Page 90 of A Wolf After My Own Heart
“Oh, is that what they were? I thought Garsea gave me glasses of vodka with a tablespoon of orange juice for color.”
“What can I say? She’s got the constitution of a horse. Never, ever tell her I compared her to a horse.”
She snickered. “I’ll take your horse-shaming to my grave.” She opened one of the Cokes, took a couple of swigs, then filled it back up with rum. “You’ve probably deduced by now that you are the designated driver this evening.”
“I had a feeling.”
* * *
Twenty minutes later, they were watching her laptop, which she’d carefully set on the ledge between the front and center sections. Their choices had beenCabin in the Woods,It,Roxanne,Black Panther,John Wick: Chapter 2,The Sixth Sense,Finding Dory, season one ofSalt Fat Acid Heat,It Chapter Two,Maleficent, and everyToy Storymovie.
“God, you’re eclectic.”
Lila looked oddly pleased. “Thank you. D’you know the best part ofIt Chapter Two?” she asked out of nowhere. “It’s that Mike Hanlon gets to live in a library. We’re supposed to feel sorry for him because he was the Loser the turtle decided to leave behind as a night watchman, for almost three decades. We’re supposed to feel he got cheated because his other friends went on to found their own companies or make it big in the arts and got rich. Right?”
“Right.”
“But Mike gets. To live. In a library!”
“I never thought about it like that,” Oz admitted.
“Yeah, well, my hidden genius helps me spot stuff like that. You’re welcome.”
“And you like theToy Storyfranchise?”
“Obviously. The best part is when the Fixer makes Woody like- new again.”
“You’re the only person who watches theToy Storyfranchise for a glimpse of the geezer who fixes dolls,” he declared.
“That’s enough ageism from you, pal.”
They settled in for the latestToy Storymovie. Lila concentrated on drinking, and Oz concentrated on regulating his breathing when she let her head rest on his shoulder. He supposed they could have watched the movie on her laptop in her office downstairs—or anywhere, really; that was the beauty of laptops and Netflix—but he was glad she’d brought him to the theater. He felt like she’d cracked the door to herself a bit, letting him have a glimpse. The trick was to stay put and be patient and hope she opened the door wider.
“I’ve lived here all my life and I had no idea,” he marveled. “No idea this was here.”
“Yeah? Well, the device you use for social media? It has a search engine, too.”
“Seriously,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t get over it.”
“Oh, goody, you’re one of those people who talks through movies.”
“Sorry,” he replied, and shut up.
Thirty seconds later: “Are there really Shifter homeless kids?”
“Well.” Oz shifted his weight, hoping she wouldn’t think he was subtly trying to shrug off her head. “Yeah.”
“Well,” she began, then paused for so long he was sure that part of the conversation was over. “I guess that’s not…all bad. If anything, Shifter kids are better equipped to be on the street, right? Even if they’re country kids, and there’s not a street to be out on?”
How the hell to answer that?“That’s…a good point. Uh. But I think we can agree being homeless sucks regardless.”
“Exactly!” She sat up and smacked his chest with her fist for emphasis. “It can happen to anybody. And it’s not like it’s the kid’s fault.”
“No, of course not.”
She settled back. “Except now I’m thinking about all those times people thought they found a wolf or a dog or whatever and didn’t know it was aperson. Can you imagine some poor Shifter kid locked up at a pet shelter? Imagine the freak-out when they changed back!”
“The freak-out would be colossal,” he agreed. “Or maybe not. You handled it pretty well.”
