Authors: Brittany White
"That sort of ruins the point of being alone," she pointed out before taking a long drink from the milk.
Ben gave her a look that said, "Do not argue with me on this." Out loud he said, "I'll give you your space, but I want to know that you're safe."
Alyse considered what he had said for a moment. She had almost gotten eaten by that wolf. If it hadn't been for Brandon, she wouldn't be in her kitchen eating at that moment. Finally she agreed. "Okay."
"Really?" he asked in surprise.
Alyse nodded. "Yes. I know you're just trying to watch over me and I love that about you. I don't want you to have to worry." Ben raised an eyebrow, studying her for a moment. "What?" she asked.
He shrugged. "It's just not like you to give in like that."
Alyse ate the last bite of sandwich before replying. "Well, I thought about what you said and you're right. It was inconsiderate of me to just leave without letting you know where I was going. After everything you've done for me, I should be more thoughtful. I'm going to bed now." She hopped off the stool that she'd been sitting on and went to her room, leaving Ben staring after her in surprise. She didn't want to tell him that she had nearly been a wolf's dinner, but she could tell that he knew something had happened.
After she brushed her teeth in the bathroom, Alyse changed into her pajamas. She crawled into her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. As she tried to fall to sleep, she couldn't help but wonder if Brandon was really going to call her the next day. She hoped that he would and found herself smiling as she drifted off.
Chapter 2
Brandon's day at work went by slowly. He worked as a veterinarian and his office had very few animals in that day. His secretary, Mary, was typing away on the computer, probably talking over instant messaging to her boyfriend. He had been resisting the urge all morning to send Alyse a text, but it was afternoon and he figured he would finally be able to contact her without looking desperate.
He typed in a message and studied it to make sure it sounded okay. "Hey Alyse. It's Brandon from last night. Would you like to hang out Friday night?"
He read over it several times before pressing the send button. As he waited for a reply, Brandon went into the reception room to ask his receptionist for advice about taking Alyse out. He walked up to the window on the side of her desk and leaned his elbows on it. Mary jumped when she saw him, quickly switching tabs on her computer screen so he wouldn't see that she had, indeed, been messaging her boyfriend. "What's up, boss?" she said, looking up at him.
"I have a question," he told her. "I met this girl last night—"
"Oh fantastic!" she said, clapping her hands together. He couldn't count on both hands the number of times she had tried to set him up with some girl or another in order to try to "remedy" the fact that he was single.
Brandon laughed to himself. "Yeah. Fantastic," he said, starting again. "Anyway, after some coercion I got her to give me her number and told her I'd be contacting her today."
"And have you?" Mary asked, leaning toward him, clearly interested in what he was telling her.
He nodded. "Yeah, I just sent her a text."
"Good," she replied, nodding. "That's a start."
Brandon was starting to regret going to his secretary for help. "Okay. Anyway. I asked her if she would like to hang out Friday night." Mary slowly inhaled through her teeth, baring them at him. "What?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Well, asking that way sounds like you're not really interested in dating her romantically. It sounds more like you just want to hang out with a friend."
He pursed his lips, pushing them to the side. "How do I fix it then?"
"Text her back and tell her you have a plan," Mary said. "Be unique with your plan. Don't do the typical dinner and a movie."
"That's where I need your help," Brandon told her. "I don't really know what to do."
A smile spread across Mary's face. "It's cold outside, so take her to that hot cocoa bar that just opened up over on Maple. After that, take her ice skating. If she doesn't know how, it gives you a great opportunity to have to hold her hand or have her hold on to your arm."
Brandon shook his head. "She's pregnant. I don't think ice skating is a great idea."
Mary's jaw dropped. "She's pregnant and she's willing to go out with you?"
He shrugged. "That's why it took some coercion to convince her to give me her number. She says the father is out of the picture."
"No," Mary told him, shaking her head. "No you don't want to go there. There's bound to be all sorts of drama surrounding the baby. Even if she claims the father isn't in the picture, there's a chance he will want to be and another man around will only complicate things."
Sighing, Brandon told her, "Well, I'm going for it. There was just something about her that I can't put my finger on that makes me keep thinking about her." Mary didn't know about the whole shape shifting thing, so she definitely wasn't going to understand the attraction he felt to Alyse. He wasn't about to try to explain it to her right then.
Mary shrugged. "Whatever. If you think you can handle it, then I guess go for it. But still be original. Maybe instead of ice skating you could take her to the beach. It'll be cold, but you could light a fire and watch the sunset. Roast some marshmallows."
Brandon thought about her suggestion for a moment. "I like it. Thanks."
Nodding, Mary turned back to her computer screen. "Good luck," she said as she began typing away at the keyboard.
He walked back into his office and sat at his desk. Alyse still hadn't replied. "I have a great idea for what we can do," he texted. "But you'll need to dress warm."
A few minutes later, his phone finally buzzed. "I would love to. What time?"
