Page 80 of My Big Fat Shifter Wedding

“We made good time too. I’ll be back at the retirement home well before dinner.”

“Pardon? We’re not heading back there right now. We still have a whole lot more planned.”

She looked up at me, her wide eyes looking comically magnified behind her thick lenses. “We’re not?”

Keith, love of my life, wasn’t the best at relaying messages. I probably should have sent his mother the itinerary myself, but I didn’t have her email address.

“No, not unless you want to. We have an appointment to get our nails done, then a massage at the spa next door to the nail place.”

It was like I had announced Christmas arrived several months early. Miss Angela gripped my arm with both of her hands like she was afraid she might topple over from excitement.

“You’re kidding!”

“I would never kid about something as important as a spa day. But I understand if you don’t want to since Keith⁠—”

“Keith? Who cares about him! He’s not the one having a spa day! Come on now, we don’t wanna be late.”

I tilted my head back and cackled the entire way back to the car. Miss Angela’s enthusiasm delighted me right down to my core. Luckily, it was a short drive to the nail salon, so I didn’t have to worry about the older woman vibrating out of her seat with her excitement.

Keith’s mother had given up a whole lot and worked very hard to keep him in a nice school and make sure he was properly fed, which couldn’t have been easy to do considering he had an appetite that could almost compete with us wolf shifters. Since neither of them were really in the habit of indulging themselves now that they were financially secure, it was up to me to get them familiar with being spoiled.

And what better way to start with a brand new set of nails?

“What do you think?” Angela asked when she was done, showing off her hands like she was wearing priceless jewelry. I’d gone with a regular manicure myself, as acrylics and shifting did not go hand in hand, but Miss Angela had chosen to get gel-x, because her nail beds were getting sensitive in her old age, so she wanted the extra protection.

“They look amazing,” I said. “I really like that magnetic cat’s eye effect.”

“Is that what they call it? What a fun name. I liked that it looked a bit like magic.”

“It really does, doesn’t it?”

Miss Angela was practically glowing, and I followed along in her joy. I knew she had a lot of fun at the retirement home and had become a popular figurehead there, but that was quite different from going out on the town and getting treated to all the classical female bonding activities.

“Now that your hands are all dressed up like they should be, would you like to get some smoothies? We’re a bit early for the massages.”

“Olivia, I already like you plenty. You don’t have to butter me up by taking me out on the town.”

“I know I don’t have to do anything, and I’m not trying to butter you up. I genuinely want to do this, Miss Angela. Not just because you deserve it, but because I’m having fun with you.”

The smile that spread across her wizened features warmed me all the way down to the soles of my feet. With how hectic life got, it was so easy to forget our elders and think of them only as tasks that needed to be checked in on rather than living, breathing people who had their own desires, their bad days and their good days.

“My son really hit the jackpot with you, didn’t he?” she said softly, and goodness, if we weren’t in public I might have cried.

Somehow, I managed to maintain my composure and offered her my arm once more.

“I don’t know about jackpot. But he certainly makes me feel like a prize.”

“As he should, my dear. Because you are.”

Naturally, with that kind of exchange, the mood was quite positive as we walked into the massage place next door. We checked in, then were escorted to a couple’s massage room and proceeded to have our knots worked out for ninety minutes, complete with aromatherapy oils for Miss Angela. Not for me, however. When I was a teenager, I’d learned they were far too strong for me. I could tolerate being in the same room as the oils, but when they were on my skin, the scent was strong enough to burn my nose.

Once we were done, we were guided to a relaxation room and given warm, delicious cups of tea along with a glass of champagne while we sat in plush recliners and listened to soothing music.

“This might be the most luxurious day I’ve ever had in my life.”

I would have grinned at her, but I was afraid of displacing the soothing cucumber slices on my eyes. “I’m glad. You know, I had planned for us to go to an afternoon tea thing after this if you still have the energy, but since that’s kind of been taken care of here, is there anything else you’d like to do?”

I could feel her anticipation simmering in the air. That in turn got me curious, because I would love to know what excited Miss Angela. From what Keith had told me, she had a rather eclectic list of hobbies that reminded me a lot of Amanda.