The Girl Nest Door (Green Valley Shifters Book 2)

by Zoe Chant

  “Yes I did!” Trevor said immediately, lifting his head. Several people who were watching had to stifle giggles. Shaun was divided between pride for his honesty and keen embarrassment.

  Trevor continued less confidently. “But I thought... I thought... I wanted your dad to always love you.”

  “He always will,” Patricia assured him cheerfully.

  Trevor considered. “Okay,” he said at last. “I’m sorry, Clara.”

  Clara gave him a look that indicated her forgiveness would not be so simple for Trevor to get.

  “Can you show me where the rings are now?” Patricia asked.

  Trevor nodded, scrubbed at his eyes, and then got to his feet as a few of the people who had been pretending not to watch the drama unfold stepped forward to help Patricia stand.

  “I threw them in the swimming pool,” Trevor confessed. “In the deep end.”

  Shaun groaned.

  Clara glared at her classmate mistrustfully and deliberately moved to the other side of Patricia as they walked away.

  Chapter 36

  Andrea stood as Patricia led Trevor and Clara back to the house to find the rings and was gratefully aware of most of the attention from the guests following them away.

  She was also keenly aware of Shaun, who was looking only at her.

  She gathered up a handful of cupcakes without looking back, and tipped the tray back to upright. The cupcakes looked very sad and smooshed on the empty tray.

  “Andrea.”

  His voice was low and quiet; if Andrea had not had keen hearing courtesy of her hawk, she would not have heard him at all.

  Her heart fluttered in her chest, full of hope and longing and terror.

  “Andrea,” he repeated, when she couldn’t make herself turn.

  “I guess I didn’t have to worry about ruining Patricia’s wedding after all,” she said, as lightly as she could. “I could not have done so masterful a job anyway.” She wondered as she spoke if it was too much of a tease. Shaun must be feeling awful about the disaster and responsible for Trevor’s behavior. He was already keenly sensitive about being a good dad.

  She heard him step closer, could feel his closeness and anxiety. She wanted to comfort him, almost as much as she wanted to stomp on his foot and punch him.

  “You know the worst part?” Shaun asked, picking up more mournfully lopsided cupcakes to add to the ugly display.

  “You mean the part where the rest of the preschool finds out the cupcakes were ruined?” Andrea ventured lightly. “There’s going to be a tiny person riot.” She wasn’t sure if anyone would even eat these poor things, but it saved them from being stepped on.

  “He would believe Miss Patricia when she said the same thing I did, but he wouldn’t believe me.”

  Miss Patricia didn’t say she loved me. Andrea had his words on a loop in her head, and already she was fearing that she’d imagined it. She was so uncertain she felt a little sick to her stomach, and she bent to pick up more of the cupcakes.

  “I’m really bungling this,” Shaun said mournfully, joining her in her hunt.

  Andrea had to laugh. “Who says ‘bungling’ anymore?” She wanted to ask what he was bungling, and really didn’t, all at the same time.

  “Someone who’s been trying really hard not to swear since he got custody,” Shaun said frankly. “It’s a struggle, let me tell you.”

  “If you don’t make a big deal out of it, probably, he won’t catch it. Except when he does.” Andrea remembered too well her first year at the preschool, constantly stopping herself, and the frequent shame of hearing ‘Miss Andrea said it!’ Fortunately, Patricia had been very patient about it.

  “Andrea?”

  Andrea swallowed hard and tried to dodge the conversation she knew was coming. She wasn’t ready for it, still felt like her heart was in a cage of pins. If she let it hope, it would only get hurt. “You aren’t bungling being a dad, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she told him swiftly, reaching for one of the better-looking cupcake refuges under the table. “You’re doing a great job. Every parent here is glad they aren’t you today, and every one of them knows how close they came to being you because these kids can be feral little proto-monsters at this stage and it’s a miracle any one of them survives to adulthood.”

  She stood to put her gathered cupcakes on the tray, and Shaun stood to put his own beside it.

