Page 197 of His Hungry Wolf
I went to the cash register and paid the bill and then joined Cage as he walked towards the door. He reached for my hand and I slipped it in his. It felt so right. We were about to let each other go and climb into the truck when someone drew our attention.
“Guys!”
We turned seeing Titus. He was with a woman who looked like an older, female version of himself. She, however, looked like she took life more seriously than he did.
“Titus,” Cage said gripping my hand making sure I didn’t shy away from his grasp.
Titus led the woman over and genuinely looked happy to see us.
“Cage, Quin, this is my mom. Mom, these are the two guys I gave a tour to today.”
“Nice to meet you,” we both said.
“Nice to meet you. Titus hasn’t been able to stop talking about you two. He tells me he’s going to East Tennessee University now.”
We looked at Titus who turned red.
“Come on, Mom. I just mentioned that I gave them a tour and said I was going to look into attending some classes. Quin was telling me how it might be able to help the town.”
“The town is perfect just the way it is,” his mother said firmly. “I don’t know why you think things would be better if we were more exposed. Any old thing could just wander in.” She looked at us. “No offense.”
“No offense taken,” Cage said politely.
“It’s not about exposing us. It’s about…” Titus glanced over at us. “It’s about us being able to be live up to our full potential.”
“Your generation and your focus on what you want instead of more important things.”
Titus laughed. “Like what, Mom?”
“Like the community and the lives of everyone in it.”
“I’m not saying we should put anyone at risk. I… You know what, this is not the place we should be having this conversation. Let’s just drop it.”
His mother huffed. Titus looked at us and shrugged his shoulders frustrated.
“Anyhow, did you two just have dinner?”
Cage replied. “Yeah. We had the chicken.”
“It’s Sunday, so it’s what’s on the menu. And another thing, Mom, if we opened up a little, maybe more money would start flowing through the town and Bill could have more than one option on Sundays.”
“I’ve never heard you complain about his Sunday meals before.”
“Well, consider this me registering my complaint.”
“Noted,” his mother said displeased.
“Anyway, you guys headed back to the bed and breakfast?”
“Yeah. And then we’re driving back,” Cage explained.
“Oh! Because I was going to tell you that I know where to find Nero tomorrow if you’re still looking for him.”
“You do?” I asked perking up.
“Yeah.” Titus looked at his mother who was watching us talk. “He has this thing he hosts on Monday nights. It’s just a little social club event. Nothing special. But I was going to say that I could take you if you wanted to go.”
“Oh!” Cage said looking at me.