Emberly "Emmy" Call

- an update on how she was doing.

- planning to take a sneaky nap myself. I sent the picture to the group chat.

[Finally got the kids to sleep! Maybe if you guys are looking for lunch today, head to the diner, let her get as much sleep as she can. Xxx] I made sure to tag Sam and Lee so they wouldn’t miss it. I knew they’d want -

-
I took two run-throughs of the song before I crept down the hall and peeked in the door. The pair were sleeping, Kishil’s hand gripping two of Emmy’s fingers. Her face, smushed into her other hand awkwardly, had me holding back a giggle. I snapped a picture and snuck back to the living room, -

YouTube video by Kina Grannis You Are My Sunshine - Kina Grannis

- I did need to get to… but not right now. But right now, both Emberly and my cranky toddler needed to sleep. The sounds of sneaky giggles as she settled him in bed and tucked him in before she started to sing the song she had been singing to him since he was born. -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZBB...

- What are Aunties for?” I smiled and followed the toddler down the hall as he sang, ‘Le’s go sing song.’

I chuckled and followed him. I let him climb up onto the bed himself before joining him.

{𝓔𝓶𝓲𝓵𝔂 𝓤𝓵𝓮𝔂 𝓟𝓞𝓥}
I sat at the table with the stack of completely non-urgent paperwork and bills that -

- to him. I just grinned. There's nothing that would make me say no to that. He hopped and jumped his way over to me as Emily asked. ‘Could you, please?? I just really need to get this hospital paperwork done before pregnancy brain kicks in and I forget about it… again.’

“Of course, I will. -

- vacuuming was not up to her standard.

I was coming back inside while Emily was trying to convince my nephew to take a nap… he was adamantly refusing, and she had papers and folders on her kitchen table. ‘What if Auntie Emmy tucked you in and sang you a song?’ She sort of (not really) whispered -

- were.

After dropping those off for her, it seemed obvious where to go next… Sam and Emily’s was just around the corner. Emily was at the door before I even turned off my bike. My sister-in-law lectured me about not getting any sleep as I helped her with her chores… Even if I had a feeling my -

- floor in front of the TV… when I brought Mom’s pile of clothes to her room, I spotted the pile of books on her dresser with a pink heart-shaped post-it that read “Little free library donations”. I laughed. Mom gave most of her books to the retirement home… except the smutty ones, which these -

- I tried to take a nap on the couch with an old episode of Bleach playing on the TV. But I ended up getting pulled into the story I hadn’t watched in so many years. I may have almost polished off mom’s not-so-secret ice-cream stash.

The dryer beeped, and I folded laundry on the living room -

- she still made a fresh pot when she got home, even if I was off, or on day shift.

I did laundry… then I went to lie down, tried to sleep. I couldn’t. I dragged mom’s old elliptical machine out from under the stairs and worked out until I was sweating… which was no easy task for one of us. Then -

- get some sleep.

I tried to distract myself… I sang along to the shuffle gods' whims, cleared the cups and washed the coffee pot, setting it up again so that it was ready for Mom to make a fresh pot when she came home. She said it was so I could have fresh coffee before my night shifts, but -

- stay in my system long, so it wouldn’t rule out sleep. Even if I had little hope of achieving any. I hit shuffle on my phone, not connecting it to the Bluetooth speakers that mom and I had in every room of the house. It was early, and I didn’t want to wake any neighbours who were managing to -

-

[Get some sleep, Emmy. We’ve got your back.] The text from OG Pup, as he was saved in my phone. I smiled and texted back.

[I know, Pup. Thanks… look after your brother today.]

[Always do.] He replied with a smiley face.

I set the phone down and poured another cup of coffee. It wouldn’t -

I was alone again.
I wasn’t good at being alone… not in a needy way… I just liked to be doing things, to be around people.
Alone and awake… and with no hope of sleeping.
My phone buzzed, and I headed back to the kitchen. I picked it up from next to my cold coffee cup.

-

- “But when it comes to us… Really, the only thing we need to think about is what we want, as opposed to risks and consequences.” Neither of us could get sick, and we had already talked about the fact that pregnancy wasn’t in my future. “Is that something you’ve thought about?”

- conversation. One last time, I listened for footsteps or heartbeats that would let us know if anyone else thought lunch in their backyard was a good idea today.

“Well… safe sex was never optional to either of us in the past, right?” I wiped my fingers on a napkin and took a sip from my beer. -

- thing. “See all of that. That's the seduction I was talking about.” It was half-tease, half-truth… okay, maybe a little more than half truth. I tucked my hair behind my ear and tried not to focus… on the smile and the eyes… and the rest of him. Because this was, in fact, an important -

- decide which desire to try first was almost impossible. For me at least, but Lee… he was the perfect guide.

I circled my finger, pointing to all of him as he straightened up and focused his attention on me entirely, those broad shoulders and the knowing smile… The dark eyes. My heart did the -

I tilted my head, thinking about his proposition… It wasn’t that I didn’t know what I wanted; it was that I wanted so much with him, with them… There was nothing I wanted left unventured, every possible experience. And even though I knew we had all the time in the world to share them… trying to -

- enthusiastic consent part locked in… when we do. But there are… other factors to consider.” I had expected broaching this topic to be a little awkward… but honestly it felt no different than deciding what to have for dinner.

- are talking about it… maybe…” I listened to make sure their weren’t any neighbours in their gardens nearby. “Maybe we should… You know.” I paused. “Talk about it.” Then I added quickly. “Without any of that Lee Clearwater trade mark seduction.”

I took a bite of the pizza. “I mean, we have the -

- I had already experienced more new things with Lee than I had in my entire adult life.

Then it dawned on me that we hadn’t really talked about it… at least not beyond taking things… slow, I wasn’t sure that was the right word… but it was working for us. We both knew what we wanted. “Since we -

- about it more deeply. “Although… there might be… special requests from time to time.” Talking as in-depth about sexual encounters was new to me, and likely Lee too… our past liaisons wouldn’t have gone beyond basic consent… one-night stands didn’t really leave this kind of space for exploring. -

- list turning him on, too? I quirked a brow at the thought.

“Well… I guess we’ll have to decide that based on the…” I bit my lip on purpose… “Activity in question… I think my passenger and I are happy to let you decide which would be the most effective in any given scenario.” Then I thought -

My wolf surged inside my chest at what she considered an invitation. I licked my bottom lip, taking a breath to keep from pushing the food aside and taking him up on that offer. I pulled up all those lessons in patience… someday soon, they wouldn’t be enough. I smiled… was the idea of me writing a -

- spurt when he was much taller than me. I swatted him away. ‘Love you, sis,’ he called as he headed to his truck.

“Love you too, arsehole.” I stepped back inside and closed to door, taking another deep breath before heading back to Lee in the kitchen.

- up at him. Spirit’s why were all these men so fucking tall? (Not Lee… he was… just right)

‘I’d like to see them try… Emmy. He’s…’ Jake looked over my shoulder into the open front door. ‘Devoted.’ I smiled and he smiled right back. Then he booped my nose the way he did after his first growth -

- Remembering the first time I told Lee I was okay when I clearly wasn’t. He called me on it, gave me the space to open up. Not that Jake wouldn’t… it was just… different. ‘Everything will be fine, Emmy. I promise.’

“I won’t them them take him from me, Jake.” I pulled back from the hug to look -

- already. ‘Try and sleep… and if you can’t after Lee goes back to work, come hang with me at the shop.’ I knew he was offering because I hated to be alone, especially when I’m stressed out.

“I’m okay,” I told him and hugged him.

‘I know you are.’ He hugged me back, and I laughed. -