Page 32 of Zombie's Howl-O-Ween
“We’re coming. We’d love to see you.”
I doubted that, but whatever. “Okay. I’ll text you the place and time.”
“I’m looking forward to it, Brandon.”
I ended the call, relieved to have it over with. Trixie will be happy that I reached out and invited my parents. Her happiness was the only thing that mattered to me.
12
Trixie
Thanksgiving was in three days, and I was so excited to be hosting my very first holiday. My parents would be here and so would Brandon’s, who were driving out to Minnesota from Iowa.
Brandon tried to convince me not to invite his parents, saying we’d only been in our new place a week, and we weren’t ready to have people over. And true to being me, I assured him we’d be fine.
My parents had been great at helping us get moved in. It wasn’t like we had a ton of furniture to get set up. And it shouldn’t matter if our walls were bare. In time, we would have a comfy and homey home.
I knew Brandon’s reservations had nothing to do with the state of our house. Or even me. It’d been a couple of years since he last spoke to his parents, and even longer since he last saw them. Not to mention how getting thrown out of his childhood home had been traumatic for him.
He didn’t dislike his folks, but they’d hurt him terribly and he hadn’t healed from the event. I wanted to be the buffer between them, and hopefully, assist in fixing their broken relationship.
“Trix, I’m home,” he shouted from the mudroom.
A gust of freezing air blew in and chilled me to the bone. Winter had come earlier than usual in Minnesota, starting withthe mega snowstorm on Halloween, and it hadn’t warmed back up.
“In the kitchen.” I shivered and jogged in place to get my blood flowing more robustly to warm myself up. Just because I had extra padding on my body didn’t mean I stayed warm. When it was below freezing, I got cold just like everyone else.
Well, maybe not Brandon. My man was hot blooded, and when the lows dropped into the single digits overnight, he still slept in the nude. The man was crazy!
Brandon and some of the Knights had gone on their annual Thanksgiving hunting excursion. I was glad to get him out of the house for half the day. He’d been a ball of nerves ever since his call with his mom. Being with his MC brothers was good for him.
“How’s it going in here.” He appeared in his hunting gear and promptly kissed me. “It smells amazing.”
“Thanks. Wish I could say the same for you.” I pinched my nose. Had he rolled around in the dirt after cleaning his game? Yuck, my stomach churned. “Did you get anything?”
“Of course. Your man is a first-class hunter. Our family will always be well fed with a stocked freezer.”
“Impressive. What’d you get?” I rubbed my finger under my nose, trying not to breathe.
“A white tail deer, and six grouse. Plucked them myself.”
Okay, that might explain the foul smell, no pun intended, eddying off his clothing. I’d never smelled anything so pungent.
“Wow, that’s amazing!” I clapped for him, genuinely proud of him. “We’ll be eating in a few hours, and our company will arrive in an hour and a half… If you want to go shower and change.”
Please, Lord. Guide my hunter into a hot, steamy shower to sanitize him.
“Yeah, that’s a good plan. My dad likes football. Does yours?”
“Papa will watch it if it’s on, but you know him. He has no time for anything extra. He just all about the deli.”
“Okay, I’ll have it on. It might be a good buffer.” He leaned in to give me another kiss.
“Sounds good.” I held my breath and smiled.
“Is everything okay?” He tilted his head and stood way closer to me than I appreciated.
An image of Pigpen, the stinky character inPeanutsmovies, flashed behind my eyes. All those wavy lines showing how smelly he was should’ve been coming off Brandon.