  “That’s not what I’m bungling,” Shaun said quietly. “Or at least, that’s not all I’m bungling.”

  Andrea was keenly aware of how close he was standing, and of the tremble in her legs. She was also conscious of the people milling around them, sometimes popping in with stray cupcakes to add to the dismal tower, pretending not to listen in, or engaging in their own muted conversations just out of earshot.

  She was saved having to find a reply by Patricia’s mother, who came bustling up nearly in tears. “Oh, Andrea, I think we’re finally ready. The rings are back, we need you.”

  “Oh thank goodness,” Andrea couldn’t help saying, and she snatched up a napkin for her frosting-sticky fingers and fled back to the house.

  Chapter 37

  Shaun made his way back to his seat with the other guests. Everyone seemed more amused than dismayed by Trevor’s antics, and the mood was light-hearted and cheerful. He got many long looks, but most of them were accompanied by knowing smiles and friendly nods, as if he had just been accepted into some secret circle of parents-of-occasionally-terrible-children.

  He smiled back tentatively as he took his seat, and put his jacket on the seat next to him to save it for Trevor.

  The music started up on the little sound system and Shaun had a moment of gratitude that Trevor had chosen to destroy something less expensive. It could have been worse, he told himself.

  He could have flushed the rings instead of throwing them into the swimming pool. One of the groomsmen had damp hair, and had undoubtedly had to dive in and retrieve the rings.

  Then Andrea appeared at the end of the aisle, holding flowers and leading the straggling string of preschoolers behind her.

  Sunlight gleamed on her upswept dark hair and turned her skin to honey. She was wearing high heels that couldn’t make her look tall and walking very slowly and deliberately out of respect for the train behind her. As she passed, gazing straight ahead, Shaun thought she wobbled and flushed, but the capering children behind her had most of the audience’s laughing attention.

  A dozen preschoolers were waving bubble wands and throwing petals as they skipped at highly variable speeds down the aisle.

  Trevor was one of the slower ones, stopping frequently to carefully blow bubbles. He waved to Shaun as he passed.

  “Keep moving, kids,” an older woman dressed as a bridesmaid reminded them, looking amused and a little overwhelmed.

  Clara walked last of the children, satin pillow tucked under one arm as she carried the rings in determined little fists. She was scowling, and Shaun found himself pitying Trevor the job of winning her forgiveness.

  Last of all was Patricia, walking slowly enough that her limp wasn’t noticeable even though there were glimpses of her boot beneath her skirt. As she proceeded to the dais, eyes full of laughter fixed on her husband-to-be, the children were released out into the audience by Andrea and scurried to their families, loudly declaring what they’d just done.

  “I blew bubbles! Hundreds of them!”

  “I had flower petals! Mine were pink!”

  Trevor was silent but smiling, and he was the only kid to filter into the groom’s side of the wedding, where he climbed directly into Shaun’s lap.

  Once the other children had been hushed by their parents, the music was turned down and the officiant began.

  Shaun spent the ceremony watching Andrea, who stood to one side patiently, holding Patricia’s bouquet.

  Chapter 38

  Andrea was uncomfortably aware of Shaun’s gaze throughout the ceremony. He had managed to sit where he had a clear view directly
to where she stood, and she tried not to fidget or stare back. She wasn’t used to heels, and she was still reeling over his declaration to Trevor that he loved her.

  What did it mean? What happened next? Was he really going to stay in Green Valley? The For Sale sign in front of his house made her chest tighten every time she saw it. And a bakery? He was thinking about opening a bakery here?

  She had to jerk herself back to the wedding and prompt Clara to reluctantly hand over the rings. The little girl dropped the satin pillow as she unwrapped her fingers from her treasures.

  The audience chuckled, and then clapped when she picked it up and raised it in triumph.

  Patricia and Lee exchanged rings, and then a passionate kiss as their marriage was declared complete by the bemused-looking officiant.

  Everyone clapped and cheered and someone turned the music back up as the ceremony broke out into a general garden party.

