Page 79 of Tempting Frey
“I’m always on your side,” I said.
Oliver raised an eyebrow. “As long as you agree with me.”
“Most of the time, I do.”
His lips twitched. “Anyway. Martin Beckett is hired, thank heavens, and let’s make sure he stays. I’ll invite him to the pub with us. We need him to make friends and like it here.”
“You mean keep him away from Jesse, and probably Monty.”
Grinning, Oliver perched himself on the edge of my desk. “Monty would be nice to him. Worst case, he’d hit on him.”
“That’s what I mean. Poor guy didn’t look like he’d handle a bear shifter flirting with him.”
“You never know. Sometimes, it’s the quiet ones.” He winked and slid off my desk. “I have work to do. See you at four? Let’s hope Martin won’t change his mind by then.”
“Let’s hope.”
Martin Beckett signed the contract, and we had our librarian. I felt like celebrating because Oliver had invested so much into the hybrid school project, but I would have to wait. Oliver had plans with his dad, and at five, Chickie picked him up. Since Oliver wanted to finish one last email, my friend wandered into my office.
Immediately, I shoved a piece of paper toward him. “Right on time. I got another one for you, detective.”
He leaned over my desk and glowered at the sheet of paper. It bugged our sheriff to no end that we’d never figured out who wrote those complaints. Even after the fiber optic installation was finished, the letters kept coming, printed on the same printer and written in the same style, but signed with either ‘concerned citizen’ or random names.
“What is our troll moaning about now?” Chickie asked.
“The construction up at Laurel’s. He claims he can see the strong work lights from his bedroom window, and it keeps him up at night. It appears that aliens have landed in the forest, he writes.”
Chickie snatched up the letter, his eyes glinting. “That might be a clue. I’m taking this.”
“Be my guest.”
He folded the letter and stuffed it into his back pocket.
“I’m going to steal your mate for a few hours,” he said. “You’ve had him the whole day.”
“Barely. We’ve been working. But I’m glad he’s going with you. He’s been looking forward to it.”
Chickie gave me one of his rare, tender smiles. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. He loves running with you in fur.”
“That’s because he gets a kick out of being faster than any of us.”
“That too.”
“I’m… catching up on lost time, you know,” Chickie said, growing serious. “And once the baby comes, Ollie won’t have time to be traipsing around the mountains with me.”
“Why not? Maybe I’ll want quality alone time withmyson.”
He shook his head, and the creases on his forehead deepened as he rolled his hat in his hands. “How did we get here, Frey? I would never have guessed.”
I sighed. “I’m not going to let you down, I swear. Oliver is my life.”
“I know. He’s never been this happy. And now he can even shift.” Chickie swallowed. “Thank you, Frey. You’re good for him.”
I couldn’t have gotten higher praise. Chickie wasn’t much of a hugger, and I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable, so I just nodded like a bobblehead.
“Thanks, man. Um…”
