I looked where she was pointing and sure enough it was. “That’s her,” I said.
“She’s adorable!” Stephie took a moment to wipe at her eyes and sniff, then slid into her car. “See you later.”
I watched her go down the road, and once the car was around the corner I turned toward the dog. “Do you want to talk to me?”
The puppy’s ears twitched. “Come over and we’ll sit down and talk.” She seemed to start my way, only to stop in mid-stride and head in the other direction.
A sigh on my lips, I headed back into the house.
I wandered around a few minutes, drank some water, ate a couple of cookies, and peeked out the windows about a million times. When I was fairly certain she wasn’t coming back anytime soon, if at all, I stripped and shifted.
Bumpkins and I played a little while, but Miz Carlisle kept too close a watch to allow for us to really let loose. Still, it was a relief I really needed. I ran for a bit, allowing the movement to push tension and stress out of my body. I was thrilled that Shay and Ace had hit things off so well, but at times like this, I seriously missed having my cousin around to talk to.
A familiar scent caught my attention, and I turned. The teenage girl I’d seen hanging around stood at the front fence. I took my time going toward her, noticing as I did that her scent and the puppy’s were similar. Sister or not, this girl was a shifter.
I sat near her on my side of the fence, hoping not to spook the skittish girl. I looked at her, she looked at me, and I figured were both wondering what next.
She looked past me and a smile lit her face. “So cute!”
By now the scent of kitten verified what I’d suspected. Scrappy had yet another admirer.
The girl sat on her heels and slowly reached her hand through the fence and toward the cat. Scrappy edged forward and rubbed her head against the girl’s fingers.
“She’s so soft!” The girl looked at me. “Is it okay if I pick her up?”
I nodded. She turned back to Scrappy and murmured nonsense as she took the kitty in her arms. I watched her a few minutes, enjoying the affection between my cat and a girl who just might be my sister. Sister. Boy was that a strange thought!
My possible sister glanced toward me, a big grin on her face, and warmth filled my heart. I caught her gaze and used my nose to indicate the house.
“You want to go in the house?”
I nodded.
She looked at the house for a moment, then nodded. “Can I carry kitty in?”
I nodded, gave her my best canine grin, then went to the gate and used my nose to poke at the latch. She flipped open the gate, came inside, and locked the latch back. I headed toward the house, looking back occasionally to make sure she was following, and led her to the front door. I gave a short bark and used my paw to smack the floor twice.
“You want me to wait here?”
I nodded and headed around the house to the doggie door. A couple of minutes later I had dressed and pulled open the front door.
The girl came inside and put the now squirming kitten on the floor. She took a moment to watch Scrappy run around, then stood and faced me. “So you are a shifter. Daddy said you weren’t, but I didn’t believe him.” She held out a hand. “I’m Rose.”
“Terri,” I said, giving the smaller hand a squeeze. “You’re a shifter too, right? I’ve seen a collie puppy.”
She frowned. “You didn’t know? I thought Daddy would have told you.”
I let out the deep sigh before it popped me like an overfilled balloon. “I’ve only spoken to Daddy twice since I was four, both of them within the last few days. Until then I didn’t even know I had a sister.”
She stood staring at me, big eyes blinking rapidly, forehead pulled into a frown. “Really? I thought it was just me he didn’t like.”
My heart took a dive toward my toes. Before I started asking questions, I probably should show the kid some manners. “How would you feel about a turkey sandwich?”
“I am a little hungry.”
In the kitchen I loaded down the counter with sandwich makings. Rose tentatively began to put a few things on her bread.
“I don’t know about you, but after I shift I’m always starving.” I plopped a huge hunk of turkey on my bread and proceeded to follow that with a couple of slices of roast beef, various slices of cheese, pickle slices, a squirt of spicy mustard, and a tiny slice of tomato on top.
She grinned, and followed my lead. Our sandwiches were stacked when we sat at the kitchen table with glasses of iced tea. We both dug in with the enthusiasm only a shifter could appreciate.
