Page 1 of The Time It Takes

Chapter one

"They think he's notthe asshole," I informed my partner, scrolling through the forum post on my phone. My feet were up on the dash, and he was driving.

He snorted. "That's ridiculous."

"Well, I can see both points of view. You don't lock your partner out of the house, that's not cool. But not listening to your girlfriend when she repeatedly brings up a problem is also pretty awful."

"Sure," he agreed easily, uncomfortably.

I looked over at my partner. He was a big strapping guy, a wolf shifter. We'd been paired up for about six months. Sometimes I felt like I'd known him forever. Sometimes I felt like I barely understood him at all. We worked well together.

"So are you okay?"asked Arlie quietly. "You usually don't read those unless something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," I said, then grimaced.

I thought about what I'd said: not listening to your partner when they brought up an issue. That kind of described my relationship with my girlfriend. She never thought my concerns were important. She acted like every single issue in our relationship was my fault.

We didn't even seem to enjoy each other's company anymore. I knew we had, once. The relationship had been fun, once. We'd seemed to be heading in the same direction. Not anymore.

I was tired of things being my fault, and not knowing which ones were actually my fault, and which ones were her blaming me for things I couldn't possibly have done. I thought I was a pretty good boyfriend, but sometimes she just seemed to hate the sight of me, and there wasn't a thing in the world I could do right.

You'd think I wouldn't feel the urge to lie to Arlie anymore. He knew me well, and more than that, I trusted him. But it was complicated, because my relationship with my girlfriend was kind of falling apart, and I hated having him know so much about that. It felt shameful, like something I should hide. I'd already confided in him too much, and while he tried not to be judgmental about it, he didn't always manage.

"You sure you two should be together?"he'd asked me, just once. He'd have asked me more, I suspect, if I hadn't gotten offended about it.

Darby was the same beautiful woman I'd started dating three years ago—except that she was no longer fun to be around, because it seemed like we were always arguing or on the outs about something.

Sure, there were good days here and there—reminders of why we'd like each other in the first place. But fewer and fewer of them. I felt like shit about our relationship most of the time these days, and sometimes I even dreaded going home at night.

My partner probably knew even more of that than I wanted him to know.

Anyway, as bad as it was, I didn't want judgment from my wolf shifter partner about it.

We can't all be born having a destined mate we match perfectly with.

Not that it had worked out that way for Arlie. He'd shared with me during our training that he was bi. I'd thought that should make it twice as easy to find someone he meshed with romantically. So far, that didn't seem to be true. He'd been dating, looking, but he hadn't clicked with anybody yet. He didn't seem to be finding a mate anytime soon.

But Arlie was right: there was a reason I'd been obsessed with the posts online about relationship drama, about who was at fault. Small things could become big irritants. Sometimes, I knew she was probably right to be irritated at me. And sometimes, it was just confusing as hell. How did I get a cold shoulder for not complimenting her outfit correctly, when I'd already said I liked it, that she looked great?

It was the way I said it, apparently. But it didn't feel fair, to be told my tone was wrong, when I really did mean it. Lately it was getting harder and harder to discuss things we disagreed about, because it wasn't like it ever led anywhere positive. We just ended up fighting.

Anyway, it was nice to be able to go online and see that my relationship was pretty normal compared to some. Maybe not great, but better.

"Well, are you on for bowling tonight?"Arlie asked, changing the subject. He got bored with the posts sooner than I did.

"Hm?" I looked up from my doomscrolling.

"Bowling. Tonight. You coming?"

"Oh." He had a regular bowling night he went to, since he'd joined a local pack. He'd been a lone wolf when we met. Some wolves liked to stay that way, but not Arlie. He'd been only too glad to jump into the social aspects of life in a pack. He even lived in the row of townhouses where the pack family members clustered. He didn't have his own home, just rented a room. It was easier, he said. Fewer chores and less expense.

"Uh, right, bowling." I thought about Darby, guiltily. She'd said she'd be working late. There was a strange feeling of relief about that, that we wouldn't have an evening together, that I could do what I wanted and not have it be an issue. I could spend time with him and the pack and not have it be a mark of one more way I was failing as a boyfriend.

"Sure, that sounds fun."

"It doesn't, doesn't it?" He grinned. "The pack does a lot of fun stuff. Some of us are going to the amusement park next month. You want to go to that too?"

"I'm not really part of the pack," I reminded him. "You can't invite me to everything."