It brought a stabbing pain to Lillian’s heart. She brought Ben food every so often, checking in on him. Logan and Jessica had thought that by asking the man to work on some improvements to the building, that it would start bringing the man out of his shell. In fact, it had done the opposite. Ben withdrew even further from the pack. He stopped spending time with his parents and sisters. Stopped attending pack meetings. He became a complete recluse in the house he built for his fated.
Lillian knew instinctively that Ben would never snap out of his depression unless the hunters were caught. And although she believed whole-heartedly in Gabriel and Logan, even she was starting to wonder if that day would even come.
A noise behind her caught her attention.
“This is the perfect spot children! Now, put your skates on, and reach for the sky! Call out to Venus and let her know your thanks for giving us this town!” Stanley Carmichael pronounced.
Stanley led a group of children on a skating adventure through the nearby empty parking lot. He was wearing his now familiar, blue jumpsuit. Today, it was accompanied by lime green ice skates.
A smile tugged at her lips as she watched Stanley lead the children through a rendition of his dance down Main Street. How they all stayed on their feet, she had no idea.
“Mr. Stanley, what does Venus have to do with our town?”
“Everything my child! Everything! Years ago, when Everett Stone began looking for a safe place for shifters to live, he prayed to Venus. Much like we do today! And she came to him in a dream and told him to come to this exact land! This area would be the place where he would create a town for him and his ancestors to prosper! He arrived and built the town y’all see today! So, every year, when Venus is in perfect alignment, we give thanks with a song and dance for the land we call home!”
“Um, that doesn’t sound like what my mom told me.”
“Do you think your Alpha would let me tell you this story if it wasn’t true? Of course, it’s true! Now, let us dance and sing our praise!”
Stanley led the children through a dance and some sort of song. It didn’t really have words per se. More like yells and shouts.
“Oh, there you are! I am so sorry I am late!” Jessica rushed up and exclaimed.
“It’s alright sweetheart! I’m just happy to help!”
“I am so glad you agreed to help me out. I have so many questions. How do you stay organized? What do you do about taxes? How do you pick your vendors? What about paying them? How do you schedule your vendors and staff?”
“OK, OK. First you need to take a deep breath. Once we get you settled on a schedule, everything will work out just fine. It’ll practically run itself,” Lillian calmed as she herded Jessica inside.
Ben noticed the women enter, and silently turned, heading into the back of the building.
The women exchanged sorrowful looks. Both felt the anguish that radiated off the man and neither knew how to help him. They found chairs and sat down near the front window. From her seat, Lillian had a fantastic view of Stanley and the kids.
“I feel so bad for him, I just don’t know how to help,” Jessica uttered under her breath.
“The only thing we can do is be there for him. Help him pick up the pieces when he reaches out for us,” Lillian advised. “Now, what about those questions?”
“Oh, I have so many more!” the younger woman began.
As Jessica prattled on and on, Lillian found her attention drawn to the man outside. Stanley still led the children in song and dance. Several had looks of wonder and concentration etched on their faces. A couple looked like they couldn’t believe what they were doing. Regardless if the young believed in their actions, they followed Stanley’s lead. And what a sight they were.
Little ones dressed in their snow suits, skating around an ice-covered parking lot. Dancing like they were all having seizures. Chanting nonsense. All being led by a man in a giant blue aluminum space suit and lime green skates. Lillian just shook her head at the picture they made. And craned her neck to get a better view of Stanley’s butt in that suit. It did wonders for that man. Shoot! That man had a nice butt.
“Lillian? Why are you looking at Mr. Carmichael like that?” Jessica inquired as she waved her hand in front of Lillian’s face.
“What?” a startled Lillian asked.
“Why are you looking at Nina’s dad like you want to eat him?”
“Excuse me?! I was doing no such thing! I was just watching the children in the parking lot!” she tried to down-play.
“Mhm.”
“I’m serious!”
“Do you like him or something? I mean, he’s a nice man and all. So, it’d be understandable. Do you have a crush on him?!” Jessica’s voice grew in pitch with each sentence she spoke.
“No, I do not have a crush on the man! Crushes are juvenile. We are just friends,” she argued while trying to ignore the blush that was currently creeping across her cheeks.
“OK, whatever you say Lillian.”
“I do say. Now let’s start on your scheduling,” Lillian diverted the conversation.
Why did it bother her that Jessica noticed her staring after Stanley? He was just a friend. Sure, he was a friend that made her heart skip a beat. And butterflies erupt in her stomach. But he was just a friend! Just a friend!
Maybe if she kept telling herself that, she would believe it. Because over the last several weeks, she had started to notice the man in different ways. Like the fact that he had a nice butt. And a head full of hair. And the deepest brown eyes she had ever seen.
But they were just friends!
Chapter 4
It was Wednesday! Oh, what a wonderful day Wednesday was! Wednesdays were the days Stanley took a late lunch at the diner. He designed it this way so the lovely Lillian could sit with him and talk. They’ve never really talked about heavy things, just superficial. Like the weather. Or the latest gossip in town. Or how Nina was doing. Or one of the other people in this town Lillian thought of as hers.