  Andrea gave Patricia a big hug and returned the bouquet to her for the toss.

  Everyone wanted to hug Patricia, and shake Lee’s hand, and congratulate them, including not only this class of preschoolers, but several of the graduated classes, so there was a mob of little girls and boys to wade through.

  After another round of photographs, Andrea made her way back to the cupcake table, to find that someone enterprising had cleared it off and bought everything the small local grocery had to offer; there were several tins of shelf-stable cookies, and a big generic birthday cake with most of the decoration scraped off and replaced with Lee and Patricia spelled out in M&Ms. Someone had already cut several pieces out.

  “There were going to be vanilla cupcakes,” Clara pouted, materializing by her elbow. “Trevor ruined everything.”

  “He thought he was doing something nice for you,” Andrea reminded her. “He tried to look out for you.”

  Clara muttered something with the word stupid in it, and Andrea put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Yeah, sometimes it looks pretty stupid from the outside, but you have to understand that Trevor’s mom just left him all alone. He’s been scared. And sometimes we do things we don’t think all the way through when we’re scared.”

  Clara looked up at her skeptically. “He’s not alone! He has his dad!”

  His dad, Andrea remembered achingly, looking down at the little golden-haired child. Teaching preschoolers big concepts like empathy was one of the hardest parts of her job. They were so wrapped up in themselves at this age, and had such straightforward ideas about how things must work.

  As she was considering this, she suddenly heard Patricia’s clear voice calling, “Heads up, Andrea!”

  Just as she looked around in alarm, the bouquet caught her directly in the face and she automatically put out her hands to catch it before it could fall to the ground, staggering backwards and nearly falling over with the effort of it in her unfamiliar heels. Shifter reflexes were all that saved her dignity.

  Laughter and applause greeted her as she regained her balance. Clara giggled. “That means you’ll get married next!” she explained. “You have to!”

  Andrea scanned the audience, and glared at Patricia, who gave her a clearly unrepentant grin and a little wave.

  She turned back to the table of desserts, determined to salvage at least a decent cookie from the event, to find Clara staring down Trevor.

  He was holding a single perfect cupcake. Its white rose pronounced that it was one of Clara’s coveted vanilla treats. Shaun was standing beside him, looking only at Andrea.

  “I didn’t want to make you mad,” Trevor said sheepishly to Clara. “And I saved you one.”

  Clara glared at him a long moment, then thoughtfully accepted the cupcake. “I’ll share it with you,” she said graciously. “But I get the frosting.”

  Trevor smiled. “Okay!”

  Hand in sticky hand, they skipped away into the garden towards the sound of other children laughing and playing.

  “I didn’t expect her to forgive him so easily,” Shaun said, watching them go.

  “Kids are easy,” Andrea said, turning to the table of treats because she wasn’t sure how else to avoid staring at Shaun. “A little sugar goes a long ways.”

  She surveyed the choices, and Shaun came to stand beside her. “Does it work with bigger people, too?”

  Andrea gave him a sideways glance. “Are you trying to apologize?”

  Shaun looked quickly around to make sure no one was standing too close. “I should never have told you that you weren’t my mate,” he said quietly.

  Andrea felt like the ground had fallen away under her feet and gripped the bouquet so hard that the plastic doily bit into her hand.

  Chapter 39

  Shaun half-expected Andrea to turn and beat him with the bouquet she was holding; he could feel the anger and betrayal from her in waves.

  After a moment, she sighed. “I know why you did.”

  Shaun realized that he still hadn’t really apologized. “It’s not a good excuse,” he said firmly. “I’m... sorry.”

  “What do you want to do now?” Andrea asked quietly, moving to one side as a group of people came to pick over the desserts.

  Shaun looked down at the flowered crown of her head and discarded the most inappropriate of the ideas that occurred to him. “Do you know I’ve had three people ask me when I was going to marry you? And that was before you caught the bouquet.”

  Andrea gave a hiccup of a giggle. “I didn’t really catch it,” she corrected. “Patricia threw it at my head when I refused to try to catch it. Anyway, you don’t have to marry me.”

