“She’s packing up and arranging the handover.”
I almost swerved off the road. “I thought you were going to fight for the place!”
Jeb clutched the grab handle. “My lawyer suddenly changed his tune. He said the contract was airtight and it would be a waste of my resources to try and nullify it. And now I can’t find a single lawyer in our zip code willing to represent me. Aidan Michaels’s money is burning holes in too many pockets.”
Not for the first time I wished the hunter dead.
I thought of Megan and her cross. Once people knew us, once they realized we weren’t all out for blood, maybe their fear would subside. “Do you really think that if knowledge of us spread it would be so bad?”
Jeb scrubbed his beard, and it made a chafing sound. “That’s a tough one. Some people have a romanticized idea of werewolves, but finding out we exist… I’m not sure their awe would outweigh their fear.”
“Do you think we’d get hunted down?”
“Remember what they did to people they claimed used witchcraft back in Salem?”
I shuddered.
“And they weren’t even witches. So, to answer you, Ness, I’d rather not find out.” He reached over. I thought he was going to adjust my hold on the steering wheel, but instead, he laid his hand on top of mine. “Aidan Michaels is old, Ness. He’ll die soon enough.”
Unless he died tonight, it wouldn’t be soon enough. “Did you at least recover the payment for the inn?”
“Yes. But it’s being held in escrow until the divorce is finalized. Hopefully, that’ll be soon.” After a beat, he added, “Lucy’s being a little… difficult.”
I didn’t ask what that was supposed to mean. If Jeb wanted to tell me more, he would.
“I like the apartment, Jeb, but I was thinking, if you have any money set aside with which you could fix up Mom and Dad’s old house”-I shrugged-“at least the windows and front door, we could move in there?”
“The place needs more than new windows and a door.” Jeb removed his hand from mine.
“I know, but I thought I could do the rest myself. I know how to sand and oil a floor, courtesy of Dad. I could borrow the material from the Watts. And then we’d just need to buy some paint for the walls.”
“It needs an electrical overhaul and probably new plumbing.”
I batted my eyelashes, trying to whisk away the disappointment that clung there.
“Derek’s son is an electrician. I could ask him about rewiring the system. And we had some plumbers back at the inn. I’ll get us some quotes.”
I blinked at Jeb. “So yes?”
“Why not?” He smiled, but I smiled wider. “You sure you want me living there with you, kiddo? You sure you don’t want to sell the parcel?”
“Sell it?” I croaked. I hadn’t even considered selling it. “I just got it back. Thanks to you.”
Jeb sighed. “I never should’ve made your mom sell it, but all our money was tied up in the inn-”
This time, I was the one who placed my hand on Jeb’s. “You got it back. That’s all that matters,” I said just as we reached Frank’s house.
There was another car parked next to Frank’s-a familiar forest-green Land Rover.
“Are Nelson and Isobel here?” I asked, getting out of the car.
“Guess so.” Jeb grabbed the bottle of red wine we’d bought on the way over.
A second after we rang the doorbell, I was swept into a pair of warm arms and peppered with kisses. I instinctively closed my eyes, which was smart considering some of Evelyn’s kisses landed on my puffy lids.
“Oh, how I have missed you, querida.” My ear got a loud peck, which momentarily made it ring.
“I’m glad to see you too, Evelyn.”
She finally pressed me back, running her thumbs under my eyes. “You have been crying.” She shot my uncle a disgruntled look that made him stick his hands in the air.
“No. Just not sleeping enough. That’s all. Nothing to worry about.”
She harrumphed. “I hope you are hungry. I have made all of your favorites. Cheese quesadillas, candied bacon, chocolate-zucchini bread, and Isobel is glazing the cinnamon rolls I baked this morning.”
I peeked around Evelyn and caught sight of Isobel. If it wasn’t for her pallor and slightly hunched shoulders, it would’ve been impossible to tell she’d been operated on six days ago.
Next to her, her son was wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. “Huh. I thought you weren’t a fan of all that stuff anymore.” He plucked one of the rolls off the cooling tray and chomped on it, while his mother chided him for not waiting until we were seated.
Evelyn cocked one of her penciled-in black eyebrows that made a flush creep up my neck.
I decided to avoid August’s taunt and Evelyn’s pointed gaze. “I can’t believe you’re already up and doing things, Isobel.”
August grunted, while Evelyn said, “I do not think Isobel knows how to be still.”
Isobel smiled. “I’ll be still when I’m dead.” But then she must’ve remembered we were in the presence of a man who’d just lost his son, because she bit her colorless lip. “Sorry, Jeb.”
He shrugged.
She gave him a rueful smile and handed her son a dish. “Can you take those to the table?”
August scooped up the plate with one hand, and then Evelyn clapped, and we all took our seats around the table-me, between Evelyn and Jeb. August sat across from me. Unfortunately the table wasn’t wide, and as he adjusted his legs, his feet knocked into mine.
Frank’s grandson came out of the bedroom I’d slept in the night Everest died, bleary-eyed and messy-haired, and made his way over to the seat beside August. They fist-bumped.
The wine was uncorked and poured.
“Want some, Ness?” Nelson asked.
“She’s underage,” August said.
I rolled my eyes but said I was good with water.
Nelson tutted as he served Jeb. “You were drinking way before you were twenty-one, son.”
“Doesn’t make it legal,” August said, to which I shook my head.
What was up with his hoity-toity behavior? It was so unlike him…