Embry's POV
I've never seen Paul up this early. Though I bet he hardly slept. When my mom and I got up this morning, we were trying to keep things quiet to let Paul sleep in. We were both shell shocked at the neatly folded pile of blankets and a fully dressed Paul on the couch.
"Good morning Paul," My mom greets Paul with a pleasantly surprised demeanor. Which he shrugged at and gave his own mumbled greeting. I didn't get much out of him either when I asked him how he slept.
As my mom gets ready for work, I do what Emily always does when we're upset. I made breakfast. With an entire box of pancake batter, a whole carton of eggs and whatever ham I had for bacon. I hope it could perk up Paul the slightest bit.
"Eat up." I serve Paul a plate, which he hesitantly takes.
"Thanks." Is all he mumbles. My mom is much more impressed, gasping at the spread when she comes in fastening her earrings.
"What, fresh orange juice too?" She jokes. Her good mood doesn't help Paul, who just hunches more in his seat. Last thing we want is him feeling like he's intruding, or my mom and I are some perfect home when he's at his lowest.
"It's all for our guest." I give Paul a firm pat on his shoulder who just mumbles another thanks.
"And maybe for me too." I add. "I don't have a lot of excuses to make all this everyday." It doesn't do much to remedy the mood in the kitchen. We all settle to eat in silence, the only sounds being the scrapes of uttilenisls and clatter of plates. I know Paul is upset since he didn't help himself to seconds even after my mom offers.
"I have to go work." My mom excuses herself, grabbing together her stuff. She pauses by Paul's chair and gives him a warm smile. "Paul are joining us for dinner?"
"I... dunno yet." Paul admits with a bruised look on his face.
"Well, you're always welcome here, Paul." My mom assures before wishing us both a good day. That didn't seem to make Paul feel any better. None of the less, he does say goodbye to my mom. Much like Paul, I'm not sure what he's going to do next. I'm not sure if he's going to go get seeing his dad over with, or wait him out till he leave, maybe go home for some stuff, or wolf out at any minute.
All I know is that he can't be alone today.
"Wanna head over to Quil's later today?" Instead asking what he needs, I try something else. He nods at my suggestion. Quil is probably the funniest and most easiest going in our pack, which I think would be good for Paul right now. He has all day tomorrow to worry about his old man. Today, he can just be with his friends and have a normal day.
Winnie's POV
Every first of the month, I head over to the main house to pay the rent to Old Lady Enola, who always seems to forget to collect from me. Not because she's forgetful. Enola is one of the most out spoken, witty, and occasionally down right meanest ladies on the reservation. Her "forgetting" is her way of being nice to me.
"You're on time as always, Winnifred." She doesn't greet me, just waves me in. Once a week every month, she's at her backdoor waiting for me at nine sharp. "Maybe be a little late next month so I can sleep in a bit."
Enola's house is one of the first ones built on the reservation. They don't build houses like this anymore. Enola's great great grandfather built it with quality, but over the decades and five generations of the Green family, it now looks like a haunted house. Enola herself is too old to care. Now in her seventies with long gray hair that's longer than Old Quil's, and shrinking height of 4'11.
The inside of the house is much like the rest of it, old. The floors creak just as loud as the pipes. The rooms are filled with dated furniture from the sixties, homemade beadwork, with black and white photographs of earlier generations of Greens. The house always smells like vegetable soup and everything is untouched.
"Yes, ma'am." I nod, which earns me a glare.
"I've told you, I hate when you call me ma'am. Making me sound old. Call me Birdie." She chastise with a warning look.
"Yes," I add, walking along behind her towards the old kitchen.
"Sit down." Enola orders, but her oppressiveness is made up for by a hearty bowl of soup she serves me without even asking if I'm hungry. Instead of joining me she busy herself with putting away my rent money into an old book and slamming it shut. She never counts it, says she knows I'm too scared of her to chip her, but I know it's because she knows I'm reliable. I've never been late on the rent yet after all this years.
"It's good." I tell her, knowing better than to serve her own bowl. Last time I did that, Enola gave me hell about how I work all day serving others in a diner, and how her house "Sure as hell is not a diner."
Instead of taking the compliment she decides to offer me seconds by telling me "You're too skinny. There's plenty more for you to take home."
"Thank you." And I genuinely mean it. While most of the Res is a bit scared of Enola, I like how straightforward she is. She's the type who doesn't prioritize speaking nicely, but is definitely kind in her own way. There was defiantly no one else who on the Res was going to give a random kid right out of high school with no credit history, and few hundred bucks a place to live. She even gave me her old car on the excuse that she couldn't be bother with it anymore. It did make me feel better knowing she did have a subaru in good condition to still get around in.
"How's the clunker?" Enola asks, finally settling down in a chair with her own bowl.
"It's almost out of the shop." I answer. "It's been two weeks of bumming rides."
"You've been having that boy drive you around." Enola arches a brow at me. Enola is probably snoping through her windows whenever she sees Embry's van pull in. She's probably even taking note of whenever he's here late.
"My friend Embry is being nice enough to drive around while the car is in the shop." I clarify, but keep my face pointed down at my soup.
"The Call boy?" Enola questions.
"Yes." I nod along, downing my soup a bit faster now.
"He's such a nice boy. His mom raised him right. Always helps me carries my groceries if he sees me at the store." Enola comments.
"Yeah, that's definitely like Embry."
"If he's so nice, would he be nice enough to do some yard work?" Enola sly asks which makes me laugh.
