Chapter Twenty-Four
Jared was of the firm opinion that Emily had too much stuff.
Seriously, how could one person have so many possessions? There hadn't been nearly as much stuff to move when he'd helped move Kylie out of the room she shared with Kim. And yes, he was conveniently ignoring the fact that he was comparing a seven-year-old to a grown woman who had several more years of accumulated possessions and was moving into a house as opposed to downsizing into a smaller bedroom (cough glorified closet cough).
"Is all that heavy lifting finally getting to you?"
Jared looked up in time to see Kim sit down on the step beside him. He was surprised that he hadn't heard her come outside to the front porch. Then again, he did go straight from an overnight patrol to helping move Emily from Neah Bay down to La Push and was now taking advantage of the chance to finally rest because Sam and Paul were making one last run up to Emily's parents' house for the last of her things and there wasn't enough room for him in the truck.
"Is organizing the kitchen finally getting to you?" Jared replied, wrapping an arm around Kim's waist and pulling her against his side.
"Emily wasn't kidding when said she loves to bake," Kim rested her head against Jared's shoulder and he didn't even bother fighting the smile that rose on his face at the sign of affection. "She doesn't just have baking sheets; there are muffin tins and cake pans, plus casserole dishes and I don't even know what else, but each dish has it's own purpose and there are dozens of dishes for baking and cooking. If she and Sam ever get married, I have no idea what anyone is going to give them for a gift; she already has everything."
"Cookie dough?" Jared offered, and he felt rather than heard Kim laughing against him. "So, I saw Kylie in the living room earlier. What trouble is she getting into being left to her own devices?"
"Believe it or not, she's actually helping with some organizing," Kim admitted. "But really, I think it was just an excuse to go through Sam and Emily's movie collection. And if it wasn't…well, then I pity Sam and Emily for having to eventually decipher whatever 'organizational' system she comes up with."
Jared shook his head in amusement, but was cut off from saying anything more by an old red truck pulling up in front of the house.
"That's not Paul and Sam already, is it?" Kim questioned.
"It could be; they've been gone long enough," Jared replied. "But that's not Sam's truck."
"Oh, that's a fair point," Kim said shortly as a man got out of the truck. "Is that Emily's dad?" She questioned curiously, clearly having no idea who he was.
Jared, however, recognized him instantly. "That's Mr. Lahote, Paul's dad."
With Kim pressed so closely to his side, he didn't miss how stiff Kim suddenly became. That was weird. There was no time to contemplate what brought that reaction on, however, because now Mr. Lahote was standing at the bottom of the steps right in front of them.
"Hey, Mr. Lahote," Jared said cheerfully.
"Hello, Jared," He replied with a small smile, "Though I do believe I've told you more than once that you're more than welcome to call me Gene, as that is my name."
Jared shrugged in reply. "I'll get around to it eventually."
Mr. Lahote rolled his eyes, then continued, "I don't suppose Paul is around somewhere, is he? He mentioned he'd be here most of the day helping move Sam's girl in."
"He isn't right now, but he should be back soon," Jared said. "He went up to the Makah rez with Sam for the last of Emily's stuff."
"Ah, well as long as he's being useful," Mr. Lahote said with a shake of his head. "I suppose I can't blame him for forgetting we were supposed to get lunch together today."
"You're more than welcome to stay and wait for him," Jared offered immediately, and was it his imagination or did Kim become even more stiff under his arm now? Seriously, what was up with that?
"Well, I might as well, if he's going to be back soon," Mr. Lahote shrugged.
"We can go wait inside," Jared stated, and when he made to stand up, he suddenly realized why Kim was clearly feeling uncomfortable. "Oh! I completely forgot, Mr. Lahote, this is my girlfriend, Kim Connweller."
A brief flash of recognition crossed Mr. Lahote's face, but Jared barely thought anything of it. La Push was a small town where everyone knew everyone else, plus Paul had been in the same grade as Kim for half their lives. It really wasn't a surprise that Mr. Lahote recognized her name.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Lahote," Kim said softly, and Jared wasn't really surprised to see the weak smile on her face. She still had her moments of being uncomfortable around complete strangers, but she was slowly coming out of it.
"It's nice to meet you, too," Mr. Lahote replied with a slight nod. "So, you're the famous Kim? Paul speaks very highly of both you and Emily, though he doesn't seem to want an imprint of his own."
Jared saw Kim's eyes widen in shock, and he quickly jumped to explain, guessing immediately what was going through her head right now.
"He knows about the pack," Jared told her.
"Kind of hard to miss my son exploding into a giant wolf in the middle of my living room when I told him to do the dishes," Mr. Lahote said easily.
"You know how short Paul's temper can be," Jared added.
Kim's expression clearly agreed with that. But…was that worry in her eyes now?
Once they were all inside and Emily was firmly forcing Mr. Lahote into a kitchen chair and plying him with the remnants of the muffins she'd brought with her this morning, Kim turned to Jared. And now he knew for sure he wasn't imagining the worry on her face. This was starting to make him worry.
