Finding Somewhere to Belong

by C. C. Masters

  “That’s putting it mildly. They blamed their mother for a lot of things that went wrong in their lives.” He set down the paring knife and started to gather up all his apple scraps to toss in the trash.

  “I don’t know exactly what happened, but it sounded like she was to blame for a lot,” I told him pointedly.

  He shrugged uncomfortably. “I blame myself for not being there enough. I’m not sure exactly what happened, and they aren’t exactly open about it. I was here for the last time Austin tried to bring a female into the pack, though.”

  “Really? I had not heard about that,” I told him curiously. I knew these guys did not have great experiences with females, but I didn’t realize that I was the second attempt to bring a female into the fold. That was going to make things even more difficult for me to fit in.

  “Yeah, she was nothing like you,” Cody assured me.

  “She was more of a typical wolf. She thought that as the only female wolf, she could come in here and run things.”

  “I hope you guys don’t feel the same way about me,” I said anxiously, sprinkling my sugar and spices over the bowl of apples that Cody had cut.

  I was worried. Wasn’t that what I was doing, though? I was trying to make them have family dinners, monopolizing the twins’ time and spending Austin’s money. Not to mention, my mere presence was causing other packs to attack them. I was essentially causing them to risk their lives to protect me.

  I chewed on my lip. Was it actually a good thing I was here? Maybe James had a legit reason to hate me.

  “I promise you are the day to her night,” he told me confidently. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  I looked at him doubtfully.

  “She treated the twins as if they were her personal servants and complained to Austin when they rebelled against her. She wanted them kicked out of the house, and possibly out of the pack. I told Austin that if they go, then I go.”

  “I’m really glad that Austin chose you guys over her,” I told him genuinely. “I would rather have you guys over a chick like that, any day.”

  He smiled at me. “Glad to hear it. The twins can be a lot to handle sometimes, but they are really good guys.”

  “I know,” I told him seriously. “They have already helped me so much, and I can’t imagine my life without them now. I honestly feel sad when they leave for classes.”

  Cody gave me an affectionate smile. “I hate to tell you this, but you are in the minority. Most people can’t handle them for long periods of time.”

  “I think they are sweet, and kind, and funny,” I told him honestly.

  “They have definitely shown you a side of themselves that they don’t show to everyone. They don’t give you a hard time at all?” he teased me with a glint in his eye.

  “Sometimes, but I know they do it out of affection, not because they wish me harm. Besides, I can always just punch them in the arm if they get out of line.”

  He let out a loud belly laugh. “I do see why they like you.”

  “Should I be worried that they offered to play paintball with me?” I asked apprehensively.

  He smirked. “Only if they team up against you.”

  I grinned. “Then I need to make sure one of them is on my team, or it’s every man for himself.”

  Cody laughed. “I highly doubt they will agree to be on opposite teams or that they will be able to resist teaming up, even if it is every man for themselves.”

  I laughed. “So, I’m screwed.”

  “Yep,” Cody sniggered.

  I was done making the chili and had set it to cook in the Crock-Pot, so I decided to make the crust for the pie. Cody walked over to the sink to wash his hands. He decided to be funny and flick some water at me. I waited until he started to walk away from the sink and grabbed the hose to spray him.

  “Hey!” he shouted, trying to block the water from his face.

  “You started it!” I yelled back at him.

  Jason ran in. “Water fight! We got back just in time!”

  I was giggling as Cody tried to wrestle the sink hose away from me.

  “I got him, Anna!” Jason shouted as he tried to put Cody in a headlock. Cody somehow ended up having Jason in the headlock. “You’re going to side with Anna? I see how it is!” Cody rubbed Jason’s hair into a mess as he howled.

  Mason walked in to absolute chaos but took it all in stride. He merely rolled his eyes. “This is what happens when we leave you alone for the day, Anna?”

  I just giggled more as Mason got in on the wrestling match. It wasn’t long before Cody admitted defeat and went upstairs to change out of his soaked clothes.

