” Connor crooned. He was close enough now to stoop down a little and rub his finger over the cat’s head. Rather than running, Avery leaned into the touch, purring. His skin was soft, softer than Connor expected, and warm. Different from fur, definitely, but the reaction from Avery was the same.

“Well, shit.” Julie sounded very surprised. “He likes you.”

Turning his hand, Connor kept an eye on the cat as he moved his hand down Avery’s head to scratch his neck. The cat kept purring, stretching out his neck and turning his head to let Connor scratch under his chin.

“Wow. He really likes you.”

Fairly certain that the cat wasn’t going to suddenly attack him, Connor kept giving him scritches while he looked down at the glass table the cat was sitting on. There were several odd circular marks on it, far too small to be from a glass or cup and definitely not something that looked like it was supposed to be on the surface.

“What is that?” he asked, reaching down with his other hand to rub one of them and see if it came off.