Toy Wolf

Chapter 29: coffee shop reunion

I woke up the next morning to Grant's alarm blaring next to my head. Blearily I sat up on the bed, yawning as I did so. Grant sat up, swore and jumped out of bed.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm late on a dose," he said. "I remembered last night, but..."

He pulled out a small pack, filling the needle with dark red blood and stabbing his shoulder with it. He winced, rubbing the spot. I fumbled with the alarm clock, shutting it off.

"Breakfast?" he asked. "I'll call my father after."

"Is he going to be upset if we put it off?" I inquired.

Grant shrugged. "What is he going to do? Fly over here and drag us back? I'm an adult. You're an adult."

"Call him now," I suggested. "It's better to get it out of the way."

Grant grabbed the phone without a word, dialing. I realized that I had ordered him to do so and grimaced.

"I'm sorry; I forgot," I tried, but he put up his hand.

"Hello Father," he said curtly. "We're at the motel. I'm not dead. Or undead. Conor is fine." He paused, listening. "We're going to breakfast, and then we'll do work. I know this isn't a vacation, thank you. Yes, we're fine. Dad, we're fine! Bye."

He hung up and glared at the phone.

"I'm sorry," I said again.

"Let's go."

Grant pulled on his shoes as I tied my laces, and we left the motel room. All the progress had been shattered with a sentence from me and I didn't know how to make amends. We didn't take the car, but walked down the small main street. Grant spotted a coffee shop and we went inside.

"Do you drink coffee?" he asked crisply.

"No, it makes me jittery," I said. "Tea is fine."

He scoffed and we got in line. He ordered a coffee for himself and a tea for me, and an assortment of breakfast burritos. We sat down at a little table on the patio before he spoke to me again. The street was not busy with cars, but we could see nearly the whole town waking up and opening shop.

"I'm not mad," he said, sounding like he was trying to persuade himself. "I just had myself convinced that I was normal, and you remind me with three words that I'm not."

I nodded, but then my attention was diverted to a familiar smell. I sniffed once and stood.

"What is it?" Grant asked.

Before I could answer, Ralph came around a corner. He was flanked by Keith and Aidan; they hadn't seen me yet. The trio was rather imposing; Ralph was much broader than the last time I had seen him. They didn't stand out terribly in this small town, but I smiled at Keith and Aidan wearing shoes and flannel shirts. I had never seen them so clothed.

"Ralph!" I called.

His head whipped about, and when he spotted me, the three of them jogged towards our table. Grant rose from his seat, his hand on his gun.

"Grant," I growled.

"Who are they?" he asked as they approached.

Ralph scooped me up in a bone-crunching hug, and then sat me back down on the ground.

"You've grown," I noted.

"I have," he agreed. "You should see Susie Lynn. She grew five inches overnight."

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. "You lied to me; you said you were staying home!"

"We weren't going to leave you down here in the godforsaken south," Keith scoffed. "Who is this?"