  “Whatcha making, Anna?” Jason investigated the contents of the Crock-Pot carefully. “Is this chili?” he asked excitedly.

  “Yep, Cody picked dinner tonight since he got us a table.” I gestured toward the table now in the space connected to the kitchen.

  “Awesome!” Mason said. “Now we can have family dinners inside!”

  I shared a grin with him, pleased that he shared my enthusiasm.

  “What are we having with the chili, though?” Jason asked, his voice sounding concerned.

  I had to laugh at how concerned he was over the menu for dinner. “We are having bacon mac n’ cheese, cornbread, chili, and apple pie with ice cream.”

  “What!” Mason exclaimed in excitement.

  “I’m guessing the menu is approved by you guys?” I asked dryly.

  “Oh, yes,” Jason told me. “I’m not even upset that brownies were taken off the menu. I love apple pie. We had one for Thanksgiving last year!”

  I felt better about my situation here knowing that doing something as simple as making them a homemade meal could make them so happy. “You guys know I’m going to make you help me set the table and do some prep, though, right?”

  Mason groaned, but he had a grin on his face, wide enough to match Jason’s. Jason was not phased at all by that proclamation. “Do the pups need to go outside before we do that?”

  The puppies both got excited when they heard the word ‘outside’.

  “I think that’s a yes,” Mason said wryly.

  “Let’s go!” Jason told the puppies and ran so that they would follow him outside. I laughed at how cute it was to watch them fall all over each other in an attempt to be the first to reach Jason.

  Mason gave a chuckle and stood next to me. He bumped his hip into mine. “How was your day?”

  “Good,” I told him. “How was class?”

  He made a face. “Boring, but we liked your sandwiches.”

  I smiled. “So, let’s just say that Amazon showed up with some lunch boxes one day. Would you guys use them?”

  Mason looked delighted. “If they were packed by a pretty wolf named Anna, I would use mine and make sure that Jason used his.”

  I gave him a secret smile. “Good to know.”

  I walked over to the fridge and got out a couple of blocks of cheese. “I need you to grate.” He pretended to look upset, but I could tell that he was still pleased with the idea of having his lunches packed. “Do you want to grate by hand or use the automatic?” I asked him.

  “Automatic?” he said, obviously not sure what he was getting into. I showed him how to use the food processor attachment to grate cheese, and he seemed pleased with how easy the task was.

  Jason wandered back in as he was finishing up. I didn’t trust either of them with anything other than raw material prep yet, so I asked if they had any assignments for class. They admitted they had a paper due the next day.

  “Write your papers while I finish up dinner, and I’ll proofread for you,” I told them both.

  Jason eyed me dubiously, and I rolled my eyes. “Out of the three of us, I’m pretty sure that I am the only person here who has had papers published in peer reviewed journals. They both raised their eyebrows.

  “Sorry, Anna,” Mason said. “I can’t get used to the fact that you are super-smart and well-educated.”

&n
bsp; I threw a piece of sliced apple at him. He just grabbed it out of the air and ate it with a grin. “Love you, too.”

  “You guys are lucky you’re so cute,” I told them both.

  They looked pleased but pulled laptops out of their backpacks and started to work.

  I slid the apple pie in the oven to bake and started mixing up the mac and cheese. Cream cheese was my secret ingredient; it made it super creamy and delicious. I used the food processor to blend all the ingredients perfectly. Once I was satisfied, I mixed in the pasta and set it aside to bake once the apple pie was done. I started to fry up some bacon to add to the mac and cheese before I baked it.

  The twins looked like they were still working, so I started on the cornbread while the bacon fried. I was going to make it a sweet cornbread to go with the spicy chili and the salty bacon flavor of the mac and cheese.

  The smell of bacon had the twins distracted, so I let them steal a couple of pieces before sending them back to work. I crumbled the bacon into the mac and cheese and stirred it all together before it was time to take out the apple pie.

