Page 52 of Squatch Out!
“Don’t,” he tells me with a firm shake of his head. “None of this is your fault.”
“That’s right,” Brian speaks up as he comes around from the back.
I turn away from Tony to give him a hug. “It’s not your fault, either; you couldn’t have known that Darren was going to go off like that.”
He makes a sound in the back of his throat. “Yeah, well, I’m seeing a lot of ignored red flags after everything went down.”
Tony looks past me to where Sean is standing by my little car. “You sure you’re alright with him?” Once again, he’s acting like the older brother I always wanted, and I can’t help enjoying his protectiveness a little bit.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” I answer honestly. “In fact,” looking over at him, I can’t help the smile that warms my face and heart when he waves at me, “I’m kind of wondering if he might be the best thing that came out of this week.”
Brian, the eternal bachelor, walks off shaking his head, but Tony nods at me. “That’s how I felt when I met my girl. Like, she was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
I wrap him in another crushing hug, “I mean it, we need to clear a week so I can finally meet Carmen!”
He promises to set aside some time as soon as he gets back home, and things settle down again. I make my way back over to Sean and lean against his solid warmth, and we both wave goodbye as they pull out of the parking lot.
“Ready to go?” Sean asks me as he reaches for the driver's side door.
“Yeah.” Suddenly I can’t wait to leave this place and get back into the mountains where everything seems so much simpler. Tomorrow will come whether I want it to or not, but until then, I plan on enjoying the time I have with Sean.
He holds the door open for me, and I slide behind the wheel.
I pullup beside Owen’s truck and stretch my arms over my head. It’s a beautiful drive, but so long and mostly over rough roads that have my back twinging. Owen appears in the doorway of his house and gives us a wave. A moment later, Jenny appears beside him with a wide smile.
“So, is Jenny the girl Owen’s beenstringing along?” I ask, quoting what Clive said yesterday. I was more than a little surprised when he showed up at the lodge with the pretty dark-haired woman covered in tattoos.
“Yup. Jenny runs the general store in town, and Owen’s been flirting with her since she arrived several years ago.”
“Huh.” I can’t hold back my grin as I wonder what their story is.
Pushing his door open, Sean unfolds his large frame from the compact car. Even with the seat pushed all the way back, his knees have been resting against the glovebox for the whole trip. As I follow him up the steps, my stomach growls loudly, and my mouth waters at the smell of grilling meat wafting from somewhere nearby.
Jenny grabs my arm to pull me through the narrow kitchen door, while Sean leaves me to follow his brother out the back door to tend to the grill. I barely take one step inside when my feet come to a full stop.
“Whoa!” There is food everywhere. Strewn across every available surface are containers of potato salad, beans, and bags of chips. There are burger fixings, condiments and anything else you might want at a BBQ.
“You showed up just in time.” Jenny laughs as she passes me a beer from the fridge. “Owen’s probably pulling the steaks right now, and the burgers and dogs have been ready for a bit.”
“How many people are you expecting?” I ask, looking over all the food, because this is way too much for just four people.
She gives me aoh, honeyhead tilt. “You haven’t seen how much these guys can eat, have you?” Then she drops her voice. “It takes a tremendous amount of energy to do what they can do.”
It makes sense. Supernatural monsters would obviously have supernatural appetites. What really surprises me is that Jenny knows Owen and Sean’s secret. And then I do a mental facepalm, because of course she’d know—which makes me want to know even more about their story.
I open my mouth to ask her, but just then Owen pushes his way through the door with Sean right behind him. Both of them are carrying platters absolutely laden with steaks, patties, brats, and dogs. Jenny scrambles to find a spot for the food and then hands out plates.
True to her word, the guys take care of a good portion of the food, loading up their plates like it might be their last meal.
“Told ya.” Jenny giggles at my wide-eyed look.
We take our food out to the back where several wooden Adirondack chairs are setup around an unlit firepit. Settling beside Sean, I sip my beer and then moan when I bite into the perfectly grilled burger. He looks over at me, raising an eyebrow at the obscene noise I just made.
“Can you cook as well as your brother?” I ask him teasingly.
He leans over. “I’ll guess you’ll have to stick around to find out.”
I know he means it in jest, but I catch myself growing quiet. Because I want to stay. The more time I spend with him, with his family, the harder knowing I have to leave tomorrow isbecoming. But I can’t stay. I have a job. An apartment. A life on the other side of the country.
