Chapter Nine
It had taken hours for Rin to feel like herself again. She hadn’t even been aware of the time passing, locked up tight in her panic attack. She remembered Mike coming by to check on her, then both Margaret and David had knocked on her door, but they had all gone away when she had asked for solitude.
Her legs had felt stiff and uncooperative once she had stood from her spot on the floor in front of the door; her backside aching, her mouth dry, and her stomach queasy. The only indicator of the hours that had passed – aside from the aches in her body – were the bedside clock and the darkness outside of her window. Moving slowly to her bed, she had collapsed down on the cheery, bright comforter, reached over to the bedside table and grabbed a small cream colored business card. She had stared at the black lettering with a grimace. She’d been doing so well, she hadn’t bothered to keep up with the visits to the therapist that had been recommended. It seemed like such a waste of time and money. Now she couldn’t help but wonder, would she have had such an extreme reaction if she had been going to the appointments?
Tomorrow, she had thought to herself as she tossed the card back on the nightstand. She’d wait and see how she felt after a good night’s sleep. If she was still feeling agitated, she’d call. But the next morning, it was like the incident never happened and any thought of therapy was forgotten. She felt good; ready to take on the world. It was her first day at her new job and she was excited.
The small accounting firm adjacent to the law offices in town was a short walk from the bed and breakfast. Rin's space was small, but clean, set up with everything she would need to start working immediately, and Ginny Weller was a joy to work with – happy, accommodating, and grateful for Rin’s presence. It may only be her first day, but so far, this was Rin’s idea of a dream job.
“Have I told you how happy I am you’re here?” Ginny said with a grin as she came into Rin’s office with a stack of files in hand.
Rin returned the grin, then eyed the files expecting Ginny to drop them on Rin’s desk but the older female just hugged them to her chest and sat in the chair across from Rin, an excited gleam in her eyes. “With you here, once tax season is over, I can take a vacation. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve taken an honest to God vacation?”
Rin shook her head, but was pretty sure the question had been rhetorical. “I always felt guilty,” Ginny confided. “Like if I left, something would happen and I’d leave the town in a lurch.”
Rin felt her eyes widen in astonishment at what Ginny was implying. “You do all of the accounting for every business year round?”
Ginny let out an incredulous laugh. “Oh, no, no, not at all. Most of the businesses have bookkeepers that do the numbers, but they know I’m available if they run into a snag. But this year…” Ginny let the thought trail off with a wistful smile before perking up. “Just before you came to town we had some females visiting from another pack. They told me about this trip they had planned. It sounded like so much fun. Now maybe with you here – if you’re feeling comfortable that is,” Ginny said, holding out the hand that wasn’t gripping the files in a gesture of reassurance.
It was only her first day, so Rin wasn’t yet confident enough to give Ginny a definite answer, but the older female’s excitement was contagious. “So what’s this trip?”
Ginny let out a little squeal that was so unexpected from someone her age that Rin couldn’t hold back a laugh as her new boss launched excitedly into the details. “It’s an Alaskan cruise. Almost the entire Montana pack is going, and once they arrive, they’re going to meet up with one of the packs in Alaska.” Another squeal. “And there’ll be single males!”
That last bit had Rin frowning in confusion. Ginny wasn’t wearing a wedding band, true, but that wasn’t so unusual for shifters when rings or other jewelry could be easily lost if a quick shift to fur became necessary. After hearing the stories about Malsum Pass and its lack of females, Rin had just assumed that someone as attractive as Ginny would have been scooped up as soon as she’d come of age. “How are you not mated?”
Rin blushed, hoping Ginny wasn’t offended. The words had come out of her mouth before she’d actually considered how impertinent they may sound. Before she could backtrack and apologize, Ginny was answering, her eyes sad, yet unfazed by what most would deem an inappropriate question. “My mate passed away some years ago. A heart problem.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
Ginny nodded. “He was a good male. And if you had asked me when he passed if I would ever want to be with another male, I would have flat out said no chance.” She grimaced and shook her head. “But now,” she sighed and then squared her shoulders with determination. “The males here in Malsum Pass are either mated, too young for me or too old. I have a lot of good years ahead of me still and I don’t want to spend them alone.”
Rin smiled kindly. “You shouldn’t have to. I hope I’m ready and able to hold down the fort when the time comes so that you can take that trip. Maybe meet the male of your dreams.”
Ginny grinned and stood. “You’ll be ready. I just know it.” The older female gave the files she was still clutching to her chest a squeeze. “Exciting times, Rin Hayashi. Exciting times. Call me if you need me.” Ginny said with a little hop before she left Rin to her work.
Call me if you need me. The words reminded Rin of Mike. She felt badly that she had run away from him without a word. The male had been nothing but sweet and accommodating. She owed him some sort of explanation. As soon as she left work this evening, she’d go see him.
When Rin arrived at the garage with her workout bag slung over her shoulder, she didn’t see Mike but she could hear music coming from the gym. Heading back that way, she pushed open the door, her ears prepped and ready to be assaulted by the loud heavy metal booming through the large space. She hadn’t prepared her eyes, however, for the sight of Mike, shirtless, sweaty; moving effortlessly around the heavy bag and throwing punches.
Rin’s mouth went dry. Mike may not have been a big male, but he was definitely muscular, and Rin was purely fascinated watching all that muscle as it flexed and moved under his skin with every feint and punch.
Sensing her presence, Mike steadied the heavy bag with his wrapped hands and shot her a smile of greeting before jogging over to turn down the volume of the music. “Hey,” he said, picking up a towel and wiping his face. “How was your first day with Ginny?”
That’s when Rin finally noticed his face. “Oh, my god, Mike. What happened?” Her feet were moving before she even realized her intention and her hand was reaching up to touch the bruised and swollen area around his left eye. At closer range, she could now also see that his jaw looked slightly swollen despite the camouflage his whiskers afforded, and his bottom lip was scabbed.
Mike stepped back to avoid her touch with a shrug and wouldn’t meet her eyes. “My sparring partner got a bit carried away.” Moving even further away from her, Mike grabbed up a shirt and yanked it over his head. “I’m done here if you want to use the space to work out.”
Rin felt the sting of rejection as blood rushed into her cheeks. It made no sense, she knew she had no right to touch him without permission, they barely knew each other. But his avoidance still hurt, especially when he continued to keep his eyes trained on anything but her. She had thought they were friends.
Rin swallowed to clear the lump that had risen in her throat and reached for the comforting familiarity of her locket. She grimaced when her hand came away empty and shoved her hands into her coat pockets. “I, ah, I actually came to apologize.” More heat filled her cheeks, this time from embarrassment. “For yesterday. I didn’t mean to run away like that.”
Finally, she had the full impact of those hazel eyes, and now she wished he’d go back to avoiding her gaze. She knew what was coming next, had known that she wouldn’t be able to issue an apology and that would be the end of it. He would ask what had happened. And though she had spent the last hour, prepping what she would say, now that the moment of truth was here, she faltered. Could she actually say the words, could she talk about what happened without breaking down? It was so important to her that he not see her as broken. She was gathering every ounce of courage in her body to actually push the words past her dry throat, when Mike surprised her.
“You don’t need to apologize to me.” He said with a small smile before he walked away.
He walked away. Wait… what? She should just be thankful he didn’t want to hear the details and let the matter drop, but his reaction was in such opposition to her expectations that Rin found it almost impossible to let it go. He wasn’t even curious? With an exasperated growl, she followed him.