Page 35 of His Human Rebel

“Pancakes.”

We’re in the kitchen together. He’s already been out at dawn, riding out to a distant pasture and herding cattle. After we eat, he’ll go back out and I’ll go with him this time, into the barn because he’s going to start training me on how to mount a riding beast, which sounds wonderful.

For some reason, I suddenly feel grouchy. Why is this guy so perfect? Is he playing me and after I walk with him to the courthouse he’ll act like his true, terrible self and then I’ll be stuck.

It happens. I’ve listened to true crimes stories that have that exact plot.

Coco and Boots happily race around the floor of the kitchen. Both of my babies are bigger now and look fat and sassy. They’ve been fed and this is their favorite time of day to cause trouble.

“This is so amazing that you have kittens.” I give him a sharp glance. “Did you do this on purpose?”

“On purpose? What purpose would these tiny beasts serve?” Rake keeps eating but reaches out and pets the head of a nearby kitten.

“It helps that you have cats and you like cats. How can I dislike someone who has a cat? Fellow cat lovers are sort of instant friends.”

He lets out a grunt of approval.

“I went to university and they didn’t allow pets in the dorms. I was hired and teaching and considered myself too busy to give a pet my time or attention. I still cannot believe I’ve traveled across the four sectors so far and you have a cat…a pet that only comes from the original planet of my species or on New Earth, where the formerly enslaved humans now prosper.”

He nods in agreement. “It will also be good when our son arrives, for him to have these tiny beasts nearby. Bonding with an animal makes a being happier and more at peace.”

I take a sip of my coffee, hiding a smile.

I knew he was ready to take on my baby as his, but not this ready.

He keeps doing things I never expected any man to do. I’ve literally never met a man who would stand up for me in this way. My own father left us when I was a small child and I’ve never seen him again. I don’t have any brothers, uncles or male cousins. There have been some upstanding men in my life—professors and teachers, community leaders and first responders. But to be truthful they are few and far between. I haven’t met a guy who I could handle me exactly the way I am –outspoken, loud, proud and overweight. I’m always too much for most men.

But this one might be different.

For instance, this morning he’s genuinely listening to me as I fret again about leaving my students behind mid-year. “My brain keeps telling me that I need to be there and I feel terrible that I left them behind. We were in the midst of a huge project and I just…left. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye or even go in and close my classroom.

I haven't messaged anyone from where I used to live. The whole thing is tragic. I feel embarrassed about how everything must have gone down and I feel so bad. I feel guilty. I still think about my students. It's only been a month and I still think of where we would be in the lesson plan and how again, I didn't finish the year with them. I continue to get this sinking feeling about it in the pit of my stomach.”

“You know what you need?” Rake tells me as I complain about this again. He wipes at his face with a napkin and pushes aside his clean plate. “You need closure.”

“Closure?” I question the big, satanic-looking male with a barbed tail flicking in the air behind him. “You know about closure between two beings?”

“Yes, it is a Hyrrokin term that means two beings can finally move on after a verbal dispute.”

“No, it's a human term that means what you said, but it was invented by my species.”

He snorts and gives me a questioning glance. “If you want to believe that…but the fact remains that you need closure to let go of your anxiety over the way you left that position. You were not able to say goodbye. You need to communicate with whomever you had the best rapport at your former workplace.”

“Julia? My best friend at the school? Do you think she would talk to me?”

“Yes, if she was truly your friend, she will accept your message. Talk to that human first. Tell her the things you've told me many times about how you wish you could have ended the year and that you feel terrible because you've never gotten to say goodbye to the students or to any of your coworkers because you had to leave so quickly. If I were in your situation and that happened here at the ranch and I suddenly was yanked out and put on another planet and I never got to say goodbye to anyone here, that would be unsettling. The Hyrrokin I work with here at the ranch and here in town and all of my animals, my beasts would be like your students. They all depend upon me. They were expecting me to be here through their lifespans. And then suddenly I'm gone. It would be difficult to carry on, knowing you’d left behind beings who had depended upon you.”

I look at him with my mouth open. “I can't believe how reasonable you are. You're a good person to talk to. Do you know that the others keep telling me you never talk this much?”

“It is true. I don't ever talk this much.”

I laugh. “Well, I feel very blessed that you like to talk sometimes because you have good things to say.”

“You know, just to you,” he says. “I only talk to you like this.”

“You like talking to me? Are you sure? Most people think I’m loud and pushy and wish I’d lower my voice and talk less.”

“I feel more comfortable talking to you than anyone I've ever met.”

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