Page 21 of The Lunatics

“Thank you again for your hospitality,” Michael said. “And for your patience and understanding. I will never forget them.” He spoke like he felt he owed my parents a great debt. Like a knight promising a hallowed boon to common folk.

“You’re welcome,” Dad said, reaching out to shake Michael’s hand.

They released each other, and Dad wrapped an arm around Mom’s shoulders. The mingled smell of their anxiety and stress lessened some with the contact. Maybe over time Michael and Iwould overcome our current level of uneasiness and likewise find comfort in such casual touches.

Mom met my eyes. “You both have a place to stay here, anytime.”

“I know. I love you,” I said.

“I love you, too.”

Michael and I said our goodbyes and left.

We’d agreed earlier that I would follow him down to the city. He drove with great care, an abundance of caution for the cars around us, and at the speed of an octogenarian. At this pace, it would take three hours to reach Boston, but at least that left me plenty of time for phone calls.

I dialed Mom first.

“What do you guys really think of him?” I asked her.

“Hang on, I’m just walking out the door now.”

“I want to talk to her, too!” Dad yelled in the background.

“Later. She and I need to have some girl talk,” Mom told him.

I heard the door shut and the wind pick up as she sped away from the house.

“Okay, good now,” she said a few minutes later.

“So? Thoughts?”

“He’s not who we would have chosen for you, but then the Goddess knows better than us, so She must have paired you with such a stuffy wolf for a reason.”

“He’s so polite, Mom. I think I might suffocate beneath the sheer weight of his respectability.”

She chuckled. “Don’t dim yourself for him. Be the incorrigible Layla we know and love. If ever there was a man in need of a woman to upend his boring life, it’s Michael.”

“In his defense, there’s a lot more going on under the surface than he lets on. And he’s not entirely lacking in the humor department. I’ve felt a few hints of it over the bond.”

“Interesting. It didn’t really show in his scent. And his face sure didn’t give anything away.”

“I know. He works so hard to mask everything, but it’s there. Maybe he’ll open up more with time. He managed to make me laugh last night, when it was just the two of us, so there’s hope.”

“Did he make you anything else last night?” she asked, innuendo heavy in her tone.

“I told you, nothing physical happened between us. Well, okay, we did try holding hands, but it felt like sticking my fingers in battery acid, so it was pretty short-lived.”

“Battery acid, huh? In a good way, or a bad way?”

“I have no idea how, but kind of in a good way?”

“Trust me, I get it. The first time your father and I slept together, it felt like I disintegrated on a cellular level.”

I gagged. “Too much, Mom.”

“My brain short-circuited.”

“Mom!”