Page 12 of The Time It Takes

She shook my hand cautiously and looked past me with questioning eyes to Ellie. "Ellie, my pack mate," said Arlie, still not looking at Dylan.

Ellie moved forward to shake hands, her grin broader than I'd managed. "Hey, Dylan! How cool! It's nice to meet you! You're so pretty! Hey, can you stay for a while and eat with us?"

I was relieved to let her take the wheel. I moved my gaze to Arlie, and he met my stare. His expression was shut down, like he didn't want to be here. I sent a silent question, but he just shook his head slightly. Didn't want to talk about it, or couldn't, with her here? Then why'd he bring her here? Great, now I was irritated with both of them, and they literally hadn't done a thing to me.

I turned back to the salad, to finish chopping and throw it together. Arlie moved to the cutting board and finished Ellie's tomatoes for her with a few quick cuts. He corralled the seeds and sloshed them into the lettuce and veggie mixture with the rest of it. Ew. Maybe they'd sink to the bottom so I wouldn't have to eat any of them.

Ellie, still chattering, guided Dylan into the next room, showing her around, introducing her to people. I didn't know how she did it. I could hardly stand to look at the girl, much less play nice and introduce her with such enthusiasm. Ellie had to know she wouldn't last long. There was no way I could read Arlie's body language and she couldn't.

I lowered my voice, very very low. He'd be able to hear me, no matter how quiet my whisper. He had that wolf hearing. "Why do you keep going for these little blond chicks if you're not even into them, man?"

He shrugged, looking awkward. Maybe I'd embarrassed him. Maybe he'd embarrassed himself, and was struggling to save the date by letting her meet the pack.

Or maybe he was scaring her off, so she'd lose interest. Why did he do this to himself? It was getting embarrassing. It was getting weird.

It was always these little blond girls he went after. Surely he was too old to be forever chasing girls in their early twenties. He'd be forty before I was. Being in your thirties was old enough to find someone your own age, or at least date for more than a week or two. Or just give in and admit he was a fuckboy and just wanted sex.

Or that he wanted a guy, but for whatever reason, wouldn't let himself go there. He knew he was bi. The pack knew. I knew. But maybe in practice, it was a little harder to actually admit what he wanted.

Maybe the pack was less accepting than he'd thought, and now that he liked it here so much, he was willing to try and play along and find a woman to settle down with. Never mind that he didn't seem to have an imagination other than "young and blond."

A lot of them weren't even shifters, so why shouldn't he expand his horizons a bit? Maybe a punk rock girl with a sense of humor. You know, someone interesting. Date an adventurous spirit, a single mom, someone his age or older—anything but the underfed Wonder Bread background extras.

God, I was feeling mean.

I dumped the rest of my veg into the big mixing bowl. If that wasn't good enough, too damn bad. Arlie knew I was angry. Maybe he even knew why, though probably not since I was still a little uncertain why it pissed me off so much.

But he didn't acknowledge it, didn't raise his head or look at me. He just started mixing the salad, keeping his head down. His shoulders were low. He was a big, sturdy guy, and usually, the way he stood, it would be hard to knock him over, even if you were a linebacker, which I certainly wasn't. He looked hunched in on himself now.

I didn't say anything else. It wasn't my place, and he clearly didn't want to hear it. I walked off, went to my room, and grabbed keys and jacket. I'd go to the gym, skip supper, and not have to look at him for a while.

As I headed out, I heard Ellie still talking cheerfully to Dylan in the distance. Arlie was nowhere to be seen—until I got into my car, and he jogged up and headed towards the passenger seat. He pointed to the door, giving me a little nod, and reluctantly I unlocked it and he slid in.

"Shouldn't you be with your date?"I said, trying not to sound as sarcastic as I felt about the whole thing.

"C'mon man."

I sighed at him.

"You're taking this too personally. I'll figure it out, okay? She seemed cool online."

"She's too young for you."

"Twenty-nine?" He sounded startled. "You think so?"

I fell silent. She'd looked way younger than that to me. What did I know about women? Clearly not much, if I was that easily fooled by makeup, skin care, and a slight build. But it wasn't just that. She had youthful features, and she seemed so...uncertain. I hadn't thought she was any older than Ellie.

"I wish you'd find someone you actually like or stop trying," I told him, calming down a little. It was still annoying, but if he wasn't being a creep about dating much younger women—just stupid in general—that wasn't as bad, really. It shouldn't bother me as much as it did.

"Just because you've given up on dating doesn't mean I should," said Arlie, like he was trying not to be annoyed and not quite managing. "I know you went through hell figuring out your last relationship, and it wasn't great. That doesn't mean it's like that for me."

"Sure, make this about me! You find these girls you clearly have no interest in, string them along for a date or two, then start fresh. How is that me being weird? Look, you told me you're bi. Why do you never date guys? Why can't you look past these tiny blond chicks and try to find someone you've actually got chemistry with?"

It was a hell of a thing to say. I didn't usually talk to Arlie like that. We had a much more circumspect style of conversation—usually with him having to dig an opinion out of me, not this. Today I'd taken a big opinion dump right in front of him and now it lay there, steaming, between us.

"The pack doesn't want another same-sex couple here," he told me, his voice lower and more gravelly than normal.

Great, I'd upset him. I guess I'd meant to, but I still wished it hadn't worked. I was used to Arlie being calm and in control. He never lost his cool. He was always level-headed. But he was as human as anyone else, and everyone's got buttons that shouldn't be pushed.