Page 9 of Colby
Going by his condo, he took a long, hot shower and went to his bedroom.There was very little of anything personal in the place; he’d been spending most of his time getting the boat ready for going out.But he’d take care of that soon enough when he found himself a new home, one that he could grow into.He thought about asking Emma to go with him to look, but he wasn’t going to bother her while she was out on the road.Besides, he was still a little upset with her and didn’t want to seem like he was a sap just hanging onto her every word.
Getting up at noon, he was headed out the door at one in the afternoon.His grandparents didn’t live all that far from where he was living, so instead of driving himself there, he instead walked.It was a beautiful afternoon today, and he wanted to take advantage of it as much as he could.As soon as he was in the house, he could tell that they’d missed him as much as he missed them.Grannie even got a little teary-eyed when he told her that they were going to dinner tonight, as he had missed them a great deal.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with him helping around the house.There was staff for them to use, but Grannie wanted to wash her own windows.Or she wanted them washed, and he was going to do it for her.Being up on the ladder for her, she told him how she’d been gardening a little and had too much food to put up without all the extra mouths to feed.
“I’ll gladly take some of it home with me.I can cook a little, but I don’t usually.It will be good for me to eat at home more.”She asked him if he was enjoying himself.“I truly am.There is an ocean all around me when we’re out, but it’s the little things that I get to see that make it worthwhile being out there.A couple of days ago, while out, I saw an ocean liner out for a cruise.The people aboard her waved at us like we were something else.I’ve seen whale breaching.You can’t imagine how wonderful that sight is, Grannie.”
They talked about his job and the things that the two of them were doing as he finished up with the windows.Grannie and Grandda did not have to work; they were all sending them money to care for them every week, but they still did things around the neighborhood.Grandda was plowing up gardens for people who wanted to start one, and Grannie was giving lessons on the piano.Colby figured that was why they had lived so long, because they were so active all the time.
After he was able to fix the door that squeaked too much, they were getting ready for dinner.Colby knew too that his family had called the house, checking in on the couple, but as far as he knew, no one knew that he was there helping them around the place.It was like he’d had them all to himself and loved every second of it.At dinner, Grandda told him how the yard was being mowed by this kid who didn’t do such a great job.
“I tried not paying him, but that brought his parents to the house.They were none too pleased that I wasn’t going to pay him for a shoddy job, you know.When I told them how he’d missed large areas of the yard with the way he was rushing through it, the father told me just to pay him, or I’d be out of a person doing anything for me.So you know what I did?”Grandda was laughing, so he knew it was going to be good.“I showed him what an elderly lion looks like when they feel they’ve been taken advantage of by some humans.He didn’t do a shoddy job anymore, nor did he complain about how my yard was too big for him to mow in one afternoon.Never heard a peep out of the parents again, either.I showed them, didn’t I, Son?”
“You did at that.”Sometimes he forgot he was a lion too.He’d been so busy that he’d forgotten to allow him to go on runs lately.“I tell you what, Grandda.I’m off tomorrow.I’ll trim your hedges.I noticed they were getting a little high, and then go running on your property if you don’t mind.I’ve not had much of a chance to get out of late, and being in the middle of the ocean doesn’t leave much room to run around as one either.”
“You do that.I might even go running with you for a bit.I’ve been sort of neglecting my old beast for some time, too.Other than the boy and showing off to him, I’ve not had a chance to get outsince we moved here.And that’s been several months.”Colby asked Grannie if she wanted to go, too, and she turned them down.But to run with his grandda would be a rare treat that he would treasure for a long time.“We’ll have us an evening of it, then have some dinner at the big house again.That’ll be fun, won’t it?”
“It’ll be more than fun.It will be fantastic.”The dinner was good and they enjoyed it a great deal.It was more the company than anything, and he was excited to have thought about doing this more often.His grandparents were special to him, and he wanted to spend as much time with them as he could.“I’ll be over tomorrow, but I’ll be gone for the next five days after that.Let’s make up a time when we can meet up again and have some fun.”
They both agreed with him that they wanted to do this more often, and he was happy too that they wanted to spend time with him.They even asked him if he wanted to spend the night in their home, and he readily agreed.It was just like old times, him under the roof of his grandparents with the warm blankets on the bed that had been made by Grannie and the bed made by Grandda.He had been making furniture since he was a child.
The next morning, he was up and working on the next project when Grannie called him to breakfast.Just like before, there was enough to feed them all, and he so loved her biscuits and gravy.He wondered what kind of food people had that lived around them and decided that it couldn’t have been as good as what he was having.He was going to take some of the homemade jelly home with him so that he could have a snack once in a while and think of home.
All he could think about all day was how much fun he was going to have with his grandda.Once the projects that he’d been given were finished up, he and his grandda shifted and became their lions.It really hit him hard how old his grandda was looking, and it made him sad that they had been taking care of them for so long and now they were getting too old to do much more than sit around the house.But they kept busy, and that’s what made them the best that there was in the way of family.
