Page 20 of What We Don't Say: Part One

Garrett’s phone rings before she can argue. He looks at the screen, and the whole room changes around the single word he gives us before answering. “Bellwether.”

I reach for Callie without thinking, and she takes my hand just as fast. Garrett listens, expression smooth at first, then focused. He asks one question about Friday’s arrival protocol, another about the caseworker, then goes quiet long enough that I hear my own heartbeat.

Garrett looks at Callie while the person on the other end speaks. Then he smiles, wide and real enough that her fingers tighten around mine.

“Yes,” he says. “We’ll be ready.” He ends the call and tucks the phone away, still smiling as he looks at us in our half-chosen clothes and held breath. “All of the paperwork has been finalized. Theo will be at the house at two Friday afternoon.”

Calliope

I wake to water running and Sloane laughing behind the bathroom door. For a minute, I stay still under the blankets with my cheek pressed into the pillow, letting the sound move through the room before the day can fully reach me.

Sloane’s laugh rises behind the bathroom door, followed by Idris saying something too low for me to catch. I pull on leggings and a loose sweater, then cross the room and ease the door open.

Steam curls into the bedroom around me. Sloane’s backed against the shower wall with Idris’s hand spread over his waist,their mouths moving together beneath the water. Sloane holds Idris by the back of the neck while Idris kisses him slowly enough that neither of them notices me at first.

When Sloane finally sees me, he reaches out with one wet hand. I kiss his knuckles and tell them I’m going downstairs before Garrett drinks all the vanilla tea. Idris smiles against Sloane’s mouth and kisses him once more before promising they’ll follow.

I close the door, steam curling faintly beneath it, and Sloane’s voice drops into something lower that makes my face heat before I even reach the hall. I leave them to it and go downstairs barefoot, following the smell of tea and the soft rustle of paper.

Garrett’s in the sitting room by the window, already awake and dressed down for him, which means rolled sleeves, no tie, and a collar open just enough to suggest he knows the house is still allowed to be a house before Bellwether arrives.

A folder is open on the low table, but his attention comes to me as soon as I step into the room. Beside his mug, a second cup waits near the teapot, steam rising in a thin line.

“Morning, sweetheart,” he says, reaching for the teapot before I can ask. “I was hoping I’d catch you before the house got loud.”

I cross the room and sit near him, tucking my feet under me while he fills the cup. “Is that my vanilla tea?”

“It is.” He passes it over, then reaches for the throw folded over the arm of the sofa and drapes it across my knees. “I put away all of Bellwether’s recommended grocery list this morning, but I made sure your tea didn’t disappear under plain crackers and electrolyte packets.”

My fingers tighten around the warm mug after taking a sip. It tastes perfect:one spoon of honey and one dollop of cream.“You remembered.”

Garrett looks at me over the rim of his own cup. “You sound surprised.”

“I’m not.” I take another sip and let the warmth sit on my tongue before swallowing. “I guess I’m still waking up.”

His expression softens, comfortable silence settling around us, enough that I can hear the heat clicking on and, far above us, the faint shift of pipes as the shower shuts off. Garrett glances toward the ceiling once, then back at me with a small curve at his mouth.

“Sloane?” he asks.

“Better. Still a little… Sloane.” I cut a smile, knowing how easily Sloane can piss off a room when people aren’t in the mood. I’ve caught more than one instance with GarrettandIdris shooting him a glare where I just try not to laugh.

“That’s a generous description for a pre-rut Alpha on his best behavior.” Garrett sets his mug down and rests his arm along the back of the sofa, giving me room to lean closer if I want. “I’ll talk to him before Theo arrives this afternoon. Nothing severe. I just don’t want Theo stepping into the full weight of Sloane trying to welcome someone with his entire body.”

I laugh before I can help it because that is exactly what Sloane would do, and Garrett’s mouth warms. The moment feels easy in a way I didn’t expect after the past week’s careful tension. It feels like yesterday in the guest room and then the store actually changed something, or at least let something loosen.

Garrett’s hand settles lightly over the throw near my knee. “I meant what I said yesterday. I really do love what we have, Callie. Home is here. It always has been.” He says it while looking at the room, the tea, the stairs, me curled beside him with my bare feet tucked under a blanket he gave me.

“You were stressed,” I say, trying not to make a big deal of it. I’ve always known a pack finding their Omega is a big deal.

“I was,” he answers. “That explains some of it. It doesn’t excuse all of it.”

I look down at my tea because the steadiness in his voice makes my chest feel too full. He gives me a minute with the tea, the quiet, the version of him that remembers things and apologizes without making the apology another kind of control. When he finally reaches for the folder, he turns a page but doesn’t look down at it right away.

“You haven’t brought up Halston much since they called,” he says.

I glance at him, surprised by the turn. “We haven’t really had time. With Theo coming and Bellwether and everything else.”

“That doesn’t make it less important.” Garrett shifts the folder slightly, making room for my mug on the table. “I know we said we’d discuss it after meeting Theo but tell me what they offered. Not the short version or a polite version you think I want to hear.”