Page 6 of Wolfish
He headed home and hurried to dress in something nice, his favorite fall sweater, a pair of blue jeans, and cowboy boots. He grabbed a jacket and hoped he wouldn’t arrive too early at the Silver Town Hotel to pick Selena up.
At the hotel, all the sisters greeted Selena, eager to hear how the shop was going. “Frank did such a wonderful job on the shelving. Even Daniel Hoffman came by to help.”
“Daniel did?” Laurel asked, a sparkle in her eyes.
“Yeah. The sheriff gave him some time off to assist me.”
The ladies shared conspiratorial looks and smiled.
“We just have a few things left to do, and I’m going to start ordering merchandise—fall, Halloween. I’ll have a large red, howling wolf and a black one in the front window for fall and Halloween. For winter, I’ll change it out to a white one. New Year’s Eve, I’ll have the white and black ones on display. A gray howling wolf will be out there for the rest of the year.”
“That sounds lovely,” Ellie said.
“I love how your store title is the Howling Wolf and your theme will be too,” Meghan said. “It suits our wolf community.”
“I do too,” Laurel said. “If you need any assistance with decorating your shop, just let us know and we’ll help. We’ve already done all our fall decorating.”
“That would be great,” Selena said. “You’ve done a lovely job with yours.” Fall flowers and leaf garlands wrapped around the banister going up the stairs to the guest rooms on the second floor of their Victorian hotel, and across their counter. They had a lovely fall wreath on the door. Bouquets were located throughout the lobby. “For now, I just need to change my clothes to get ready for my date. What is the dress code for the tavern?”
“None really,” Meghan said. “Some dress up and others dress down. Wear what you feel like for the occasion.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“It’s a good thing that you’re not going alone. All the bachelor wolves would be trying to buy your drinks,” Ellie said.
Selena laughed. “No, Daniel is taking me.”
“Ha!” Laurel said. “He’s already staking his claim. The other wolves will be disappointed.”
Selena had never been to a wolf-run town, where the bachelor wolves would be flocking to get her attention. She was amused.
Once she was in her room, she dressed in a wool plaid skirt in pumpkin-and-olive green, a pumpkin sweater to match, and high-heeled boots. She grabbed a jacket and headed for the lobby.
She sat on one of the sofas in the lobby and began ordering items for her shop. She’d already found just the howling wolves she’d wanted, all hand-carved wood but stained or painted to simulate white, black, red, and gray wolves.
Then Daniel arrived ten minutes early to pick her up. She liked it when a date was early.
“You look lovely.” Daniel escorted her to his vehicle.
“So do you.” He was dressed in a pumpkin-orange sweater that was similar to hers, so it looked like they had dressed to match, which she thought was cute. His blue jeans and cowboy boots were charming. Dressy casual.
The last guy she dated, who had been in law enforcement, didn’t know how to dress once he wasn’t wearing a uniform.
Going out with a nicely dressed man made her feel special.
They drove over to the tavern, where the lights lit up the inside and outside of the building, which made it look festive. A few hardy males were seated outside in the chilly temperature.
She was worried the tavern would be packed, and they would have to wait for a long time to find a table. But when they walked inside, Silva greeted them with a big smile. “Your table is right this way.” She motioned in the direction.
They actually had a table just for two by the big windows, which made it really special.
“I made a reservation earlier to make sure we had a table for dinner,” Daniel said.
He got Brownie points for that too.
“Your place is charming,” she told Silva as she dropped off menus and water for them.
“Thanks. I decorated it myself. Sam, my mate, isn’t interested in that sort of thing, though he hangs the lights I ask him to and anything else I need done.”
