Page 112 of She Wolf

“Tonight though, was another level. I didn’t think she was able to sink any lower, I thought she had already hit rock bottom, and then, well, after tonight I feel numb. Like she pushed a limit I didn’t even know I had.” She starts to cry, and I wrap my arms around her.

“Come here.” Pulling her to me, I rock her while she cries and when she finally calms down, I grab us all a glass of water. I pop in to give Jack a quick kiss before Anna and I retreat into my bedroom.

“What a fucking shame,” Anna whispers as she sits on my bed.

“I know. I knew something was going on. It must have been so hard for her. I wish I could have done more when she was a student.”

“If she didn’t talk to you, how were you supposed to know? She obviously thought she could handle it and didn’t want to get her mom into trouble. Look at it this way. She never has to go back there if she doesn’t want to. She’s eighteen, right? Now her mother has no hold over her.”

I nod but just hate the thought of her suffering like that. She was clothed and fed and didn’t want for anything material, but she was living her own kind of hell.

“Can you imagine ever doing anything that put your child in danger like that?”

“No. I couldn’t even fathom it but she’s here now and that means she’s ours to look after.”

And just like that, it’s settled.

We brush our teeth together and Anna slips into bed next to me. She stares up at the ceiling and I find myself unable to drift off to sleep either.

“Did you at least have a good day, you and Gunner?” she asks turning onto her side.

“Anna, it was perfect. And the hockey gods were on our side because he didn’t get harassed at all. We even went to the movies at the mall. Like we were fifteen or something.”

“Oh Coralie, that’s cute,” she smiles.

“I know. But I’m really glad we were driving down that road. I don’t even know how I knew it was her.” I just did. I knew in my gut it was Kate. Call it intuition or whatever but even in the dark she called out to me.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Gunner

"And what about when the Wolves got knocked out of the playoffs, who did you support then?”

Casey and I walk into Coralie’s house to what sounds like an interrogation. Coralie and Anna are shaking their heads while the timid brunette scrambles for an answer. Jack holds his fork in the air as he stares her down, although dressed in his cute pj’s, he’s less than intimidating. Casey chuckles so I jump in on the conversation.

“Hey so long as it’s not the Islanders or New Jersey then it doesn’t matter,” I say letting Kate off the hook.

“Yeah, so long as it wasn’t them,” Jack agrees and then gets up to hug me and his uncle.

“Did you have fun yesterday?” he asks conspiratorially, pumping his eyebrows. I choke on nothing, thinking of the way I necked on his mom in the movie theatre.

“Do any shopping?” he probes again, winking this time.

I bend down and whisper in his ear. “I got you, dude. It’s all good.” He fist pumps and then turns around back to Kate.

“Kate you can come to my birthday party. It’s a Marvel pool party, ‘kay? You can swim, right?”

She nods. “Good, I’ll just go grab you an invitation.” He skips off to his room which means he’ll get distracted, leaving the adults to talk. Casey is already sitting next to Anna who’s picking at the fruit on her plate, and I plant a kiss on Coralie’s head while I situate myself at the table with them.

“How are you feeling today, Kate?”

“Better thank you and thanks again for last night. I didn’t mean for you to have to leave like that. It was just a bad day.”

“Hey, no need to apologize,” Coralie soothes, taking a hold of her hand.

“Is there any way we can help you, Kate?” I ask.

“I just need to find somewhere to crash until one of my friends gets back into town in a few days, and I really need to get some clothes and things from home but…”

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