He told her he would pick her up at four-thirty. He wanted to make sure that they had plenty of time to get to the beach and get a fire started before the sun went down. Mary was smart. A sunset at the beach would be beautiful and as shape shifters the cold wouldn't bother them as much. Excited for what the weekend was going to bring, Brandon couldn't help smiling.
* * *
Friday afternoon, Alyse was ready by four-fifteen. Brandon had told her to be punctual so they didn't miss out on what he had planned. She waited anxiously, wondering what he was wanting to do. The doorbell rang at exactly four-thirty and she jumped up, excited. Ben was still at work, so he wouldn't be around to interrogate Brandon, for which she was grateful. She had sent him a text message, letting him know that she was going out and gave him Brandon's number, just in case.
When she answered the door, she saw Brandon standing before her, dressed in a blue plaid shirt and dark blue pants. He had a black jacket over his shirt and a scarf wrapped around his neck. "You ready?" he asked, smiling.
Alyse felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach and she couldn't help smiling back. She nodded and accepted his held out arm, wrapping her hand through his elbow. "Where are we going?" she asked.
Brandon wiggled his eyebrows up and down. "It's a surprise," he said.
"You said to dress warm, so I assume it outside?" she replied.
He nodded. "Yep."
"You do realize we're shape shifters, right?" she said, laughing. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I can handle the cold. You were standing in the snow last night with no shoes on and it didn't seem to bother you."
Brandon shrugged. "Yeah, well, it's still a courtesy that I figured I should extend."
"How thoughtful," Alyse replied as he pulled open the passenger door on his car. He walked around and climbed into the car on his side. "So you won't give me even a small hint?"
"It's very hot," Brandon said as he pulled away from the curb.
Alyse looked at him, confused. "But you told me to dress warm."
He nodded. "Yep."
"So...how exactly is it 'very hot'?" she asked.
Brandon laughed. "That's your hint. Not my fault if you can't figure it out."
Folding her arms, Alyse sat back in her seat, wondering what on earth he could mean. She could sense his amusement at her confusion, which only made her wonder more. Finally, she gave up. "I have no idea," she said.
He laughed again. "You're just going to have to wait."
"Fine," she said, sighing. "So what do you do for work?"
"I owe a veterinarian clinic," he said, turning the car onto the freeway.
"Really? Are you a vet then?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yep. I figured I'm pretty familiar with animals, considering the whole shifting thing, so why not spend my career taking care of them?"
"I suppose that makes sense," Alyse said.
"What do you do?" he asked.
"I've not really settled on one thing," Alyse told him. "Most recently I've been a receptionist at a doctor's office. But I've also been a waitress, I tried my hand at owning my own cake decorating business, and I worked as a teller at a bank for a while."
Brandon whistled. "That's quite the résumé. Have you just not found what you like yet?"
She shook her head. "Not really, though I have enjoyed the secretarial job the most so far. It's not exactly challenging, but the work is a lot better than the other options."
"Well I hope you'll find something that you truly enjoy," Brandon told her. "I love my work. It makes the days go by much faster than if you're sitting there wishing you were somewhere else.
When Brandon pulled the car off of the freeway, Alyse figured out where they were going. "Are you taking me to the beach?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yep. I thought we could build a bonfire on the beach and watch the sunset. I also brought marshmallows to roast." He grabbed a grocery bag from the back seat and showed her that it was filled with all different types of marshmallows.
"Sounds fantastic," Alyse told him. "Usually any dates I go on are just dinner and a movie, or dinner and then he wants to go back to his place. Hence this." She placed her hand on her stomach and gave him a look.
"So was it a one-night stand type thing?" he asked, curious. He had avoided bringing up the subject of her pregnancy because he didn't want to make her talk about something she didn't want to, but since she brought it up he figured it couldn't hurt to learn more about it. As much as he hated it, Mary's warning rang in the back of his head.
"Not exactly," she said. "I've known him since high school, so when he asked me on a date I accepted without hesitation, thinking that I knew what kind of person he was. It was on our third date that we went to his house and one thing led to another. We dated for the next month, until I found out I was pregnant. The second I told him, he bailed on me. And here we are, another month later."
Brandon shook his head. "He sounds like a creep. Any real man would step up and make sure he was around for the kid, at the very least."
Alyse nodded. "I agree. I feel bad that this child will likely grow up not knowing their father, but I'll try to make up for that by being the best mother I can."
As he pulled the car into a parking spot before the sand, Brandon said, "I'm sure you'll make a great mom."
She smiled. "Thank you for that." They each climbed out of the car and Brandon took a hold of Alyse's hand as they walked to the beach. She didn't hesitate in letting him, for which he was grateful.
There was an area on the beach that he knew of where several people would go to make bonfires during the summer, so he led her to it. While she sat on a log around a pit, he began to make the fire. It didn't take very long and soon enough they were sitting next to each other, roasting marshmallows.
They had just enough time to eat their first marshmallow before the sun began to lower over the horizon. The colors of pink and orange sprayed across the water, causing it to shine and Alyse smiled at the beauty. She was glad that Brandon had been original in deciding what to do and she told him as much.