Heart and Soul by Jackie May (reading list .TXT) 📗

He walks me to the passenger side of the truck. As he searches my pockets for the keys, I keep my hand on his gun while scanning the street. The sidewalks are empty.

Jay finds the key, slides it into the keyhole. But he suddenly stops and lets go of the key, backing away. “Smoke. Like a bomb?”

“No, it’s more like…” A fresh wave of the scent washes over me, and I know for certain it’s coming from directly behind us. Drawing Jay’s gun, I whirl around and point it at a figure standing in the shadows under a tree. “More like a campfire.” Recognizing his red flannel shirt and lumberjack beard, I lower the gun. “What do you want?”

Nolan Cody steps out of the shadows. “We won’t need that, I hope,” he says about the gun.

“That depends. Is Ben with you?”

“He’s not.”

I jam the pistol back into its holster. My emotions are doing loop-de-loops. As much as I might try to deny it, I’m desperate to see my family again, or even just to hear from them. But not like this. Not from him.

There was a time when I used to count the seconds until I’d get to see Nolan, back when he would make fun of my feet for outgrowing the rest of my body. By the time my legs caught up with my shoe size, I had also outgrown my feelings for him. They say you never forget your first crush. I probably could, if he would stop following me around.

I plunge my fists into my jacket pockets. “If you followed me here, you’ve been waiting a while.”

“Long enough to know you’re into something deep here. What’s this about a bomb?”

“I’m sorry, Nolan. See, sometimes I use too much subtext. What I meant by that is, what the hell do you want? Oh wait, I already asked you that, didn’t I?”

“Shayne, if I followed you, anybody could. You need to be more careful.”

I slap Jay on the back. “Feel free to jump in any time here, honey.”

“We can go somewhere to talk,” he offers politely to Nolan. Anticipating my attempt to stomp his toes, he deftly moves his foot away. “We can sit in the truck.”

Nolan quirks an eyebrow. “Is it going to blow up?”

Jay thinks about that. He pulls the keys out of the door, just to be safe.

Nolan frowns at Jay. “What happened to you?”

“Where?” Jay points to a deep cut on his hand. “Here?”

“No, more like…all of you.”

“It’s work stuff,” I say impatiently. “Did Mom send you here? Because you can tell her yes, I’m taking my pills.”

“Again with the subtext,” Jay says.

“That’s plain English, Jay.”

He shakes his head. “What she means is, ‘How’s everybody doing?’ And she misses them.”

“Okay, you can sit in the truck.” My anger vanishes when I catch sight of Nolan’s face. He looks crestfallen. “What? Everybody’s fine. Right? Nolan?”

“I shouldn’t be here. If Ray knew I was talking to you…”

“If it’s serious, Ray would understand, and you know it.”

“You’re probably right. But rules are rules. Even if it’s for Little Bunica.”

My heart stops. It takes my mouth three tries to form the word. “Bunica? Did she…”

“Not yet. But it’s close enough.”

I take deep, controlled breaths. “Okay…but…okay…” My brain is struggling to form thoughts. To know what to say. What to do. I just feel like running. All the way home. My wagon train home. “She was fine. We just had her birthday party. She was dancing with strippers.”

“Shayne, listen.”

“What happened?”

“Shayne.” He waits until I’ve focused my eyes on him. “Nothing happened. It’s her choice. She’s…she’s going to shift.”

“No.” I try to sound confident. Even defiant. “No!”

“At dawn.”

“Dawn…” I fall back against the truck. Jay grabs my arm to steady me.

Nolan shuffles his feet. He folds his arms. Unfolds them. “I’m sorry,” he mutters. “It doesn’t look like you were having such a good night to begin with. Bunica just told us today, or else I would have come sooner.”

“Don’t apologize,” Jay says. “That you came at all is…” After searching for the right words, he gives up and simply says, “Thank you.”

Nolan tugs awkwardly at his rolled shirtsleeve. Jay leans against the car next to me. Both men are waiting for me to find my voice again. I know what I want to ask, but the possible answer is too horrible to consider, let alone hear out loud.

Jay helps me to stall a few more moments, when he says, “I’m sorry, I don’t fully understand what’s happening, but I assume—when you say she’s going to shift at dawn—you’re talking about something like a funeral?”

“Something like that,” Nolan answers quietly.

Fighting back my fear, I finally spit out the words with a tremor in my voice. “Nolan, you have to give it to me straight. Is she doing this because of what happened? Because I left?”

Too quickly, he says, “No.”

“Did I do this?” I press.

More firmly this time, he states, “No, Shayne.”

“Because I’ll talk to her.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what? Why is she doing this?”

“You know what she says at every birthday—that this is the year. Well, this is the year.”

“No, it’s not.”

“That’s all. It’s just time.”

“It’s not! I’ll talk to her.”

“Can’t do that, Shayne.”

“Just let me talk to her, Nolan. Five minutes.”

“We can’t.”

“Nolan, don’t.” I pull my hands into fists. “Don’t do this.”

“Can’t happen. It’s strictly pack only. That’s a given.”

Losing control of my senses, I lunge at him with my claws. Jay acts quickly to pull me back. “Hey, come on now. Easy. Ease down.”

Nolan’s not afraid of me. He leans in closer. “And I mean strictly pack only. You know exactly what would happen if you were to be seen there.”

I make a half-assed kick at him, which he easily dodges. “Then why did you come, Nolan? Just to rub it in my face?”

He spins around, wringing his hands with frustration. He spins back at me. “Are you listening to me, Shayne? What I’m trying to tell you is that you can’t be seen there. You have to make sure