Warm Nights in Magnolia Bay, Babette Jongh [book club books txt] 📗

would catch one of those birds and fill his shrinking belly. He made that promise to his growling stomach. Then he closed his eyes and brought his energy down low so the man wouldn’t sense him lying in wait for a chance to drink, and maybe also to eat.

Every evening, Wolf drank from the green pool and caught frogs to eat. The bitter taste of frog skin turned his saliva to foam, but the meat and bones and entrails tasted no different than that of a rabbit or rat or mouse. Wolf hardly remembered the taste of the crunchy kibble he had eaten at home.

The wind shifted, a warm breeze blowing along the ground. Wolf lifted his nose and caught the scent of rabbits behind the fence. He had searched for a way in, but failed. He could have snagged a small goat this morning while the fence was down. But the people would have seen him, and humans had strange attitudes about which animals were okay to eat and which were off-limits.

Safety lay in hunting only at night when people hid behind solid walls and dark windows. Light windows meant people might still venture outside. Dark windows meant they would stay inside until morning. Wolf’s hungry stomach made it hard to wait for safety, but he knew he must.

By the time the man went inside, the birds had flown into a tall tree. Wolf crawled low along the hedge, ran to the green pool to satisfy his thirst with a few quick laps, then streaked across the road to his hiding place in the cat’s-claw forest. In the cool, green shade, he sprawled on his side, closed his eyes, and waited for sleep to silence his hunger. Tonight, when the sun slipped over the horizon, he would hunt.

Chapter 5

That evening, with chores done, Reva’s text responded to, and a pound cake baked, Abby assembled her peace offerings in an old wicker basket that she’d found stashed among others above her aunt’s kitchen cabinets. A bottle of sparkling cider paired with two cheap wineglasses from Dollar Tree; cheese, olives, and fancy crackers; the pound cake wrapped in a new dish towel and tied with twine; and as promised, a chocolate-chip granola bar.

Part of her hoped he wouldn’t be home and she’d be able to leave the basket outside his door. She had included a handwritten note on Bayside Barn stationery that she found in her aunt’s rolltop desk:

To Quinn,

Please accept my attempt at a more conventional welcome to the neighborhood than the one you received this morning.

Abby Curtis

P.S. Sorry about my ass biting yours.

The nagging, familiar voice of social anxiety whispered, reminding her of his cryptic comment about the view that made her suspect he’d seen more of her skin than he should have.

Instead of letting worry have its way, she went into the laundry room and tossed a scrap of twine into the crate for the new kitten to play with. This time, the kitten didn’t flee for cover. Maybe it was beginning to realize that Abby was trying to help. She had doctored the road rash with Betadine and a thin film of Neosporin, and already it was healing up nicely.

In the kitchen, she gave Max the tabby a cat treat. “Please stay off the kitchen counter while I’m gone.”

Sure thing, she imagined Max saying, though his slant-eyed smirk told her she shouldn’t believe him. So much for all the things Reva had tried to teach her about animal communication. If all males were liars, why bother?

Abby glanced at her reflection in the sliding glass doors. Dressed in a leaf-print dress that brought out the green flecks in her hazel eyes, she looked well enough. But she hoped she hadn’t overdone it by curling her hair and wearing mascara and clear lip gloss.

She wasn’t interested in Quinn—she knew better by now than to be lured in by a pretty face and a rock-hard body—but she didn’t want him to judge her unfavorably, either. She didn’t want to look like a slob, but she also didn’t want to look as if she’d tried too hard. Abby wished she could absorb a little of her aunt’s complete disregard for what other people thought of her.

Abby had been that way herself once, but after trusting completely and then losing everything that mattered, she couldn’t find her way back. Her recent tendency to worry about everything insisted that she doubt herself.

Georgia barked.

“Okay.” Abby picked up the basket and a tiny wisp of courage. “I’m coming.”

The setting sun glowed orange over the bay when she and Georgia walked along the hedge and through the iron gates of Bayside Barn. Abby propped one side of the gate open, then she and Georgia crossed the easement to the neighbor’s property. The dilapidated house was dark, so they went around back, and Abby tapped on the sliding glass door of the pool house, where the glow of interior lighting indicated a human presence.

Charcoal-gray curtains had been pushed aside. The ceiling fan’s globe light revealed brand-new furnishings. A gray couch and rug and overstuffed armchair, a distressed barn-wood coffee table and end tables, a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall across from the couch. No throw pillows, no lamps, no pictures on the walls.

Georgia whined and looked back toward the farm.

“No. We’re doing this.”

The new neighbor walked into the room shirtless, wearing jeans slung low on his hips and headphones in his ears. The headphones’ yellow cord trailed down his toned chest and washboard abs, then twined around his waist and disappeared into his back pocket.

“Lord above, Georgia. Would you look at that?”

Unimpressed, Georgia whined and pawed Abby’s leg.

“No, I said. No.”

Realizing that he must not have heard the knock, Abby waved. But he kept going to the small kitchen and opened the fridge. She tapped on the glass door again. He took out a beer and turned, then saw her. His eyes opened wide. He set the beer aside, pulled out his headphones, and opened