Salute {Leah Clearwater}⁴

three - rachel

"And you must be Rachel?"

The girl smiled, "That's right."

Josiah returned the smile, "Well since Paul hasn't introduced us," he extended his hand out for her to shake, "I'm Josiah. Paul's older brother."

Rachel took his hand, "I'm Rachel. Paul's girlfriend."
And with that Rachel invited Josiah in for a cup of tea; once inside both of them began to introduce themselves further. Rachel told Josiah how Paul and her met, when he asked her to be his girlfriend, and how she is related to Jacob Black ― a friend of Paul's that he has yet to meet. Josiah told her some childhood stories about Paul, when he was sent to military school by their father, when he enlisted at 17, and his friend Liam.

In the end Josiah concluded that he liked Rachel.
Noticing the time Josiah decided that it would be best that he left ― he still needed to cook dinner for his mother who was almost home from work.

"It was really nice to meet you, Rachel," Josiah smiled stepping outside.

"Same goes to you Josiah," Rachel smiled back before closing the door completely.

Josiah made his way back home with the same feeling of frustration rising stronger within his chest. He needed to speak with Paul about why he disappeared all day without even a word. He needed to know why.

Josiah turned off the stove when he heard his mother's footsteps enter the house. Looking over his shoulder he saw his mother putting down her purse and picking up Ollie who was furiously licking her face.

"Hey Ollie," Mary's voice broke through the house, "missed me?" Kissing the small pup she placed him back down and walked over to her son.

"How was your day mama?" Josiah asked turning around fully to give his mother his full attention.

"It was long," Mary chuckled lightly.

"Well dinner is ready," Josiah smiled at his mother and bent down to kiss her cheek. Josiah grabbed two plates and placed them down on the table before retrieving the food from the kitchen.

"How was your day?" Mary asked her son after taking her first bite of her food.

"It was good," Josiah shrugged while eating, "I took Ollie for his walks, played with him outside, and..." Josiah hesitated, "and went to Billy Black's house." Josiah continued to eat his dinner without looking up at his mother whom he could feel her gaze on him after he said that.

"Really? Did you see Paul?" Mary asked.

"No wasn't there," Josiah looked back up at his mother, "But I did get to meet his girlfriend, Rachel."

Mary smiled at that, "What did you think of her?"

"She was nice. No wonder Paul fell in love with her."

Mary smiled fondly at the memory of Paul coming home super excited at finding his imprint. Finding out about the supernatural world that surrounded her son was not hard. Especially with his type of temperament.

"What about you Josiah?" Mary asked her son with a smirk threatening to fall on her lips.

"What about me mother?" Josiah smiled back, eyebrows furrowed in uncertainty.

"Have you met anyone? You know like in the military?" Mary pointed out.

"Oh," Josiah laughed looking down at his food, feeling his ears heating up in embarrassment, "Nothing like that mom, no." Mary nodded slowly ― clearly not believing her son but not pushing it.

The Lahote-Allen family continued to eat their dinner in comfortable silence. But Josiah Lahote's mind was anything but calm as thoughts of his younger brother filled his mind.

Noticing her son's obvious distant look Mary frowned, "What's wrong son?"

Hearing his name Josiah looked over to his mother who was looking at her son with worried eyes, "It's nothing mom." Josiah forced a smile.

Mary gave her son a look, "You couldn't lie to me even if you wanted to, Jay."

Josiah chortled, "That's true."

"You and Paul are horrible liars," Mary grinned, "Which you didn't get from me." Josiah choked on his water at his mother's words.

"Now," Marry stood up grabbing her plate and walked over to her son to take his, "What's going on inside that head of yours?"

Josiah exhaled roughly and ran his hands through his hair, "It's just... I've been thinking about Paul lately."

Mary paused her actions and looked over her shoulder to find her son with a frown on his face, "What about him?"

Josiah stood up as well and helped his mother bring the leftover food to the kitchen, "Well I just noticed how he disappears for the whole day and doesn't even tell us where he is going," Josiah paused before continuing, "I'm only going to be here two more weeks after today. And well I wanted to spend as much time with you and my little brother as much as possible before I have to leave again."

Mary smiled sadly at her son. She knew that he did not have long left before he would have to leave again. Just thinking of it made Mary want to cry at letting her son go away so soon.

"I know he might be busy," Josiah smiled humorlessly, "I know he does have a life but... I am only going to be here for two more weeks." Josiah stared at his mother while holding up two fingers to emphasize what he was trying to say. Mary listened closely to her son ― noticing the pain in his eyes that showed how strongly he felt about the situation.

"Why don't you go and talk to him again tomorrow. The second place he always likes to go is at Sam's, to hang out with the rest of the boys." Mary placed her right hand on her son's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Josiah nodded and gave his mother a small smile to thank her for listening to him. Their moment was interrupted when Ollie began barking and scratching at the front door to indicate that he wanted to go outside.

"Coming Ollie," Josiah gave his mother a kiss and walked over to the pup that was whining at the door.