Chapter 3
Her return load wasn’t all that much.Just a bunch of cardboard that would recycle.A lot of places were doing that now, and it saved a lot of trash in the dumps, as well as something new was made into the products.She even recycled in her rig, though on a much smaller scale.
She was ready for home.While she had a lot to do when she got there, the first thing that she wanted to do was have a nice meal with her mom.She’d been talking to her a lot through the chat application, but it wasn’t the same.This time, she wanted to talk about how much profit the house made them when it sold and what she was going to do with it.They didn’t have any large outstanding bills, but the house they had just purchased.Then her thoughts went to Colby.
He’d called her last night to tell her that he was going house hunting today and that he wanted to know if she’d come along with him.Emma’s first thought was to tell him no, she didn’t have anything to do with his getting a new home.But she’d been talking to a friend of hers who was a shifter too.He told her that if she didn’t at least live with him or something along those lines, that he could go rogue.That’s what wolves did when they lost their mates.And she wasn’t going to be responsible for him doing anything that would cause trouble.
Emma had lunch plans with him today.After that, they were going to look at three houses that he’d picked out as well as see a realtor to see what sort of houses were on the market that she’d like to live in.He told her that the only thing that he wanted in the way of a house was a large eat-in kitchen, and she was fine with that.But she didn’t want to have fifty bedrooms that he might expect her to fill someday with children.
She’d caught herself being snippy about him when he wasn’t even around.And that bothered her.Emma wasn’t a nasty person to other people, and she didn’t know what it was about him that had her snipping all the time.
Pulling into the driveway at ten after ten, she was ready to call it a day.She didn’t have any laundry to do, nor did she have to clean up the rig.It was in good shape thanks mostly to Crumble.Her mom met her at the front door to her house and hugged her.She felt like that was something that she’d been wanting for years instead of the few days that she’d been gone.
“I love you so much, Mom.”She had to wipe at the tears that were falling down her cheeks.“I’m going to have to get used to you not riding with me.It gets lonely out there on the road without you around.”
“I miss you around here, too.And I have all this room that I don’t seem to know what to do with.Yesterday I went and bought myself a television, just a little one, so that I could have something that made noise around here.It’s made a big difference.”Emma told her about the date that she had with Colby.“He called here a few minutes ago to let me know that he was coming and if I wanted him to pick up anything from town.He’s really a good man, honey.You should at least give him a bit of a chance with you.”
“That’s why I’m going with him to find a house for the three of us.You still think you might want a room at the house, right?”She said she was still getting used to the little one and that he would more than likely want something big.“I don’t want anything big.I just want a couple of bedrooms, an office, and a place to park my rig.The rest can be on him.”
“That’s all someone could hope for, I suppose.”Mom wasn’t going to go with them as she thought that she might.She had things to do.Mom was making jelly from the fruits that she’d gotten at the store.Next year, she was going to put in a garden and have a couple of blueberry bushes put in so that she could have fresh year-round.It wasn’t hard to do in the area where they were living.“I’m going to go to the library in the morning.I get to help the older patrons learn how to use a computer.Ithink that will be fun.Or not, I can’t decide.”
Colby pulled into their driveway a few minutes after they went into the house.She was glad to see that he didn’t dress up too fancy; his jeans and polo shirt were perfect for the weather that they were having today.After talking to her mom for a few minutes, they were off to the first house.She only hoped that she could hold onto her temper, which seemed to be out of control of late, and have a good time with him.
The first house they looked at was perfect for her.There was a long, wide driveway that seemed to be double what she’d need to park her rig.The house had an eat-in kitchen, too, which she loved.However, when she was going through the bedrooms, something about the way that they were set up threw her off.It wasn’t until Colby pointed it out to her that she realized that there was only one bathroom on the entire second floor and nothing in the master bedroom.
“That would make for a very crowded morning if your mom stayed with us.Not to mention, the bedrooms are so small.I bet nothing more than a full-sized bed would fit in them without dressers.”She was happy that he didn’t mention children, too.But he was right, it would be difficult to get any kind of bathing situation finished up with only one bathroom.“I’m not even sure that the dining room is big enough for much more than a four-top.Unless you don’t plan on using that room.”
“I would like to at the holidays.But you’re right.Again.The rooms are just too small.”Emma turned to Colby and looked at him.“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.It’s like I’m antsy all the time.Like I’m crawling out of my skin.”
All he did was put his hand on her shoulder.And it was as if he’d cured her of all the things that seemed to be wrong with her.Her body relaxed, and her mind seemed to just chill out.Putting her hand over his, she closed her eyes and moaned.It was the first time in weeks that she felt like a normal person.She asked him what he’d done.
“Nothing but centered you.Sometimes I need it as well.Just to touch from you to know that things are going to be all right.”She asked him again what he’d done.“Nothing, I promise.All I did was give you comfort.That’s the only thing that I can think of to call it.Comfort for the both of us.We’ve not been spending too much time together, so this is the only way to keep me from pulling you into my arms.”
