Silver Fox (Silver Shifters 2)

“That explains it—Go is much tougher, isn’t it?”

“Well, there are more possible moves, as well as more pieces.”

She turned to face him. “You said you had something to tell me?”

He saw earnestness, and a little uncertainty. He wanted to tell her, but at a time when he could guarantee that five seconds after he admitted to being a fox shifter, someone wouldn’t come along and demand her instant attention. “It can wait.”

His fox growled within him and sank down below the surface in Joey’s mind, leaving a definite sense of a grand sulk.

“So,” she said, “do you want to go watch the chess game? Or, do you play?”

“I can play, but I’m not great at it,” he said. “I’m best at games that involv

e more, oh, possibilities for trickery. Chess can allow for that, of course, but fundamentally it’s math.”

“I’m terrible at it, though I enjoy watching them play. Granny Z taught us all, but Dad and Nicola are the only ones who are actually good at it. As you’d expect from math minds.”

“We can do whatever you like,” he said—and saw her shoulders relax a notch. Maybe now was the time after all.

“We can do whatever you like,” he said—and saw her shoulders relax a notch. Maybe now was the time after all.

Zoom! There was his fox, leaping in a circle as he began, “Or we can just talk—”

“Doris! The pies are burning!”

Doris gave him a rueful look. “The clarion call.”

No! Be tricksy! Sneak out the window with our mate!

He squashed his fox firmly, and laughed. “Let’s go rescue those pies.”

SIXTEEN

Doris

At least we aren’t teenagers, Doris was thinking with profound relief as Joey helped her dish out apple pie and ice cream. What did men usually want to talk about with the women they showed interest in, according to all the books and movies? Sex. Doris didn’t know what to think about that. At once time it had seemed as alien as the stars. Even disgusting, when some guy she was being polite to took that as invitation and pressured her.

The idea of sex with Joey was different. It was as if a sun had suddenly emerged among those alien stars. It was bright and warm and she wanted more of it.And yet it was kind of scary, too.

At least he wasn’t pressuring her to jump into that old, sagging bed covered by a quilt for a six-year-old, while the noise of the family rattled all around them.

As her hands worked, she cautiously tested the idea of getting that close to him. She wanted to get close to him. If just kissing him made her feel like someone had set off firecrackers somewhere at the base of her spine, what was Doing the Deed going to be like?

The thing was, she didn’t know.

She was going to have to woman up and tell him the truth. But how humiliating was that?

She wrestled inwardly with that off and on for the rest of the evening, as Joey took a turn playing with Lon and Pink. It was clear that the kids had decided to like this new uncle, for Pink nattered at him and Lon climbed all over him, and then demanded help in building a Lego Batcave, complete with Batcar.

At an inviting glance from Joey, Doris sat down to help. Together she and Joey built a three story Batcave, complete with a ramp, which delighted Lon. Pink sat contentedly by, building objects whose purpose was obscure to anyone but her, first out of blue Legos, then green.

But it had been a very long day. Even while playing, the kids rubbed their eyes and fought yawns until Brad came to fetch them up to the attic, where he promised them Uncle Isidor would read to them until they fell asleep. Doris’s mother had already gone to bed, and Sylvia retired to read a book. Marrit took over the TV room.

Chess was the main event in the den, Xi Yong taking on all comers as Doris’s dad watched intently, lured away from his stack of Smithsonians and National Geographic. Xi Yong beat Granny Z, to her delight—she adored a good game of chess, no matter who won. Then Nicola challenged him to a game, with Brad smiling as he sat at her shoulder and watched.

Finally, everyone went off to bed. Doris went last, and only after sneaking some kisses with Joey, standing in the kitchen with the lights off. When footsteps thumped overhead they broke apart.

For a wild, reckless moment, she thought about asking him what he was planning on telling her earlier, then lost her nerve. They wished each other a good night, and she retreated upstairs, leaving him with Xi Yong in the den.