  “I was thinking about a date,” Shaun offered.

  Andrea looked up at him, golden eyes surprised. “A date for a wedding?” she asked in astonishment.

  Looking down at her, Shaun could picture just that. Andrea all in white. Andrea on the dais exchanging rings with him. Andrea glowing at him the way Patricia was at Lee. Kissing Andrea and making her his wife. Peeling Andrea out of a wedding gown on a bed scattered with rose petals...

  He cleared his throat. “I meant a lunch date,” he said regretfully.

  “Like, at a restaurant? Out in public?”

  “Gran’s Grits has a great selection of hot sandwiches,” Shaun said with what he hoped was a winning grin.

  “Sounds romantic,” Andrea murmured ironically.

  “I thought Trevor could come with us,” Shaun added, knowing it was the nail in the romance coffin.

  Andrea looked at him speculatively.

  “I... want to get to know you,” Shaun admitted. “And I want Trevor to get to know you, too.”

  “Trevor probably already knows me better than you do,” Andrea reminded him.

  “Trevor probably knows you better than he knows me,” Shaun confessed without shame. “I don’t want him to have crazy ideas that I’ll stop loving him if I ...” he stopped as a couple elbowed their way to the table beside them. Apparently official cake cutting had been abandoned and the cake had become a free-for-all. All that was left of the M&Ms names were two Es.

  Andrea was looking at him with an expression of half-hope and half-heartbreak. “You’re... serious about this?” she asked faintly.

  Not touching her was taking all of Shaun’s self-control. His tiger was convinced that if he just kissed her, she would understand everything.

  “So serious,” he said, fearing it sounded grim. “How about tomorrow for lunch?”

  “Andrea! We’re taking wedding party photos with the car!” Patricia’s mother looked like she had done several rounds with the goats; her hair was flying away in all directions and her eyes were wild. “We need you!”

  Andrea turned to follow, then paused. “Lunch tomorrow sounds great. I’ll see you at noon.”

  Chapter 40

  It was odd to be at Gran’s Grits in something other than her uniform, and Andrea slid into the crinkly bench seat opposite to where Trevor was squirming next to Shaun.

  “Soda machine is still down,” Devon said, offering he
r a menu she already had memorized.

  “Iced tea is fine,” Andrea said, with a wry smile.

  “Me too,” Shaun said, not looking away from Andrea. His openly appreciative gaze was a little unnerving after several months of pretending they weren’t looking at each other.

  “Me three!” Trevor piped up.

  “Milk for Trevor,” Shaun interceded.

  “Mommy let me drink sliced tea,” Trevor muttered.

  Shaun frowned. “Mommy did a lot of things I don’t agree with,” he reminded Trevor firmly.

  Trevor looked solemnly back and Andrea felt momentarily like an outsider.

  “I’ll get your drinks,” Devon said with a cough, walking swiftly away.

  “I didn’t have preschool today,” Trevor blurted with a glance at Andrea, as if he had just realized it.

  “No preschool during the summer,” Andrea reminded him. “Do you know what you want for lunch?”

  “Will you read it to me, Daddy?”

  Shaun narrated the children’s portion of the menu, Andrea exclaiming over the most delicious of the options.

  “What are you in the mood for?” Shaun asked her, once Trevor had settled on a hot dog with curly fries.

  Andrea raised her gaze to his face, unprepared for the mischief in his eyes. She slowly smiled, then looked sightlessly back at her menu, her thoughts for the moment swamped with other things she was suddenly in the mood for.

  After a moment, she said, “I’m thinking about a chicken fried steak. Gran’s gravy is not to be missed.”

  “Breakfast for lunch? A bold move,” Shaun said approvingly. “I was considering a burger, but those omelets are tempting me.”

  “Old George does make a great omelet,” Andrea encouraged.

  Trevor had to get on that bandwagon, and demanded the child’s pancake platter instead of the hot dog.

  “What’s a platter?” he asked, after Devon had taken their order.