"Yes." I know Embry would do any work for Enola free of charge. "But you should pay him. Talk it over with his boss, Sam Uley. Apparently Sam gets the local boys work or something." Enola isn't surprised by that. Just gives me a knowing look that I don't get the context of.
"Sam is good people. He has a lot on his shoulders."
"What do you mean by him having a lot on his shoulders?" I ask.
"Hmm." Is all she answers with, then decides our monthly lunch is over by taking my bowl.
Embry's POV
The grass is chilled over and dewy, but I let it seep through my fur anyway. The moon is the only light out, lighting my way as I pause for a break between some trees. Shifting back, I pull my shorts on, and sit against the trunk of a tree while I catch my breath. While I have my thumbs back and my own thoughts to myself I pullout my phone from my pocket.
"Hey, Embry." Winnie answers. Hearing her voice immediately gives me cause to smile. Not that long ago Winnie begrudgingly gave me her number only because she needed to reach out when I gave her rides. I'm not sure when or how our normal is we don't see each other that day we call to talk.
"Hey," I greet. "How was the day off?"
"Full of chores. I'm still doing laundry." Winnie sighs. Which reminds me to drive her to the market to stock up on food. "Are you at work?"
"Yeah, just started my break." I'd usually run back to my house or Sam's and Emily's for something to eat, but when it's this late I usually settle for a patch of grass, the fresh air and the alone time.
"What time does your shift finish up?" It's a harmless question but it's the answer that's incriminating.
"It's an all nighter, graveyard shift. Probably not much later than six in the morning." I can hear Winnie flinching on the other side on the phone.
"That's brutal." She pauses, thinking over her next question I already know what she's gonna ask. "What do you do that makes you stay up so late?"
"Actuality, before that I gotta break some news." I quickly change the subject. I can't keep dodging off her question. You can't be fully in other people's lives while never being fully in theirs. I mean, not only do I know what Winnie does, I know her entire work schedule. It's not like I don't want to tell her, but how do I? Being a werewolf isn't job as much as it's not normal.
"What kind of bad news?"
"That second date? Yeah, I have to postpone it for a bit." The line goes so quiet I have to make sure she's still there. "Not because I don't want to." I immediately clarify.
"That is bad news." Winnie comments.
"Everything with Paul is kind of up in the air, and he's gonna need us to check in on him. I can't just go off and act like nothing is wrong while knowing my friend is going through something. His dad is bad news, and Paul really needs good people around right now." As long as Paul's dad is in the Res, is how long Paul may be avoiding going home. Just today Jared, Sam and Jacob waited till Paul's dad left their house to go in and grab some stuff for Paul. Sam finally addressed everyone's concern, as much as we're worried Paul's dad will do something, we're more worried if Paul will do something back. Paul can barely keep himself in check, he struggle with his emotions which means he struggles with shifting. Paul could shift and do something to his dad he can't take back.
Out of all of us, Paul is really on his own. Sam has Emily, Jacob has his dad, I have my mom, Jared has Kim, Quil has his family, Seth and Leah have their mom and each other. Paul? He only really has us. I can't remind him that he doesn't have imprint by being too busy with mine. He needs us right now.
So we're all going to do our part by letting Paul stay with some of us, until his dad packs up and moves on again. If he needs someone to keep his mind of it, or a hot meal, a spare key, anything, we'll give him.
"I remember Paul's dad, he was the worst then, and it sounds like he still is." It's public knowledge in the Res how Terrance Lahote is a shit dad. "Hey, when it comes to crappy guardians, trust me, I get it. Paul's lucky to have you guys."
Winnie doesn't talk about herself or how she grew up a lot. But that it's unmistakable she's referring to her aunt. I don't remember much about her aunt, mostly because she wasn't really around a lot.
"I think you're doing the right thing." Winnie adds. "If Paul needs anything, let me know if I can help." My heart goes warm at her offer, so warm it makes me smile.
"He probably won't take you up on it." Paul mostly has been on his own for so long, it's hard for him to take help. He only does when he has absolutely no other choice to.
"How about a free meal at the Lodge?"
"Now that, he'll defiantly take you up on." My laughter dies down as that pull on my heart string spreads across my whole chest. "I won't get to see you as much."
"That's okay, you'll still see me when you drop me off when you can." Winnie does what she always does, make the best out of what she has. I usually admire her for it, I always see how hard it is on her, but this one time it reminds me how much this sucks.
"Well, I'm not okay with it." I can barely keep the wolf in me from snapping, but I somehow manage. Suddenly irritated, I get to my feet to walk off the excess energy. I suddenly want to shift and run off. Run right till I feel better. Run straight to Winnie.
"I think that's the first I've ever heard you complain." Winnie almost sounds like she's smirking. "I like it when you complain. I wish you'd do it more often. I'm not sure how but it makes me feel better."
"It does?" I make a face at the phone as if she could see it for herself.
"Yeah, I like knowing how you feel." Just like that the wolf settles down.
"You know you can tell me too how you're feeling." I add, which makes her go quiet. "That way I can make you feel better."
"You do," Her voice is small, so small and vulnerable it takes everything in me not to go run straight to her house and hug her. "...When I'm with you... Whenever you're around Embry, I do feel..."
"Feel what?"
"It's hard for me to say." She breathes.
"You don't have to, because I feel the same way."
A/N: I write this fic because there another fic that got me into writing Pack fanfic. It was called Castles made of Sand (If I remember) about a girl named Nina that liked Jacob but was Paul's imprint. It was probably the best twilight Fanfiction I've ever read. I think the author deleted it, but I hope wherever they are they know how much readers loved it.
