Chapter 28: Chapter 28
Misty
Beck: the place to pick up the car. 917 21st street
I googled the address; it was a retirement community two blocks away, and had a visitor parking lot out back. I set my food down and typed up a message to Negan
Misty: car pick up point keys in the visor 917 21st street.
Negan: Are you avoiding me sweetness?
Misty: No, just keeping things random I’ll see you when you drop off on Monday.
Negan: I’ll see you then, Minxy ;)
Misty: Drop it off in the same condition you received it
Negan: You doubt me?
Misty: I’m just very attached to my car
Negan: Noted
I set my phone down and picked up my quesadilla. When I looked up, Beck's eyes met mine. I nodded. He returned the gesture.
After dinner, I had Beck and Cricket help me carry the crockpots downstairs to the back kitchen, where I began assembling the meats for tomorrow. I covertly handed him the keys to my car when I had Cricket busy chopping green peppers. A few moments later, he slipped away. Valentina showed up just after, as if the two had orchestrated the pass off.
“What’s this?” Valentina asked.
“I figured there would be fewer moving things around if I just set them up down here. With Beck staying with us, I can come down and check them before I go to bed, and I won't have to wake him up before dawn to prepare everything. He can stay with Cricket, and I can check on things before I go to bed and come down in the morning and manage it. Cricket had her headphones on, listening to a cartoon as she now sat at the end of the counter, focused on her homework.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you anyway,” I added. The old woman surveyed the prepped pots, nodding in approval before her shrewd eyes found mine.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“You know what Beck and Cricket are?” I asked tentatively.
“I do,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I owe you a lot, you know? You let me live here and gave me a job, knowing very well that I couldn’t make rent that first month. Why?”
She looked me over before saying. “I saw a young woman in need, and I also had needs; it all worked out for the best for both of us, don’t you think?” she said, grinning.
I glanced pointedly at Cricket, “But you know what she is?”
“Yes?”
“How?”
Valentina snorted, “So he didn’t tell you. I see, very honorable of him, but you don’t need to come to me fishing for answers. Just ask.”
I blinked. My brain scrambled to adjust to my carefully planned navigation of this conversion.
“What are you?” I finally asked in a huff, frustrated that any semblance of holding ground here had been completely diminished. Valentina’s lips turned up in a conniving grin.
“Now you are asking the right questions, Nina. Wolves and bears still respect a wolverine, it’s self-preservation,” she said, before moving past me as my jaw dropped. She added some dehydrated peppers and spices to the pot I was working on as I gapped.
“How many types of you are there?”
She shrugged. “Nobody knows for sure,” she admitted.
I took a moment to let that sink in.
“I always instinctively knew that Cricket would be safe with you, but now that I know…”
“Humans have been programmed not to recognize their own instincts. Some of you, your DNA remembers, nobody knows why. Rest assured, you will both always be safe with me. Most of my kind don’t bother with the rest; however, some of us can’t help but have a soft spot for humans. Many see you as weaker, but they forget that humanity is also a part of who we are. Her soft smile caused her often stern eyes to give way to… was that emotion?
“I know you have a bad history with other bears, but this one is different. Don’t let your past define how you view every shifter you come in contact with,” Valentina suggested.
I glanced at Cricket to be sure she was still wearing her headphones. “He thinks Adelaide is a wolf,” I barely whispered.
“Hmm, must say I’m not surprised, that woman is a beast when she needs to be.”
“He saved her, you know, from Creedon,” I admitted.
“That should tell you all you need to know about his character. He seems good for Cricket. They came down yesterday to get candy. They were quite the pair rummaging around here for sweets,” she said, smiling at the memory.
“I know she needs more than I can give her, especially with Adelaide not here.”
“Maybe get to know him, some of the hardest men have the softest hearts. Those are the kind that have been through dark trials of life, like you have been. Deep down, he's just as vulnerable as you are, I’d wager,” she said.
I thought about it for a minute. I could see it in the few times his mate had been brought up. It was in his eyes, as if his mind was replaying memories. I realized I wanted to know about the woman whose death had shaped him into the man he was now. The question was whether I was brave enough to start befriending the man by asking the hard questions and changing the dynamic of our partnership. The truth was, it scared me to get closer to him. It meant not just opening me up to caring about him on a deeper level than our mutually beneficial, rather transactional situation at the moment, but would require me to do the same. I also knew getting him to share may not be that easy. Then there was Cricket. If he was serious about being there for her, I needed to know who he really was, and I shouldn’t pass up the opportunity for her either. I sighed as I moved ingredients into the crockpots. Aware that Valentina was assessing me carefully as the gears in my mind spun. I had to try for my daughter, to at least get to know the man who could possibly give her what I couldn’t.