Page 113 of She Wolf

She trails off obviously thinking about what awaits her. “We can help with that,” I say without hesitating. “We can all go together and get what you need.”

“Really? You would?”

“Of course, and you can stay with us for as long as you need,” Coralie insists. “When do you have to move into your dorm?”

“Not for another four weeks.” She grimaces and curses silently under her breath. “My mom was supposed to…I need to get my laptop and my phone’s dead, I need to, to…” She suddenly pushes up from the table and starts clearing away her place setting.

“Kate, honey, it’s okay we can help with everything. You aren’t alone,” Coralie tells her again. Kate bites down on her lip and nods.

An idea starts to form in my head that’s so genius I can barely breathe. I can really help this girl out and get a little extra Coralie and Jack time in the process. A good deed, to end all good deeds, only it’s not one hundred percent altruistic.

“Hey Coralie, can I speak with you a second?” I smile and tip my head towards her bedroom.

“Yeah. We’ll be back in a minutes,” she says to the group as I pull her through and into her bedroom closing the door.

“I have an idea,” I announce getting straight to it.

“You do?” She looks up at me.

“I do. How about the three of you, come stay at my place for a few weeks? Kate can have her own space. You’ll be close to Casey’s for party planning and we can get some real quality time in before our lives get crazy again.”

She exhales. “I mean more space would be good if she’s going to be staying with us.

I’d need to ask her though.” She shakes her head. “But she did just have to walk out on her mom, it might be too much for her too soon.” She runs her hand through her hair.

“It makes sense though. Jack will love it and you’re right we’ll all be together leading up to Jack’s birthday. I’ll need to run it by Kate first, this is a delicate situation, and we haven’t even—” I swoop in and seal the deal with a kiss before she can talk herself out of it.

Casey and I wait in the garden while the girls talk amongst themselves and get showered and dressed.

I really hope Kate says yes to coming to stay with Coralie and Jack at my house. There are two bedrooms for her to choose from, but first we need to see what happens when we go to her house.

“What do you think will happen when we get there?”

I look up at Casey needing to shield my eyes from the sun from where I’m sitting. “I think we’ll find her doped up mom and not much else, but if there are more people there, we can handle it. We’ll let the girls sort out packing up the stuff she needs and just make sure they’re all safe.”

He nods. “Yeah, okay then.”

The door slides behind me and I turn assuming it’s Coralie.

“Erm, Gunner?” a shy voice sounds from behind me.

“Yeah, Kate?” She runs her hand along the handle of the door looking nervous.

“Miss. I mean, Coralie, said that you had offered for us all to stay at your house. She said you had spare rooms, and you didn’t mind inviting me into your home until I could get my shi-stuff together. I just wanted to check that that wasreallyokay with you. I don’t want to impose.”

“It really is Kate. I have plenty of room and it’s right opposite where Anna lives,” I assure her and point at Casey who nods.

“Okay, well that’s real decent of you. Thank you. I won’t be any trouble, I promise. I should warn you though, Jack was eavesdropping and looks like he’s packing every single thing he owns to bring with him.” A small smile lifts her lips as she says the last part of that sentence.

Inside my stomach starts to do somersaults, a warmth spreads through me, and it’s not from the late summer sun. “That’s absolutely fine by me.”

***

We crawl to a stop outside a modest-looking detached house on a very nice street. The shutters are freshly painted and a gardener stands, swiping at his brow with a cloth when he sees the cars pull up.

“Miss Reuben, I wondered where you’d gotten to. Are you okay?”

“Hi Van. Do you know if my mom is home?” Kate asks the man. He’s tall and lanky, face weathered from spending so much time outdoors.

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