“My mom says I eat like a teenage boy,” she said between huge bites.
“My mom told me that too. Then she told me I would weigh a ton before I was twenty.” I smiled at my sister. My sister. Wow that was a weird thought. “We use a huge amount of calories when we shift, so we have to eat a lot to keep going.
She glanced toward the floor and smiled, then tore a bit of meat off her sandwich and leaned down. Scrappy backed up a step once she got hold of the treat, and scarfed it down. Rose saw me watching and looked down at her plate. “I probably shouldn’t have done that without asking.”
“It’s fine. I’ve spoiled her so badly she’s probably beyond hope already.”
Rose chuckled. “I’d love to have a cat, but we live in an apartment that doesn’t allow pets.”
My food caught in my throat and I took a moment to swallow it. “Wait, you live in an apartment?”
She nodded.
“Then how do you handle shifting?”
She poked a finger at her sandwich as she shrugged. “We go to a friend of Mom’s, two, sometimes three, times a week. I can run in her backyard with her dogs.”
I had a sudden need to have my hearing checked. Surely I didn’t just hear what I think I did. “You only shift two or three times a week?”
“Sometimes not even that much, if Mom’s busy or something.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I blinked hard to hold them back. “That has to be really hard. If I can’t shift at least a couple times a day I feel like my skin’s gonna crawl off me.”
Rose stared at me as her forehead pulled into a frown. “It bothers you too?”
“It’s actually painful after a while.”
She wiggled in her seat, looked at her hands, and bit her lower lip. “Mom says the more I shift the more I’ll want to shift, until I want to stay a dog.”
“Have you talked to your…to Daddy about it?”
She shook her head. “He won’t talk about it.”
“Is that what makes you think your…our…dad doesn’t like you? Because he won’t talk about shifting with you?”
“He won’t talk to me about anything. He pretty much just ignores me.”
“I’m sorry, Rose. He apparently has some serious father issues.”
“No kidding.” She locked her gaze on mine. “You said you shift a couple of times a day. Wow! Do you want to stay a dog all the time?”
“No. I love the feeling of being canine and running and stuff, but I like being human just as much.”
Rose sighed. “It is so great to talk to somebody who knows about this shifting stuff.”
“I’m not an expert or anything.”
“You’re a shifter. That, for sure, makes you more an expert than Mom.”
Great, now I was a freaking expert. I believe a cliché involving the blind leading the blind would be appropriate here. I sighed. “I wish Daddy would talk to you. To me too, for that matter. I’m sure there are a million things he could tell us about shifting and living as a shifter and who knows what else.”
I was ready to end the conversation involving our errant parental unit, and I recognized the wiggling Rose was doing. It was time to play. “Wanna go run in the backyard?”
Hope filled her eyes, making her look even younger than she was. “You mean…”
“As four-legged creatures. What do you call your canine self?”
She looked at me like I was asking what planet we were on. “What do you mean?”
My turn for confusion. “You don’t call yourself by another name when you’re a dog?”
“Why would I? I’m still me.”
I shrugged. “In case somebody asks the dog’s name. It also makes it easier to keep things straight. My canine name is Trixie.”
“So l need to name the other me?”
“Only if you want to.” I smiled at my beautiful sister. “Let’s go running in the yard. There’s a doggie door in the back door where we can come and go as we please.”
I reached for the tie behind my neck to unfasten my halter top.
“You just…right here…”
A glance at her wide eyes and the bloodless color of her face had me retying my top. “I’m sorry, Rose. Shay is always telling me that not everybody is as uninhibited as I am. You can use my bedroom, it’s the one on the left.” I indicated the direction.
A few minutes later, Trixie greeted Rose’s puppy self, and we headed out into the yard. We raced around, Rose played with Scruffy, and we even played with Bumpkins for a bit. We went easy on each other, and he was surprisingly gentle with Rose.
