“Thank you. I appreciate that. Stevie said something similar. . . but she said it from a kitchen cabinet. Because the”—he made air quotes with his forefingers—“ ‘maneaters’ were around. And she felt safer in the cabinet until the panda came back with her ice cream. So, long story short, I’d prefer you tutor my child rather than someone else.”
“That’s probably for the best. Not because Stevie is terrified of her own kind—which she is—but because Stevie just knows this stuff. Like, it’s in her blood or something. The rest of us have to read books and study and work on equations and work with teachers and think about next steps and make mistakes along the way and take our SATs more than once . . . at seventeen or eighteen. Not at eight. The problem is, it’s hard for her to understand how to get from point A to point B when she’s already at point Z and heading toward the infinity of time and space.”
After glancing around, Tock leaned in again and whispered, “I’ve heard a rumor that once, while working on her physics homework, she accidentally opened a worm hole into another dimension.”
“Do you believe that?”
Tock shrugged. “I don’t disbelieve it. And if anyone could do it, it’s definitely Stevie.”
They were both silent for a moment, contemplating Tock’s words, when, at the same time, they both began to speak.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah. It’s best she works with you.”
“Absolutely. And I’m happy to do it.”
“Great.”
“Great.”
Tock stood. “Mads set up the couch for you to sleep on.”
“I should probably head home.”
“No one believes you’re going home with your cub spending the night at a bear house. So don’t even try to lie. Instead of standing outside the Dunn house all night, just sleep on the couch. With your hearing, you’ll know if she sneezes in her sleep.”
A little embarrassed that Tock had so easily sized him up, he simply replied, “Thanks.”
He felt her turn toward the back door, but she didn’t walk away. Instead, she crouched down and placed her hand on his shoulder. “She’ll be just fine tonight. I promise.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
She kissed him on the cheek, taking him by complete surprise and charming him all at the same time.
“See you in the morning,” she said.
“Yeah.” He waited until she opened the back door before he looked at her over his shoulder. “Night, Tock.” But his voice was so low, he wasn’t sure she even heard him.
*
He opened the door to his brother’s room in their New Jersey home. He didn’t like being the one to wake him up, especially this early in the morning. It was risky. The big cat took his sleep very seriously. They all did, but his older brother was the only one who wasn’t afraid to make his displeasure painfully known.
This couldn’t wait, though.
Splayed across his bed in his lion form, his brother slept hard. But he knew what would get his brother’s attention.
“It’s happening today.”
One gold eye immediately opened; the left side of his face was smooshed into his pillow so he couldn’t open the other eye. Still, even with that one eye, he knew his brother’s question without having to hear it.
“It’s going to be very nasty.”
Slowly, his brother pushed himself up on all fours, standing on the double king mattress. He threw his head back and began to roar. Powerful, short roars with a few seconds between each. Then a series of staccato ones that went on for nearly twenty seconds, until he went back to the short powerful ones.
Finally, they heard their next-door neighbor’s loud girlfriend scream, “Oh, my God! What the fuck is that shit?”
Chapter 16
Shay expected the morning to be bad, but it wasn’t. And that was because Tock was in charge. She woke people up based on how long they normally took in the shower—he did not ask how or why she had that information, but she had it. By the time she tapped him on the shoulder to wake him up, everyone else was either dressed or nearly dressed. Ready to start the day.
“You’ve got twenty minutes,” she informed him. “Clean clothes from your brother in the main bedroom. You can also shower in the bathroom. Breakfast at Charlie’s. Waffles and bacon.”
“Wolves love waffles,” he mumbled, sitting up and scratching his head. “Am I the last to get ready?”
“Finn says you take short showers while Streep insists on wasting water for forty-five minutes.”
“I’ve been up since five!” Streep announced as she walked through the room in shorts and a T-shirt, her feet bare.
“Why are you not dressed yet?”
“I’m not naked.”
“Shoes! Boots, preferably. No idea what’s going to happen this afternoon.”
Shay frowned. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Just looking into something.”
“Need backup?”
“Max, do we need back—”
“Nope!” the MacKilligan announced on her way through the hallway toward the kitchen.
“Why is no one wearing shoes?” Tock demanded. “Put your shoes on!” She focused on Shay’s face again. “We’ll be fine.”
After that he’d taken his shower, put on his brother’s clothes, and headed over to Charlie’s. As promised, she had made bacon and waffles and baked goods for the bears lurking around her windows. Dani was already at the kitchen table, enjoying her waffles and bacon, when he walked in and kissed her on the top of the head. She looked so happy that morning, he was glad he’d let her stay with Nat, who ate and then went back to bed as any teenager would in the summertime.
Keane showed up in time to have some breakfast before getting them into his SUV—including the “damn puppies” and Princess—and headed off to Dani’s summer camp out on the Island. Sitting in the front with Finn, Keane complained about the cost of gas and all his traveling “back and forth between Long Island and Queens. I hope you appreciate the money I’m spending.”
While his brother continued bitching, Shay pulled his daughter close and watched as she worked on math problems in one of her notebooks.
“Daddy?”
“Uh-huh?”
“Do you like Tock?”
Uh-oh. Shay had to be careful here. Kids could get attached easily, and he hated disappointing his daughter. He needed to set up strong boundaries now before she started thinking Tock would be a permanent part of their life just because she might occasionally tutor Dani in math.
“Of course I like Tock. She really helped us when we needed it.”
“But do you like like her?”
“No, baby, I don’t. She’s just a friend.”
“Really? Because Auntie Nat thinks you like like her.”
Dammit, Nat! What was wrong with his baby sister? Not everything had to be a stupid rom-com.
“I’ve barely spoken six words to Nat in the last four days. How could she possibly know what I like or don’t like right now?”
“Well, Auntie Charlie thinks Tock likes you.”
Shay rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “You do know that Charlie, Stevie, and Max are not your aunts, right?”
“Don’t change the subject,” Finn said from the front passenger seat. “Do you like like Tock or not?”
Shay glowered at the back of his brother’s super-slapable head. “Shut. Up.”
*