Page 3 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)
CHAPTER 3
SUMMER
“Trust me on this one, babe. You do not want to ride a camel. They spit.”
I looked up from where I sat on the floor of my bedroom just in time to see my best friend Indi pluck the camel ride photo off my bucket list bulletin board. With a flick of her fingers, she set it on fire, her bracelets jangling on her pale, freckled wrists. The scent of charred paper mixed with the ink, changing it in the most subtle way.
I wrinkled my nose at the smell. “Hey! When I said you could help, I didn’t mean you could light my dreams on fire.”
“Just one gal trying to save another gal’s pelvic floor.” Indi held her hands up, stepping away from the bulletin board hanging on my coral bedroom wall, her floral skirt swishing across my wood floors. She squinted at the wide array of pictures and doodles I’d been saving for the last several years, currently spread across every available space in my room.
“You know shifters heal fast,” I said as I got up, scraps of paper drifting to the floor around me. Since the camel ride was now off the table, I pinned a picture of an elephant to the board instead. “And besides, my pelvic floor has seen little to no action in quite some time.”
Indi shook her head, but couldn’t hide the smile my sad love life caused. “Trust me, a camel ride is not the action you’re looking for. But no more fires, I promise.”
She plopped onto my fluffy white duvet, the gold bedframe creaking as she reached for the stack of pictures and little labels I’d doodled. With a yellow pillow in the shape of a daisy tucked under her head, she started reading through them. “Ride on a plane. Eat gelato in Italy. Put a lock on the Pont des Arts. Kiss the Blarney Stone,” she read, her black eyes flicking up to mine. “Have you done any of the things on your bucket list yet?”
I hesitated to answer, knowing how she’d react, but she knew me well enough to see the truth written on my face.
“All right. New plan. We’re going to mark at least one of these off before your birthday next month. You’ve been saying you’re going to start living the life of adventure you’ve always wanted for years now, and you’re stalled here in Timber Creek.”
“I’m not stalled, ” I huffed, looking down at the sandy beaches of Bali in my hand. “I’m just busy. I have my family, my bakery-slash-bookstore, and my apartment. That’s a lot of dreams already come true for this almost-30-year-old.”
“Okay, well I dare you to pick one to do tomorrow, and I’ll even do it with you.”
I knew what she was doing, pushing me like this. She thought I’d chicken out, or back down. Instead, I shot her a sugary grin, holding up another magazine cutting. She cringed.
“Anything but that. You’re on your own there.”
“Oh, come on.” I laughed, turning the paper to look at the whitewater rafting advertisement for a trip down the Colorado River. “You hardly get wet at all.”
Indi leveled a stare at me. “That is patently false. And what if I went overboard?”
I shrugged. “Hold your breath?”
Indi rolled her eyes. As a demon with literal fire in her veins, she, like most of her species, hated water. It wouldn’t kill her Wicked Witch of the West-style, but most demons avoided it whenever they could, especially the frigid snowmelt that made up our Colorado streams. As a wolf shifter, I didn’t have the same problem.
“Okay, okay, what about…” I shuffled the scraps of paper heaped around me, looking for something a little more demon-friendly. “Aha! Ziplining! You can’t have any objections to that. No water at all, unless it rains.”
Indi grinned. “That’s more like it. Book it.”
I reached for my phone to look up the website, but halted before my hand even touched it when my brother called into my mind.
“Summer? Are you home?”
Indi shot me an inquiring look, and when I gestured to my head to indicate someone was mind-speaking with me through our wolf pack bonds, she set her mouth in a line.
“What’s up, Terran?”
Instead of responding, my ears pricked as the downstairs exterior door that led up to my apartment opened, followed by Terran’s footsteps — and another, lighter set of steps. I smiled, recognizing River’s gait.
“One sec.” I nodded to the apartment door, but Indi had already heard them too. We headed out to the living room, and I pulled the door open right as my older brother Terran reached the landing, his five-year-old daughter River right behind him. He wore a black shirt with a pair of faded jeans, a trucker hat thrown backwards on his head to keep his shaggy brown hair out of his face. His eyes were the same hazel as mine and our brother West’s, nothing like his little blonde-haired, blue-eyed daughter.