"I'm going to go check on Kylie," Kim said lowly as Emily continued to fawn over Mr. Lahote, despite his weak protests that he would be eating lunch shortly.
"Hey," Jared said just as softly, reaching out and grabbing her hand as she made to turn and walk away. "Is everything okay?"
Kim turned back to him and he wasn't very comforted by how forced and tense her smile looked.
"Everything is fine," She told him, squeezing his hand lightly. "I'm just a bit tired. I think if Kylie is done then might head home early."
"Do you want me to drive you back?" Jared offered hesitantly, genuinely unsure of what her response would be. Kim might be tired like she had already claimed, but there was clearly something else bothering her, too. And Jared couldn't help but worry…was it something he did?
That worry was quickly dashed, however, when another smile appeared on Kim's face and, though equally small, this one was anything but forced.
"Of course you can," Kim replied. "And you can even stay while I sneak a nap, if you want."
"Definitely," Jared pulled her closer and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead before releasing her hand and finally letting her walk away.
No sooner had Jared taken one of the empty seats at the kitchen table while he waited for Kylie and Kim, than Emily was also instructing him to take a muffin. He was more than happy to oblige. But as Jared was finishing his ninth muffin of the day, several things happened all at once.
Emily declared that lunch was ready just as Sam and Paul walked in from outside, each carrying a box, at the same time that Kylie entered the kitchen from the other side of the room, followed closely by Kim.
"We're back!" Sam announced.
"Dad?" Paul questioned a beat later. Then, "Shit! I forgot about lunch."
"Kylie!" Kim said firmly at the same time. "I told you not—" but she was promptly cut off by Kylie's exuberant screeching of Paul's name.
Scratch that; it wasn't several things happening all at once, it was everything. It was actually kind of like experiencing that chaos of the pack mind but with several more people, Jared contemplated.
"You should watch your language, Paul," Mr. Lahote said sternly, nodding at Kylie.
As Mr. Lahote chose to speak just as everyone else fell silent, everyone in the kitchen heard him reprimand his son. Jared's eyes immediately widened in alarm; Paul had lost his temper over far less. But when Jared's gaze snapped to his pack mate—because if he was about to explode into an angry wolf, then Jared needed to get across the room and in front of his imprint now—it was to see that Paul didn't look angry. If anything, the expression on his face was confused.
Following Paul's line of sight, Jared saw that he was looking at his dad, who had yet to look away from Kylie. Like his son, Mr. Lahote also had a confused frown on his face as he stared at the little girl.
"Hello!" Kylie said brightly. "Are you Paul's dad?" She continued on without waiting for a response, "Paul is my absolute most favorite person ever, and I'm pretty sure I'm his favorite person, too, even though Kimmie says he's just putting up with me because he's being nice and that I'm completely overwhelming him so it's hard for him to get the chance to actually tell me to stop being annoying."
By the time she finally stopped for breath, Jared was pretty sure Mr. Lahote was going to be the one who was overwhelmed. But the man's frown actually deepened, he noticed.
"I didn't realize you had a younger sister," Mr. Lahote spoke slowly, his gaze shifting to Kim.
And now the forced smile was back on Kim's face. Jared narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Did this have to do with whatever upset her earlier? And as if that single thought finally formed a missing connection, he was suddenly reminded of several similar instances over the course of the summer so far when Kim had seemed rather unnecessarily nervous or uncomfortable. He was only just seeing the pattern that it happened when she had to interact with Paul in some way. But why?
"I do," Kim replied shortly, cutting off whatever Kylie was opening her mouth to say. She turned to Jared then, and he attempted to clear the suspicion from his face. "Are you ready to go?"
He nodded even as Emily exclaimed, "You're leaving already?"
Kim turned to her with a weak smile and a nod. "There are some things we need to get done at home. Besides, now that you officially live here, I'm sure we'll see each other again very soon."
In a matter of minutes, Kim somehow managed to escape Emily's clutches—ahem, convince her they did not need any food to bring home with them, hustle Kylie out of the house with minimal fuss over being separated from the newly-returned Paul, and get all three of them buckled into his car. Actually, on second thought, Jared was pretty sure Kim did all of that in under a single minute. She really wanted to get out of that house.
And he was determined to find out why.
When they arrived at Kim's house, Jared was pleased to see that her mom's car was in the driveway. Good, that meant there was someone around to occupy Kylie.
Sure enough, no sooner had Jared parked behind it than Kylie was out of the car with a shout of "Mommy's home!" and then moving surprisingly quickly towards the house on her crutches (well it was about time she got the hang of those things).
"Hey, Kim?" Jared spoke up as Kim made to follow her sister out of the truck.
She turned to face him with a small smile. "You can still stay," She told him immediately. "I knew there was a chance she'd be home a bit early today, and I know she won't mind if you're here. Besides, now it will be easier to fit in that nap."
But Jared simply shook his head.
"Kim," he said slowly, "I think there's something we need to talk about."