“Oh, I am?” Christine had been glancing at the clock, hoping there wouldn’t be anyone. She loved her job, but she wanted to get home to Roarn.
The big Monstrum was all she could think about lately—she was afraid she was “catching feelings” for him, as the kids said, even though she had tried her best not to. She kept telling herself that this was just a temporary arrangement but it seemed like her heart wasn’t listening to her brain.
“Yes, you are,” Donna said, recalling her to the present. “And I would have thought it would be the opposite.”
“What? Why?” Christine frowned at her, honestly confused.
Donna’s eyes opened wide.
“Well because, honey. After that show-down in the Food Lion with the Fensters, I would have thought you’d be as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs! Haven’t they been giving you trouble? Or did Sheriff Wainright put the fear of God into them?”
“Oh, you know…I guess he did,” Christine said absently.
Actually, she’d been so wrapped up in being with Roarn, she hadn’t even thought about her horrible neighbors. She had been nervous at first—waiting to see what awful thing Mike Fenster would come up with for his revenge. But things had been strangely quiet. She hadn’t found any more traps on her land and it had been weeks since they had been woken up at three in the morning by death metal blasting from the rusted-out trailer. In fact, she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the Fensters for ages.
I wonder what they’re doing up there? she thought uneasily. Maybe they all overdosed on their own product or something.
Which was a horrible thought, but it really was unusual for her rowdy neighbors to be so quiet. And as much as she would have liked to believe that Sheriff Wainright’s call had “scared them straight,” Christine really doubted that. The Fensters seemed to have no fear of the law whatsoever. So what was going on?
Christine didn’t know and she didn’t want to find out.
“I don’t know what the deal is, but they aren’t bothering me anymore,” she told Donna. “Maybe they’ve finally settled down some.”
“Just watch your back,” Donna warned her. “I don’t like the idea of you being halfway up the mountain all alone with those evil little bastards.”
Christine reflected that if she really had been alone, she probably would have been more worried. But she wasn’t alone—she had a seven-foot-tall Monstrum with fangs and claws like a tiger to protect her. She was pretty sure if Mike Fenster came over and tried anything, Roarn would make cat food out of him in no time.
“I’ll be okay,” she reassured her friend. “And if worse comes to worst, I have my Great Uncle’s shotgun up in the attic.”
“I thought you didn’t like guns?” her friend protested.
“I don’t. But I know how to use one if I have to,” Christine said grimly.
“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Donna remarked. “Just watch out for yourself, Christine!”
“I will,” Christine promised her. “Well—doesn’t look like any more patients are coming in today—should we lock up?”
Donna gave her a look from the corner of her eye.
“You know, you’re mighty eager to close up these days. What are you hiding up in that cabin of yours that you’re so excited to get home to?”
Christine gave a little laugh that came out sounding a bit forced.
“Nothing!” she exclaimed. “I’m just, uh, making a new quilt for Maggie and I’m trying to get it finished in time to send it for her birthday.”
“Oh, I love your quilts!” Donna smiled at her. “You make them just like my granny did.”
“Well, you know me—I love working with my hands,” Christine told her, smiling. She really had been working on a quilt for her youngest daughter’s birthday, though for the past couple of weeks she hadn’t sewed a stitch.
“And how is that Keto diet going?” Donna asked, as they locked the doors and headed to the parking lot. She squinted at Christine. “I don’t know if it looks like you’ve lost any weight but you’re definitely looking different—in a good way, I mean. You’re always smiling and humming to yourself—cutting carbs must agree with you. Or have you just been getting more exercise?”
“A lot more than usual,” Christine said grinning and thinking of some of the acrobatics she and Roarn got up to in bed. She felt guilty about lying to her friend so much, but what was she supposed to say? “Oh, I found a huge Monstrum Kindred in my backyard and he has some kind of PTSD but my scent and taste seem to help him control it so he spends every spare minute with his face buried between my thighs.”
Yeah, right. There was no way she was saying anything of the kind to Donna. She loved her friend, but Donna couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. It was better for Christine to keep things to herself. She just hoped that things went on as they had been and the Fensters left her alone. She didn’t want to mess with that nasty bunch anyway—she just wanted to go on spending time with Roarn.