Mrs. Costner was already in bed when I got to work that night. I dropped into her room with the novels I’d found at the used book store.

“Oh, dear, I didn’t mean you should buy them for me! Get my purse, it’s in that cupboard over there.”

“My gift to you, Mrs. Costner, for the advice yesterday. It really did help.”

“Oh, did you spend some time with your alpha then?”

“We drove out to the petting zoo today.” I chewed on my lip but I couldn’t help the smile that kept trying to creep out.

“So it went well,” she crooned, reaching out to pat my hand where I’d rested it on the rail at the side of her bed. “Tell me all about it.”

I glanced up at the clock, but I’d had Mike drop me off a little early after I’d dragged him to the book store to look for her novels. Most of which, funnily enough, he’d found for me. I’d never have taken him for a romantic, but he knew exactly what to look for when I described what Mrs. Costner was reading. “I can sit for a minute,” I told her and pulled the chair over. “It wasn’t much, really.”

She waved a finger at me. “It must have been something to put that smile on your face.”

I laughed and looked down at my hands. “A little, maybe. Promising. I think.” Where to start? I propped my elbow on the bed rail and leaned my head on my hand. “He drove me out there. We didn’t talk about much, honestly. Houses and what we liked about single story and two story plans. He told me about his apartment and how small it is. That’s pretty much it.”

“That can’t be everything,” she said reprovingly. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“I don’t know. It was comfortable, almost like old times. We held hands a bit—that was nice.” More than nice, but hard to explain why. “He didn’t push me at all, but there were a couple of times where I thought he wanted to. The park was fun. We fed some goats, I got butted by a sheep, and I had to talk Mike out of taking a kitten home. He bought ten bales of hay for the animal rescue before we left and let them take some pictures of him with the animals for their website.”

She gave me a stern look. “I’m not hearing anything different about him. It sounds like he’s simply trying to make up to you and you’re falling for it.”

I shook my head. “I know it doesn’t sound like anything different, but we aren’t at the point where it can be different. He was just…kind. And not only to me. To everyone around us. He smiled and let them get their pictures even when I could tell he wanted to be left alone and I know that’s part of his job, but it doesn’t always have to be, you know?” This was so hard to explain, how I could almost see that Mike was thinking every step of the way. He’d seemed more open today than he’d been when he’d first arrived. I didn’t know if that was normal and he was recovering from his grief over Maddie a little, or if this was something new, that he was doing just for me.

As painful as it was, I hoped it was the first situation.

“What do you plan to do, then, with your alpha lover?”

“We’re not lovers!”

“There’s more than one meaning for that, silly boy. You love him, you think he loves you. That’s enough. You don’t need to be doing the rumpa-pumpa for the label to apply.” She giggled and patted the little stack of books. “Though at your age, I’d be surprised if you weren’t. I might be old now, but the memory still works. ”

I felt the blood rush into my cheeks. “We’re not doing that.” Not yet. Though now that she’d put it in my mind, I was having a hard time dragging my thoughts away from it. “I don’t think it would be a good idea if I jumped into bed with him right away.” Mostly because I stopped thinking with anything but the little head when he took his clothes off.

“No, and you’re probably right. I remember that part of being young too.” She tapped a finger against the corner of her mouth. “Let me think about it. And do some more research.” She patted her little stack of books.

“Oh, that’s what that is.” I laughed and stood up. “Thank you, Mrs. Costner. It helps just to have someone to talk to about this who isn’t my mother.” On impulse, I leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I have to get to work. You enjoy your research.”

“Oh, I will. And if you see that nice Mr. MacAllister out wandering around, you can tell him I’m still receiving visitors.” She winked at me and already had one of the books open when I was opening the door to her room.

I wondered if I should warn Mr. MacAllister what was coming his way. Then I decided that one out-of-control love life was enough for me right now.

Sorry, Mr. M., you’re on your own.