Dottie checked the address to be sure she was in the right place. She was having dinner at Wyatt’s place tonight. Her parents had to go back home to check on the house, and she didn’t want to spend the evening alone. When Wyatt had heard that she would be alone, he had told her to come and have dinner with him and offered to let her stay at his place for the night. He was just so nice.

They had only been working together for a little more than two weeks, but they were already best friends. They had lunch together every day and left work together at the same time. They worked the same shift, so it was easy to coordinate their days together. They hadn’t hung out outside of work yet, though. This was the first time Dottie would be able to see how he was outside of work. It was strange that it had taken this long. She felt like she had known him her whole life, but most of the time when she saw him, he was dressed as an elf.

Dottie had never been so happy at a job before. She wished it would go on forever. At least she knew that once Christmas was over, she and Wy would still be friends. They had already talked about it. There was going to be an ice sculpture competition at the end of January. Wyatt had told her all about it and asked her if she wanted to go with him. She’d quickly said yes. It made her so happy that he wanted to keep being friends. She’d had work friends before, but once she had quit the job, they had never spoken again. That wasn’t going to happen this time.

Dottie knew she would be in Maple Creek at least until the spring. Her parents didn’t plan to put the house on the market until all the snow was melted and the grass was green. The house would have better curb appeal then and would be an easier sell. That meant she and Wy would have a long time to keep getting to know each other.

She didn’t know what would become of them after that, but she would cross that bridge when she got there. All she knew was that hanging out Wyatt was the best time of her life. Her butterfly adored him too.

She couldn’t wait to introduce him to her parents, eventually. It had been a long time since she’d had a friend good enough for them to get to know her family. Her parents had been making excuses why they couldn’t meet him, but she was going to wear them down. Her dad had found something on the internet about Wy that he didn’t like, and her mom was nervous about him now. Just something about his parents, but it didn’t matter. They were going to change their minds about him. He wasn’t dangerous and would never hurt her.

Wyatt was the gentlest, sweetest man she’d ever met. There was no way her parents wouldn’t like him once they really got to know him. She hadn’t told them she was having dinner with Wy. They didn’t need to know that.

She knocked expectantly on the door of the trailer. Wyatt opened it and wrapped her in his arms. He smelled different than he did at work. The cologne he had on smelled much sexier than anything he wore to work. He was wearing a tight red long-sleeved shirt that accentuated his strong, muscular frame.

When he was pressed against her in a hug, it was hard not to notice all the rippling muscles in his arms and stomach. She swore she could count every one of his ab muscles before he left her go.

“You made it,” he said. “I just got out of the shower. I still need to find some socks.”

She nodded. “I bet your feet are freezing. You said you lived in a trailer, but this isn’t like any trailer I’ve ever seen.”

“Well, it’s a doublewide. I guess it’s more of a house style than the trailers you’re used to seeing on TV.”

“I’ve never seen a trailer in real life. My uncle had a Winnebago that he used to go camping in, but that wasn’t as nice as this place.”

“Thanks. I know it isn’t much, but I love this place. After my parents left, I didn’t know if I would ever find a place that felt like home again.”

“Left for where?”

Wy looked at the floor. “I don’t know. They just left. I guess they were sick of having me around or something.”

Dottie’s lower lip quivered. “That’s awful. I can’t believe any parent would ever leave their child like that.”

She was so close to her parents that she couldn’t imagine how terrible it would feel to have them leave her one day. And without any explanation! It was such an awful thing.

“Don’t feel bad.” Wy smiled, but his eyes still looked pained. “I was sad for a few weeks, but I got over it. They weren’t great parents, anyway.”

“That makes it even worse,” Dottie said. Her insides turned over when she remembered how she’d asked Wy about his parents. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“It really is okay.”

She hugged him. “It isn’t, but that’s how it is. Life is really unfair sometimes. I don’t know why anyone would want to leave someone like you. Seriously, you’re one of the best people I know.”

He gave her a small smile, but this time the joy was back in his eyes. “Enough of the sad stuff. Want to take a look around?”

“Yes! I want to look everywhere.”

“Be my guest. I’ll be in my room for a minute. My feet are getting cold.”

Dottie looked around while Wyatt went to his room to find some socks. The carpet was plain and so were the walls, but it was a very nice house. There were two bedrooms and a bathroom. There wasn’t much furniture in the living room besides a gray couch, a black end table, a coffee table, and a TV on the wall. It was sparse, but it was very Wyatt.

She made her way to the kitchen and was surprised to see that he had lots of small appliances. He had a pizza oven, a fryer, a stand mixer, and a panini press. They took up almost all the counter space in the small kitchen. There was just enough space for a box of pizza.

She tipped the box open and saw that it was fresh and hot. It smelled delicious.

“Is this pizza for us?” she asked him.

“No!” he yelled from his room. He poked his head out the door. “Hold on a minute. That’s my pizza. Don’t touch it.”

Dottie rolled her eyes. Of course he had a whole pizza for himself. He was a big man, but she had never seen anyone who could eat like him.

Wy came into the kitchen holding a picnic basket. “This is for us.”

“What’s this?” she asked.

It looked like something from the movies. She and her parents had gone on picnics before, but they just carried the food in coolers. Wyatt’s basket was light-colored wood and had a gingham blanket on top covering it.

“I’ve heard about doing indoor picnics and always wanted to try it. That is, if you want to. We can always eat at the kitchen table if you want, instead.”

Dottie clapped her hands together. “This is so cool. I’ve never had an inside picnic. I’d love to.”

