by Cara Adams
What he really ought to do was plan a date with her. Maybe he’d volunteer to go cell phone shopping with Lewis, and then they could arrange a date with Dakota. Take her somewhere, do something nice with her, and kiss her good night instead of just walking her to her car. Now that really would be a better end to the evening.
* * * *
Lewis was surprised to find a piece of paper had been pushed under his apartment door when he went into his living room the next morning. At first he was almost too scared to touch it, wondering if it meant Jackson Hamilton had found him. But he knew the only way to stop worrying was to pick the thing up and read it. After all it might be from Rhion, asking him to meet about the roof garden. That thought gave him the needed strength to bend over and pick up the sheet of paper. It was just a few lines scrawled by Andreas.
Come to the fitness center when you’re ready to go buy your cell phone and I’ll come with you. Andreas.
Lewis felt his face split into a grin. His friend was offering to go with him. That was amazing. He’d never really had a friend before. Growing up in such a small pack, life had been very defined. The idea of someone volunteering to come shopping with him was a whole new experience but it made him feel warm inside.
He showered and dressed, looking carefully at his three shirts. Having escaped the well-being center by running away in wolf form, apart from a few brief moments naked and human when he’d scaled the wall, meant he’d only gradually been collecting clothing as he needed it. Likely it was time for another shirt at least. Maybe even another pair of jeans. Now that he was going to be building the roof garden he felt better about taking the pack’s money. More as if he was working and had earned it. Even though he’d been told the information he’d given Willow and Hawthorne for the genetics project had been valuable, it hadn’t seemed to him to be work. However, in his mind, building a garden would be worth the money they’d given him to spend.
He was looking forward to owning a cell phone as well. He knew his parents would appreciate talking to him, and he was eager to hear how they were doing. Not that he’d mention Hamilton. Not until it was all over and the man was in jail. But he would tell them he was staying with a pack and had a job.
Andreas waved to him from the desk at the fitness center and Lewis walked back outside and leaned over the railing, looking down at the lower levels of the mall. Right over the center of the mall was a glass dome. On days like today when the sun shone brightly, the light flowed through the glass illuminating the entire mall. Even on cloudy days the natural light seemed friendlier than cold artificial light.
Andreas joined him. “There are two stores on the third level that sell cell phones. Have you decided what you want?”
“Not really. Rhion said to get one with e-mail and that seemed a good idea to me.”
They walked down the stairs one level and then wandered through first one store and then the other. Lewis found looking at so many different phones endlessly fascinating. At first he worried that Andreas would be bored, but he seemed to be enjoying himself as well, and when one of the sales staff joined them Andreas asked a couple of questions Lewis wanted to know answers to and hadn’t thought to ask.
When he finally had his new phone, and had practiced using it by calling and texting Andreas in a trial run, he was as excited as a kid at Christmas. “Next, I need to set up an e-mail account,” he said.
“Don’t you have one already?”
“When my parents moved to the town they changed Internet providers so my account would have automatically been closed. Besides, I didn’t really have anyone to e-mail. Once I start building the garden though I expect I’ll need to send off e-mails to price various things. I can do that later though.”
“Are you hungry? Let’s grab some lunch,” suggested Andreas.
As soon as Andreas mentioned food Lewis realized he was hungry and they went down to the food court on the lowest level and wandered from snack bar to snack bar choosing themselves a meal.
Once they were sitting at a table Andreas leaned forward and said, “We need to plan a date with Dakota. I think we’ve waited long enough. It’s time to show her we’re interested in her.”
Lewis nearly choked on a mouthful of noodles. “A date?”
“Yes. Do you have any ideas where to go and what to do?”
Lewis almost panicked. Plan a date with Dakota? What if he chose something she didn’t like? And then he realized that was the advantage about talking it over with Andreas first. Between them they should be able to plan the perfect night out. Or day. Or whatever. Likely it’d depend on what shift she was on at the time.
“What have you been thinking of?” he asked.
They discussed all sorts of potential dates, and gradually Lewis relaxed and felt more and more at home talking with Andreas. Last night they’d raced each other on the gym bicycles. Today they’d been shopping, and now they were sharing a meal and talking like true friends. Andreas was his friend. His first friend since he’d been a young man. His first genuine friend as an adult. And it felt good to be sitting and talking with Andreas. Special. He knew the other man was interested in what he said and he was ready now to risk ridicule for his suggestion.
“I suppose I just know more about gardens than about other things. But Dakota mentioned her grandmother loving the garden. Maybe Dakota likes plants as well. Do you think we could go to the Botanical Garden? I mean, there is a botanical garden here isn’t there? Or some other nice gardens where we could look at the plants and walk around? Maybe eat at a little café or something?”
Andreas smiled at him. “That’s a good idea, Lewis. I like it. It’s just a little different from the standard going out for a meal. When she comes on her rounds this evening we’ll ask her to do it on her next day off.”
