Little Wolves (gxg)

Chapter 5 - Bears, Cougars, and Wolves

"That woman sure is taking her time," dad huffed, leaning his hands on the kitchen counter. I had my elbows leaning on the island, iced tea in one hand with the other wrapped around my forearm. We were talking about Kiersten, the lady from the corner store.

"Oh hush! It's not like she owes us anything!" Mom shooed dad off, fanning him with an oven mitt as she passed by. I smiled, watching mom open the oven to check on the pizza. Jo Auden had been kind enough to find a couple pieces of leftover pizza in her freezer for us to eat. It was Logan's idea and Jo was mortified to provide us with, "such an unwelcoming first meal", but dad was hungry, and pizza is pizza.

"I still think she'll come by," I shrugged, simply trying to add to the conversation. Mom gave me a look, as did dad. Logan had left after we finished unloading the boxes upstairs. The boxes only took about an hour but I feel like I've known him for years already. I learned his girlfriend's name is Sarah. Apparently, she lives in Ohio.

Sounded like one of those "you don't know her, she doesn't go to our school" girlfriends to me, but I won't judge. Either way, it was a surefire way to sizzle any chance of romance between us. I wasn't really bothered by it. Besides the original flustered meeting, I was content to find my later attraction to him wasn't even worth mentioning. So what he's got abs?

"Whether she stops by or not, I don't care. I'll still be friendly with her at her corner store. Plus, she could've forgotten! I've done that once or twice, you know. It's a very mom thing to do," mom reasoned. She brought a plate down to the oven rack and slid a piece of pizza onto it, handing it to my dad. I received my piece next. It was veggie pizza. Not my favorite, I'll admit, but it was better than starving and I sure would choose veggie over sausage and black olive (the only other option). Mom was eating the veggie pizza, too. My dad, of course, had the sausage one.

"Well of course, Cher, same here. I'm just saying it's a bit rude to say you're going to stop by and then never show up!" dad pointed out. I laughed at him, finally realizing why he was so uptight about this. It really wasn't a big deal. If Kiersten couldn't make it, it didn't make any difference in the world to me.

"You're just upset because you think there's some big mystery in the woods that you're going to solve," I jabbed, sending dad a knowing glance. Dad's face scrunched up in utter deflection.

"I do not. Don't you have a pizza to eat?" He tried changing the subject, but all it did was have me run my tongue over my teeth.

"Aha! I'm right! You wanna know what's in those woods!" I exclaimed. My finger was pointing right at him, guilty as charged. Dad gave me that look.

"What's in the woods?" mom asked innocently.

"We don't know, that's the problem. And, you know, Nelly, I'm sorry I want to know what kind of danger my daughter will be putting herself in when she goes frolicking in those woods like a damned fairy!" He was teasing me; it was obvious in his tone. It had me laughing at him.

"I'm not a fairy!" I defended. "I just like hanging out with trees!" Dad smiled at me and sent me a wink as he bit off a huge chunk of pizza. He had to chew it like a chipmunk. His cheeks were filled with so much pizza I thought it might fall out of his mouth.

"If there's something bad in there you better not go in those woods, Nel," Mom scolded. I tilted my head to the side in agony, starting to open my mouth, but she stopped me. "Ah, ah, ah," she tsked her finger, "I don't want to hear it, missy."

"Okay, okay, Cher, I'm sure it's not that bad. We're probably getting ourselves worked up for nothing." Dad took my side. I sent him an approving nod, watching him send one back to me. Mom looked at the two of us and shook her head disappointingly. I only smiled at her. A big, cheesy smile most likely filled with pizza remains.