And today was the day he got to spend some quality time with Lillian! She had quickly become one of his closest friends in this town. And now? Now he couldn’t help but wonder if she could mean more. He’d always known she was beautiful. With her full curves incased in such a small woman, she definitely caught his eye. But it was her personality that drew him in. Her brown eyes sparkled at him and he knew what people said about the eyes. They were windows to someone’s soul. And her eyes always showed him her soul.
Stanley walked through the door of the diner and reveled in the warmth the place emitted. He was from the South so this ungodly cold weather chilled him to the bone. Snow was a fairly foreign thing to him. But in this new town he called home, snow and winter went together like peanut butter and jelly.
He caught sight of his favorite waitress through the window to the kitchen. She was laughing at something her cook said. Man, did he love her laugh. It jingled like bells. But it was soft enough to where it wasn’t obnoxious. And he really liked it. Especially when she giggled at him.
“Stanley! Go ahead and sit any where and I’ll be right there!” she cried out once she noticed him.
“Sure thing, Lillian.”
He settled into a booth he had started to think of as his. Well, as his and his daughters. It was the same one Nina insisted on sitting in every time she came in. When he first moved here, he started claiming it as well and over time it just became his.
“How are you today, Stanley?” Lillian asked as she floated up to his table.
“I’m doing great today Lillian! How’s your day gone?”
“Oh, can’t complain. It’s always wonderful to see my town come in! But the break they give me around now is always a good breather. What can I get you today?”
“Hmmm, how about that Santa Fe Soup that I’ve been hearing so much about?”
“Great choice! You will just love it! Give me a sec to fill it, and it’ll be right out!”
She sent him a dazzling smile be
fore she turned to the kitchen. He snuck a look at her backside as she walked away. The way that amazing feature swayed and bounced with each step, made his mind think dirty thoughts. Thoughts he hadn’t had about a woman since his wife.
Maybe he should have felt guilt for his thoughts. Afterall, they weren’t about his wife. Don’t get him wrong, he loved his wife. Still did. But she was gone and had been for years. And he knew without a shadow of a doubt, she would want him to find happiness again one day. Something inside of him told him that Lillian could be that happiness. And his late wife was OK with it.
“Alrighty, here you go Stanley.”
“Wow, thank you Lillian. It smells fantastic. Why don’t you grab yourself a bowl and join me?”
Flattery never hurt anything.
“I already had something to eat, but I guess I could sit down for a few minutes,” Lillian conceded as she slid into the other side of the booth.
“Wow, this really is fantastic Lillian. I don’t think I’ve had anything like this since my wife died. She used to make the best Santa Fe Soup. I think you would have given her a run for her money.”
“Thank you, Stanley. I’ll take that as a compliment. You never really talk about her,” she hedged.
“It is a compliment! I’m sorry if it sounded otherwise. My wife was my best friend. She was the calm to my crazy. And yes, I know some think I’m crazy. But my wife centered me. She died of cancer when Nina was a little girl. You watch one of the centers of your world slowly die, and you make some choices after. You choose to focus on the good, not the bad. I talked about her a lot more when Nina was younger. And we still talk about her periodically. But at some point, I made the decision to keep my memories of her to just Nina and me. It made things easier in other parts of life.”
“I could see that. A deceased spouse would put a damper on a social life.”
“No, it was never that. I haven’t really dated much since she passed. Never met a woman who held my interest long enough to really get to know. My wife was sick for a long time before she passed so we had the chance to have all those talks of what to do after she was gone. She would want me to be happy. Even if that meant sharing my life with someone else.”
“That sounds like a difficult thing to tell your spouse. But it also shows how strong she was. She sounds like she was a great woman.”
“She was. Nina reminds me a lot of her.”
“Nina doesn’t take after you?” Lillian asked with a sly smile.
A laugh came from him.
“No, Nina doesn’t show the same interests that I do. She’s very tolerant of me. But she does have my academic brains. She’s extremely smart. I don’t know if she told you, but I was an engineer for NASA before I retired out here.”
“I did hear something about that! What did you do as a NASA engineer? Build spaceships?” she asked with a wink.
“Unfortunately, not. I worked on super squirrelly projects. Never really knew their whole stories. Just enough to do my job,” he answered on a laugh.
“Oh, that’s sort of disappointing,” she frowned.
“Maybe. But I never really had stories to begin with. Maybe they did that on purpose because they knew of my beliefs?” he pondered. That last thought only just hit him. After years of working for the government, it had only just donned on him that they wouldn’t have told him the whole story based on what he believed.
“Is that where your beliefs come from? Working with NASA?”
“Eh, sort of. You work on secretive projects for so long, you learn to believe all sorts of things. I’ve always had dreams, so it felt a little natural to lean towards my beliefs. Plus, I like being the crazy one around. Makes life a lot less boring!”
“Well that’s for sure!”
The two shared a laugh before he turned a thoughtful look onto her.