“I know it’s your day off with the bakery closed and I tried, I really did, to find someone else to watch River for me tonight, but Cruz got stuck in Nevada after a drift race and Dad’s having some situation with a Willie gone rogue, and I’m out of options,” my brother said in one long breath, his eyes quickly darting around the room as he gripped his daughter’s hand. I didn’t love that I was his last option, but at least he knew he could count on me. “Oh, hey Indi.”
My best friend offered a curt nod, then squatted down in front of River. “Did your dad forget he can call me and we can be buds too?”
River smiled, her two front teeth missing as she looked up at her dad. “I do like Indi. Her red hair is really pretty.”
When River and Terran chorused, “Like Merida,” — River in glee and Terran with enough resignation to betray he’d heard this comparison many times before — something I could have sworn looked like a blush crept over Indi’s freckled cheeks.
River let herself in, zooming over to my couch, skidding across my rug, and diving head first into my collection of novelty pillows that she loved — sherbert rainbows, succulents, cupcakes. Any pillow I found in a cute shape and my coral-yellow-sage green color scheme was a necessary purchase.
Terran’s eyes slid back to me. “West has a bunch of Alphas coming in tonight. I hate asking you to step in on your night off —”
“River!” I cut my brother off, skipping over to grab her hand and pull her down the hall. I could read between the lines — Terran didn’t want River anywhere near those other Alpha shifters, and I was right there with him. Most of them were decent people, but there were one or two who did not need to know about River, my brother’s half-human daughter. “I was just thinking about calling and asking if you wanted to have a sleepover tonight. We can bake, and have a dance party, and read a book. Just us girls. Sound fun?”
“You’re a lifesaver,” my brother’s voice rang in my mind, and I waved over my shoulder. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He muttered a stiff goodbye to Indi, then made his way quickly back down the stairs.
“I love sleepovers at your house,” River said as I opened the door to my bedroom, looking at the mess I’d made with my bulletin board. She paused in the doorway, then tilted her head to look up at me. “Did you have a tantrum, Aunt Summer? Sometimes my room looks like this after I have big feelings too.”
Indi chuckled, leaning against the doorframe with us. “She’s not wrong there. This is a lot of chaos, even for a demon.”
“It’s organized chaos,” I defended myself, hands on my hips as I looked down at the scattered stacks of colored pictures and slips of paper.
“Hmm.”
“ Semi -organized. I know where everything is. Well, I know roughly what pile everything is in.” I ducked to the floor and started putting things back in the bin my other brother’s mate Jade and I had labeled several months ago, piling all of the art supplies back into the corner of my closet. A closet that had, for a few magical days, been beautifully organized by Jade with labeled aesthetic bins and all, but was now back to its usual haphazard mess. What Jade didn’t know couldn’t hurt her.
“Did you just mess it all back up again?” River asked.
“No,” I lied, shoving the last of the papers out of sight. Being called out for my mess by a five-year-old was a new low. “Who wants cookies?”
River jumped up and down, racing towards the stairs that lead to my bakery, Love Bites, beneath my apartment.
“So about tomorrow,” Indi said as we followed the energetic little girl down the stairs.
I shrugged. “I don’t know yet. It depends on how long Terran needs me to watch her.”
“I can watch River and you can go by yourself.”
An involuntary shudder ran through my body, and I stuck my tongue out. “Times are not that desperate yet.”
Indi laughed, pulling out her phone as it buzzed. “I have to go sign for this shipment and finish inventory at the store.” She started towards the shop’s front doors, calling behind her, “Adventure awaits you, Summer. You’re the only one in your way.”
