Chapter 215: Shopping with Kim
A/N: for this story purpose, I am making Embry's father Joshua Uley, so Sam and Embry are half-brothers.
I was immediately hugged by Kim. Man, she had a strong grip. I was taken aback by her strong grip that I stood there awkwardly as she continued to squeal in happiness. I noticed she was wearing a bright yellow dress with floral patterns that was mid knee long. She had a small brown purse on
She said cheerfully, "Hi, Ale! It has been too too long. I am so glad that Sam reached out to me to do some grocery shopping with you. I needed some girl time. I thought I was going to lose my mind if I stayed any longer in the house."
I said lightly, "is that so."
She nodded her head eageringly, "Yes!"
I said questioningly, "Not to be patronizing or anything, but is it okay for you to be so active this late in your pregnancy?"
She nodded with her eyes sparking in anticipation, "Yes! Sue said it is perfectly fine. With the blessing of the spirits and carrying a wolf baby, I am given a little more energy than most third trimester pregnant ladies."
Interesting. I said, "okay, if you say so, but let me know if you need a break. I don't want Jared biting my head off later if something happens to you."
She waved her hand as she shook her head, "I highly doubt that. You're Sam's mate. He wouldn't lift a finger at you. Even if he did, Sam would put him in place."
I frowned slightly from that. I don't want to be respected just because I am Sam's mate.
She added after noticing my expression and her gaze softened, "but, I'll let you know."
I nodded, and she shouted over my head, "See you later, Sam!"
I turned around, and I saw Sam through the window. He was on the phone, but he gave a small wave to Kim. I smiled softly, and Kim extended her elbow to me in order for me grab onto it. I locked my arm with her arm, and we walked toward the local grocery store.
Kim randomly said, "if anything happened, I am more than gladly for this baby to come out already."
I chuckled softly, "oh, yeah?"
Kim groaned as she pated her belly, "Yes! I love this baby and the attention that Jared is giving me, but I would like to be able to put my own shoes on again and not to be waddling around like a walrus!"
I hummed in agreement as I got myself two carts for both of us. Having a cart, I was able to lean onto the cart to give myself a break from standing on my broken leg with the boot on it. It took off the pressure, thus I sighed in relief. Once we strolled in the store, Kim asked, "so, what are we going to cook, ale?"
I thought about it for a moment. I said, "we can make beef stew, white rice, and beans."
She said in awe, "oooh, that sounds good."
I muttered under my breath, "hopefully."
I don't think she heard me. She tilted her head, waiting for me to continue talking.
I said, "I was also thinking making some desserts, but I am not really a baker. I was thinking to get those easy to bake double chocolate brownies from betty crocker and we can get chocolate chips to dump some in there to make it moister. Would you mind getting eight boxes? Oh, if we have time, we can also get instant chocolate chip cookies from Toll House, and get another eight boxes?"
Kim nodded and said, "sure thing, Alpha Female!"
I cringed when she called me that. I really don't feel like I am one. I sort of feel like a fraud, so out of reflex, I corrected her, "ale."
She laughed softly, and she responded teasingly, "sure thing, ale"
She went to the opposite direction from me to go grab the items that I told her to get.
Finally, I am alone.
Not trying to be antisocial or anything, but I am a type of person who likes to shop groceries in peace. It is sort of like my downtime, and I usually use this time to think about things on what to do for the rest of my day. It felt weird to be going around the store as if I have been here, but I haven't. I had to dig through Alegria's memories to figure out where to get what items, but even she doesn't have many memories here, so it was a bit useless. I sometimes would be caught by the locals unapologetically staring at me while I go through one aisle to another trying to figure out where some items were at.
Damn, nosey much? No wonder, Alegria didn't like to go to the grocery store.
I was getting bummed until Kim found me. She started chattering the moment that she met me with her woes of pregnancy, and I simply listened and hummed in response. I didn't mind with her chattering my ear off. I didn't feel like talking, but her cherry self was rubbing on me little by little. In an way, I am glad that she didn't jump straight to how I was doing lately because I know she knows. I was worried that I would get overwhelmed by her questioning and pitiful gaze at me, but she surprised me. She didn't ask about what happened or why I did it. The whole time that I have been with her, she didn't give me that look when people find out when others have attempted suicide. She didn't even walk around in eggshells like Sam have been these past few days. She acted as if it never happened. I know it sounds bad, but at the moment, it felt ..good and normalizing in a way. I know she will eventually gonna ask me from the type of person that she is. Nevertheless, she just let me hang out with her, and it felt nice to have this kind of normalcy in my life.
I started to giggle here and there with her. I found white rice. I didn't want Kim to do the heavy lifting, but even I was hesitant to lift them with my leg. I was worried that I would slip, so I stand there pondering what to do until I heard Sam behind me saying, "Ale, you could've asked for help."
I jumped when I heard Sam's voice. I said jitterily, "Oh! Uhm, are you done talking on the phone?"
He nodded as he lifts a bag of white rice to the cart. He asked, "how many?"
I said hesitantly, "uhm..4?"
He nodded as he lifted another three to a cart. Once he stood up, he raised an eyebrow at me. I said shyly, "Yeah, I know. I didn't think about asking for..help."
He cracked a smile, "okay..is there anything else you need?"
I pondered and said, "I need some dairy products."
We went toward the dairy aisle as Kim pushed her cart silently behind us. The times that I glanced back at her, I don't know what she was doing but I noticed that she had a mischievous smile as she was observing us.
I asked Sam, "So how did it go?"
He responded, "the council gave an ok to proceed, and Bella was more than eager to give out blood to help stop Victoria. Sue is going to stop by after work to our place to draw some blood from Bella."
