Page 4 of Wolves' Midlife Reunion
Planning it already?he teased. There he was, reminiscing about her early childhood and feeling wistful over how quickly she was changing, but Sage was already plunging into the future.
I want to go roller skating,Sage said definitively as she increased her speed, still trying to catch up to him.
You don’t want to have your party at the packhouse next time?
I want to invite all my friends from school. But we could still have a big cake like we did today! And ice cream! With sprinkles!Sage was getting so excited about her plans that she tripped over one of her front paws. She tumbled forward, rolling head over heels down the slight incline they’d found themselves on.
Dex stopped, holding his thoughts and his breath as he watched her come to a stop. These moments were some of the hardest, when he wanted to rush to her aid and check her over. But as he’d already noticed that day, Sage wasn’t a helpless little pup anymore. She’d still need him for a long time, but she could do plenty of things for herself.
Sage quickly pushed herself to her feet. Her eyes looked slightly dazed, and her paws weren’t quite steady on the ground. Then she shook out her fur and licked her nose.Did you hear the part about the sprinkles?
Yes. Of course.He waited until she took off, then trotted after her. He’d brought her there to run off her sugar high, but sugar was still clearly on her brain.You’ve got to have sprinkles. It just wouldn’t be a party without them.
They continued on, pausing every now and then to sniff a tree or the air, exploring the depth of the woods in a way that humans simply couldn’t understand. Dex felt a deep sense of satisfaction as they reached the lookout, where they could see the marsh, and they moved along its edge. These were the moments he lived for.
Daddy.
Hm?
Who was that lady you were talking to yesterday?She dodged away from him and wagged her tail, giving him a bratty look.
What lady?The last thing he knew, she’d been going on about sprinkles and trying to decide which kind was the best. This caught him off guard.
The one in the store yesterday,she explained. Even in her telepathic voice, she could speak to him in a tone that indicated he must not be very smart if he couldn’t keep up.
Oh.
She meant Tina. That’d been a hell of a surprise. Dex had known he shouldn’t go shopping downtown, not so close to Halloween. That was the time of year when it felt like half of America made a pilgrimage to Salem. Parking had been almost impossible, and even just threading his way up and down the sidewalks between the different shops had been more of an adventure than he’d been ready for after a long night at work.
But Sage had wanted to find some very special gifts to give the other kids at her party, even if they were just her cousins and packmates. He’d obliged, and then he’d found himself face-to-face with Tina.
She hadn’t changed after all these years. No, that wasn’t true. Of course she had. They all had. There were some faint lines at the corners of her eyes, and her curves were more substantial. She also carried herself with a bit more confidence than he was used to seeing on her. Tina was no longer the shy girl with her nose in a book. She was charming and confident, even if she was still just a little goofy.
She was pretty,Sage urged.
Did you think so?Dex hedged. They’d reached the furthest extent they could safely travel before the driving range around the southern end of the park.It looks like we need to turn around. We’re about to run out of woods.
Sage turned alongside him as they headed back, but she was still watching him closely.You thought she was pretty, too.
His daughter was a sweet little thing, but she also had a stubborn streak about a mile wide. Once she had her mind on something, it wasn’t easy to distract her.She’s an old friend of mine, someone I knew from school.
What was her name again?
Tina. Did you have fun while we were shopping yesterday?
Sage was a literal dog with a bone.You were smiling at her a lot.
I was happy to see her. It’d been a long time.Almost twenty-five years, to be exact. Having a child made time speed by, but getting the invitation to the reunion had made him realize that it’d already been flying by. How could it have been that long since he’d graduated? How could it have been so many years since…well, he didn’t want to think about all of that.
But you went to school with Hayden, and you don’t smile at him like that,Sage persisted. She paused, letting Dex go ahead of her so she could nip at the tip of his tail.
He yanked it out of her grasp, flicking it aside as she tried once again.I never lost touch with Hayden,he justified.Heand I have kept our friendship going even though we’re out of school. It was different with Tina.
She leaped up, missed his tail, and slammed her paws into his rump. When Sage hit the ground, her feet didn’t quite land, and she stumbled. None of this slowed her down, though.Because she’s pretty?
Sage didn’t understand what a difficult conversation this was for him. Yes, because Tina was pretty. Yes, because it’d been a very long time since he’d seen her. And yes, for some other reasons that Sage wasn’t really quite old enough to understand. Tina had made Dex’s wolf react so harshly inside him that he’d barely been able to keep control of himself. He hadn’t felt that way in such a long time, and for a moment, it’d made him think there was some sort of imminent danger around them. But no, it was just Tina.
That wasn’t right. It was never ‘just’ Tina. He couldn’t possibly explain all of that to Sage, though. Not yet.
