Clare

  When I woke up the next morning by 6:00am to the alarm Sawyer had set for me, I’d been very surprised to find that I didn’t have a single nightmare all night long. I was less jittery than I’d expected, and my heart wasn’t racing fast. I also felt pretty calm internally.

  I thought it was the calm before the storm, so I kept checking myself all morning long as I got ready and then met up with Koda in the hotel’s elevator so we could go check up on Queen and Sawyer.

  When we got to the Vet Clinic and waited while Sawyer pet Queen as the doctor did some checks on her, I found that seeing Queen doing well seems to soothe some of the inner conflict that I still had toward my instinctual magic as the things I’d discussed with Sawyer danced around in my mind over and over, reassuring me that helping people could actually bring me salvation.

  Of course, all my feelings of apprehensiveness were overshadowed by Queen, the aloof cat queen who only liked and responded to Sawyer, meowing at me when she saw me.

  “Oh, my God! Moon goddess! Did you see that?! Did you see that?!” I was grinning from ear to ear as Queen rubbed her head on my palm and allowed me to stroke her fur.

  Sawyer grinned at me. “She definitely knows you saved her life and helped her get better.”

  “This is not fair, Queen. If you’re going to go out of character, you have to show me some affection too, no? I sat here with you and traveled several hours away from home for your sake,” Koda complained, reaching out again to touch Queen only for her to move her head away from him as she purred to Sawyer and me touching her furry back.

  I couldn’t help laughing at the sight, even as the Doctor walked over with a clipboard in hand.

  “So what’s the verdict?” Sawyer asked the doctor as I continued taking advantage of the honorable opportunity afforded me by Lady Queen before she took back my privileges by stroking her carefully and attentively.

  “Well, by all indicators, she’s all good. I would have wanted to keep her here to keep an eye on her, but I understand that you guys have to go back home and she would definitely be uncomfortable if she has to stay here without you so you can take her home with you. However, you still have to take her to the Vet in your town. Let her stay there under observation for a few days before you take her home. Don’t leave her to roam the woods like before to avoid something like this, or worse, happening again.”

  “Got it, thank you Doctor.”

  After that, we got into the car and started the two-hour drive back to Hawkins Town. Koda was responsible for driving, but because Sawyer and I wanted to sit together, we sat in the back seat with Queen’s pet car seat.

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  Because Sawyer wanted to try to get some sleep, Queen’s seat was on my right while Sawyer sat on my left, sleeping with his head resting on my shoulders while we held hands.

  It didn’t seem to be comfortable, so I got him to sleep with his head on my thighs and spent the rest of the trip touching and petting Queen tenderly.

  To my surprise, she didn’t retract my cat stroking privileges and allowed me to stroke her pretty fur while taking a nap.

  When we got to Hawkins, we first delivered her to the Vet and then Sawyer took me home while someone from Koda’s home came to pick him up at the Vet’s.

  The car ride to Josie’s was very quiet, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. When we got to the trailer park, Sawyer insisted on going in with me so he could apologize to Josie personally.

  “Clare, why are you knocking? Come in quickly.” Josie said, as she opened the door, which I’d politely knocked on before going in, even though I had a key.

  “Josie, this is Sawyer Hawkins, the Alpha’s son. Sawyer, this is Josie.” I introduced the both of them as I walked into the living room with Sawyer.

  Josie seemed surprised that he had come in with me, so I tried to explain his motives. “He feels bad about me leaving town with him without getting your permission first, so he came to apologize.”

  Sawyer smiled, looking a little too tall to be standing in Josie’s small mobile home, which had definitely been built for petite people. “I’m really sorry…”

  “Josie. Just call me Josie. And you don’t have to apologize. I heard you were trying to save a cat. How is she doing now?” Josie was, as usual, easy-going as she directed Sawyer to sit and then went to the open kitchen to get him a glass of water.

  I allowed Sawyer to speak as she placed the glass of water in front of him. “She’s fine, thank you. We dropped her off at the Vet and the Vet in the city just recommends keeping her under observation for the next few days to make sure all is well and then she can be discharged.”

  “Very good, very good,” Josie said.

  Sawyer gulped down his water as the living room descended into awkward silence.

  After some awkward small talk, Sawyer stood up. “Thank you so much, Josie. I’m going to get out of your hair now. I just really wanted to come over and apologize to you and make sure you don’t have a bad impression of me because I really really like Clare and I want to seriously date her. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Josie seemed taken aback by his honesty, but she recovered quickly as she smiled and shook her head. “Of course, I don’t mind. Clare can date whoever she wants to date. I’m not an overly traditional guardian or anything.”

  “That’s good, then. Thank you very much, Josie. It was a pleasure to meet you.” Sawyer said as he stepped out of the house.

  Josie smiled. “It was a pleasure to meet you too, Sawyer.”

  “Well, I’m gonna go,” Sawyer said, waving at her.

  I forced a smile and said to Josie, “Well…I’ll just see him off to his car and be right back.”

  Josie seemed absentminded as she responded, “Sure, sure.”

  “What do you think? Do you think she’s fine with me and you dating?” Sawyer asked as I saw him off to his car.

  I wanted to tell him not to worry about what Josie thought about him as she would probably never care whom I dated, but I could see that he was super concerned about it, so I just went along with it. “I think she likes you.”

  “Really? So would she mind if I ask you for a date on Friday, next weekend?” He said, giving me a lopsided grin.

  I smiled. “Probably not.”

  “Would you mind? Would you like to go on a dinner date with me next Friday?” He asked.

  “I would have loved to, but I have to work on Friday. How about Saturday evening?” I asked.

  “Saturday evening is fine.” He said, giving me a beaming smile. “Well, I have to go home now. I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”

  “See you.” I said, waving at him as he got into his car and drove off.