Bella was more than eager? Knowing her, she did it like a 'martyr' that she is. I know she is trying to be helpful because she understands that everyone is risking their lives for her, but it felt like she was helping out from the place of extreme insecurity and need to prove herself useful. I stayed quiet.
Sam turned his head back to Kim, and he asked softly, "how are you doing, Kim? Do you need to rest?"
She shook her head, "nope! I am okay. Thanks for asking, Sam."
He nodded in response and face forward. We lined up to the cashier register, got the groceries paid, and Sam load them up on his truck. I would occasionally pass him a bag or two. Once we were done, Kim said her goodbyes and left to return home. She begged me to let her help out, so I gave her the task to bake the cookies since it is easy to make and for my conscious, I didn't want her to overwork herself. I know she is excited and for some reason likes me to tell her what to do.
Weird, I didn't want to do that to her.
On the ride back to the house, I asked, "How is Harry?"
He said with smile and eyes still on the road, "the doctors told him that he was lucky that he had lived as long as he did. The next heart attack that he would have gotten, it would've killed him, so he is on beta blockers and on a strict diet. Even though he is in a sour mood to be told to cut off beer and fried fish, he is happy to see Sue and Seth. They are happy that he is finally getting his life together."
I nodded, and I asked him another question, "did..Sue and Harry ever tell Seth the truth?"
He gave a deep chuckle, "oh yeah. In contrary, Seth was ecstatic. He kept on pestering Harry for more information until Harry snapped one day and told him that he has to wait until he phases to know more. Now that made Seth to get upset enough to start having the temperature.."
Oh…
I guess he noticed my expression, and he saved himself, "but because of your speech to Harry, we were able to help someone so they can transition better into a spirit warrior. I won't have to be so stressed with dealing a new wolf with Victoria around…"
I nodded, and I smiled in relief for Seth. I am glad Seth was told the truth.
Sam continued, "Harry was able to talk to the council and it took almost a half of day worth of arguing and bickering for the council to finally budge to tell potential wolves the truth. The only criteria are that they need to already have grown at least almost to their full spirit warrior size before hitting the temperature to be told the truth. By next bonfire, they are planning to tell Quil the secret. Hopefully, it will help Quil because Old Quil has been saying that Quil has been locked up more in his room since Jacob and Embry phased."
Oh, yeah…I forgot about that part. Sam would purposely isolate the wolves for a long period of time to prevent them from attacking their loved ones due to being a new wolf. However, the book version Sam did it since Sam mauled Emily from his lack of experience dealing with his temper.
I asked carefully, "why..can't the wolves talk to their loved ones?"
Sam said in a matter-of fact tone, "because their temper is too uncontrollable the first few weeks as a wolf? It's too dangerous to let anyone get close to them."
He paused and said lowly, "…Embry..he almost attacked his mom one day when she cornered him, demanding him to know where he has been going the past few night. Thankfully, Embry was able to control himself, but Tiffany saw him phased, so she had to be told the truth."
Oh…interesting. Since Emily was no longer in the picture, the fact that someone was almost killed by a wolf still occurred in this reality. Does that mean if I change one thing, it will still occur in a different way because it was meant to be?
I wonder.
The idea of totally cutting off from loved ones, I didn't really like it. It only made things harder on the shape shifters because mentally, they need them more than to cope the loss of their normal life and to remind them that they are still human and not a monster. I didn't want to continue this topic, but I will eventually bring it up again. Better to choose my fights well with him.
I said in concern, "is Tiffany, okay?"
He responded casually, "yeah. She was able to get out of the way enough that he only scratched her arm. It didn't leave a scar. However, it shook her, so we kept Embry at my place for a while until Tiffany felt comfortable enough to live with Embry again."
I asked hesitantly, "Tiffany..didn't mind that Embry stayed at your place?"
He was confused with my question from the looks of his expression. His eyes were still on the road, but he would glance back at me as he said, "No..well, I mean she looked frightened when I showed up to her place on behalf of Embry to get his stuff. I never thought twice about it..why?"
Ah, man. Should I tell him? However, Embry deserves to know since no one bothered to figure out his paternity in the pack, so I said, "..because..Embry's your half-brother Sam."
He got quiet, but his grips were tight around the steering wheel. His jaw was clenched, and he had a trouble expression on his face. I wasn't sure if he was okay with Embry being his half-brother or not. Once we arrived home, he turned off the engine and sighed.
He looked at me sadly, and I asked, "talk to me Sam..what's on your mind?"
He said, "I know its not Embry's fault. We didn't choose our father, but in a way..I am jealous that he didn't grow up with him…Joshua..my biological father. I remember, from the few memories that I had of him, he and my mom would argue constantly. As a child, it was hard for me to see my mom cry. Then, my mom cried even more when he left suddenly. He made our life a living hell after that. I hated him for what he put my mom through. I am disgusted that he couldn't keep his pants up, and he messed up another family.."
I listened quietly while I listened Sam ranting. He put his head on the wheel and gave out a long weary sigh. He asked quietly, "should I tell Embry or not?"
I said, "He deserves to know…but you can ask him first if he does want to know before telling him."
He said softly, "okay" before he got out of the car and started unloading the groceries to the kitchen. I helped carry some, and I got started on cooking. I didn't allow Sam to help me out, and I made him sit in the couch. I was half-way finishing cooking when I heard loud thumbing sounds of a loud stomping bursting through the front door.
I turned around to meet the pack.
A/N:
I already had the next few chapters already written out when I went on a hiatus to focus on my first story. I just haven't proofread them. However, a lot of things happened in my life, so I took a mental break from fanfiction.
I am back. Enjoy!
