knows when. What happened?”
“Nothing. Donnie and I had a good time together, but we didn’t click.”
He stared at me. “What do you mean, you didn’t ‘click?’”
“We had a perfectly nice date, but neither one us sees a romance happening between us.”
“Well, what does romance have to do with anything?” he cried.
I glanced at my mother, who didn’t respond at all to this statement. I felt very sorry for her.
“We had a good conversation and parted as friends. If anything, I think I made a good connection with their pack we can build on, which was the point, wasn’t it?” I asked.
“All right then, if you had such a ‘nice time,’ why did you leave so early?” Braylene asked. “We kept watch outside the restaurant, and we saw you leave about thirty minutes after you got there. That’s not enough time for any sort of date!”
“Yeah, we need to talk about that, because y’all having date night stakeouts is a real problem for me,” I told her, sliding out of bed.
“Don’t you talk to your aunts that way,” Mama said quietly. “They’re just looking out for you. If I had any idea you would leave in the middle of dinner, I would have stayed there myself.”
“Where did you go?” Daddy asked. “Your uncles, aunts, and I spent all night running around town, looking for you.”
“I went for a run,” I said, jerking my shoulder, all innocence. “You know how it is when the moon gets like this. My blood was up. I just needed some time in the woods. First, I went by the library garden and—”
“Don’t you feed me that library bullshit again,” Daddy insisted. “We went to the library and you weren’t there. Did you sneak off to meet someone else? Is he a human? Is that why you’re being so cagey this morning?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but my mother was faster.
“Of course not,” she said, giving me a significant look. “You probably just missed her. A she-wolf needs to run on her own every once in a while. It’s normal.”
The look worried me. What did my mama know?
“Well, you’re just lucky Donnie didn’t say anything to his family about you being so unsociable. He told Alvin that you seem like a sweet girl and he had a good time. His daddy is real excited to have you go out with him again,” Daddy told me. “Alvin thinks you’re a real good match for Donnie. So just clear your schedule when we plan your next date.”
I rolled my eyes. Poor Donnie. Maybe we could figure out a way for him to get time with Mara on these dates while I sat at the bar or something. Maybe we could double with Alex and Mara…except that would involve telling Donnie and Mara about my dating Alex and that seemed like a bad idea.
“If we go out again, y’all are staying home,” I told him. “It’s the only way I’ll agree to it.”
“I don’t care what you agree to,” Daddy snorted. “But we’ll talk about it, if we feel like we can trust you.”
Temporarily pacified, my aunts and my father trooped out of my room. Mama lingered near the door. “I picked your dirty clothes of the floor earlier. Put them in the laundry.”
My dirty clothes, meaning the dress I’d worn the night before, around Alex. While I’d been careful to wash my body, I’d figured I would launder my clothes in the morning, so I didn’t wake anybody up. Unfortunately, I’d underestimated how tired I’d be from all the sex and the sneaking around. Mama had woken up before I did and grabbed my clothes before I could wash them. It wasn’t all that unusual, except my clothes didn’t usually reek of man.
But at least she wasn’t yelling?
I watched Mama carefully as she stood in the doorway. I doubted very much she was keeping silent out of any instinct to protect me. She just didn’t want Daddy any more riled than he already was.
“I’ll have ’em washed back on your bed by this afternoon,” she said, walking out of the room.
Why was it so hard for me to make a decision that was good for me?
I sat at my usual table at Specialty Books, reviewing my business schedule for the next few months, my bank accounts and my bills. I could afford the new apartment for at least a year, and long afterwards, if my projections held out.
I wanted it so badly. It would obviously be healthy for