“Are you okay?” she asked tentatively. “You didn’t get hurt back there in the water, did you?”
Oh geez. If I kicked him in the ribs or something while he was saving my life…
“It’s nothing,” Arlo said quickly, and winced again. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “That is, it’s a…”
He trailed off, and Jacqueline felt a tug on her sweater.
Tally had already finished her dinner and had wriggled down off her seat. When she saw Jacqueline looking at her, she raised her arms to be picked up.
“Come on then. You’re not a big talker, are you?”
Jacqueline picked Tally up and arranged her on her lap. She looked up. Arlo, Kenna and Dylan were all wincing, now.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ugh,” Kenna said, and turned side-on in her seat so she wasn’t facing Jacqueline and Tally.
Arlo tapped his forehead. “She’s loud in here,” he explained in response to what was probably an expression of utter confusion on Jacqueline’s face. “Telepathy. Or mindspeaking, some call it. Shifters use it to talk when we’re shifted, or…”
“When your mouth is otherwise occupied?” Jacqueline suggested. While her attention had been distracted, Tally had started to help herself to Jacqueline’s plate, and now she was busily gnawing on a crust of bread.
Did she eat that whole slice while I wasn’t looking? Jacqueline marveled. “Um… what’s she saying?”
The corner of Arlo’s mouth hooked up. Like a smile. Was he smiling at her?
“Before or now?”
“Now?”
He cleared his throat. “That would be something along the lines of: Bready bready bread, yum yum bread, mmm bread I love you.”
Jacqueline burst out laughing. “No. Seriously? And before?”
Dylan piped up. “Before she was saying fish fish yum fish yum. Over and over. She really likes fish.”
“You’re not kidding.” Jacqueline’s second fish sandwich was disappearing as fast as the first. First, Tally hoovered up the fillet, then she chomped through the soft bread until she was left with another crescent-moon crust. “Should I be sorry or glad that I can’t hear her?”
“You’re lucky,” Kenna grumbled. “She never shuts up. She even sings in her sleep sometimes.”
If this was a cartoon, I’d have hearts in my eyes right now. “Really?”
“I wish—” Kenna continued, and then frowned at her plate and fell silent. “Never mind.”
Kenna and Dylan had both cleared their plates, which was lucky, because as soon as the last of the crust disappeared into Tally’s mouth, she started looking around in interest. When she saw the others had already finished, she sighed, lay back, and promptly fell asleep in Jacqueline’s lap.
One million heart-eyes, Jacqueline thought.
“You haven’t eaten.” Arlo’s voice was gruff. Jacqueline gestured to the slumbering toddler in her lap.
“I didn’t get much of a chance,” she replied.
He frowned. “I’ll get you—damn. That was the last of the bread.”
Kenna frowned. “Tally…” she groaned.
“I’m okay, really. Don’t worry about me.” The last thing Jacqueline wanted was to make a fuss and have Arlo regret letting her on board.
“You’re sure?”