A Mate for Lu - Amy Bellows Page 0,49

me have my fun.” He unwraps the bar and hands it to Mary. “We should probably set you up at the table. Let me go get one of my old phone books. I don’t have a booster seat anymore. We’ll have to change that, won’t we?”

As my father heads down the hall, Lu leans in and whispers, “I think he wants to get to know Mary a lot more than he wants to get to know me.”

“I think you’re right.”

33

Lu

Eventually, Morgan and Parker make their way to the kitchen and Jerry gives them each an ice cream bar. Sam tells them that we’re mates, and at first they don’t say anything. They look to Jesse, who gives them a hesitant smile.

“But you won’t live with us or anything, right?” Morgan says.

Sam glances back at me. “Actually, we’re going to start moving Lu’s stuff today.”

“What about Mary?” Parker asks.

“Mary too. I’m going to move my office into the dining room, and that will be her bedroom.”

Morgan scoffs. “So she gets her own room? That’s not fair.”

Parker and Morgan currently share a room. Sam and I discussed living arrangements this morning. We thought it would be best for Mary to have her own, since she has an early bedtime.

Jesse hunches over to look Mary in the eye. “You can share with me.”

“Are you sure?” Sam asks. “Mary takes naps in the middle of the day and she goes to bed early at night. She also uses diapers, so sometimes the room is going to smell sometimes.”

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

Mary holds out her ice cream bar to Jesse. It’s melty to the point of dripping. “Share.”

Jesse laughs and takes a lick.

“Ewwwww!” Morgan says, and Parker laughs. Mary, who clearly has no idea what they’re laughing about, starts giggling, and it’s impossible to not laugh with her.

Parker starts talking about the dragon TV show they watched last night, and Morgan joins in enthusiastically.

I’m sure they’ll have lots more questions about my role in the family and white living together will look like. We’ll need to talk more when people start making comments about their father’s choices. But for now, their reaction is a good sign.

After the kids finish their ice cream bars, we pack up their things and pile into the car. Or we try. There aren’t enough seatbelts.

Sam and I didn’t even think about that.

Morgan and Parker offer to walk because Sam only lives two blocks away from his fathers’ house. That’s really close. Especially considering his alpha father’s reaction to our bond.

Sam drives through a quaint neighborhood where the snow is shoveled from everyone’s sidewalks. He pulls into the driveway of a brick house with a red door. It’s not a big or glamorous house. But it looks solid and sturdy. Like Sam.

I think Mary and I could be really happy in a house like this.

Sam opens the garage door to a space exploding with tools and garden implements.

“Sorry. During the summer I got a little overwhelmed,” he says.

I can relate. Mary’s my only child, and I get overwhelmed sometimes too. I place my hand on his knee. “We can clean it up together this summer.”

He smiles at me. “Okay. Deal.”

Sam shuts off the engine and Jesse helps Mary out of her car seat. The wooden steps at the far end of the garage lead to a door that opens to the kitchen. It isn’t as messy as the garage, at least not at first glance. But it does show signs that an overwhelmed single parent lives here. A pile of dirty rags are piled in the sink, there’s a smoke stain on the ceiling above the stove, and the floor is sticky.

I guess the problem with omega penguin shifters doing all of the cooking and cleaning is that the alphas never learn how. That’s not good for the alphas either.

Sam leads me into the family room where an upright piano sits in the corner and photos line the walls. It’s not hard to guess who Allen is. He’s in every photo, smiling and hugging people.

All of the photos are at least four years old. I barely recognize the kids.

The photos wind down the hall too. Sam and Allen in tuxedos. Allen holding up the same pebble Sam gave me. Allen proudly holding an egg. Sam cradling a small, wet penguin chick in his arms.

Sam’s old life with Allen is plastered all over this house.

Jesse opens the door to their room. The bed is neatly made, and their desk is clean. Jesse has