Page 31 of The World She Never Knew Existed

“Well, he has been running hard and he is such a little guy,” Clara said. “Why don’t you take him inside and put him to bed?”

Zeke yawned widely.

“Maybe you should take a nap, too.”

“Nah. I’m a big boy and big boys don’t take naps,” Zeke declared.

“I don’t know about that,” Dillon said. “I think that there are times when I would like to have a nap.”

Zeke didn’t look convinced.

“Thank you for playing with Zeke,” Clara said.

“It’s my pleasure. Zeke is a lot of fun to play with,” Dillon said. “I was wondering if I could take the two of you out for pizza tonight.”

“Yeah, Mom. Can we go out for pizza?”

“We had pizza last night. Why don’t you come over and we’ll have some tacos,” Clara said.

Zeke looked dubious at her suggestion. He was a child who could eat pizza for every meal and never get tired of it.

“You know, Reno wouldn’t be able to go to the pizza restaurant,” Clara said. “He would have to stay home in his crate until we got back home.”

Zeke thought about the problem for a minute.

“I don’t want to go somewhere that Reno can’t go with me,” Zeke declared. “I guess that tacos are okay.”

Clara smiled at Dillon and asked, “Are you up for some homemade tacos?”

“If Zeke and Reno are up for it, then so am I,” Dillon declared with a smile that made Clara’s heart melt.

Dillon was busy for the next couple of hours. It seemed as though every resident of Ivy Springs needed something from his store. Every tourist was in need of a t-shirt and other souvenirs. He couldn’t complain.

It finally died down right before he was about to close. He heard the doorbell ring and looked up. It was Jesse.

“How are things?” Dillon asked, wondering if something bad had happened that warranted a visit.

“Right now, everything seems to be pretty quiet. Some of the team was out scouting yesterday evening and this morning. The hunters are patrolling the woods, but apparently, they haven’t come in contact with any shifters,” Jesse said.

“I think that everyone is too terrified to shift here. When they need to shift, they take a road trip to another area where it’s safer,” Dillon said.

“I’m surprised that they are still here and haven’t moved away or gone to the shifter world,” Jesse said.

“Most of them have their lives built here. They have jobs, friends, family, and so on. That is really hard to leave behind,” Dillon said. “After all, you’re still here.”

“Only because I feel as though I have a duty to help protect the shifters here and help maintain some semblance of peace,” Jesse said.

“We can be grateful for the peace that we have right now,” Dillon said.

“Have you picked up anything from Brent or anyone else in town?” Jesse asked.

“No. I haven’t heard anything,” Dillon said.

“It’s always the calmest before the storm,” Jesse said.

“When did you become such a pessimist?” Dillon asked.

“I guess when I started to get a little older and started to worry about things a little more,” Jesse said.

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