The sun was low on the horizon when an SUV pulled into the driveway and Ace and Shay piled out. I barked hello, and they waved toward me. I turned toward Rose, hoping I could show her off, or maybe even introduce her to our cousin and her fiancé. She had other ideas though, she’d jumped the fence and was headed toward the forest. I considered going after her. I was sure I could follow her scent. But would that just freak her out? Maybe even destroy the tiny bit of trust we’d forged? My heart twisted as I turned and walked toward the house.
Chapter Fifteen
I went in the back door and straight into my bedroom to shift, get dressed, and put my ragged emotions back where they belonged. When I saw Rose’s clothes folded on my bed, her sneakers sitting neatly side by side on the floor, I realized my emotions would be a long time in straightening out. I had a sister. Wow!
When I joined the group again, Ace headed directly toward me. “Do you know who that little collie belongs to? I’ve seen it a couple of times, but I couldn’t get a good look, much less check for a collar.”
“She’s new around here.” Immediately my mind went into a tizzy wondering how much I could say without invading Rose’s privacy.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” Shay’s eyes were huge, almost as big as her smile. “That collie is your sister, and she’s a shifter like you.”
So much for invading Rose’s privacy. They were family, though, and I knew they would accept her without question. “Yes, that was Rose.”
“We scared her off.” Shay gave me a hug. “I’m sorry.”
“She’s really skittish,” I told her. “She took off before I could tell her you’re family.”
“We’ll meet her later.”
“Holy double-collie, there’s two of ’em.”
I slugged Ace in the upper arm hard enough that he groaned. “Stuff it, human.”
“Doggie breath.”
I blew in his face, then turned. “I’m going outside for a bit. I’ll be back.”
“We’ll start dinner.” Shay headed for the kitchen.
Ace shifted his feet, glanced into the kitchen, then shifted some more. I chuckled. “You can relax, I’m going outside as a human.”
I didn’t wait for his snarky remark, I went out the back door and stood on the porch looking out toward the woods behind the house. “Rose,” I said, pitching my voice so that only someone standing near me—or a canine—could hear. “I want to talk more when you feel comfortable coming back. Or I’ll meet you somewhere.”
When I felt the rush of tears in my eyes, I realized just how emotional I was about that adorable sister of mine. I barely knew her, and yet there was a connection between us that was incredibly strong.
A car pulled up to the front, and I could tell by the sound it was the other person I cared deeply for but wasn’t sure what to do with. “At least let me know you’re okay,” I told the sister I loved, then turned toward the house and the man I loved.
In the kitchen, I shoved past the tangled bodies of my cousin and Ace. Starting dinner, my left paw. I rolled my eyes, but there was a smile on my face. I loved my cousin, and if Ace made her happy, then that was fine with me.
I pulled open the door just as Hunter started a second round of knocking. “Sorry,” I told him. “I had to shove past the Shay and Ace meld in the kitchen.”
Hunter grabbed me and plastered my body against his. “Like this?” He whispered against my lips, then proceeded to kiss me until I was floating a mile in the air on a cloud of happiness.
“Aren’t they cute?” Shay said.
“Charming,” Ace said.
We looked toward the couple standing in the kitchen door. “We are, aren’t we?” Hunter grinned.
“Aren’t you supposed to be making dinner?” I asked.
They looked deeply into each other’s eyes. “We were thinking about maybe just getting tacos.”
I narrowed my eyes at them. “You two have to go get them.”
“We will,” Ace said. “In a minute.” He pulled Shay against him, locked his lips against hers, and I buried my face in Hunter’s chest. Laughter rumbled through him.
“We’re going to starve,” Hunter said.
I looked up at him. “Doesn’t that new Chinese place deliver?”
He raised an eyebrow. “They do.”
I looked behind me to find Ace in the overstuffed chair and Shay in his lap. I raised my gaze to the ceiling and asked, “Anything special from the Chinese place?”
