Page 75 of Mating Season
I caught her by the waist as she ducked down to grab another bowl. “Trust me. We don’t have to watch this now. I can send everyone home.”
“Don’t even think about it.” She growled at me as her papa came walking into the kitchen.
“The ice cream is melting.” He put the tub on the counter, eyeing me in a way that showed his suspicion of what we’d been doing earlier downstairs.
I refused to hide.
Aspen spun away, grabbing some bowls from the cabinet. “I’ll get it served up. You go relax.”
We both watched him walk to the living room on two solid legs. The doctors worked some kind of magic. Or maybe they were witches.
Aspen grabbed spoons from the drawer. I stared after the gruff old man as he tookmyleather recliner which he’d claimed as his seat inmyhouse despite us having his own log cabin built on the back side of our property.
He had his own recliner there.
“Goddess, this place is jumping tonight.” Clara came back into the kitchen as the timer on the microwave dinged for the popcorn, the doorbell chimed, and my phone buzzed on the counter.
“I’ll get it,” Aspen and Clara said at the same time. The coyote ran to the front door. Aspen entered the passcode on my phone.
I reached into the fridge for a beer.
“Are we all still watching tonight?” Fallon’s voice filled the kitchen from my phone speaker.
“Is John okay with that?” Aspen eyed me cautiously, handing over a bottle opener from the utensil drawer as she dug for the ice cream scoop.
“He thinks this is stupid,” John called from somewhere in the background.
I gave him a mental fist bump as I tipped back my beer.
Don’t forget to ask about the fishing trip.
Later.I watched as Aspen stared at the ice cream scoop for a few seconds too long before figuring out how it worked. One day, she might listen to me. But she loved doing things the hard way.
“We’ll be watching it with you,” Fallon said.
John grunted as if someone elbowed him. “Can’t wait.”
“We can text through it.” Aspen yawned as she finished filling two bowls of ice cream. She stood looking at the counter, wondering what to do next as she swayed a little on her feet.
I popped the spoons into the bowls and grabbed the popcorn from the microwave. “Let’s go sit down.”
*
“Does everyone have drinks?” Aspen stood from the couch after I’d finally gotten her to sit.
“If they don’t, they can get it themselves,” I growled, putting her back onto the couch and covering her with the knitted blanket she kept draped over the back.
“What’s taking Clara so long?” Aspen poked her head out from under my arm.
I sniffed the air, wondering why…
“This is Ivan and he’s watching with us.” Clara came storming into the living room, towing the big brute behind her.
Ivan’s cheeks were flushed as he nodded his respect. “Alpha. Luna.”
“Don’t say anything.”Aspen gripped my hand, hard.“I have a good feeling about this.”
“Take a seat, Ivan.” I leaned back against the couch, watching as Aspen and her papa took a bite out of their ice cream bowls at the exact same time without even looking at each other. They chewed. They swallowed. They dragged their spoons down for another scoop.