"Well, it was a shock when I found out I could do it."
"I think we should keep this information to ourselves," Adele added. "I'm not sure it would be a good thing if people learned you can do it."
"Yeah. I think so, too.”
"I'll tell your dad. I'm sure he'll want to keep this secret." Adele shoved the sheets into Aedan's desk drawer and locked it again. "Now, what did you want for dinner?"
"I love meatloaf," Ashe said later as he polished off a second helping. "I haven't gotten any since we moved."
"Mr. Winkler might not like it," Adele pointed out. "I'm sure his cook caters to what he wants to eat."
"Jimmy's a pretty good cook," Ashe said. "But he's not my mom."
"Aw, honey, that's so sweet." Ashe hugged his mother when she squeezed his shoulders. "Now, we're going to call Mr. Winkler, and tell him where you are."
"Mom, you just took the fun out of sneaking away," Ashe muttered.
"Honey, he doesn't need to worry that you're just going to disappear; he has a responsibility to keep you safe. We'll tell him you misted over, and I'll drive you back."
"All right." Ashe rose and began loading dishes into the dishwasher while his mother phoned Winkler.
"Yes, I've told him already that he shouldn't disappear like that," Adele agreed over the phone. "I'll bring him back when his father wakes."
"Are you kidding? He misted home?" Trajan rolled his eyes as soon as Winkler ended the call from Adele Evans.
"Went home to have dinner with his mother," Winkler shook his head. "I want you to work him extra hard tomorrow, and I'll find something particularly nasty for him to do afterward. Honestly, I'd have gotten someone to take him home if he wanted to go that badly."
"Son, I want you to show me this." Aedan had driven to the darkened beach, careful to make sure no tourists were nearby to see. The moon, now very close to full, glittered on the gulf water that reached and drew back along the shoreline.
"See that marker, down there?" Ashe pointed to a beach marker roughly a tenth of a mile away. The tall post was white and easily visible in the moonlight.
"I see it," Aedan nodded. Ashe hopped from the spot beside his father to the marker and then back again, the entire process taking less than a second. "If I hadn't seen that, I wouldn't have believed it possible," Aedan sighed, staring at Ashe. "Never let anyone else know of this if you can help it, and only use it in emergencies. Sneaking away for dinner with your mother isn't an emergency. You should apologize to Mr. Winkler as soon as we arrive, and you can expect some sort of punishment, I think. He promised to keep you safe. He can't do that if you run away and he doesn't know where you are."
"I know, Dad. I was just missing you and Mom."
"The move has been unsettling for everybody. I understand that. But we have to keep our good sense. Especially after Wynn's capture and the attempt on Mr. Winkler's life, not to mention Jackson's father, who is still hunting for his son, I'm sure. Don't make our jobs harder than they are already. Marcie allowed Jackson to work in the groves with the others, but only after Shirley promised security."
Ashe felt guilty. More guilty than he might have if his father had displayed anger. He was silent on the drive to Winkler's beach house after that. "I'm sorry, Mr. Winkler," Ashe hung his head when he walked into Winkler's kitchen, where Winkler and Trajan were having a cup of coffee.
"Oh, you'll get your punishment tomorrow, never fear. Just don't do it again. Did you think we'd say no if you wanted to see your parents? Ashe, I'm not that terrible. Until you see what I've got planned for you to do tomorrow, that is." Winkler's tight smile didn't reach his eyes, telling Ashe just how angry he really was. Anthony Hancock walked in. Ashe shifted uncomfortably.
"Running away? Not the smartest thing to do," Anthony Hancock pointed out.
"It's not running away if I go home, is it?" Ashe said before he thought.
"Ashe, be respectful," Adele said. She'd not said anything while Aedan and then Winkler had spoken with Ashe, but she offered Tony a hard stare while she admonished her son.
"I will. I'm sorry, Mr. Hancock."
"That's Rockland. Get it right, kid." Tony stalked out of the kitchen.
"Get in bed, Ashe. Since you've already had dinner," Winkler instructed. Ashe, grateful to leave the tension-filled kitchen, had to force himself not to run for the stairs.
"Dude, why didn't you tell me you came home?" Sali hissed into his cell phone. Ashe, feeling brutalized over the incident, called his best friend.
"Sal, I should have asked," Ashe admitted reluctantly. "I just wanted to go home and have dinner with Mom. Like normal. Marco left to take Cori out to eat, and nobody else was available to go run on the beach, so I took off." Ashe wasn't about to tell Sali how he'd gotten home, just that he had. Let Sali think he'd borrowed one of Mr. Winkler's vehicles. He'd had his license for nearly a month and hadn't gotten to use it once.
"Dude, was your mom's meatloaf worth getting into trouble over?"
"Maybe."
"We're replacing the lines for the sprinklers, that's why," a werewolf lawn and garden expert had been hired to work on the sprinkler lines in Winkler's flowerbeds surrounding the beach house. Ashe was digging narrow trenches after raking back mulch and ground cover around short, squatty palm trees and tropical flower bushes.
Sweat dripped off his nose and into his eyes in the muggy morning air as the werewolf showed him where and how to dig the trench. Trajan had already worked him hard in the weight room, and then Marco had forced him to run farther and faster than normal down the beach. Without allowing Ashe to clean up before breakfast, Winkler sent him out to help dig trenches for sprinkler pipes after he ate. Jimmy had cast a glance at Ashe now and then but didn't say anything while serving up ham, eggs and biscuits. Then, to cap it off, Winkler had taken Ashe's cell phone before sending him out to do manual labor.
"You're too soft, boy. Put your back into it," the werewolf snapped at Ashe. Ashe hadn't worn gloves and blisters were forming on his palms. Determined not to give the werewolf anything else to complain about, Ashe kept digging, doing his best to ignore the pain. After the trenches were dug, Ashe laid PVC pipe and then screwed in pipe ni**les and sprinkler heads. His hands were burning by that time, so he cooled them in the spray when the lines were tested.
"We're done, go ask Mr. Winkler if he has any other jobs for you," the werewolf said, sending Ashe into the house. Grabbing ice cubes from the fridge and wrapping them in a paper towel, he held onto those while he went looking for Winkler.