11 Date with the Mate

Chapter 11

Every look Blake had given Carly, every word he had spoken was taken apart and analyzed.

Jack's words and looks were subject to the same intense scrutiny, most especially the recent ones. The women giggled at the arrogance of men and plotted how best to handle them.

When the whisky bottle was empty, Carly knew it was time to head home and relieve the sitter. It was just past midnight, but she had to be responsible.

"My boys would love you, if you let them," Carly offered, unknowingly echoing Jack's earlier words.

"I'll come over and we can talk tomorrow," Emile promised as Carly took her leave with one last hug.

Carly woke with a groan. Sunlight poured through the window. Apparently, she hadn't bothered to close the shades when she finally made it to her bed the night before.

Not a real surprise, given they had finished a handle of whisky between just the two of them. She groaned again as a small finger poked her shoulder.

She turned and squinted at Jason's serious face. Scooting into a sitting position, she pulled back the duvet and Jason crawled in.

"You find us something to watch," she told him, "I'm going to make some coffee and clean up a bit. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Jason nodded, searching out his favorite Saturday morning cartoons. Before long, he was snuggled up against Carly, watching the show intently as she sipped at her brew.

When Caleb started crying, she brought him to the bed, too, along with his bottle.

And that was how Emile found them, piled into bed watching cartoons, when she stopped by as promised.

Her heart squeezed at the sight of such easy, happy domesticity and she almost bolted. Carly's words stopped her imminent flight.

"There are muffins in the kitchen, and you're welcome to join us. I can't give you back your heart, but I can share these hooligans. Play at being Auntie, they need a replacement." Her words were soft and persuasive. Emile looked inside for strength, and found her wolf waiting for her.

"Trust them. They need you," her wolf said, offering her strength.

Kicking off her shoes, Emile crawled into the bed, passing out muffins. Leaning close to Jason, she whispered, "at least the crumbs won't be in my bed."

Jason suddenly looked at Emile with such intensity, she actually shuddered. "Oh, Jay-Jay," she cried softly, instinctively connecting with the anguish of loss she saw in his eyes. "I know, baby. God, do I know."

Emile pulled Jason into a tight embrace, holding him as he started to cry. She understood him. Some things hurt so badly they transcended words.

She hadn't expected to find healing here, her heart filling with love for the nearly broken child. In her head, her wolf snorted.

Carly looked on, astonished at the unexpected development. After Emile revealed her past last night, Carly was resigning herself to losing her friend.

She honestly hadn't expected her to show up. Now, she was a little stung that Jason so readily connected to her. All it had taken was a look.

Emile looked up, sensing her friend's thoughts. "Like calls to like." She said softly. "His soul is in agony in ways that you can't understand. I can."

Carly nodded, trusting Emile knew what she was talking about. Eventually Jason cried himself out, and dozed off. Carly cuddled a cranky Caleb as Emile comforted Jason, even in his sleep.

"Now," Emile said, "about that man of yours. You promised me you'd call." She raised an enquiring eyebrow.

"I promised, but only if you called yours," she returned the challenge.

"I called Jack before I came over," Emile said smugly, if not entirely honestly, holding out Carly's phone.

Carly protested a bit longer, but eventually caved to her friend's demands. In truth, a part of her had wanted to call Blake, but she still felt his offer hadn't been entirely sincere.

He was everything she was not- handsome, confident, well put together. What could he possibly want with someone like her?

Emile didn't bother to hide her amusement when Carly finally relented. Although Carly was adamant that she would never actually phone Blake, she had programmed his number into her phone all the same.

"Hi, Blake," She said awkwardly, acutely aware that Emile was listening to her every word. "It's Carly, from the airport. I guess I was just calling to say hello. Give me a call, if you want." She rattled off her number and quickly disconnected.

"Doofus," Emile giggled, "That was probably the lamest voicemail message in the history of ever!"

"I know," Carly said helplessly. The women looked at each other, and dissolved into giggles. For several minutes, they could barely face one another, overwhelmed by the desire to laugh at the impossible situation.

"Hello?" Carly managed to answer the phone when it rang, desperately trying, and failing, to stifle the giggles.

"I feel like the hapless victim of a gaggle of girls at a sleepover," Blake said lightly, amusement in his tone, all the while wondering just what was going on.

"Maybe not a sleepover, but I am in bed with my best friend and two boys," Carly said, finally regaining her composure.

Blake managed to not say what he was thinking, his mind showing him pictures of what Carly in bed might look like, although his mental image was definitely devoid of friends and small children. "I'm glad you called. I'm going to be in The Cities on Wednesday for business. Can I take you out to dinner?"

He held his breath, hoping she would answer favorably. He knew the question was rather sudden, but he wanted to see her again. "We can go somewhere family friendly; the boys are welcome to join us," He guessed at her hesitation.

"You don't have to do that," she said, her eyes pleading with Emile to fix this. She didn't want to talk with him on the phone, let alone go on a date.

"Ah, but I would like to," He responded easily. "I believe that Caleb still has much he would like to say to me.

He was rather vocal the other day." His tone remained light and teasing, wearing down her defenses.

"Fine, we'll join you for dinner," she agreed grudgingly, "But only if it's our treat."

Emile rolled her eyes at her friend.

"You have done this before, right? You're not secretly a twelve-year-old or anything?" She asked, only half in jest, when Carly finally disconnected the call.

"It's been a while," Carly admitted, "but I have lived many a year on this earth. I have dated and kissed and even slept around.

Men throw themselves at me almost daily. Why, I practically have to beat them away with a stick,' she finished, haughtily.

"Well, if you're not a naive youngling," Emile teased, "Why were you acting like it?"

"Blake isn't just anyone," She said slowly, feeling for the right words. "I feel like I have known him since forever, and I feel like he could easily be part of my life for the rest of forever. And it scares me, the way I feel. He's so, I don't know, he's such an alpha male, so confident and demanding. I could lose myself in him, and I don't want that. I don't want to give up me, not even for him."