All Lewis’s excitement drained out of his body. What if she didn’t like the idea? What if she hated walking around gardens? After all she walked around a lot for her job. Maybe she’d prefer to sit down on her day off? Oh, shit. What if his idea meant she’d never talk to him again? How could he ever face Andreas if he was responsible for spoiling all their plans?
Chapter Three
A couple of mall staff heading home after closing time found a Dumpster overturned out back of the mall, so Berian who was on shift again with Dakota, went to supervise a cleanup crew dealing with that, while Dakota did the standard check of all the stores. She rattled metal gates, tried to turn door handles, and stomped on electronic door openers, making sure everything was still locked up tightly.
“And to think I assumed I had the easy job. This is taking ten times longer than normal,” she grumbled to herself as she peered in yet another window and rattled yet another gate. Of course with two of them, they generally leapfrogged each other from store to store, whereas now she had to do everything herself. “I could be leaning against a wall, watching other people work.”
She was surprised to see Lewis sitting at the reception desk beside Andreas when she got to the gym. They must be becoming really good friends. That’s nice. It’s good Lewis is getting to know people. The door was locked but she swiped it open to say hello.
“Where’s your partner? The person on duty with you?” asked Lewis.
She hid her smile at the way he’d blushed when he said “partner.”
“Berian’s supervising a cleaning crew in the parking lot.”
“I’ll walk around with you,” said Lewis, jumping to his feet.
“I will, too. We’re finished here for the night anyway.” Andreas followed them to the door, turning off the lights and locking the door.
In her security role, Dakota checked the door was properly locked and kept walking around the fourth floor.
The men soon got into the rhythm of her patrol with her, taking turns to check every store as they walked around. But once they were in the stairwell walking between floors she noticed they both pushed her between them as if they expected danger to leap out at them. It was kind of cute, she th
ought, and so typical of male werewolves who seemed to be genetically predisposed to protect females. Not that she was a wolf. Or perhaps they were even more protective of humans than of wolves.
“There really isn’t any danger here, you know. It’s more that kids planning to cause trouble see the security guards patrolling the mall and go off and do their mischief somewhere else,” she explained.
“Do kids really do that? Go around looking to cause trouble?” asked Lewis.
“Not very many of them, but there’s always a few. We had a group throwing pumpkins off the top level of the parking lot a little while back.” Andreas laughed and even Lewis, who’d been frowning, smiled.
“I agree, it’s a totally harmless thing to do, but squashed pumpkin on the ground is a yucky mess and someone has to clean it up. In that case Maelor caught the kids in the act and he made them scrub the sidewalk themselves. So not dangerous, just annoying.”
Dakota led them around all five levels of the parking lot, and then into the lowest level of the mall again. She sighed as she began checking the windows and doors. Now the men did the checking for her as she walked with them.
“How many times do you do this a night?” asked Andreas.
“After the stores are all closed, usually we get right around the mall in an hour, but since I’ve been by myself I’m a lot slower. That’s why I didn’t walk right around the outside of the mall and through all the external roadways. It’s more important to ensure the inside is secure than that there’s no troublemakers outside. The CCTVs will pick them up anyway when we look through it.”
“You really like your job don’t you?” asked Andreas.
Dakota nodded. “Oh yes I do. I could never just sit at a desk all day. I’d go insane really quickly.”
All the time she was talking she was still looking around her, always alert for that one thing out of place. That was the key with security. The one thing that itched at a guard’s brain or seemed “wrong.” If she kept checking for that she’d always be on top of her job.
“When is your next day off, Dakota?” asked Andreas.
“Huh?” She hadn’t been expecting that question. Basically they’d been talking about the mall and work. Well I suppose that is about work. Sort of.
“We work four days on and one day off, constantly rotating so it always changes. I have tomorrow on this four to midnight shift again and then a day off and I come back to the eight to four shift.”
“Don’t you find all the changes confusing?” asked Lewis.
“At first, maybe, but it’s easy to get used to. These days there’s a lot of people who don’t work Monday to Friday nine-to-five anymore.”
“I guess so. In the mountains every day was the same, but we only ever worked dawn to dusk.”
“Which meant you worked a pretty short day in the middle of winter,” said Andreas.
“And a long one midsummer,” added Dakota.
“So it evens out over the year. I suppose weekends don’t make much difference to you either, Andreas.”
“Sundays are a bit quieter. The usual regulars are there first thing in the morning, and the wolves still tend to come during the day, but there’s not so many middle-of-the-day people coming by. But actually, Dakota, why I was asking about your roster was because Lewis and I were hoping you’d spend your day off with us.”
Dakota stopped dead and stared at them. That was a surprise. She hadn’t expected him to say anything like that. “But what about the fitness center?”
“I can leave it for a few hours. I do have some good, reliable staff.”
Dakota turned and looked all around her. She stepped out from the storefronts more into the center of the mall and asked, “What sort of thing did you have in mind for us to do?”
