Page 49 of Wolfish
“I’m not surprised. They’re a real conversation piece. I’m glad I got one then. Did Daniel mention the Halloween party at our lodge? We open three banquet rooms for it.”
“Silva did.”
“Men, typical.”
Selena laughed. “We’re excited about coming.”
“We’re thrilled you’ll be there. I’ve got to get back to the lodge. I have to get ready for a wedding ceremony in one of the banquet rooms. We never know how smoothly they’ll go.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Thanks.” Then Roxie left the store with her rug.
Selena said, “Yes!”
Peter laughed.
Selena had forgotten he was sitting in the back of the shop, conducting business. “They have a ton of traffic at the lodge’s gift shop. It could help with sales.”
“I agree.”
Selena needed to buy something from the other ladies’ shops to help promote their wares. Then she received a box containing little hand-carved howling wolves, some in wood and others in marble. Each was unique, and she set them all about the store.
She wasn’t going to send another email notification to all her customers. She didn’t want to overwhelm them with too many announcements of new stock deliveries. Besides, this was the Howling Wolf, and they looked great in the shop. She figured some customers might want tokens to remember their visit to Silver Town.
“Time for closing, Peter.” But as soon as she said it, a group of five women entered the shop.
They made it worthwhile to stay open for an extra half hour, but she hated to make poor Daniel wait for her.
“I’ll let Daniel know we’re running late,” Peter said.
“Thanks.” Selena bagged another two sweaters for one of the ladies.
Another got a black cat T-shirt.
Two of the ladies picked up the last of the braided rugs.
The last one tried on several fall T-shirts, taking forever to decide on one.
Then the ladies left with their purchases, and Selena turned off the main lights, put up the closed sign on the door, and locked the door. Peter and she headed over to the hospital.
“If you need to go to the grocery store or anywhere else, let me know and I’ll make sure you have transportation and protection.”
“Thanks. I’ll have to see what Daniel has on hand for dinner. I’m sure we can make do for tonight.”
“All right.”
When they reached the hospital, Daniel was dressed and ready to go. Someone had washed his bloodied uniform. She wished she had thought about getting him a change of clothes. But he looked so happy to see her that she realized it hadn’t mattered to him. Just leaving the hospital with her had.
He was wearing a sling but walking just fine, like he hadn’t experienced any trauma, and she was glad for that.
“Do you need a wheelchair?” the nurse asked.
“No, thanks, I’m fine,” Daniel said.
Then they all walked out to Peter’s car while Selena read over the discharge papers. “It says you have a non-restrictive diet. What would you like to eat for dinner?”
“We could have something delivered, or I have the fixings for stuffed bell peppers,” Daniel said.