  I set the pie down on top of the stove to cool down and thicken up. It was time to put in the mac and cheese. I set the timer so that I could add the cornbread to the oven when it was about halfway done; that way, both would be done at the same time.

  With my tasks done for the moment, I took a seat next to Jason and peered over his shoulder. “I have almost two pages done,” he told me defensively.

  “What is the assignment?” I asked.

  “We need to write a 3-5-page paper on how we would handle a product recall situation,” Mason explained.

  “Oh, lucky for you, product recalls happen a lot in pharmacy,” I told them both.

  “Really?” Jason asked. “How do you usually explain that to patients?”

  I explained to both of them how the product recall situation worked in pharmacy and how it’s usually handled differently from both a retail and hospital perspective.

  I also explained the PR difficulties that were involved. There was a lot more involved when I was interning with an independent pharmacy who manufactured their own medications in comparison with a chain pharmacy who simply distributed them.

  They both asked a couple of relevant questions and went back to working on their papers with renewed vigor, so hopefully my opinions had been helpful.

  I jumped up when the timer when off to tell me it was time to add the cornbread to the oven. I checked on the mac and cheese while I was in there; it smelled amazing. The apple pie also smelled delish and looked like it was cooling perfectly.

  I heard the front door slam and footsteps head in our direction. The puppies ran to go greet whomever it was, and I was worried when I just heard only silence in reply. I started to head in that direction when James appeared in the kitchen doorway. He was eying the puppies, who were jumping up and down in front of him to try and get his attention, but he didn’t respond to them.

  “What’s for dinner?” he asked gruffly.

  I looked at him, then I looked at the puppies begging for his attention with a raised eyebrow. He got the message and bent down to pet the pups with such a faint smile that I almost missed it. I tried to hide my own smile. He liked them; he was just afraid to show it.

  After he greeted my sweet little babies, I answered his question. “Per Cody’s request, we are having bacon mac and cheese, chili, fried chicken, cornbread, and apple pie.”

  James looked interested. “Do we have ice cream?”

  “Of course we have ice cream,” Jason answered absentmindedly as he worked on his laptop. “Anna was in charge of shopping. She never misses anything.”

  I rolled my eyes. I was sure that he was still just trying to get all shopping duties assigned to me. Deep down, I was still a little flattered, though. I was useful, even if it was just to make sure we had ice cream.

  I sighed to myself; I needed to start small. It might just be ice cream today, but hopefully one day I would be an integral part of the pack.

  “Why does Cody get to pick what we are having for dinner?” James asked. Was that I hint of jealousy I heard in his voice?

  I hid my smile. “Cody missed the last two family dinners, and he got us a new table to eat at.” I motioned to the new addition.

  James walked over and ran his hand over it. “This is nice.”

  I nodded. “Could you set the table while I work on the fried chicken? The twins are busy with homework that I need them to finish before dinner so I have time to review it.”

  James’ jaw dropped. He looked at me, then he looked over to the twins working, and then back to me.

  Cody came back into the kitchen before James had a chance to respond. “Anna, that smells amazing! Austin won’t be back for another half-hour or so. Can dinner wait?”

  “Yeah,” I told him. “I haven’t started on the chicken yet, and everything else can stay in the oven until we are ready to eat. “

  “Cool,” Cody said. “Trevor might come by with some of the guys. Is that okay?”

  “Of course,” I answered enthusiastically. “Can you help James set the table while I finish this and the twins finish their homework so we can eat on time?”

  Cody gave James an amused look. “I’ll get the dishes, if you get the silverware.”

  James sighed in resignation but walked over to the silverware drawer. I was proud of myself for how successfully I was able to hide my smile.

  Caleb was the next person to make his way to the kitchen. He eyed Cody and James setting the table incredulously. “How did you manage that?” he whispered to me.

  “I think it was more the tantalizing scent of food than anything that I said,” I told him sincerely.