I sighed as she left, headed towards her general store down the street. Streetlights turned on all along Main Street as the dark clouds warned of a spring storm, overshadowing the valley. This high in the mountains, the scent of petrichor lingered in the air, bathing everything in my favorite smell. Soon, everything would bloom and the scents would be almost overwhelming in their intensity, but I savored the crisp air, breathing deep as I flicked the lock on the doors once more. Hopefully the rain wouldn’t delay the Alpha’s meeting tonight, but it was anyone’s guess how long these things went.
Ever since my oldest brother West took over as de facto leader of the shifters in North America, more and more responsibility had fallen on his shoulders. Five years ago shifters had been outed to humans, the first of the six species of supernaturals to be shoved into the spotlight. There was no way to undo what the humans already knew but the Council was working overtime to keep the rest of the species hidden for as long as possible.
Since then, West had been battling shifter-human relations as well as a growing population of shifters needing to relocate to pack grounds for safety. Not all Alphas were as accepting as him, and it was something he was trying to fix.
Luckily, he’d been learning to set some boundaries and delegate now that his mate Jade was living with him. If I ever wanted to see any of those items on my bucket list ticked off, maybe I needed to start doing the same.
“What kind of cookies are we making?” River asked as I joined her in the kitchen, a genuine smile on my face as I took over helping her tie on her mini Love Bites polka-dot apron. Pulling a hair tie off my wrist, I wrangled her pale blonde curls into a high ponytail, keeping it out of her face, then planted a kiss on the top of her head. I loved my niece more than anyone on this earth, and taking care of her — no matter that it derailed my plans — was never a burden.
“Let’s look and see what I have.” I pulled down glass jars from the shelves over my workstation, each neatly labeled after Jade went wild back here one day, showcasing chocolate chips, caramel pieces, crushed candies, and any variety of toppings a little girl could dream of. I was proud I’d managed to at least keep this area organized and tidy. “What are you thinking?”
“What about those s’mores ones Cruz loves with the mini marshmallows?”
I grabbed a box of graham crackers, the jar of mini marshmallows, and a container of chocolate chips as I headed towards my industrial mixer. “That is the best idea I’ve heard all day. Should we save him some?”
She tilted her head in thought. “Depends how many we make. I think I want to eat at least six.”
“At least.” I nodded in agreement, positive we were both about to have a stomach ache by the end of this. “Did you wash your hands?”
With a mid-air karate kick, River leapt off her stool and scampered over to the sink, shouting over her shoulder, “Music, Auntie!”
I smiled. “On it! Which album?” I knew better than to ask if she wanted to listen to Taylor Swift—the answer was always yes.
“1989!”
“Solid choice.”
Welcome to New York blared over the speakers as I measured the dry ingredients, pouring them into a mixing bowl one at a time. River hopped back on her stool, shaking her butt to the music as she sang the wrong lyrics and followed my instructions.
I hugged her from behind, planting kisses along her neck to make her giggle. “I love you, sweet pea.”
“I know,” she said confidently, her eyes glued to the oven as we watched the cookies bake. “I’m your favorite.”
“You sure are.”
“Do you have a husband?”
“Nope.” I glanced down at my phone, replying back to my dad’s third text that yes, River and I were good, and no he did not need to leave and come get her. Despite years of helping out with River, everyone always seemed braced for disaster when it came to me.
“Why not? You make really good cookies,” River asked while she licked marshmallow off her fingers, rapid-fire interrogating me. A dozen cookies cooled on a rack behind us, even though we’d both inhaled three a piece right out of the oven. The warm chocolate scent wrapped around me like a blanket, the ultimate comfort.
“I do make good cookies,” I agreed, putting my phone back in my pocket so I could dry the mixing bowl before putting it away. If only dating were as straightforward as following a recipe. “Ready for your bath?”
She nodded, taking off towards the apartment. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen the girl walk — everything was a race.
Up in my bathroom, I turned on the water in the standing tub before grabbing a black-and-yellow striped bumblebee towel, complete with a little face and antenna on the hood, for River.
“Do you want a husband?”
I laughed, staring up at the ceiling as the water filled the tub. “It’s on the bucket list.”
“What’s a bucket list?”
“A list of all the things I want to do, the places I want to see, and adventures I want to go on someday.”
