Wyatt straightened his tie and then untucked his shirt. He retucked it and straightened his tie again. He knew the tie was a mistake. He should have worn one of his favorite outfits. He’d already picked out the red sweater and nice slacks days ago. At the last minute, he’d thought it would look better if he wore a tie. He had only worn the stupid thing at funerals and when he’d interviewed for his job over a decade ago. He wondered if there was time to go home and change. This tie and shirt were not working. He couldn’t get them to look right.

“Stop fidgeting.” Dottie put her hand over his before he could pull his shirttails from his pants again. “Don’t worry. They’re going to love you. There’s nothing to be nervous about.”

That was easy for her to say. These were her parents. They had to like her.

There were many, many things for Wy to be nervous about. His shirt and tie were the least of his problems. He wasn’t even sure how he was supposed to greet the Harts. Was he supposed to shake both of their hands? He knew you shook a man’s hand when you met him, but what about her mom? Was he supposed to kiss her cheek? If he didn’t shake her hand, would that be sexist? Should he say “hello” or “hi”?

There was so much that could go wrong. He wished he could shift and meet them as his animal. In human form, there was a good chance he was going to mess this up, but his gorilla wouldn’t. The animal acted on instinct and always got it right. And he needed to get this right.

After Dottie had spent the night at his house, he was positive that she was his mate. He loved her, but he knew her parents were his biggest and final hurdle. From the way she described them, they were very protective of their little girl, and she valued their input. That much was obvious. They had a say in almost every aspect of her life.

Even though they had both said “I love you,” if her parents hated him, it would all have been for nothing. Dottie would never agree to marry him. She kept telling him that since she cared about him so much, it was impossible that her parents wouldn’t like him. But that wasn’t true. People had not liked him his entire life. He was used to it. Heck, his own parents hadn’t even liked him that much.

“Want to go inside now?” she asked him.

He checked his reflection in the mirror by the door one more time. He looked as good as he could.

“Okay, I’m ready,” he told her.

She took his hand and led him from the foyer into the living room. A man with salt and pepper hair and a blonde woman were waiting on the couch. They both stood up when Dottie and Wy entered.

“I’m Dave,” Dottie’s father said, extending his hand. He pumped Wyatt’s hand twice in a firm handshake. “We’ve heard so much about you that it’s nice to finally get to meet you.”

Dottie’s mother came forward with a nervous smile. She put out her hand slowly. “Yes, it’s very nice to meet you, Wyatt. I’m Donna.”

Wyatt shook her hand gently and nodded. “Great to meet you both. You raised a lovely daughter.”

Both of their smiles widened, and they beamed at Dottie. Clearly, he’d said something right. Maybe Dottie was right. This could be fine. He had forgotten the most important thing he had in common with her parents: they all loved Dottie.

“Please have a seat,” Mr. Hart said, pointing to the loveseat near the fireplace.

There was a loud, screechy sound as they sat on the plastic-covered furniture. Wy hadn’t seen furniture like that since he’d been to his grandmother’s house as a boy.

“Please excuse the sofa,” Mrs. Hart said. “This is my aunt’s house, and I haven’t changed a thing.”

“Sorry for your loss,” Wyatt said automatically.

“It’s no big deal,” Mr. Hart said. “We didn’t know her very well, but it was kind of her to leave us this house.”

“She didn’t really get out much,” Wyatt said. “I know she lived here her entire life, but I only saw her outside two or three times. She mostly loved going to the art fairs that are held just outside of town at the fairgrounds. That was the only place I ever saw her.”

“Interesting,” Mrs. Hart said. “There are boxes of art downstairs in the basement. That would explain where she got all of the paintings. We never knew that she even liked art.”

“She didn’t talk much,” Wyatt recalled. “My mom liked those art fairs too, and I remember seeing your aunt there, talking to the artists and not anyone else. She was always dressed in so many layers that it was hard to miss her.”

“Yes!” Mrs. Hart laughed. “She was always dressed in at least a scarf and a cardigan, no matter how hot it was.”

Mr. Hart nodded. “I do remember that too. We never took Dottie to any of those fairs. Maybe we should go as a family. Does your mother know of any good ones coming up?”

Wy wasn’t sure how to answer. He could feel Dottie stiffen next to him. He didn’t talk about his parents much. From her dad’s question, he could tell that she hadn’t told Mr. and Mrs. Hart about his parents running off. He wondered if she didn’t want him to talk about it. Maybe it would turn her parents against him. If his own parents didn’t like him, that might make him look suspicious.

“There are no art fairs in the winter, Dad,” Dottie said. “They only have them during the spring and summer.”

“That’s fine,” he said. “We can go in the spring. I can’t imagine we’ll have this place on the market and sold before then.”

“Will you guys be able to stay here, not working, for so long?” Wy asked him to change the topic.

