“Seriously.  If anyone has a better option, say it.  Otherwise, we’re just postponing the inevitable,” Bethi said.

I applauded her impatience.

“You’re asking a lot of us,” Winifred said.  “We need time to consider all the possibilities.”

“You’ve had over a week,” Bethi said, tossing her hands up in the air.  Luke immediately reached for one of her runaway hands, and she calmed slightly.

Winifred looked at Grey, then Sam.  Then, she sighed with a slight shake of her head.

“For better or worse, we agree with you.  We can’t remain as we are.”

Thankfully, we were saved from more discussion by a knock on the door.  Grey turned to answer it.  A man with a cart waited outside and started passing in covered plates.  Since I was third closest to the door, I had to pass twelve plates.  Twelve delicious smelling platters warmed my palms.  I wanted to raise the lid of each dish and lick whatever I found under it before passing it on, just because.

As soon as Ethan had his plate, he lifted the lid.

“Two burgers?  Z, hit me.  I’m in heaven.”

I had my own plate in my hand and lifted the lid.  A single third pound patty rested between the two halves of the toasted bun.  I glanced at everyone else’s plates.  Michelle, Charlene, Bethi, and Gabby also only had one cheeseburger.  I scowled at Ethan as I took a bite of my puny patty.  Stacked with lettuce, tomato, fried onions, and two slices of cheddar, it made my mouth happy and lifted my mood a little.  In all likelihood, I wouldn’t have finished a second burger.  Ethan would probably be hard pressed to finish his.  But I still would have liked to try.

Charlene turned on the TV.  I appreciated the noise.  It covered the sound of fifteen people chewing.

I watched TV with everyone else and gradually cleared my plate.  Ethan drastically slowed down halfway through his second burger.  I was half-tempted to steal it but knew what it would be like sparring on a packed stomach.

“Hey, Ethan,” Jim said.  “If you’re not going to finish that, I will.”  Jim had been checking out everyone else’s plates as soon as he finished his.  Charlene shook her head but said nothing.

“All yours,” Ethan said, handing over the plate.

Everyone started passing their empty plates and lids back toward the door.  Grey stacked them in the hall.

“If that’s all, I want to go check out the fitness room.”  I stood, waiting for someone to object.

At Winifred’s nod, I left the room before everyone was done passing their plates.

Ethan left with me, as usual.  Once the door closed behind us, I sighed in relief.

“Want company?”

“Nah.  I’m going to run on the treadmill for a while.”  Despite his amazing blocking, I needed some distance, even from him.

We walked back to our room.  I changed into my three-quarter length exercise pants, then left him watching TV.

The fitness room was empty when I found it.  I closed the door behind me, found the stereo, and turned on a local pop station.  There was a certain smell to the exercise room—plastic, sweat, and metal—that relaxed me.  I went to the treadmill and studied the panel.  It had a bunch of preprogrammed options.  I chose to control my own speed.

After ten minutes of warm up, I opened up to a run.

*    *    *    *

When I opened the door to our room, I found Ethan passed out on the bed.  The room was otherwise empty.  I quietly shut the door behind me and grabbed my bag so I could go shower.

Ethan hadn’t moved by the time I reemerged.  He lay on his back, one hand on his shirt over his stomach and the other almost behind his head.  It was a familiar position.

Wisps of emotion drifted from him.  Worry, mostly.  After I set my bag on the floor, I eased myself onto the mattress beside him.  I let myself take his worry until only happiness remained.  He needed more of those kinds of dreams.

*    *    *    *

“Z, they’re going to leave without us.”

Ethan’s voice penetrated my dreamless sleep.

“Good.  Let ‘em.”

I rolled over, away from him.  He swatted my butt, hard.  My eyes popped open.

“They’re going to dinner.  Still want them to leave without us?  It’s an Italian place around the corner.  All-you-can-eat pizza.”

That had me sitting up and rubbing a hand over my face.  All-you-could-eat pizza sounded good.  I was happy until I noticed we weren’t alone in the room.  Carlos and Grey waited by the door.  Grey had a hand on Carlos’ shoulder, and Carlos was completely focused on Ethan.  My stomach flipped before I tore my gaze from Carlos.  Nothing flavored the air but Ethan’s twisted humor and Grey’s concern.

What was up with Carlos?  He acted so detached most of the time.  Not when someone touched me, though.  Then he went all weird.  Michelle’s words came back to me, and I shook my head.  Nope.  That wasn’t it.  It definitely wasn’t attraction.  I didn’t do attraction.

“I’m up.  Let me brush out my hair.”  I hadn’t done anything to my hair before falling asleep.

They all waited as I yanked a brush through the tangles until it pulled through smoothly.

“Let’s go,” I said, tossing the brush back into my bag.

Carlos led the way.  Ethan and I followed.  Before we reached the lobby, Ethan reached over and took my hand in his.

“Thanks, by the way.”

I knew he meant the dreams and shrugged away the thanks then gave his hand a squeeze.  His love poured out for a moment before he let me go.

The rest of the group waited in the lobby.  As soon as we appeared, they started out the doors.  The walk to the pizzeria was short, and the aroma inside the place made my mouth water.  Several long buffet tables were set up with different pizzas, and another table had salad and bread sticks.  The best part was that we were the only people there.  Heaven.

One of the waitresses saw our large group and started pushing tables together.  I ended up sandwiched between Carlos and Ethan.  Once everyone ordered drinks, it was a mass exodus to the buffet.  I stayed sitting, unwilling to let Ethan trample me on his way to his favorite food.

Carlos remained sitting, too.

“Good call,” I said.  “We might want to wait a few minutes.  They can clear out the old pizza, and we’ll get the fresh stuff.”

His eyes drifted to my lips as I spoke, and my pulse jumped.  Heat flooded my cheeks, and I looked away.  Darn Michelle and her little talk.  She’d planted thoughts in my head, and now I was reacting to a stupid glance.  Werewolf pull, my butt.

Unwilling to sit there uncomfortably for the next five minutes, I stood and went to the salad bar to reluctantly fill a plate.  I had nothing against salad.  I just liked pizza better.  When I returned to the table, half the group was back with their own food.

I noticed Michelle and Charlene both had salads on their plates, too.

Conversation floated around me as I ate.  Charlene’s words caught my attention.

“I raised you better,” she said to Jim.  He had an obscene stack of pizza slices on his plate.

I turned to Carlos.

“Are they related?”

“Charlene and Thomas are Emmitt and Jim’s parents.  Grey is Thomas’ brother,” he said.

As I studied the group, Ethan’s words rang in my head like a gong.  Two men from the same family paired up with one of us.  How weird was that?  I glanced at Ethan.  He either hadn’t heard or didn’t care.  He continued to scoff his pizza with abandon.

Finished with half my salad, I set my plate to the side and went for pizza.  I’d been right.  They’d brought out fresh stuff.  The gooey cheese gave me some trouble, but it was trouble I willingly dealt with.

Gabby wandered over to the salad bar.  Her slow steps caught my eye, and l noticed her semi-vacant stare.  She was checking her sonar again.  No one ever asked her to do it; she just did it all the time.  Her brow furrowed ever so slightly then cleared again, and I wondered what she saw.  Since she continued to fix herself a salad, I figured it wasn’t too big of a deal.