Page 23 of Knotty, Nice, & Holiday Lights
When I make it back home about thirty minutes later, Izzy jumps up from the couch where she’s watching TV and rushes me, taking some of the cloth grocery bags from my grasp with a, “Hey! Welcome back,” and a big smile before she leads me into the kitchen.
Once we’ve unpacked almost everything and put it all away, she spots the bottle wrapped in a paper bag that I brought in and curiously pulls the paper down to reveal the label.
“No way,” she sings with a smile. “I love this whiskey!”
My face heats as I let out a nervous laugh. “A little birdie may have told me you’d like it.”
The words wipe the smile from her face, her lips part, her eyes grow sad. “You saw Matthew?”
Her reaction sends concern through me. I cross my arms before leaning on the counter. “I thought you said you two weren’t on bad terms.”
“We’re not,” she says in a rush.
My brows rise. “You both look either pretty happy or really sad when you talk about each other.”
Izzy takes a deep breath and plops her butt onto one of the barstools. “We had a really strange breakup, to be honest.”
“Strange how?”
“Like… as in we never officially broke up. He just… left L.A. without telling me. After months of pulling away, then getting close, then pulling away again.”
I don’t like the sound of that at all. “So, he just left you and the city behind without warning?”
She frowns and looks down at the countertop. “He has some issues that he wouldn’t really let me help him with. I don’t know for sure, but I think he felt weak for needing help.”
Matthew needs help, and he looks like he’s all alone here in Crescent Lake, even at Thanksgiving. The thought doesn’t sit well with me. I know what it’s like to be alone, without family or friends at the holidays. Sometimes, it’s okay, or at least you tell yourself it is. But if you’re not cut-out to be alone, it’s the worst.
If Matthew already has some issues to work through, the holidays could be really depressing if he’s spending them alone.
And this Alpha with the mismatched eyes has started to resonate with me in a strange way, sort of like Asher did when I first met him.
And that fact makes me wonder...
Chapter Fourteen
The weather forecast on the telly is all about freezing temperatures, but assuring viewers that it’s not time for snowfall yet.
“And then he told me all about what Izzy likes at the holidays. Food, dessert, drinks.” Will has been carrying on about Izzy’s ex, a bloke named Matthew, and how he ran into him earlier at the supermarket. “And I want you to meet him.”
This startles me out of my focus on the screen. “Excuse me?”
Will’s dark blue eyes are steady on me. “It’s possible he’s a part of our pack.”
“Hang on,” I put my hands up, then lower my voice. “You think Izzy’s ex is our pack brother?”
Will nods.
“But… if that were true, why on earth would they have broken up?”
Will frowns on a sigh. “Izzy told me their breakup was strange. Like, he just left out of nowhere without a word.”
“And that doesn’t make me like him any more than I already have done.”
“Something else is going on here. Something we’re missing.” His head shakes slow. “I want you to go see him and assess our… kinship. If I’m right, I want to invite him for Thanksgiving. If Izzy is okay with it.”
I gape at him. “You do realize Thanksgiving is tomorrow.”
“Yep,” he says, rising to his feet. “So, you’d better get your coat and get going.”
