Boundaries

Tish: Stefa's revenge

{Tish}

I wasn't sure if Conor could tell, but things were different now. He seemed to smile more easily, and he and Ralph talked freely about their plans for the farm at least, speculating what the plans would be for the farm. From Aidan's emails, it seemed like Keith had taken over.

"He was already doing the bookkeeping before, I mean really, what will I be doing with my time?" Ralph wondered as he rotated his ankle in his hands, doing the stretches that the therapist had ordered. "I'm going to be Mel's trophy husband at this point. Just a pretty face."

"I wish I knew how it was divided up," Conor mused. "If Keith is planning and bookkeeping. Mel is in charge. Casey has been in charge of classes. Katie wanted the garden, Aidan the goats. I don't know what Brian and Daria have claimed."

"The cows?" Ralph guessed. "And the chickens and guineas, poor things. What about you, Conor?"

"The pond," he said. "Grant said they built a dock? Frank mentioned you could do water exercises. Or we could get fish."

"Well, not both," Ralph laughed. "I couldn't feel the fish nibbling my toes, and that's too disturbing for me. I like the idea of having the pond for recreation. We could get a kayak. I could kayak if there were fish."

"Maybe you should be in charge of the pond," Conor laughed. "It'll be a lake by the time you're done with it."

"We should also clear a path to the cabins," Ralph mused and switched to his other ankle. "I could hang out there for full moon. And it'd be nice to have someplace off-site for people who want some time alone."

"Speaking of, where's Grant?" Conor inquired. "I didn't think his mornings with Sasha were so long."

"I haven't seen him," I answered. "He was here when we came back from breakfast."

"Don't worry yet, I'm sure he hasn't gone far," Ralph told us. "And there's no sense in getting further on Sasha's bad side."

"That's the truth," I muttered.

We heard the elevator ding, and we all craned our necks to see who was coming. They had a smell, not Grant. Peter smiled at us, holding a manila folder in his hand.

"Gayle finished drafting an agreement with your pack," Peter said, handing the folder to Ralph who moved his feet to a more normal position once Peter came in. "I think about as fair as I've seen. This is only the third one they've made."

"The Mercer pack, Becker pack and who else?" I questioned.

"Some vampire clan in Canada," Peter replied. "I'll botch the name. Basically, it's an agreement that they don't harm American citizens or stray into the country. Otherwise, they're Canada's problem."

"How charitable of you," I rolled my eyes.

Ralph read through the document and paused. "Conor isn't staying here," he said.

I looked up at Peter and then over at Conor with worry. This wasn't part of the plan at all.

"No, no, um, it may be phrased poorly, let me see." Peter took the page and frowned at it. "Yes. No, they want Grant to collect some of Conor's blood when he's at the farm. So we need his involvement, but not here. Grant said that he bought the supplies needed for such a request?"

"Yes, he did," Ralph replied, taking the page back. "That seems fine. All this seems suspiciously generous. I'm a little worried about it, to be honest."

"I wouldn't be. Sasha may be a bit of a pill, but Gayle really likes you. I think she and the board were impressed how you handled Conor's poisoning."