Page 34 of Bitter Heat
Kerry’s mind churned, trying to think of another excuse but failing. He glanced toward the clock on the wall, and said, “I told Pater—I mean, I told my uncle that I’d meet him at two o’clock. He’ll worry if I don’t come home with him.”
“Don’t be silly. He’ll understand that we’ve missed you. Go tell him that you’re staying here with us. Lukas can walk you out to the car and speak to him for you if that would help.”
“No,” Kerry said quickly. “I can handle it.” He stood up, smiling tightly, and agreed to meet his in-laws in the lobby in no less than fifteen minutes after sending his pater back up-mountain.
“Surely it won’t take that long to dismiss the man,” Monte said irritably, but with a sweet smile to cover it up.
“I just want to make sure he understands what’s going on. He worries.” But Kerry didn’t elaborate more than that. He didn’t want to make it plain to them that his pater would be frightened that they were keeping Kerry here against his will, or that they might try to abscond with him back to the city. Kerry would need to convince his pater that he was remaining behind of his own volition or risk him blowing in here and starting a ruckus. No one wanted that.
Parked in the shade of an oak tree with the windows rolled down, his pater napped patiently in the driver’s seat. There were shopping bags in the back seat where Pater had indeed run the errands Kerry had requested of him—a bag with material peeking out of the top, a bag with tied up bundles of seeds for the garden, and a collection of candles.
Kerry stepped up to the driver’s side window and bent low, whispering, “Pater, wake up. Pater…it’s me.”
Pater jerked and dropped the newspaper that he’d been holding in his sleep. “Oh! How did it go, son? Everything all right with ya?”
“I’m going to stay here for the night. They’ve invited me to dinner.”
Pater narrowed his eyes. “I see. And why are you really staying?”
Kerry smirked. He might be able to lie like wolf-god’s own devil pup to his in-laws, but Pater could always see right through him. “They have a city doctor here with them, and I thought I should take advantage of the situation. I’d like to have him examine me.”
Pater’s eyebrow popped up skeptically. “You don’t trust Janus’s assessment?”
“A second opinion never hurts.”
Pater’s lips twisted, and he looked like he might argue, but then he nodded sharply. “Fine. You’re right about that. Even if you’re lying about whose idea it was.”
Kerry didn’t deny it but leaned in to kiss his pater’s head. “I’ll see you in the morning. It’ll likely be early still when their driver drops me off. I’ll find a way to get myself out of an awkward breakfast at least, even if I have to suffer through a miserable dinner.”
“I’ll be eager for you to be home again.”
“I know. And oh, Pater, don’t tell Janus about any of this. I don’t want him to know about Wilbet just yet.”
Pater looked like he might argue, but then nodded and took Kerry’s hand to squeeze it. “Watch out for yourself, Kerry. Don’t sign anything. Promise me.”
“They aren’t asking me to sign anything, Pater. They just want to have a doctor look me over.”
Pater gripped his hand harder. “Don’t. Sign. Anything.”
“I promise.”
Kerry stepped back from the car then and waved his pater off. He waited until the little green car was out of sight before he turned his attention back to the hotel. He forced a fake smile to find his in-laws standing at the back entrance, waiting for him.
CHAPTER NINE
Finding an opportunityto confront Fan about the situation with Kerry was difficult. Dr. Crescent was incredibly solicitous of his omega, and like mostÉrosgápe, more than a little possessive. Therefore, he didn’t give Janus much of an opportunity to talk with Fan alone. Claiming a bathroom break in the house in between patients didn’t give Janus enough time for the kind of conversation he wanted to have, either, so for three days he’d bided his time, looking for an opening.
Fan, as it turned out, seemed to want to talk with Janus, too, because just as the last of their afternoon patients rode away with a tin of willow bark tablets in hand, the omega himself stepped out of the house and sauntered down to the stable.
“Dumplin’!” Dr. Crescent called out eagerly, a smile cracking across his grizzled face.
Fan came toward them with a sly smile on his lips, a slow sway to his hips, and his hands behind his back. When he finally reached Dr. Crescent, he pulled his hands around and fanned out a stack of letters. “I’d like them to go out today, Crow,” he said with big eyes. “Will you run them to the maildrop before the postal wagon comes back down the mountain?”
Dr. Crescent’s face fell slightly, but Fan sidled up next to him, touching him sweetly and looking up at him from beneath his lashes. “You know how my family worries about me up here in the mountains. I need to reassure them that I’m still happy. You don’t want my father and pater to visit, do you?”
Dr. Crescent grumbled, his face twisting up in disgust. “They’re too old to get up here now. Thank wolf-god.”
Fan smiled again. “Are they, though?”
