Chapter 25 Ch 25

Tandan refused to let me sleep in my own apartment, so I spent the next week going back and forth between his apartment, the office, and my apartment to pick up clothes. He essentially asked me midway through the week why I hadn't just moved my entire wardrobe into his place yet. It would have saved me time, but even that remaining sliver of my independence would be taken away if I did.

By Friday night, I fell into another insatiably restless fit after work. Angelica approached my desk ten minutes before I could clock out.

"Hey there," she greeted with a smile more genuine than my own. "I know you and Mr. Coulter have been having a tough time. He didn't give me details, just that some things have been happening."

God, he gossiped to this woman like she was his mother. It was kind of sweet, though.

"It's been rough," I ceded.

"What do you think about joining me for dinner tonight? I have my two grandkids over for the weekend, so you two can meet them and I'll make a big spaghetti dinner." Angelica's smile stretched wider. "How's that sound?"

"That sounds...nice," I replied with a hesitancy that I wished I didn't have.

She was more than generous and I deserved and I should have been more eager to accept her invitation. But I was stressed about Matt, the mysterious nightmare of the forest, and my own wolf. It didn't matter that I had pushed away that side of me for years; now that I had shifted once, I was itching to do it again.

"Can I talk to Tandan and then get back to you on that?" I asked.

"Of course," she said, patting my shoulder and then heading back to her office upstairs.

I finished gathering my things before shutting down my computer and standing up. My heels clicked across the laminate floors until I stood outside Tandan's closed office door. For a moment, I hesitated to knock. We hadn't had sex since the night of my attack and he had been acting strange since the day after. We had settled into this strange new groove of our relationship; not quite romantic, yet too close to be anything platonic.

"Come in, Lee," his deep timbre came through the door.

Sighing, I twisted the knob and pushed the door open. I slightly pulled up the corners of my mouth in greeting. His face remained stoic as he looked up at me over a few papers on his desk. It didn't look like he intended to be done anytime soon.

"I'm getting ready to leave," I told him, though he was my ride. "Angelica invited us to dinner tonight. It was a really sweet offer but I know it might be awkward and I'm tired, so you probably—"

"We'll go," Tandan decided abruptly. He pushed the papers into a pile and straightened them.

"Uh, well, it doesn't have to be now," I said. Then I watched him shut down his computer and stand up. He wasn't kidding. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

He gave me a flat look. "I'm in need of some normal humanity after the way last weekend went."

"Fair enough." I sighed again.

—(—)—

So Tandan and I went back to his apartment to change out of work clothes before heading to Angelica's. He traded his button-up and slacks for tan cargo shorts and a blue and white striped cotton v-neck. I hid in the bathroom to change into leggings and a gray, mid-thigh-length blouse. My feet still ached from my work wedges, so I slipped them into a pair of black sandals.

Tandan drove, as usual, but he also knew how to get to her house. The fifteen-minute drive passed mostly in silence. Occasionally, I asked about work or something inconsequential. He didn't seem to be in a talkative mood.

We turned into a quaint little suburban neighborhood of one-story homes. Angelica's was the fourth house on the left. It was a modest, shingled white cottage with red shudders and a black door. I recognized her dated Ford sedan sitting quietly in the drive. Tandan parked and we climbed out. He didn't bother to take my hand as we made our way to the door.

Before he could even knock, the door swung open. A little boy stood on the other side and was giggling. He looked to be about eight or nine with freckled cheeks and blue eyes.

"Hello there," I greeted him.

"Hiiiiiii." He giggled again and then was joined by Angelica at the door.

"I'm so glad you two could make it," she said with a smile. Pulling the boy gently back, she opened the door wide enough for us. "Come on inside."

To my surprise, Tandan placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me inside. I wondered if he was only touching me now because we were in Angelica's presence. She probably expected us to act more like mates. I tried not to dwell on that idea too much or get angry that he was only putting on a show.

Angelica brought us to the kitchen, where she introduced us to the little boy, Nathan, and an even younger little girl, Silvia. They were adorable. I glanced at Tandan as we took our seats at the table and found his gaze already on me. Was he thinking about what our future kids would look like? Probably not. I couldn't help it, though.

"Thank you for inviting us over," I told Angelica. "Do you need help with anything?"

"Absolutely not!" She grinned cheekily at me. "My guests will do no work on my account! Now, the spaghetti should be ready so I will go get it."

There was a pause of quiet as we all watched her leave. I glanced at Tandan, then the children, and back to Tandan. He seemed unsure of himself. Then again, he could have just been maintaining that new brooding-silent persona he had developed over the last week.

"What grade are you two in?" I asked the children with a smile. They were so cute I didn't even have to force it.

"Third!" shrieked Nathan with a toothy grin. "And Silvia is in second. She has my old teacher, Ms. Marshall. And I have Mr. Kilter this year."

I poised a brow and leaned closer to the table. "Is that so? Silvia, what's your favorite subject in school?"

Silvia smiled shyly before saying, "I really like math."

"Wow, what kind of math?"

"She's still doing addition and subtraction," Nathan said. "I'm doing multiplication right now."

I chuckled. "I remember learning multiplication. It was hard for me."

"Were you in the special classes?" Nathan asked.

"Now, Nathan," Angelica scolded gently while she approached the table with a large pot of noodles and sauce, "that is not a nice thing to ask. Miss Lee is very smart. It just takes some people a little longer to learn things than others."

My cheeks flushed in embarrassment as I chuckled. I glanced up at Tandan who was smirking. Then I realized that I really was a slow learner, especially when it came to him. Did they make special classes for grownups? I needed to enroll.

"Everyone help yourselves!" Angelica crooned happily.