Page 22 of Jacked-up Mate
Then my belly started to get in the way. At first, it just meant not using the very back of the grill. No big deal. After a while, I had to start grilling sideways to keep my belly from being mushed and overheated. And now? Now, I didn’t know why Chris kept me on because I was only using the front half of the grill and taking breaks between every three or four orders.
The customers didn’t mind. That was one of the joys of being in a town of mostly locals. I’d come out front to grab an iced tea or to snatch a cookie and be surrounded by five or six people wanting updates on the baby. It was a lot like a pack that way, only without all the politics and hierarchy nonsense I liked to avoid.
I was loving it here. Whisper Grove went from someplace I’d never meant to even visit, just a place to grab dinner and go, to my entire world. All because someone offered me a job I wasn’t qualified for, hadn’t applied for, and was honestly many paygrades below where I’d been heading. But something told me to stay here. The best decision of my life.
“Need a double cheeseburger platter—extra love,” Chris said, slapping the ticket on the counter.
“Extra love?”
“Extra love, and you probably want to take a break after this one,” he added.
I peered through the window. Sure enough, my mate was there. He was a frequent guest during my shifts. He never bothered me, never interfered, just came to enjoy being around me. I didn’t mind. My wolf absolutely preened over it, which was good, because right now, he was a little salty about being stuck inside. It was too uncomfortable to shift anymore. That would have to wait until after the baby was born.
I got his burger all plated up and swapped places with my helper for the day. Chris had been sending me what he called a sous chef, but I wasn’t a chef; I was a cook. There was nothing sous cheffy about what they did. They basically covered for me when I needed breaks and made sure I didn’t lift anything too heavy.
At first, it annoyed me. It felt like my boss was saying I wasn’t good enough for my job, and it made me second-guess whether I should stay working during my pregnancy, even though I loved it. But then Chris sat me down and talked to me. “Everyone shows their love differently. This is me showing mine. So accept it—or accept it.”
And through that lens, I finally could.
“I heard you had a burger special.”
“Special? Is it different than normal?” He looked at the platter in my hand.
“No, but it’s special for you.” I set it down in front of him. “Because it’s made with extra love.”
He rolled his eyes.
“I’ll be right back.” I padded over to the counter, grabbed a cookie and an iced tea—not nutritious, but the baby wanted those ginger cookies, and what the baby wanted, the baby got.
I managed to squeeze into the booth, barely. Another few weeks of this pregnancy and I wasn’t going to fit anymore.
I nibbled on one of my cookies as my mate ate his burger. Multiple older residents came over to tell us how cute we looked and how excited they were for the little one. And, of course, there was an array of advice…most of it old-fashioned and things we’d probably avoid, but we thanked them and smiled. The truth was, it didn’t matter if we ever followed any of their suggestions. The fact that they cared enough to offer them was worth gold.
“How long do you still have on your shift?” he asked.
I looked up at the clock. “I get off in half an hour. Why? Do you have plans?”
“It’s a full moon tonight,” he said. “So I thought maybe we could stop at the store, grab some popcorn, and have a movie night.”
“Nothing scary, I hope.”
“Well, I don’t have anything in mind, so we can definitely pick something funny if you want.”
That was even worse. I was currently at the point in my pregnancy where if I laughed too hard, I peed myself. It was embarrassing, but apparently very normal, so I just avoided situations where I’d have to worry about that.
“Drama, it is.”
“It’s like you read my mind,” I said, grinning.
“I could head over and see if Stan has anything in his bargain bin.”
Stan had expanded his antique store to include a thrift section a while back, and there were tons of DVDs, so many that we’d actually invested in a DVD player…also from there. Never in a million years did I think I’d own one of those, not whenstreaming existed. But we’d come to like it. We avoided all the distractions of having the computer or phone out, and, with the television being our movie screen, we could snuggle up on the couch and have our stay-at-home dates.
Since that first full moon, my mate changed every full moon and no other time. Now, we made a big deal out of those nights. It was our night to play a game or watch a movie. Sometimes, we went to bed early and not to sleep. It was a little tricky with both the giant pumpkin head and my belly, but creativity was our jam.
I finished my cookies, went back to work, and, when my shift ended, he met me at the door with a handful of DVDs. I’d heard of exactly zero of the titles, but he assured me there were some good ones in the mix.
We made a quick stop for popcorn and grabbed some gummy bears that caught my eye then went home for my favorite part of the day, my shower.
