Page 17 of Cold Foot Komodo

Sasha pursed her lips, and oooh, she understood. She understood down to her bones. “You do deserve this.”

“Wreck says that too. Hopefully soon I’ll actually hear it.”

“I’ll be here telling you, too,” she assured her.

Their mom had done a number on both of them.

Sasha grabbed her hands and squeezed. “This isyourhappily ever after, Timber. Fuck the noise.”

Timber’s whole face stretched into an emotional smile. “Fuck the noise,” she repeated.

Timber took her through the home tour, and asked her to stay the night on the sleeper sofa before she did a little cheers with her wine and said, “Cheers to bread, for without bread, there would be no toast.”

Sasha giggled and muttered, “You’re stupid,” before she took a sip and followed Timber and Wreck outside.

The next cabin belonged to Kade, and the next to Katrina and King. The next was Cash’s, who Timber explained was the resident snowy owl shifter, and that’s why he didn’t have the pegs next to the door for jackets. He was currently wearing a T-shirt and looked comfortable. The next house, Raynah met them at the door and asked Timber if she could show Sasha the house by herself.

“Absolutely,” Timber said. “Raynah’s been nesting, and doesn’t like anyone near her nest.”

“We don’t have to do a tour of your place,” Sasha offered.

“No, I feel good,” Raynah said. “With one person.”

Timber’s hand pushed the small of Sasha’s back, and her sister left her at the stairs.

Sasha followed Raynah into her cabin, and reveled at how different her decorating sense was. She liked a lot of greens and browns, and had positioned plants in every nook and cranny.

“I like growing stuff,” Raynah explained.

“I have a fern,” Sasha admitted.

“Did you bring it with you?”

“Yeah,” Sasha answered. “I’m going shopping for my rental tomorrow, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I pick up a few more plants while I’m out. I like growing things too.”

“I can give you advice on what will grow here, in the cold climate,” Raynah offered.

“I would like that.”

“Um, I have a phone now,” Raynah said softly. “I could get your number. And then you could call me if you ever need anything. Or if you want a third wheel when you and Beth go out in Darby. I won’t drink, but I could just hang out.”

“It’s probably a little overwhelming being surrounded by the couples, huh?” Sasha asked.

“So barfy,” Raynah said. She scratched her forehead, and asked, “Did you mean that earlier? About the ultrasound?”

Sasha smiled, and she got it. Raynah was curious and probably had a whole lot of questions. Sasha couldn’t even imagine what it had been like for her in Cold Foot Prison, pregnant. “Yeah, I mean it. I’ll be working at Bitterroot here in a couple days.”

Raynah nodded, and then gestured grandly. “This is my home. That I don’t feel like I deserve. That is very different from my prison cell, and feels very big, so I actually sleep in the corner of the bedroom on a pallet on the floor.”

Sasha laughed. “You should come see the house I’m renting. Pretty sure there is a high chance of bed bugs there.”

“It’s rough?” she asked.

Sasha shrugged. “Reed got the rent down to five hundred a month. And I met one of the neighbors. He’s a shifter. Reed thinks he’s a bear shifter.”

“Is he hot?”

“I meeeean…he doesn’t look not-hot.”

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