There was a muttered, “Whatever,” and an “Anything,” from the chair’s direction.
Hunter and I went out on the porch so the people who took our order wouldn’t think we were watching a porn film. Okay, okay, it wasn’t that bad, but it was getting to be a little much.
On the other hand, for once, Miz Carlisle watching us didn’t bother me. I had way too much on my mind to care what an old biddy thought. Like my odd and confusing family, for instance.
Hunter and I sat side by side in the white wooden chairs and held hands. He smiled at me with a warmth and caring that I wouldn’t have imagined I could get from anybody. Now I was sitting beside this handsome, intelligent man who I loved with all my heart. If only I knew he could accept who I really am.
A car pulled up, and Hunter squeezed my hand gently before he got up to pay the delivery guy. He carried the food, and I opened the front door about an inch.
“Food’s here,” I yelled. We waited until the giggling and fabric rustling stopped, then I yelled, “Coming in!”
I waited a slow count of ten, then stepped into the room. The couple was still in the chair, smiling at us, and trying hard to look innocent. Ace’s hair stood straight up, Shay’s top was on backward, and they both looked like they’d just had the best dessert of their lives. Innocent? Not so much.
We all sat on the floor around the coffee table. The food was good, especially considering it was Chinese and we were basically in the middle of nowhere. The world is a small place these days.
Conversation was easy and fun, and I especially enjoyed Ace teasing Hunter about his propensity for sci-fi costumes. When he pulled out a classic red fez, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
“Give me my fez back.” Hunter stuck the thing on his head.
I laughed in spite of myself. He didn’t appear to be insulted though, he just went back to eating as if nothing had changed. Thankfully, I managed to keep my reaction down to a giggle.
Hunter raised his eyebrow at me, shrugged, and launched into a story about Ace going behind a bush for privacy, only to come running toward the rest of the group, holding his pants to keep from tripping on them, and screaming like a little girl.
“You’d scream too if you’d damn near sat on a rattlesnake.”
Shay’s eyes widened into softballs. “There are
rattlesnakes in South America?”
“The most dangerous kind,” Hunter said. “They have two types of venom, whereas most rattlesnakes only carry one.”
A shiver ran down my back. “I’m glad you’re okay, Ace.”
“It was rather unnerving.”
“Thank God you both got out safe,” Shay said.
“I second that.” I put my hand on Hunter’s arm and squeezed.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Especially now that I have my fez back.”
Shay got to her feet, went to the stereo, and music began to play. I recognized the radio station; they played an eclectic mix of songs ranging from Fifties’ tear-jerkers to current hits.
“Let’s dance,” she said, and began pulling the coffee table to the side to make more space. The rest of us had little choice but to assist her.
The space clearing quickly become a more ambitious furniture moving. Being that there was only so much room for the four of us, I decided to switch gears and finished cleaning up the dinner mess. I grabbed the garbage, danced and dodged around the other three, and headed into the kitchen.
My feet were moving to the rhythm as I dumped the garbage outside in the big container and headed back into the house. I was still tapping my toes as I washed my hands, picked up a big plate of cookies, and turned toward the party.
The first notes of a classic rock and roll song sounded as I stepped back into the living room, and the sight that greeted me almost caused me to drop dessert.
Hunter was on his feet, not just dancing, but seriously getting into the experience. His neck moved back and forth as his chin went out and back, like a chicken. His long limbs waved like crazy, and on another man would look silly. Hunter Devereux looked anything but silly. The man was graceful in a relaxed, and extremely masculine way. Holy sexy dancer man!
He saw me, danced over, took the plate from me and put it on the coffee table. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the cleared floor space. It was freaky at first. I’d never danced with anyone so uninhibited, but as soon as I got past that first odd jolt, I had an amazing time. After all, Shay keeps saying I’m the most uninhibited person she knows. It stood to reason that Hunter and I could put everybody else to shame with our crazy moves.
Tails of Ugly Creek Page 11
