Gypsy Moon

Chapter Seventy-three: Aiden

. . . . . . (early July)

"Let me get this straight..." I paused and frowned at Lilian and Delbert, who had returned from a sudden mysterious errand soaking wet and laughing like cubs. "You lit a hunter's office building on fire, and now he wants to take me out for drinks?" Lilian giggled.

"Well, no. He wanted to take ME out for drinks." Her grin almost split her face in half. "I suggested your attendance would be more productive for all of us."

"I'm still stuck on how this came about." I pinched the bridge of my nose and tuned out Rhys' laughter. "Delbert? How?" The older man shrugged and smiled at Lilian.

"I was surprised myself, Alpha. I didn't realize my Martha used to play cribbage with a hunter's aunt." He chuckled. "Until Bonnie mentioned Maribeth's son hadn't been home in almost a month, and it clicked." I frowned.

"The likelihood of it being the same one-armed man sounds like the terrible start of a joke."

" I took about five minutes at the legion hall chatting with some boys from the precinct to learn six of the seven one-armed men in the Carson City area with that style of prosthetic were alive and well." Delbert grinned. "Travis happened to be lucky number seven."

"How did that lead to Lilian lighting the building on fire?"

"He put a bug on me!"

"Burning the building down isn't the right response!"

"Oh, pfft!" Lilian laughed and draped her arms over my shoulders. "He would have been disappointed with something less dramatic. Now he wants to have drinks, I win, ha ha." Delbert chuckled at her.

"Or it could be the fact that he and I have been friends for decades." He grinned. "Though I think she's right. Lilian reminds him of his Bonnie, and she's a firey red-headed Scottish lass even in her sixties." I shook my head and laughed in spite of myself.

"In that case, I feel like I can't refuse." I gave Lilian a sly smile. "Anyone that can handle being married to someone like you for several decades deserves to have ME buy a drink for HIM." She playfully squeezed her arms around my neck and I mimed choking.

. . . . . .