Dakota caught Andreas giving Lewis an encouraging look. Lewis said, “I wondered if you’d like to go walking in the Botanical Garden. I haven’t been there but according to the website the lake is really pretty and there are some truly beautiful walks including a path lined by statues of all the presidents, carved with a chain saw out of tree trunks.”
“Carved with a chain saw? Are you serious?” She stared at Lewis and then at Andreas. They had to be teasing her. They were smiling but nodding madly.
“It’s true. It said so on the website,” said Andreas.
“Well you’ve hooked my interest. I absolutely have to see that. Although the lake sounds nice as well.”
“So can I pick you up at ten the day after tomorrow?” asked Andreas.
“Yes, thank you.”
After that the rest of her shift was rather a blur. Berian returned, the men left, she finished her shift, handed over to the next team, and went home, showered, and climbed into bed. But the constant thought playing around in her brain was that Andreas and Lewis had invited her out. The two nicest men—well, wolves—she’d ever known, wanted to spend time with her. Now that truly was exciting.
* * * *
Andreas told himself he really did need to get out of the gym more often. It was only as he was driving Lewis to Dakota’s apartment that he realized he couldn’t actually remember the last time he’d left the mall for a non-work-related reason. He ordered his gym supplies online. He hired and interviewed staff in the fitness center. He did all his personal shopping in the mall, and he had an apartment in the professional suites, an apartment he spent very little time in, and mostly when he was there, it was to sleep. After all he could shower in the gym and eat in the mall.
“I’m looking forward to walking in the gardens. It’s been too long since I did something like that,” he said to Lewis.
“I’m looking forward to it as well. I miss the open spaces. But I need to practice driving in all this traffic. One day, will you come with me so I can practice, please?”
Andreas managed not to say that he didn’t consider what they were driving in to be real traffic. Instead he said, “How about we go out late one night so you get the idea of the city layout, and only once you’ve got the roads fixed in your head will we attempt traffic.”
“That sounds good. Thanks.”
When they got to Dakota’s apartment building, they left the car in a visitor parking space, and went into the foyer. Which was when Andreas remembered he hadn’t asked Dakota her apartment number. So he texted her.
We’re here. What floor are you on?
I’ll be right down.
Now that was interesting. Why was she keeping her address private?
But she was indeed down very quickly, looking long-legged and delightful in skintight jeans and a bright blue T-shirt. He stared at her appreciatively and wished he was brave enough to kiss her. Next time. We need to have moved this romance forward enough to kiss on meeting next time.
“There are two parking lots for the Botanical Garden, Dakota. The North Gate and the Green Gate. Which end of the park do you want to go to first?”
“I don’t really know. Which one is closer to the chain saw carvings? I definitely want to see them and maybe we won’t have the time or the energy to see everything.”
“They’re not too far from the Green Gate,” said Lewis.
“I’m glad you can remember. I was just planning to get a map when we arrived,” said Andreas, flashing a smile in the rearview mirror to Lewis in the backseat.
“I remembered Dakota seemed interested in them, and I am, too. I’d never even heard of anything like that before. Besides, the lake is up that end of the gardens and I was hoping we’d get to see it as well.”
“That sounds good to me,” said Dakota.
When they arrived, he and Lewis walked either side of Dakota on the pathway through the gardens. It was wide and smooth with plenty of space for the three of them, obviously designed for groups of people to wander around looking at everything. When they reached “Presidential Drive” the path widened even farther, with busts of the presidents on both side of the walkway. The presidents’ heads stood on posts also carved from trees. All the stands stil
l had the original bark on them and many of the heads also had the bark here and there to add depth and definition to the carvings.
Andreas stood back and watched Dakota as she slowly walked from carving to carving. Some she looked at for a very long time. Others she moved past quite quickly. He wondered if she was matching her memories of the president’s face with the carving, or if she was looking at other facets of the work. As far as he could tell, and he wasn’t the least bit artistic, they were pretty damn good renditions of the men.
Lewis walked around the back of the statues, standing on the grass behind them and staring at the heads. Finally his actions must have intrigued Dakota because she came back across to him and asked, “What are you looking at?”
“You can always tell a true craftsman by the back of his work. The buyer might only look at the front, but an artist looks at it from every angle.”
“And what does the back tell you about this artist?” asked Dakota.
“He’s an artist. He’s good.”
“Actually it’s a she,” said Andreas. He was standing at the end of the line, where there was a signboard explaining how the chain saw carvings had been made.
“How to carve with a chain saw,” Dakota read off the top of the board. And then she laughed. “First choose your tree.”
“The tree has to be exactly right. Full of life, still growing and wide enough across the trunk to allow for plenty of work by the artist.”
They talked and laughed as they read the signboard, but then Andreas said, “I guess it is kind of weird. Unusual at the very least. But I think anyone who can do such good work, recognizably carving each man, making every one unique, is truly is an artist.”