“Is that why you opened the diner? To make life a lot less boring?”
“Oh, no. This used to be my mom’s place. She opened it when I was little. She had a love of cooking for people. I grew up in here and as soon as I was old enough to help out, I basically took over the front. Mom stayed in the back and cooked; I worked out front and paid the bills. Mom was really bad at that. The same cook we have now, was a kid when we hired him to help mom when she got older. After she died, I officially took over and things pretty much stayed the same.
“Well, that and I love people. I love taking care of them. Giving them a place to check in and recharge when they need it.”
“So that’s who Maybelle is! I always wondered about that.”
“Yup. Maybelle was my mom. A woman of many talents in the kitchen with an affinity for the 50s.”
Stanley followed Lillian into a fit of laughter. The place really did look like an old 1950s diner. And it was kept up and appeared to be renovated quite regularly. Just enough so it kept its character and charm but wasn’t falling apart.
“Tell me Stanley, what do you plan to do in Everett Hollow? Forgive me, but you just seem like the sort of person who can’t sit still without a project,” she asked on a blush.
“You are 100% correct my dear. Before I retired, I would invent things in my spare time. I’ve tried to continue that here but invent things that would help the ‘community.’ Unfortunately, I haven’t had any good ideas. Those may come with time as I discover the needs here. But! I have been thinking a lot lately about opening a bar. There is no local watering hole here and that needs to be remedied.”
“What sorts of things did you invent? And a bar sounds like a fantastic idea!”
“I know! I would invent things that would make it easier to talk on the phone without government interference, and things that help fellow conspiracists. But the bar is what has been on my mind lately.”
“I think something like that would do very well here. We used to have something, but the owner died, and no one wanted to take it over. Running your own business with those sorts of hours can be difficult.”
“Well, that just sounds like a challenge to me!”
“I have no doubt you could do it Stanley.”
“Thank you, Lillian. Can I ask you something?”
“Of course! You can ask me anything!”
“How did you learn about, you know, shifters,” he leaned across the table to whisper the last word.
“I found out when I was a child. Gosh, I couldn’t have been older than, eight? Mom was back in the kitchen and I wandered outside to play. You could do that back in those days,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, now not so much.”
“I know, it makes me sad. Anyway, I ran off to play in the woods behind the building and I came across several of the members. Actually, it was Gabriel’s grandfather and some from his Council. Margaret was the newest addition. She was the youngest member in the history. But I watched them shift and almost passed out. I watched them go from animal to man and it completely freaked me out. They noticed I was there almost immediately, so after they pulled their clothes on, Gabriel’s grandfather came up to me and explained what I saw. Who they were.
“I thought it was cool as a kid and struggled to keep the secret. All you want to do at that age, is to tell all of your friends. But I kept it. Made friends with some members and when I struggled or had questions, Margaret was there to answer them. When I took over the diner, I started catering certain things for the pack. And the rest was history!”
“That is some tale. Gabe told me only because he knew I’m just crazy enough to figure it out on my own. And it made things easier for him and Nina and their future children.”
“Now that, I believe. It makes complete sense,” she agreed whole-heartedly.
And he knew she didn’t agree out of malice. She agreed because she knew him. She knew what sort of person he was. How his mind worked.
“I only ask because I wanted to know your take on these hunters. Has anything like this ever happened before?”
Lillian sat back and exhaled before answering him, “Not that I can reme
mber. At least not to this extent. Sure, there have been incidents over the years with injuries to wolves or dead deer. But nothing this vicious. Any injuries were all deemed accidents and the wolves made full recoveries. The forest is very well marked for hunters. Most of them follow the signs but there have been one or two that have crossed the line accidently. I’ve never heard of something getting this out of hand or being this vicious.”
“It makes me nervous. If they can do this to wolves, what’s to say they couldn’t do that to humans? Well, humans that appear human.”
“And that is what has Gabriel, Logan, and the Council on edge. They know what it could turn into. The boys are working very hard to end it. That I have no doubt of. We have to believe that they’ll stop this once and for all.”
Stanley sat in companionable silence with Lillian as he pondered what she said. He knew she was right, but he couldn’t help but worry. This was his daughter’s home. Her family. His family. It scared him to his bones about what lengths these hunters could go.
A bell jingled, turning his attention to the front door. Several families walked in and took seats around the diner.
“Well, looks like I have to get back to work. It was great talking to you Stanley,” Lillian told him.
“Thank you for sitting with me. Get back to work, and I’ll see you around?”
“Of course!”
Lillian beamed a bright smile his direction before walking off to her next customers. He loved getting to spend time with that woman. This was one of their more serious talks. In fact, this was the first time they talked about anything heavy. And he found he liked it. He liked being able to talk to her about the tough things. The things on his mind. What bothered him. What was happening around them.
He placed enough money on the table to cover his meal and a nice tip before heading toward the door. He shrugged back into his winter coat and threw a wave goodbye to Lillian. A bright smile was his goodbye in return.
The Raconteur And The Waitress (The Wolves 0f Everett Hollow Book 2.5) Page 2
