Page 114 of Before the Bond
Jake was well.
He had nearly recovered from the effects of the first shift. He conducted himself accordingly, too.
The tension that used to come from managing his pain and fever had been replaced by his constant presence. Usually making a joke, or excited to talk about something.
The mornings were the best part.
Jake decided, the week after his shift, that he was done eating breakfast alone in his room. He announced this to no one in particular and simply appeared in the kitchen one morning, sat down at the long table, and started talking.
He talked about anything under the sun that he took interest in. Especially that he could now go in and out of the manor without issue.
I came in five minutes after him.
“We’re going to need more bookshelves in the library,” he said one day, his mouth full of scrambled eggs. And then, looking at his plate. “Oh, and I need more bacon.”
Donovan was another new constant. He would come in from his patrols and, instead of taking his food upstairs, he would sometimes linger in the kitchen. I took it as him still being wary of Jake's recovery. But I knew he would never admit this.
On this fine day, he came across Jake and me mid-argument about something we read.
“I’m telling you,” Jake said, quickly swallowing his coffee. “The veracity of the origins of Greyhollow are quite accurate.”
“It's an oral tradition,” I said. “I don’t think someone ‘speaking to an eagle’ counts as accurate.”
“You’re telling this to a werewolf.”
“What’s this about this time?” Donovan asked.
“Donovan, you talk to eagles, don’t you?”
Donovan blinked. “I regret asking,” he said. He then grabbed a piece of toast and skulked into the hallway. His heavy footsteps easy to identify.
I knew all their footsteps now. I knew the particular weight of Tomas's boots on the back porch that meant he'd finished the perimeter and found it clean. I knew that Maureen sang very quietly to herself when she thought no one was within earshot, and that the song changed depending on her mood, and that this morning she'd been humming something that meant she was content.
I was learning the language of this place, and I knew that the people inside were alright with that.
“Thursday,” Stella said through the phone.
I was in the middle of my afternoon job applications at my usual spot in the fireplace area.
Now that I wasn’t a travel nurse, I was trying to see what formal placement I could get in the Greyhollow area.
Jake joked that the Ashwoods could “keep me on payroll” so long as I stayed here, but I insisted I liked my job. I may havefound a place to stay, but that didn’t mean the nurse within me was gone.
“What about Thursday?” I asked.
“Oh, don’t be mean!” Stella pressed. “You know we need to hang out again! Minus you getting attacked by wolves and everything.”
“I’m teasing,” I said with a smile. “So what’s the plan? The Tap? Burgers at the diner?”
“You bet,” she said. “I need to squeeze whatever time I can get before you find work again.”
I smiled as I adjusted my laptop. "We should get Jake and Donovan down there," I said.
A long silence.
"Olivia," Stella said.
"Yeah."
