Page 46 of Make You Mine

“Well.” I exhaled a surprised puff of air, completely charmed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He reached out his hand and I took it, shivering softly as he clasped my fingers, pressing our palms tightly together. “Shall we?”

“Weirdest date night ever,” I said, cracking jokes to cover my nerves as usual. “But I guess so.”

We entered my room. “Wait here.”

“Huh? Where are you going?”

“Keep an eye on Nimbus while I check the attic.”

“What? Wait! No! I don’t want to be alone in here! Wait, no. I’m fine. I’ll be okay,” I couldn’t stop the panicked rambling words from falling out of my mouth. I’d need an entire journal to document all the different ways I’d embarrassed myself tonight. “Go ahead. I’m fine, I promise.”

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

“It’s the door next to this one.”

“Thought so.” His eyes softened on mine. “It’ll be fine. Wait here.”

I looked around the room, spotting my phone on the bedside table. I swiped it up and got ready to dial nine-one-one. I trusted him, but one couldn’t be too careful.

I took a deep breath and listened as Ren’s footsteps echoed in the hall along with the scratching.

Nimbus must have accepted that something was being done about the noise. He snapped out of his kitty-cat rage fest and hopped up to join me on the bed. I scooped him up and cuddled him close but he was having none of that. He hopped out of my arms and sat next to me instead.

The hinge squeak told me Reb had opened the attic door, and I slammed my eyes shut in anticipation. Of what? I had no idea, but something was up there.

“Shit!” He yelled as his footsteps pounded across the hall.

I peeked out the doorway.

Raccoons.

So many raccoons.

One of them ran through my legs and into my room. Nimbus jumped from the bed to chase it. Around and around they went, knocking my bedside table to the floor before I managed to shoo Nimbus into the bathroom and close the door.

The raccoon ran out. I stumbled to the doorway, trying not to trip over the contents of my bedside table drawers as I made my way toward the hallway to check on Ren.

At the top of the stairs, I saw him open the front door and then run toward the kitchen, probably to open that door too.

“Is Nimbus okay?” he shouted.

“He’s in the bathroom.”

“Good, I’m going to try and herd them out of here.”

I watched him dart back and forth from the top of the stairs, trying to corral the raccoons through the open doors as I leaned against the banister, wondering how best to help. He was like a blur of determination, and the chaos seemed never-ending. I grabbed my broom from the small utility closet and joined him. Meanwhile, Nimbus’s desperate yowls echoed from the bathroom, adding to the cacophony. Smog, as usual, was quiet.

We walked through the house, checking all the corners and closets, pausing in the kitchen for a moment to rehydrate.

Ren insisted on going up and checking the attic and gave it the all-clear.

Finally, it seemed they were all gone. We closed the doors and met up in the foyer.

“That was something,” he said, huffing and puffing for air.

“I know it was only raccoons. But I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again.”

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