Alpha's Solace (Black Moon Saga Book 1)

The Cabin in the Woods - Part 2

Kylie closes her eyes for just a moment, but when she opens them, Adam is no longer beside her. Instead of sitting, she is now lying on her side on the couch. Obviously, she got very cozy at some point that she doesn’t remember and conked out.

She sits up and looks around, realizing that it is just starting to get dark outside the window. Adam is crouched beside the fireplace, loading pieces of freshly chopped wood into the bins meant for storing extra firewood. He has already arranged some pieces of wood inside the fireplace, ready to light a fire whenever they decide to.

“I slept all day?” she asks him in disbelief. It was late morning when she sat down on the couch.

“You did,” he confirms. “Guess you needed the rest. You looked so comfortable and peaceful I didn’t want to disturb you. I was about to start some dinner, though. I kind of like this whole memory lane thing we’re doing, so I wanted to keep it going. I don’t know what sorts of foods your mom used to cook for you, but she seems like the comfort food kind of mother, so I was thinking meatloaf.”

Kylie smiles, thinking of Mama. “She was,” she agrees softly. “I did love her meatloaf. I think her recipe book is around here somewhere, if you really want to do it like she did.”

Adam finishes with the wood while she gets up and goes to the kitchen to search for the recipe book. By the time she locates the blue binder with its collection of miscellaneous handwritten loose-leaf pages inside, Adam has joined her and is leaning against the counter next to the refrigerator. She finds the page she is looking for where Mama scribbled her meatloaf recipe, complete with the revisions she made over the years and the notes Papa added in the margins which are really just love notes about both his wife and her cooking.

Kylie holds the open book out to Adam, her eyes glistening with tears that are trying to form as she stubbornly fights them back.

“I hope we end up being like them,” she confesses, showing him what Papa wrote on the page. “If I’m being honest, since I don’t really have relationship experience, my fantasies are basically just me remembering the many little romantic moments I witnessed between my parents and replacing them with us.”

He notices the tears forming and sees the way she blushes as she admits this, so he reaches out to take the book from her. As he does, he grasps her hand and brings it to his lips.

“I didn’t know your mother well and never saw them together after the day they met, but the more I learn about them the more impressed I am. I think those are some pretty big shoes for me to fill, but I’m sure going to try. I want a love like this, too.”

He points to the book, then sets it on the counter and reaches for her, pulling her in for another embrace.

“You’re doing pretty good so far. This whole meatloaf idea is a great start. My mom is a good cook, but I sure do miss Mama’s cooking.”

He realizes when she says this that he needs to be more careful about how he refers to her mothers. To her, “Mama” means Olivia and “Mom” means Betsy. She hasn’t corrected him yet, though he knows he has been using the terms interchangeably, but he senses that the distinction is important to Kylie. He assumes the same might be true of her fathers, who she refers to as “Papa” and “Dad” consistently.

“Well then, how about you skedaddle on out of here and let me do the cooking?” he suggests playfully, partly because he doesn’t want her to overexert herself, but mostly because he’s too self-conscious to have her watching while he potentially massacres her mother’s meatloaf recipe. “Go prepare yourself to be overwhelmingly impressed with my culinary skills,” he says instead of admitting that.

To his relief, instead of arguing, she laughs and rolls her eyes, loving how he seems to be able to infuse just enough playfulness and humor into any situation. She is enjoying getting to know him, though she has known him most of her life. It’s quite different to finally be able to experience Adam the man instead of just the controlled version of himself he always presented when he was only Marc’s father to her. She has been crushing on him a long time, but now she finds herself quickly falling in love with him.

She does as instructed and leaves him to work his magic in the kitchen, taking advantage of the opportunity to continue exploring the house, beginning with her old bedroom at the far end just off the main room. It seems smaller than it did when she was a child, but everything is still where she left it. The only things missing are those that were brought for her to use when she moved in with the Logans, but many of her old toys were left behind. She picks up a stuffed cat and marvels at how much it looks like Bo, deciding to take it with her once they leave here since she might not be able to keep the real Bo.

Bringing the cat along with her, next she visits the master bedroom that her parents always called the back bedroom because of its location at the back of the house. She expected it would be emotional to see all her parents’ personal belongings in there after all this time, but is surprised to see that most of them have been removed, likely as part of the investigation into their disappearances.

The luggage that she and Adam brought are already in there. The bed is made, but not with the quilt that her parents always used. She moves to the linen chest at the foot of the bed and opens it to see if she can find the missing quilt, discovering it tucked away at the bottom. She pulls it out and switches it for the one on the bed, restoring the room to as close as it can get to the way she remembers it. Feeling accomplished and satisfied, she turns out the light and returns to the family room.

Soon Adam calls her to the kitchen for dinner and she notices that he has set the table with Mama’s favorite blue glazed ceramic plates.

“How did you know?” she questions him with wonder, gesturing to the table setting.

He comes around to pull out her chair. “If I’m being honest, I’m not even sure which part you think I did right on purpose. These are just the dishes that were on top in the cupboard,” he admits. Then he kisses the top of her head and moves around to the other side of the table to sit down.

“Oh, right,” she laughs and reaches for the meatloaf. “Mama loved these plates. We mostly used them for holidays and birthdays, but I like that you brought them out for this.”

He chuckles as he trades her the mashed potatoes for the meatloaf, shrugging as he jokingly takes credit for the coincidence.

“I aim to please,” he says, eliciting a lopsided smile of amusement from her.

He can't help but smile back at her, grateful for the opportunity to have her here with him, all to himself. The moment is relaxed and comfortable, as if they've been enjoying meals together like this for a long time, and he silently hopes for this to turn out to be only the beginning for them.

As he predicted, she is impressed by the food he made. It tastes almost the same as when Mama used to make it and the nostalgia hits her with force, making her glad to have him to distract her with conversation. As he talks, revealing parts of himself that she’s never known before, she soaks in every scrap of new information that he offers.

She learns that he has a younger sister who lives across the country and that their mother died when he was young. He also tells her that his ex-wife, Melissa, was his only relationship before her other than a girlfriend he had briefly in high school, and then he reveals that he has been single ever since Marc was in kindergarten. He admits to being a hopeless romantic, which he seems to perceive as a flaw of his, but she loves that about him. It's probably what inspired him to bring her here, and she’s eager to see what other sorts of romantic surprises he has in store for her.