“Let her thank me. Now get out of my office and go do some work.”
Zach beat it. He left Cal’s office and went to work at the visitor’s center, but the whole time, he had a huge grin on his face, and happiness buzzing through his entire body.
***
Teri’s morning was glorious. Joel was still out, so she had the house to herself, and she was able to find plenty of space in Zach’s drawers and closets—the man was not a clotheshorse—to fit all of her things.
Throughout the process, the house was quiet. She didn’t have to worry about anyone looking over her shoulder and telling her she was unpacking wrong. She wasn’t interrupted by anyone insisting that she’d done too much and she had to take a break. There was no peremptory demand to come listen to something important, followed by a litany of complaints about a minor problem.
In short, it was heaven.
And then it was time to leave and catch the bus to meet Zach, and that was glorious too: getting her shoes and coat on, leaving plenty of time, not having to dart out the door after shouting that she was leaving, hoping that she wouldn’t get caught before she was safely gone.
She was already safely gone. And she wasn’t going back.
And it was a beautiful spring day, sunny and almost sixty degrees. Maybe she’d stick around the Park after lunch and go for a walk. Or even a hike. She felt so much better now that she’d been changed, healthy and strong.
Maybe she’d find someplace completely deserted and shift. Climb a tree somewhere and enjoy the day safely out of sight, as a snow leopard.
Someday she wanted to get up into the mountains in her leopard form, go to places that weren’t safe to reach for one person on foot. But she’d wait to do that until Zach was with her, she thought; it’d be safer if there were two of them. One person falling into a crevasse this spring was enough.
And it would be a fun adventure. She smiled to herself.
When she got to the Park, she took one long minute to enjoy standing in the sunshine before she got too impatient and went to find Zach. Sunshine, as wonderful as it was after three months of winter and being trapped indoors, had to take a backseat to her mate.
He was in the visitor’s center, talking to a group of kids about safety in the Park. Teri leaned against a wall, out of the way, and watched him, smiling. He was cheerful and funny—the kids laughed several times—but very clear about the rules for safety. He made them repeat the most important points back to him, and then sent them on their way with a smile.
Teri came up just as he was shaking hands with the teacher and waving goodbye, and he turned and grinned at her. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she said. “You’re pretty good at your job, there.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He smiled, and it looked...secretive? “Let’s have a quick lunch, and then I have a surprise for you.”
Teri’s eyes went wide. “A surprise?” she asked, startled. “I wasn’t expecting a surprise.”
“Well,” Zach said thoughtfully, “I guess that might be why it’s called a surprise.”
Teri punched him in the arm, and he laughed. “Come on. Lunchtime.”
They took food to go and ate it sitting out in the sunshine on a bench. Zach snugged one arm around Teri and pulled her into his side as he ate his sandwich one-handed. Teri basked in the sunshine and thought that she’d never been more content.
When she’d finished her last bite, she turned to look at Zach. “So what is this surprise I’m hearing about?”
Zach checked his watch. “It’s almost ready. Come on.”
They got rid of their trash and went to...ranger headquarters? Teri frowned at Zach. “I don’t know if I should even be in here.”
“You should. Come on, we can wash our hands.”
Teri followed him inside. It looked almost exactly the same as she remembered it from when she’d volunteered here in high school. She thought wistfully about how much fun that had been. Maybe if it took her a long time to find a job, she could volunteer here again in the meantime. Or maybe on her days off, if she did find a job quickly.
She hoped she could. She didn’t want to be a burden on Zach, and...she just needed to feel like she was accomplishing something with her days. Even if it was just retail work, she needed something.
“Come on.” Zach led her down the hall toward Cal’s office.
“What are we doing?” Teri asked.
Zach looked over his shoulder and grinned. It made him look boyish and mischievous. “It’s a surprise, I told you!”