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None of it is dramatic. That’s what gets me. The years of his life I’ve missed are there in those small gestures, in the ease between them, in all the things he learned to do while I made sure I wasn’t there to see any of it.
The guilt comes back fast. Then Nora’s hand slides into mine beneath the table. No words or pity. Just her presence.
“So what brought you to Screaming Woods?” Scarlett asks Nora, settling back in her chair with one hand resting over the curve of her stomach.
Nora glances at me before answering. “A feeling.”
Scarlett smiles. “A feeling?”
“That my life was waiting here.” Nora shrugs. “Guess that sounds a little strange.”
Scarlett’s expression softens. “That doesn’t sound strange to me.”
Nora’s face brightens. “No?”
“Not remotely.”
“Good. Because most people hear that and assume I make major life decisions based on horoscopes and moon phases.”
“Do you?”
Nora grins. “Only on weekdays.”
Scarlett laughs.
Nora relaxes, smiling back as if she’s just found someone who understands her. She gestures to Scarlett’s stomach. “Can I ask you something incredibly nosy?”
Scarlett grins. “I like nosy questions.”
Nora leans forward. “What’s it like being pregnant when both parents can turn into wolves?”
Reid nearly chokes on his drink.
Scarlett laughs. “Mostly normal,” she says. “Except he thinks I’m made of glass.”
Reid looks offended. “I don’t.”
“You followed me into the bathroom yesterday because I sneezed.”
“It was a violent sneeze.”
Nora’s eyes dance as she covers her mouth.
Reid glares at me as I clear my throat. “Not a word.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Scarlett pats his arm. “He’s very protective.”
By dessert, Nora and Scarlett are discussing baby names and whether magical inheritance counts as genetics.
“It absolutely does,” Reid says.
Scarlett turns to him. “You don’t know that.”
“I know genetics.”
“You’re a wolf.”
