Unraveling Midnight Read Free Page B

help,” Jessie added. “Miss Lucy, can you help me start my second row?”
    “Sure, Jessie. Let me sit between you and your dad so I can help you both for a few minutes before helping the others.”
    Taking off the stitches sounded like a horrible idea, but Scott did it anyway, clumsily fussing with the yarn again until, uneven and ugly, it was back on the stick. Lucy helped Jessie, like he’d wanted, and left him to his stumbling.
    The teaching moment gave him more time to stare and smell her. No viciousness, no jealousy or discontent. He took a deep breath and bit back a sigh of contentment that would have filled the room. Better than having her beside him was being in her space. Even with the other humans and their muddled fragrances, the essence of Lucy surrounded him. The yarn must have absorbed pieces of her just being in her presence. Lucky yarn and buttons and doodads.
    “Well, it’s a good start.”
    Scott smiled when he found Lucy looking at his work. He could have tried harder, he was sure, but she didn’t know him well enough to know that.
    “Jessie will help you,” Lucy added.
    “I’m thinking this might take a few more classes,” he admitted.
    She smiled. “You’re in luck, we have them every week. I need to go help Susan and her mother. You two keep casting on.”
    When Scott led Jessie out of the yarn shop an hour later, he did so with heavy feet. His body didn’t want to leave, his wolf sure as hell didn’t want to leave, but it was time to pick up the boys from football. Usually werewolves didn’t play school sports. Since they were still young and had a few years before their change, he thought it was safe. Their coach liked their intensity and there hadn’t been any problems yet.
    “That was fun, Daddy. Can we go again next week?”
    “Absolutely. I’ll even practice so I can get to the next row thing.”
    She patted his hand. “It’s okay, Daddy. Miss Lucy said you’d learn quickly once you got the hang of your tension. Tension can’t really be taught, it has to be practiced.”
    Already quoting from the woman. That made sense, though. Lucy was the kind of woman Jessie had been missing in her life. A good teacher was a valuable thing and he’d happily pay the small fee for knitting class as long as Jessie wanted to go. He also wouldn’t mind seeing Lucy again. Finding a new mate hadn’t crossed his mind, not until he’d stepped into Lucy’s shop and he was slammed in the groin with lust. Exploring what could be with the pretty shop owner might be something he could make time to do.
    “Can I maybe buy some of my own yarn next time?” Jessie asked. “Some of the stuff in there is really pretty.”
    “You bet, darling.”
    “And I don’t want the boys to get it either,” she said. “Can you tell them not to use it like a bunch of cats?”
    Scott laughed, thoughts of Lucy evaporating. “You got it, sweetheart. I’ll talk to the boys especially about this. No cat-play with your new yarn.”
    She hugged his side before they made it to the truck. “Thanks, Daddy. You’re the best.”
    * * * *
    With ‘best’ in mind, Scott stopped by the yarn shop the next afternoon. He usually had an hour between finishing work and picking up the kids from summer school. He used the time for grocery shopping and running errands. After the knitting class, while Jessie was in the shower, Ross had gotten into Jessie’s yarn before Scott had a chance to warn him away from the stash.
    His little girl had cried when the simple cotton yarn proved tangled beyond repair. Ross had tried his hardest to put it to rights, but like any young wolf, he’d gotten carried away the first time and it hadn’t been possible.
    So now, with Ross’s allowance in his pocket, Scott was going to get Jessie new yarn and help his son make amends. His rambunctious boys loved their sister and went out of their way to make her happy.
    “Well, hello there, Scott.”
    He’d scented her the moment he walked in and