Page 30 of Night Call


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‘Wow. Long day for you.’

‘It always is.’

The conversation tapered off after that, so Pember picked enough apples to fill his pockets, called Bailey and made the walk back home. The wolf niggled at the back of his mind again, but he pushed it down.

Val and Cherry were still going at it as he peeled and chopped the apples, their frustrated back-and-forth reaching an almost deafening volume. Of course, Cherry didn’t actually talk, she just mimicked what Val said, only in an extremely robotic and patronising manner. Pember suspected that Val just wanted someone to talk to.

He sighed as he pulled the molten apple pie out of the oven. The top was crispy, but he worried the fruit might be too sweet. Regardless, he padded over to Val’s house and knocked on the door as loudly as he could. Eventually, she looked up from her chair and waved him inside.

“Poppet! How’re you doing? Any trouble?”

Pember shook his head and slid the glass dish onto the table, resting the oven gloves over the back of a chair. “All good, thank you. How’ve you been today?”

“Braaa! Fuck off you old hag! Braaa!” Cherry cawed, followed by a series of clicks and whistles. She was sitting on top of a kitchen cabinet, grinding her beak on a cuttlebone. Pember covered his mouth, trying not to laugh.

“Nice to see you too, Cherry.”

“What did you say?” Val shouted, rapidly pressing a button on her hearing aid.

Pember moved to stand in front of her. “I said it’s nice to see you!”

Her face relaxed as she read his lips. “Oh! Yes.” Her watery eyes drifted to the apple pie. “Is that for me?”

Pember nodded, suddenly worrying that he’d overstepped the mark. “Y-you don’t have to eat it, I just thought… maybe… you’d like some comp?—”

Val clapped a hand over her chest, her clawed fingers catching in the trim of her blouse.

“I haven’t had a pretty omega make apple pie for me in years. Not since my Earnie passed on.” Her expression crumpled, gaze drifting towards some dusty picture frames in the corner of the room. Pember flushed, because the old alpha seemed genuinely taken aback at the offer.

Sitting down to eat, Val chewed slowly, eyes closing as though finding pleasure in every bite. Looking at her filled Pember with an immense amount of satisfaction, and it seemed to tickle some repressed part of his brain that just wanted to care for another person.

They ate in silence for a little while, the only sounds coming from the clink of their spoons on the chipped floral bowls. Pember glanced around, eyes falling on a deep layer of dust and grime coating the sink, crusty splodges all over the wooden floors and the black soot stains surrounding the fireplace was like another layer of wallpaper. The house was in such a state of disarray that he couldn’t tell what was new or old dirt.

Then he had an idea.

“Hey, Val. Could you tell me about Earnie? I’d love to hear about how you met.”

Val’s eyes brightened, the deep wrinkles of her brow disappearing underneath the wispy white hair. She smiled. An honest to God, joyous smile.

“Yes!”

She shuffled over to the picture frames, plucking two up from the filthy, oversized Welsh dresser. It was stuffed to the brim with faded commemorative plates of the Royals. Cherry hopped onto the table as Val placed the photographs in front of him.

“Beautiful, isn’t he?”

Pember’s brow twitched because he could barely see anything through the dust. He wiped the hem of his T-shirt over the glass.

“They’re a bit dusty. I can’t see him very well.”

The old alpha nodded. “I know. But I don’t need the pictures to see him.”

Pember jerked his head up, concerned she was about to say she had a ghost living in the house. Instead, she tapped her temple, followed by her chest. Pember swallowed and looked back down at the photograph. The sepia image had smoothed out most of the details, making the shadows darker and lights more faded. However, he couldn’t help but smile at what he saw.

A snapshot in time where a much younger version of Valerie stood with her arm around a slender, fair-haired man. She looked proud as punch as she pulled him to her chest, her broad shoulders and long, dark hair a reminder of the woman she had once been. Earnie was clutching an overstuffed suitcase in both hands, his smile wide and toothy.

“He’d just come back from China,” she said, resting her chin on the back of her hand. “He was building an orphanage over there. It’s how we met.”

Pember let out a breath. “That’s incredible.”