“I should hope so,” Mrs. Hart said. “I wouldn’t want to leave Dottie on her own again for so long. We really missed her when it was just the two of us alone in that big house.”

“But won’t your job miss you?” Wyatt asked her parents. He had a lot of vacation time, but there was no way he’d be able to take off a whole winter and spring. “If you guys have to go back, I can always keep Dottie company.”

“I think we’d miss Dottie far more than she’d miss us at this point.” Mr. Hart winked at Wy. “Luckily, as long as we have a computer, Donna and I can do our jobs from anywhere.”

“We’re both consultants for a security firm,” Mrs. Hart explained. “Basically, we try to break websites. If we can break it, there is a problem, and we help the owners of the site fix it.”

“I don’t know anything about computers,” Wyatt admitted. “But it’s cool that you guys do that. I guess. Right?”

Mr. Hart laughed. “Don’t worry, most people don’t have a clue what we do.”

“I don’t know anything about it, either.” Dottie squeezed his hand. “I’ve been hearing about it my whole life, and I’m still confused. I have no idea what exactly it is that they do all day.”

“Oh! Where are my manners?” Mrs. Hart stood up. “Wyatt, would you like something to drink, or an appetizer?”

Wyatt smiled. “Do you have any lemonade? And I’d love some food.”

Mrs. Hart left for the kitchen and came back with a plate of cheese and crackers and cold cuts and a glass of lemonade. “I think this should hold us over until dinner is ready. I really don’t like the oven. It takes much longer than what I’m used to.”

“You think we need to replace it?” Dottie mused. “At the least, it needs to get serviced.”

Her mother shook her head. “I’m not replacing anything in this house if we can help it.”

“But what if I wanted to stay here?” Dottie asked.

Her mother pursed her lips. “I guess if you’d like to stay, we could work something out.”

“I think it’s a little early to be talking about staying,” Mr. Hart said. “But I do like Maple Creek. It wouldn’t hurt to have a nice house to retreat to when things get too hectic in the city.”

“Do you like living in the city?” Wyatt asked.

Mr. Hart held up his hands like a scale. “On the one hand, it is nice to have all the conveniences close by. But on the other hand, it can get so noisy. We can barely see the stars there, the light pollution is so bad.”

Mrs. Hart nodded enthusiastically. “I could get used to coming out here for the holiday breaks. The quiet life out here is so relaxing. Especially since we can do our jobs from almost anywhere. We could even come down for long three-day weekends.”

Wy wouldn’t mind if they all decided to live out here. He and Dottie had talked about it, and she wanted her parents to visit often.

“So, have you lived in Maple Creek your whole life?” Mr. Hart asked him.

“Yes,” Wyatt said. “And I don’t plan on moving away, ever. I love living here.”

“What do your parents do?” Mrs. Hart asked.

“I don’t really—” Wyatt was at a loss. What an odd question to answer. He’d never been asked that as an adult.

“Wyatt works for the city most of the year,” Dottie jumped in. “He gets laid off once a year, but most of the time, he’s doing construction work.”

“A man who works with his hands,” Mr. Hart said. “You have to respect that. I’m pretty useless when it comes to anything with tools.”

Wyatt smiled. “Thanks. It comes in handy when something breaks on the trailer.”

“That’s right,” Mrs. Hart said. “Dottie mentioned that you live in the trailer park. It must get cramped living out there.”

“It can,” Wy admitted. “We’ll probably need to get a different place pretty quickly. There’s not much room for more than one kid. And I’d like to have at least three or four.”

Dottie blushed. “I think the trailer will do for at least a year or two. Houses can be expensive.”

“Not here,” Wy said. “We can get a big house, and the mortgage will be almost the same as I pay to rent my land.”

Her parents exchanged looks. Her dad cleared his throat. “What do you mean? Are you two planning on moving in together?”

Dottie giggled. “Well, we’ve only been talking in the abstract, but I would like that.”

Wy nodded. “I would like that, too.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Hart said. “Maybe we’ll have to rethink our plan to sell this house, then.”

Mr. Hart nodded. “I had no idea you guys were so serious.”

“We are,” Dottie said. “I love Wy.”

It always sounded like music to Wyatt’s ears when she said that. She leaned over and kissed him.

“I love her too,” he added. As if it needed to be said. She was his mate. What he felt for her was more than love.

“Well, that’s nice to know,” Mr. Hart said. “We should go and check on the food.”

Dottie’s parents made a quick exit. Wyatt hoped the food would be done soon. He was starving now.

“This is going well.” He kissed her.  “I like your parents.”

“I think they like you too,” Dottie said. “Thanks for coming.”

“Thanks for inviting me.”

The night wasn’t going to be a disaster, after all. Wy didn’t know why he had been so worried. Dottie loved him, and that was more than enough.