Page 29 of My Boyfriend Marks Trees
“I like mine fresh. Later we’ll make some with the eggs we gathered, and we’ll milk Lottie the goat.”
“Ooh, can I try that?”
“Of course, princess.”
Hand in hand, they entered the kitchen, only to find Charly on her phone, looking pale.
“Look, Mama, so many eggs.”
Charly smiled weakly. “That’s awesome, munchkin.”
“Why don’t you put the eggs in the container.” He pointed to the tray his mom kept on the counter. As Greta went off with the basket, he sidled close to Charly. “What is it?”
Charly gave a panicked look in Greta’s direction. He caught the hint. “Hey, Greta, I’m in the mood for strawberry jam. I’m gonna see if the pantry has any.”
“Mmm. I love jam,” Greta exclaimed, clapping her hands.
“Charly, can you help me find it?” he asked, even as he tugged her into the room and let the door swing close. Only then did he whisper, “What’s wrong?”
She held out her phone. “I just got a call from my landlord. Apparently, my house was broken into last night.”
“Fuck.” The expletive slipped out. “Did they take anything?”
“He couldn’t tell but said they trashed the place.” Her lips trembled. “Who would do such a thing?”
“Assholes who probably heard about the evacuation because of the fire,” his easy reply. “I’ll check out the damage after breakfast.”
“No, I’ll go. I’m going to call in sick to work. Can you hang with Greta? I don’t want her seeing the destruction.” She clutched the phone so tight her knuckles turned white.
Good point, only he didn’t want Charly dealing with this alone. With Selene and Mom gone, that left him with one option. “Let me call my sister Athena.”
“We can’t impose?—”
He cut her off. “This isn’t imposing. This is a family emergency, and before you say you’re not family, I will disagree.”
“Just because we had sex?—”
“Made love,” he corrected, to which his wolf added,Mated.“And it’s more than that. Even if we weren’t lovers, I’d still consider us friends. And friends help each other.”
“She won’t mind?” asked in a little voice.
“Let’s find out.” Before he could call, Greta poked her head into the pantry. “What’s taking so long?”
He grabbed a jar of jam and held it up. “Found it! I have to phone my sister, but would you mind toasting me two pieces of bread?”
“With jam?” Greta asked.
“Heck yeah. Butter first, then lots of jam,” he said with a wink.
“On it,” Greta chirped.
“I’ll help.” Charly followed her to the counter with the toaster while Ares stepped into the living room and called his sister.
Athena answered after the second ring. “Good morning. Kind of early to be calling, though.”
“I need a favor.”
Without hesitation, she replied, “Sure.”