It had been three days since the club, and things were still strange with Dottie. Wy didn’t know what he had done wrong, but she seemed angry with him.

Maybe angry wasn’t the word. She wasn’t yelling and screaming at him. She wasn’t saying much at all. She seemed lost in thought whenever she was around him and wasn’t smiling as much as she used to.

Disappointed? Maybe she was disappointed in him and the way he was acting. He had never been in this situation before. He didn’t know how to gauge her feelings, and he didn’t know what to do. Usually, the girl told him she didn’t like him as soon as she figured out for herself what was wrong with him.

He had never been in a relationship this long before, but it seemed like maybe Dottie was seeing what was wrong with him too. If he didn’t break it off with a woman he was seeing after a few dates, they would be the ones to do it, and it would be a big deal. He had never seen this quiet sadness. Dottie must have really liked him. Whatever was wrong with him had made her very sad. Or disappointed. He almost wished she would yell at him and tell him it was over. At least he would be out of this miserable uncertainty.

His gorilla was still sure that Dottie was his mate. It desperately wanted to mate with her again and be near her, but he didn’t know how to fix this. Whenever he tried to talk to her at work, she kept dodging him or said she was fine. Today, he was going to try something different. He was going to talk to one of her friends. Her only good friend besides him.

He found her during lunch eating alone. “Jen, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure.” She patted the empty bench next to her. “You know I love talking to you, buddy. What’s up?”

“Can I ask you something about Dottie?” He didn’t know how this was supposed to work, but it felt weird talking about Dottie like this. It felt like he was going behind her back.

Jen pulled out her compact and looked at her lips. She wiped some lipstick off the corners. “Sure. What exactly do you want to talk about?”

“Has she said anything to you? About me, I mean.”

“Anything like what?” Jen pressed her lips together and wiped off her teeth.

“Is she mad at me or something?” Wyatt asked bluntly.

Jen’s eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “Not that I know of. Why? Is something wrong? She has been a little weird these last few days. I was sure I had done something wrong at the bar. Is she being weird with you too?”

“Yeah, she hasn’t really talked to me in two days. This will be the third if we don’t speak today at lunch.” Wy looked around but didn’t see her car anywhere. “Have you seen her around?”

“I think she left,” Jen said quietly. She sighed. “I thought it was just me. I could have sworn I saw you guys taking yesterday.”

Wyatt shook his head. “We did, but we haven’t talk-talked. I mean, like, outside of work and stuff. This is not like before. We’ve been hanging out every single day, and now we hang out never.”

Jen tipped her head to the side. “We need to get back to work. Want to walk with me?”

“Sure.”

They headed down the hall toward the elves’ workshop.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Wy,” Jen sighed. “This is so weird. It’s like she’s a whole different person now. This couldn’t be some kind of shifter thing, could it?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Did something happen at the bar? Because that was when she started to get weird with me. I thought I had offended her somehow.” Jen blushed. “I don’t always get along with women well. I’ve been kind of awful, actually, and I’ve been trying to be better. I thought maybe I had done something to hurt her without knowing.”

Wy marveled at her. “That’s how I feel too. But I’m sure it was something I did. She left the bar quickly and didn’t even let me drive her home. She said that she wasn’t feeling well.”

“Did you guys argue about anything?”

“Not at all.”

“I’m sorry, Wy. I don’t think I’m going to be much use here.” Jen patted him on the arm. “You’re going to have to talk to her.”

Wy wanted to ask her if there might be something he had done, but he bit his tongue. It was probably annoying to ask a friend if you were unlikable. It might give her ideas. Jen seemed to like him, and he didn’t want to bother her with his issues more than he already had. They were at the Toy Shop, anyway, and he didn’t want to talk about his personal issues in the Toy Shop in front of his coworkers.

If Dottie had left, she had gotten back quickly. She was already in her space on the line. She had chosen to work across the shop from Wyatt and Jen for the second day in a row. He waved to her, and she gave him a small wave back. But she didn’t smile, and she didn’t look too happy, either.

It didn’t make him feel great, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now. They had gotten a new shipment of toys and needed to set them up in the workshop before the next round of kids came through.

“You know, this job is going to be over soon.” Jen grabbed a handful of trains and toy soldiers and took them to her space on the fake conveyer belt.

Wyatt nodded. “I know. There’s only a few days left.”

“I’m really going to miss working here and all my coworkers,” Jen said as she grabbed more toys. “I bet a lot of people feel the same way that I do.”

Wyatt bent and took some toys out of the bag. “I’m going to miss everyone too. This is the nicest job I’ve ever had. I am going to be happy to go back to working with my other friends, but working with you guys has been very nice. I’m glad we got to know each other better.”

“Yeah, me too.” She turned to him. “Sometimes, at the end of the job, people stop being friends.”

Wy stopped and swallowed. “Do you not like me anymore, Jen?”

She shook her head and tapped her fingers on the counter. “I like you very much. We were friends before, and we’re better friends now. But people are different. Maybe not everyone’s going to be your friend anymore. You should prepare yourself for that, Wyatt. I know that will hurt, but that might happen.”

“I think I’ll still be friends with most of the people I talk to,” he said. “I knew most of them beforehand. I’m not really worried about that happening.”

“Most of the people.” Jen tilted her head and looked at him. “Most. What about the ones you weren’t friends with before? Those are the people I’m talking about.”

“Yeah, but the only person that I really didn’t know beforehand was Dottie.”

It slowly dawned on Wyatt what Jen was trying to say. It was like being hit with a bag of bricks. “Are you saying that Dottie doesn’t want to be my friend anymore? Is that what you think? Did she say something to you?”

“She definitely did not say that to me,” Jen assured him. “I’m just saying that it could happen.”

“But do you think she would do that? Has she said anything about that before?” He was suddenly feeling sick to his stomach, and his gorilla was starting to push itself to the front. It was happening again.

Jen looked him in the eye. “No. I don’t know for sure that that’s going to happen, but it wouldn’t be a crazy idea. Think about it. She’s not even from here. Maybe it was just a fun winter break romance for her.”

Wy looked over at Dottie. She wasn’t talking to anyone around her, and she was only looking at her toys.

Jen lowered her voice. “I’m not saying that’s what happened, but it could. Think about it, is all I’m saying. Keep it in mind.”

They unpacked toys together in silence. Once he had set up the trains and dolls, Wy took the box they were using and put in closer to the next workstation. Jen followed him but didn’t say anything.

“If you want to talk,” she whispered as more people started filing in from lunch, “I’m always here for you. Just as friends, I mean. But don’t forget I’m always here.”

Wyatt nodded. “Thanks. Thanks for everything.”

She went to help one of her friends on the other side of the shop set up. He was glad there was no one next him. He didn’t want to talk right now. The only person he wanted to talk to was Dottie, and she didn’t look like she was in the mood to talk at all.

Even if she wouldn’t talk with him at work, she couldn’t avoid him outside of work. He was going to go to her house after work. He didn’t know what was going on, but he had to find out. He couldn’t take this any longer.

Strangely enough, he hoped Jen was right. Deep down, he had a sinking suspicion that she was completely off base, but it was a nice thought. It made a nice explanation for Dottie’s sudden change of heart.

More than likely, it was the same thing that always happened to him. Dottie must have finally realized that he was more trouble than he was worth. He had seemed great at first, but now that the shine had worn off, she was seeing him the same way every other woman did. She probably didn’t want to talk to him anymore, but he had to hear it from her himself.

As hard as it was going to be, he had to know one way or the other.