“Oh, like how I want to go to the moon.”
“That’s a great bucket list item, sure.”
“Is a baby on your bucket list?”
A snort escaped me at her blunt questions no adult would dare ask so freely. “Someday, maybe. I don’t know. Can’t you stay little and be my baby forever?”
“No,” she deadpanned. “I’m not a baby anymore. I’m almost six .”
“But you were such a cute baby, with that pretty blonde hair and those big blue eyes.”
“Do I look like my mom?” she asked, and my hand stilled in midair, accidentally pouring too much lavender bubble bath into the water. River’s mom had left her on Terran’s doorstep as an infant, throwing him for a wild loop. She’d never met her mom, and it was a sore subject for everyone, no matter how much we all loved this sweet little girl.
“You do.” I grinned, squatting down next to the tub as she got in the water, splashing it around her legs. “But you also look like my mom. She had pretty curls like you do, and bright blue eyes.”
Twirling my fingers in her hair, my heart lurched at the reminder of my own mother sitting beside the tub while Aspen and I played in the water a lifetime ago. It had been 15 years since she passed, but not a day went by that I didn't think of her.
“Tell me about Grandma Cora.”
“Well.” I ran my fingers through the bubbles, lost in my memories. “Her hair was golden-brown like mine, but curled just like yours. Half me, half you!” I splashed some water up on her belly and she giggled. “And if you think my cookies are good, then you would have loved hers. She was the best cook I’ve ever known.”
“That’s what Daddy says too.” She nodded, laying back in the water with only her little face sticking out of the bubbles. “That’s why he works at the restaurant, even though sometimes it isn’t very fun. He says he can feel her there.”
Tears pricked my eyes, but I nodded. “She’s everywhere here in Timber Creek. Did you know that’s why Papa loves his buffaloes so much? They were Grandma’s favorite.”
River sat up covered in bubbles. “Yes! He talks about her all the time while we check on the Willies. But he said she liked to eat them.” She scrunched her nose, and I laughed.
“Sometimes, yes. I think she saw everything as food though.”
Her little eyes squinted as she stared up at me. “We don’t eat Willie. They’re our friends.”
I nodded, wiping the smile off my face. “You are most certainly right. No more buffalo burgers.”
That agreed to, River quizzed me on everything from why the trees stop growing high up on the mountains to when my dad’s peach crops would be ready so I could make peach cobbler while I rinsed her hair and pulled the drain.
Teeth brushed and in pajamas, I glanced at my phone to check my messages for any word on how the Alpha meeting had gone, but saw nothing. More than likely any plans I had for tomorrow were squashed, knowing River would be spending the day with me. “Ready for bed?”
“Can I sleep with you?” River asked, holding a Highland cow stuffed animal that had the same haircut as her father.
“Of course you can.” Her little hand slipped into mine and we made our way to my bed, pulling back the duvet and climbing under the covers.
“I had fun tonight,” she said with a yawn, snuggling into my side. “You’re my favorite too, Auntie Summer.”
I flicked off the lights, then curled on my side to throw my arm over her. “Good.”
“You’ll never leave me like my mom did, will you?” she asked, and my heart lodged itself in my throat. “Papa says Timber Creek is too small for you. He’s afraid you’ll leave next. Like Aunt Aspen.”
I leaned down, brushing her hair off her forehead as I kissed it. Moonlight caught on the bulletin board across the room, shining a spotlight on all the places I wanted to go and the things I wanted to do, but this…
This was on my bucket list too.
Everything else felt selfish in a way I couldn’t let myself voice, a choice I’d have to make to leave my family behind. Sometimes dreams were just that, right? Only dreams.
Who needed to see the world and fall in love when I had so much already to be thankful for?
If losing my mom so young had taught me anything, it was that no moment could be taken for granted, and you never knew how long you might have with the ones you loved. Being able to help my family, to make cookies and have dance parties with River — that was what really mattered.
“I won’t leave you, River,” I whispered as she let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. “You’re my world.”