“Well, we had a town meeting as soon as everyone remembered Rafe.” She set down the tray on the coffee table, then took a seat next to my father. “We all agreed that the town would search while we waited here.”
My father shook his head. “I wanted to go out and look, of course, but your mother insisted we be here if you turned up. Now I’m glad we were.”
“The whole town is looking?” I asked, stunned.
“Every last one of them.” My father shook his head. “Even that Wiley boy that you beat in pool after your A-level results day.”
I grinned. Calvin Wiley had been furious.
It was so strange to think of the past and have memories to go along with it.
The kettle went off in the kitchen, and my father hopped up.
“What’s happened in the last decade?” I asked.
“Well, not much,” my mother said. “The pack is still doing well. Your father and I have been out of sorts, obviously, unable to understand why there was such a hole in our life.” She gave a weary, almost bitter laugh. “Turns out we had a son.”
“And you just remembered me?”
“At eight p.m. last Tuesday.” She shook her head and blew out a breath. “Just sat up in bed and burst into tears.”
“Oh, Mum. I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner.”
“We’re going to discuss that, young man. You should have come home right away. Or at least called.”
Guilt struck. “But you knew I was alive.”
“We did, yes. In your defense, I could feel that you were still alive and well. I would have known if my only son were gone.”
“So no harm done.” I didn’t look at Isobel. The last thing I needed was my mother to blame her for my absence, when it was really about me and wanting to do what was right by her, as well as getting my head on straight.
My father returned with the tea, and my mother began to serve the marmalade cake that had been my favorite since I was a child. I looked at Isobel, feeling something in my chest tighten at the sight of her with my family.
My mate.
I still hadn’t told her. It wasn’t something that non-shifters understood, and I didn’t want to scare her off.
“So, we’ll be having a party tonight,” my mother said. “I’ve already told everyone in town that you’re back, and they’re coming over for a big celebration.”
“When did you have time to do that?” I asked.
“I texted Barb while I was in the kitchen. She took care of the rest.”
“Barb. Of course.” She’d been my mother’s best friend since childhood, and she could definitely get the word out to the whole town.
“I just can’t wait until you move back!” she said. “Obviously, you can stay with us. But there’s also a new cottage for sale just down the road. It’s lovely.”
I nodded, uncertain of what to say.
“Lay off him, honey,” my father said. “The boy just got back.”
“Fine, fine. The party starts in a few hours, anyway. I need to get ready.” She looked at me. “You’re helping me. In fact, you’re not leaving my sight the whole night.”
It was clingy, but I couldn’t blame her. I’d disappeared on her for ten years. I owed her some serious time. “I’d love to.”
“Isobel, dear, do you want to rest?” my mother asked her.
“No, I can help with whatever you need.”
“Excellent.” My mother stood up and clapped. “Let’s get ready for the party!”
Chapter
Thirty
Isobel
Rafe’s family was absolutely wonderful. As a kid, I’d often dreamt about what the perfect family might be like. There were a dozen different iterations of the fantasy, but now I knew that I’d found the perfect one.
For one, they adored Rafe. Both of his parents clearly thought he was the most perfect person in the world, and I could tell that he adored them right back.
We spent a lovely afternoon preparing for the party that would happen down on the rocky beach later that night. My heart ached every time I saw Rafe looking perfect in this environment, because I knew he’d come back here to live. But it was a selfish ache. I was happy for him. Genuinely.
Still, sad for me.
But I did my best to ignore it as I stood at the drinks table that night, filling plastic cups of wine for the first guests. I didn’t know who to mingle with, and I liked having something to do with my hands.
This afternoon, I’d helped Rafe’s father set up tables and chairs on the beach. Most people were mingling while standing up, though they would probably sit to eat later. A barbecue was smoking away at the edge of the beach, and the table where I stood was covered in bottles of wine and buckets filled with ice and chilled lager.
About ten meters away, Rafe stood with a group of four other men his age. From the smiles on their faces, they were clearly friends from long ago.
Rafe, with friends.
It was wild.
The grump I’d met a month ago was far less grumpy now, and he had friends.
I sighed, pouring the wine until something cold and wet dripped onto my hand.
“Crap.” I stopped pouring and looked at the overfilling cup, then shrugged. “Might as well.” I took a big sip, then another. It probably wouldn’t make me feel better, but I could try.
It was just a no-win scenario because I wanted him to live here, to be happy with his family and friends. He was clearly meant to be among his pack. There was just such a good energy here, and they clearly all got along well. They were puzzle pieces that fit into one perfect picture. Rafe had been the missing piece, and now that he was back, I imagined that the town was complete.
I sighed.
A pretty woman a few years older than me stepped up to the table. She wore a russet orange jumper dress and tall leather boots, her blond hair perfectly curled.
“Wine?” I asked, gesturing to the bottles on the table. “There’s white and red of just about every variety you can imagine.”
“Any, please.” She grinned. “It’s just such a fabulous day. Rafe has returned.”
“It really is.”
She took a plastic cup of red. “You’re the witch who broke the curse?”
I nodded.
“Thank you.” The genuine sincerity in her voice made me smile. “It’s amazing to have him back. There’s been a loss in the village, and no one quite knew why. Then we all remembered him, and it made sense.”
“It was no problem, truly. I was glad to do it.”
“You gave us back more than just Rafe, though. You gave us back part of ourselves. Every memory we had with him was gone. Empty.“ She laughed. “It was so weird. There were photo albums around town with blank spaces that didn’t make sense. In fact, no one could figure out how we’d won the regional football championship in secondary school when we’d played with one less player than the other team, and none of our team could score worth a damn!”
I smiled. “He played football?”
“He was the best on the team. And as we all realized last week, he was the reason we won that mysterious game.”
“Wow, that curse was awful, wasn’t it?”
She nodded. “It really was. We all sensed something was wrong but couldn’t quite understand. Not until you broke the curse.”
I blew out a breath. This was all so much more than I’d expected.