Kate’s eyes glimmer a little, and I see her lip tremble.
“I thought you were dead,” she whispers.
I wrap my arms around her, whispering very softly in her ear. “I nearly was.”
When I pull back, her eyes are wide as if her dozens of questions are going to leap out of her right here and now. I shake my head slightly, and she nods, the small gesture letting me know she expects a full explanation at some point.
“Leave some for the rest of us,” I hear another voice say behind me.
“Misha?” I gasp.
My other high school friend pushes her way past Kate to hug me, and I feel tears threatening me again.
“It’s good to see you,” Misha says, and I know I’ll have to explain everything to her as well.
Where do I even start? I was kidnapped by my father, whom I barely knew, and traumatized by my mother’s mutilated corpse, and then forced into slavery.
“C’mon in,” Cass says, gesturing me towards her. “We’re just going over the planning for the event. Kate and Misha are often involved in the pack business, and there was no way they’d miss today.”
“I’m glad they didn’t,” I say, giving Kate’s hand a squeeze. Misha puts her arm around me from the other side, and I lean into her.
“Get some cake,” Mabel says. “And some coffee or tea, then get comfy.”
“There are no rules in here,” Xavier says, raising his teacup. He’s sitting on the floor, his back propped against the couch so he can rest his head against Cass, who is stretched out from one end of the sofa to the other like a big cat.
Mabel has claimed the biggest armchair and is sitting cross-legged right in the center of it with stacks of cookies and slices of cake perched on the long arms as if she’s stocked up for a weeklong sit-in. I take an extra hard look around the room just to confirm Loretta isn’t here.
Kate and Misha go to the big couch at the end of the room while I grab some tea and cake. I wiggle into the seat between them and take a huge bite of vanilla sponge and raspberry frosting.
While I chew, the room goes very quiet. I start to look around uncomfortably as the others look my way.
“We need you to officially start the meeting,” Mable whispers.
“Oh, fuck,” I mumble through a huge mouthful of cake.
The silence only holds a second longer before everyone bursts out laughing.
“Just kidding,” Cass giggles. “We’re completely lawless in here. Now! Let’s get together some ideas. You all know I’ve got the cotton candy sorted. What else do we need?”
“Fried food,” Mabel says, her eyes closed as she chews on a cookie. “Fried chicken. Fried butter. Fries.”
“Right!” Xavier says, looking down and furiously air-writing with an imaginary pen. “One heart attack, coming right up.”
“You shut your mouth,” Mabel snaps. “Or I’ll shove a cookie in it.”
A mischievous grin flashes across Xavier’s face. His cheeks color a little, as if getting pinned down by cute, chubby Mabel isn’t a threat of punishment in the slightest.
“Seriously, though,” Cass says. “Are we going to hire games and rides, or run it with people from town?”
“I think we should hire some of it,” I answer. “That way, everyone can just have fun. If people want to run stalls, then that’s up to them. Can we put up a community group or something online to chat about it?”
“Great idea!” Mabel says, grabbing her phone and typing furiously. “I’ll get on that right now.”
“You’re going to get grease all over your phone,” Xavier says, raising an eyebrow.
“Not your business,” she growls. “These sticky fingers will be all overyouif you don’t shut it.”
Again, Xavier blushes a bit, but Mabel doesn’t even notice. I wonder if the two of them might need a nudge, and what it would take to get them together.