  He chuckled. “What can I do to help?”

  “Can you fry while I bread?” I asked him.

  He looked at me doubtfully.

  “You just have to make sure the chicken stays in the oil and nothing catches on fire,” I told him reassuringly.

  He chuckled. “I guess I can handle that, but if anything catches on fire, I’m blaming you.”

  “Deal,” I grinned at him.

  The twins started to hover over both of us once we had some of the fried chicken ready for eating. I kept smacking their hands away until Austin came in.

  “Time to eat!” I shouted loudly.

  “Finally!” James groused.

  “Yeah!” Jason leapt over to the table with enthusiasm.

  “Jason!” I scolded him. “Take the mac and cheese to the table. Mason, you are in charge of the cornbread.” I carefully handed them each a dish to carry over to our new table.

  “James, I need you to help with the chili.” He came over to the Crock-Pot without a word of protest, and I handed him the ceramic dish out of the Crock-Pot carefully wrapped with a hot pad on each of the handles.

  “I think the last pieces of chicken are ready!” Caleb called. I walked over to check on them and add them to the serving dish that I asked Caleb to carry over.

  Austin walked over to me and chuckled. “You put them all to work, huh?”

  “You would be surprised what hungry wolves will do for food,” I joked.

  He laughed but walked over to the table with me. “This table looks great, Cody. Thank you for getting it for us.”

  “Yes, thank you, Cody!” I added enthusiastically. The rest of the guys added in their thanks.

  “And thank you, Anna, for coordinating this delicious meal.”

  I smiled. “Thank you to everyone who helped.”

  James groaned. “Do we have to keep thanking everyone or can we eat?”

  “We don’t have to thank anyone else, just pass the food around!” I told him.

  Everyone laughed, but the food got passed around. I grabbed some sour cream and cheese out of the fridge for the guys to add to their chili.

  “Austin?” I asked.

  “Yeah?”

  “Are we having more guests? Cody mentioned Trevor might stop by with
some other guys.”

  “Oh, yeah.” He glanced at his watch. “He will probably be here any -”

  I heard the front door open and a shout, “Yo!”

  “We should really start using Marco Polo,” I told Austin seriously.

  Jason snorted, and Mason laughed. James looked confused, and I think Cody was just so happy to be eating, he didn’t hear a word that was said. Austin smiled and shook his head at me. “In here!” he shouted back.

  I stood up to grab some extra plates out of the cupboard and hand them out to the three guys as they walked in to where we were sitting. They each greeted me with a ‘Hey’ or a nod and took a plate.

  Austin stood up. “Anna, I don’t remember if you have met Trevor, Rich, and Davis.”

  I nodded. I had, but I appreciated the reminder of everyone’s names. The three latest additions to the dinner party helped themselves to food while I grabbed them some silverware.

  “Did you cook this?” Trevor asked.

  “Oh, everyone helped,” I told him.

  All three guys eyed me and then the food dubiously. “Who helped?” Davis asked.

  “Relax,” Caleb assured them. “Anna supervised everything. She just had the rest of us grate cheese or do the easy tasks.”

  The guys all relaxed and continued to help themselves.

  “I feel like there must be a story behind you guys being nervous about eating food that was prepared by the group here?” I asked Rich, since he was the only one who was still waiting for food to be passed to him.

  Rich chuckled. “Does anyone else here remember the Thanksgiving of 2015?”

  A couple of the guys groaned. “Everyone got sick,” Caleb told me.

  “What happened?”

  “No one will admit to anything going wrong, but we all blame the twins.”

  “Hey!” Jason said defensively.

  Mason shrugged. “We were infantry Marines, not cooks. The only cooking I’ve ever done is heating up an MRE.”

  Everyone at the table laughed.

  “Well, if Anna is cooking, then I will be more than happy to come this year,” Trevor announced enthusiastically as he shoveled a helping of chili into a bowl. The rest of the guys seemed to agree.