Page 56 of A Light in the Dark
“Clearly, an open invitation to get high in my garden for all silk vomited or otherwise produced during their visit. If they want to go into my bathroom and shift and leave extra silk for me, that’s their choice. But their silk vomit will go into a neatly labeled basket with their designated number.”
“That’s… actually not a bad offer.” Joel frowned. “Maybe you should start your own silk racket. The shifters under contract with Yolana only give her a percentage of their production. They can sell more if they want, but they usually have plenty left over. Running a rose garden to acquire shifter silk would get you some to play with and you wouldn’t even make a dent in their supply.”
“How much silk could I get?”
“I’d say it’d probably take five or six visits to get enough silk to spin a single skein of embroidery thread. The six strand skeins.”
“How much silk is lost during spinning?”
“Virtually none. You won’t have to card out any impurities. Silk texture tends to be the key issue, as you could tell from your fondling earlier.” Joel waited for me to finish gathering my things before locking his SUV. “My parents absolutelywilltry to steal my vehicle to prevent me from leaving, so I keep it locked. Or they’ll try to return their cut of silk production because they feel I should get access to their silks for free. This prevents them from hiding money inside. I still need to check the various places they might have stashed cash, checks, or prepaid cards, but this keeps most of their trouble contained. And yes, you were correct. Two and Threearemy parents, and I want to hoard all their silk for myself. And give them money they fairly earned.”
“From vomiting and shifting.”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“They won’t accept anything from you otherwise?”
“They really won’t,” he complained. “They won’t even let me buy them roses.”
“But they’ll let you buy them steak. That’s something.”
“They’ll spend the entire time I’m here trying to pay meback. They are independent parents and don’t need some snotty son paying their bills.”
I smiled at the frustration in his voice. “It must be hard having independent parents. Honestly, mine are convinced I live in complete destitution, but they refuse to come to Stonecreek to see my house. And until recently, I didn’t have a good cell phone, so I couldn’t show them pictures.”
“Why would they think that?”
“I went to Stonecreek and squandered my grant, Joel.”
“You bought yourself a beautiful house and set yourself up for debt-free living. How is thatsquanderingyour grant?”
“I could have been a nurse.”
His brows shot up like I’d slapped him across the face. “They wanted you to be a nurse?”
“Yep. A nurse. Not a doctor, not a surgeon, not a paramedic, not anything I mightactuallybe interested in, but a nurse. I am a woman, and that’s what women do. They become nurses. Let’s just say it’s a sticking point, and the calls every few weeks can get uncomfortable. I amnottelling them about my bonus—or my upcoming bonus. Apparently, the management of my company is freaking out because I’ve been a profit producer and I have not been fairly compensated.”
“You work for a good company, so that doesn’t surprise me. They are performance driven, and they donotlike when their performers are underpaid. They know if they underpaid, men like me will swoop in on gossamer wings and steal the good staff. And if they do not treat you like you deserve, I am confident in my ability to find an appropriate position for you at my company.”
“I really appreciate the offer, but they’re going to send meto school for whatever I want. A class or two a week, all on their dime. And the bonus!” I held up my project holder. “This represents the day my company decided I was worth keeping around.”
He grinned at me. “They offered you the Holy Grail in the form of the education you sacrificed so you’d have a guaranteed home and a comfortable lifestyle.”
“They really did. The money means a lot, but the offer to continue my education? That means everything.”
“I’ll reach out to your work about the education issue. My company has a grant program for employees that allows access to most schools in Stonecreek, Moonriver, Valleyville, and Mirage.”
My eyes widened at the mention of Mirage, a city-state located halfway across the planet and renowned for its education system. “You have ways into schools in Mirage? But how?”
“They have a luna moth population, and I went to pay their flutter a visit.”
“Flutter?”
“Yes, we call large groups of luna moths flutters. We flutter everywhere we go, Valerie. We are beautiful, and we know it. Their flutter has an agreement with my flutter, and if they have adventurous young shifters who want to see the world, they intern with my company. In exchange, when I bump a student their way, they get a foot in the door. Considering you got a grant here, you’re eligible for attending their schools, and we have a good distance education setup. Since you don’t have a computer, you can come to my place for the classes. My internet connection is solid, and I suspect you’d rather justnotfor that sort ofthing. And since I have to set you up with a gaming computer anyway, I’ll just make sure it’s also good for schooling.”
“I’m a luddite, it’s true. You can do that for me?”
“Absolutely. And I can get a hefty enough discount you can do a business degreeanda pleasure degree with no problem. I can talk to your work about it. I’ll just ask to get you for some general work things two or three days a month; my secretary has to go out for health treatments, so it would let me have someone to fill in for her without having to fuss around with a temp firm that never has the kind of person who works best with me. I suspect you’ll take to the work easily. I’d say you’d get a discount on your shoring, but you already get as low as we can possibly go on that.”
