Page 35 of Just Like in the Movies
“It’s a sign that youcangetthrough to him. And that he wants to be gotten through to.”
“You think so?”
“Eighty-six years of experience as an omega, my dear. Mr. Costner was a good man, but he was also an alpha. An exceptional one in my opinion, but they all have their quirks.”
“I didn’t realize you were an omega.” It wasn’t noted on her chart.
“Well, at my age, it hardly matters, does it? Now, back to your alpha. Do you want him? Want him enough to do the work for it?”
“I don’t want him to spend all his time with me acting. It needs to be real. Natural.” It wasn’t going to last if it wasn’t, and I didn’t think I could stand it if we had three or four good years, only for me to lose him after because it had all been pretend for him.
She waved that away. “Of course not. But if you think he has it in him already, you can make it possible for him to find those parts of himself and make them stronger. We all grow and change as we age. The parts we find more useful in our daily lives are the ones that get stronger. And the ones that don’t get us what we want, usually, start to fade away. His problem is that being alpha has always worked well for him. You have to help him find the alpha parts that work well for you.”
“Huh.” I’d never thought of it that way. “Thank you, Mrs. Costner. That’s…very useful.” I didn’t exactly know what to do with it, but it seemed more like life advice than a how-to manual. I’d always found that life advice took a little more effort to use, but it was usually more handy than the how-to in the long run. “I’d better stop slacking in here. Is there anything else I can get you tonight before I get bogged down in other work?”
“Well, there is one thing,” she said coyly. She picked up the novel she’d been reading the other day. The bookmark had moved a lot farther toward the back. “Do you think you could find me some more like this one?”
I laughed and took a picture of the cover with my phone. “I’ll do my best.” I gave her back the book and made sure she was comfortable, then let myself out to help with settling some of the other residents in for the night before I got started on the overnight chores.