“Excellent. Could you grab the wine out of the fridge?”

Dottie nodded. She got the wine and followed Wy back to the living room. “What’s the pizza for, then?”

“That’s in case we’re hungry later.” He fluffed the blanket and arranged pillows from the couch as seats.

Dottie sat cross-legged and leaned back against the couch. “What’d you make for us?”

“I didn’t make us anything. But I did order in a special dessert. My friend’s mom ordered the cake for his wedding from this shop. I’ve wanted to order something from them ever since. It’s run by a bear shifter out west. This place is world-famous. I overnighted us a Christmas pie.”

“How festive.”

Wyatt pulled it out of the picnic basket. “It’s a red velvet silk pie with a green graham cracker crust.”

“There’s even sprinkles on it! This is so cute.”

Dottie peeked inside the basket. There were sandwiches and chips from one of the shops a town over. She had mentioned to Wy that she’d gone there with her parents and had loved it. “I can’t believe you got these sandwiches.”

“You said you wanted to eat there again.” He took four sandwiches out of the basket. “I got a variety. These are all ones you haven’t tried yet.”

“That is so sweet. Have you had one yet?”

He shook his head. “Nope. I was waiting to let you have your pick.”

She chose a turkey panini with cranberry stuffing. It was delicious. They ate and talked happily for more than two hours. Dottie couldn’t believe the time went by so fast. The most surprising thing was that Wy took so long to eat.

He was usually finished and on to his second helping by the time she had finished half of her first. But this time, they finished close to the same time. Wy got plates for them to have pie.

“Would you like to watch a Christmas movie?” Wyatt asked. “I know there’s some available on Amazon Prime.”

“Okay, what have you got?”

“I think there’s some new kids’ movies. One’s based on a book I loved as a kid. They look really cute.”

“Sounds great to me.”

Wy put on the movie and then sat back against the couch next to Dottie. They ate half the pie watching the movie about a mouse saving Christmas.

“I’ve always wanted to see a mouse-shifter,” Wy said when it was over. “Little shifters are so cool.”

Dottie snorted. “It’s better to be big. No one take little shifters seriously.”

“I do. Speaking of shifting, this is the longest I’ve been in my house without shifting.”

“You shift in the house?” she asked, incredulous.

“I usually spend most of my time at home as a gorilla.”

Dottie looked around. “That explains why the furniture is so sparse.”

“Yeah,” Wyatt grinned. “I never bought new stuff after my last roommate moved out. I just got this couch last weekend. It was the last one at the furniture store in town.”

“It looks really nice. But you shouldn’t sit on it when you’re shifted.”

“Yeah, I can’t really sit on anything except the floor. I don’t need much, though.”

“I’m jealous,” Dottie said wistfully. “I don’t get to spend much time as a butterfly.”

“Why not?”

She sighed. “I get scared. If I don’t know an area well, it makes my animal go nuts. Plus, it’s cold right now.”

“Can’t you shift in your house, like I do?”

“I could. But it’s just not as much fun. I think it makes my parents uncomfortable, too. They’re scared I’ll get sucked into the air ducts or something.”

“So, they don’t like you to shift at all? That’s pretty mean.”

“Oh, no, they do. But they get worried. Plus, they’re not shifters, so it makes me uncomfortable.”

“How long has it been since you shifted last?”

Dottie thought back. “I guess it’s been two months.”

“That’s way too long.” Wyatt turned off the TV. “We should shift now. We can both shift. Let our animals out for a little while.”

“I…I…I don’t know about that.”

The thought of being shifted next to a two-thousand-pound gorilla set Dottie’s heart aflutter, but her butterfly liked the sound of Wy’s plan. It wanted out, but Dottie didn’t know if she could handle it.

“Come on,” Wyatt said. “We’ll only do it for a little bit. Our animals should meet. We get along so well, I bet they’re going to be fast friends, too.”

“I guess we could try.”

Her butterfly was so insistent that Dottie couldn’t bear to wait any longer. It was only going to be for a few minutes. If anything went wrong, all the windows were closed and all the doors were locked. There were no vents that she could see, either. There was nowhere for her animal to get itself trapped except maybe in a spider web, and then she could just shift out. There was little risk. There was almost no risk at all.

She kept repeating that mantra over and over in her mind.

Wy pulled his shirt over his head. All the muscles she had felt earlier were on full display. He looked like an underwear model. His body was perfect.

His blue eyes locked with hers. “You can change in the bathroom if you want.”

“Thanks.”

She took one last look at him before going to the bathroom and taking off her clothes. She left the door open so she could leave easily, and then shifted. Once her wings began to grow from her back, she felt her anxiety start to lift. Usually, when she started changing, she got very nervous. This was different. Her butterfly was excited.

When she’d shifted all the way, she flew to the living room, where a gorilla was waiting for her. The human part of her that was still in control wanted to pull back, but her butterfly flew forward without fear.

The gorilla held up its palm, and she flew to it and touched down. She flapped her wings a few times, and then stilled. The gorilla raised his finger to her eye and breathed on her.

Dottie finally calmed down. In fact, she hadn’t felt this calm in months. She and her butterfly hadn’t been this in sync in years. There wasn’t an ounce of anxiety in her body. It was a huge gorilla, but it was also Wy. She could see him staring at her out of those eyes.

She knew he would never do anything to hurt her, and neither would his animal. She could stay this way for hours. She and Wyatt just sat together and watched the snow falling outside.