Chapter 7

“You mean they’re submitting another bulletin!?” I exclaimed in frustration.

“Yes,” answered my project engineer. I knew it wasn’t his fault, but the amount of changes being made to the original design mid-project was ridiculous, and I was struggling to keep my temper in check.

“Alright, fine. I’ll take a look at it this afternoon.”

“Thanks, Dave.” I hung up with a sigh. A new bulletin meant more changes without any a change in the project end date. I massaged my temples for a moment before the trailer door opened.

“Heyo!” Shouted Tom as he walked in.

“Hey,” I replied unenthusiastically.

“What’s up?” He asked, sensing my mood.

“Just got off the phone with the engineer. The the next bulletin is in for review...”

“Another one!” He exclaimed. “What number is this one!?”

“Eleven ... I think.”

“This is getting ridiculous,” he muttered. “Well, I do have some good news for you.”

“What’s that?” He grinned and his eyes lit up.

“It’s time for lunch!”

“That is good news!” I said with a chuckle. “Got somewhere in mind?”

“Pfft, no.” I broke into a smirk.

“How about Serafina’s? I went there with Ruth a couple weeks ago and it was pretty good.”

“Is that the place run by that snake-chick you mentioned when we started this job?” I glared at him.

“You know, if someone called Ruth a ‘cow-chick’ I’d probably knock them flat...” I retorted. He opened his mouth to presumably say something snarky, but seemed to think better of it.

“I see your point,” he mumbled a few seconds later.

“Moving on,” I said, not wanting to dwell on the topic. “Yes, that’s the place.” He hesitated before responding.

“Is it ok for a couple of humans to go there?”

“It’ll be fine,” I insisted. “I had the opportunity to ask her myself when we were there.”

“Ok ... I’ll go, but I really hope you’re right.”

We left the job site and I drove us the short distance to the diner. As we walked in I really hoped I was right about it being ok for us to be there.

It wasn’t very crowded inside, but I preferred eating lunch a little early to beat the rush, so I wasn’t surprised. Serafina was leading a couple of centaurs to their table, but she gave a small smile and nod when she saw us. Before she made it back to us, a leonite got up from his table and started approaching with a fluid grace. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like it was going to be a friendly greeting. I had a few inches of height on him and probably quite a few pounds, but he looked every bit as lethal as the predator he resembled.

“You need to leave,” he uttered with a low growl, and I gulped.

“We’re just here to get some lunch, that’s all,” I said as calmly as I could manage. Before he could respond, a pale, slender hand touched his shoulder.

“It’s ok. He’s been here before with one of our regulars, a minotaur.” Interrupted Alice. “And if I remember correctly, he also seemed to be friends with a lupine couple that was here at the time. The leonite looked between me and the arachne with a glare. “And our goal here is to serve everyone equally, so long as they’re respectful to the other patrons.”

“Fine,” he replied with a low rumble, and went back to his table. Once he’d take his seat, Alice leaned in close.

“Look, it’s one thing when you’re here with your mate, but waltzing in here on your own isn’t a good idea,” she said quietly.

“I asked Serafina about it when I was here last time, and she said it was fine,” I protested, making her sigh.

“Alright, I’ll take you guys to your table.” She looked past me and her face scrunched up in confusion. I followed her Alice’s gaze to see Tom, who was staring at her. I smacked his arm with the back of my hand and he snapped out of his his stupor.

“Don’t be rude,” I hissed quietly. I glanced back at the waitress and she scowled at Tom for a moment before turning around and leading us to a secluded table in the corner.

“Dude, what’s with you?” I hissed, once Alice had left with our drink orders.

“I dunno man...” muttered Tom.

“You’re acting like you’ve never seen an arachne before!”

“Not this close I haven’t.” He glanced at Alice again, but quickly turned his head back toward me when she looked our way again.

“You’re being really weird.”

“Yeah, I know...” Tom mumbled before burying his face in the menu. A couple minutes later Alice came back. Tom didn’t even look up to place his order, and he didn’t say much for the rest of the lunch break either.

“Seriously, what was up with that?” I asked when we were headed back to the job site.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it,” he insisted.

“Ok,” I muttered, not convinced. We got back to the job and he immediately got back to work, leaving me wondering what was up with him. At the end of the day he left without even saying ‘see ya’ either. I packed up and left myself, and when I got home I had just enough time to get cleaned up before going to pick Ruth up from work. I headed to the door, and when I opened it I almost ran straight into a black-furred centaur woman, whose hand was already raised to knock! We both jumped back in surprise.

“Hi, can I help you?” I asked.

“Um, hello. My name is Felicia, I’m one of your neighbors.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen you around. What’s up?” She stomped at the ground in what I thought might have been nervousness.

“I ... was wondering I we might be able to talk for a little bit.” I wasn’t sure what it was about, but I figured that the conversation might go a bit more smoothly with Ruth around. Plus she was getting out of work soon and it was about time for me to go get her.

“Actually, I was about to go pick Ruth up from her job.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize that you drove her to work.” Felicia seemed a bit taken aback by the idea.

“Yeah, whenever I’m not already at work.”

“Well, umm ... that’s very kind of you,” she stammered.

“If you want, you can come back later,” I offered, wanting to get everything out in the open sooner rather than later. Felicia thought for a moment.

“I suppose that would be fine. How about in a couple hours?”

“That’ll do.” She pawed the ground awkwardly.

“Then I will be back.”

“See ya in a bit.” As she left I shook my head at how awkward the whole encounter was. Without any further delay, I grabbed my keys and took off.

I’d arrived a couple minutes after Ruth’s shift ended, and she happened to be walking out right as I pulled up. Her face lit up when she saw me and came right to the truck.

“Hey sweetheart, how was work?” I asked when she’d gotten in.

“It was ok,” she answered. “Though things have been a little awkward since it got out that you and I are together.”

“I’m sorry...” I said quietly.

“I’m not.” She took my hand in hers. “It’s worth it,” she added with a smile, and I felt my heart melt a little. I put the truck in gear without letting go of her hand and started driving.

“Speaking of letting things out, our neighbor Felicia stopped by.”

“Oh ... did you tell her about us?” Ruth asked slowly.

“No. I was just coming to pick you up so I didn’t have the chance, though I told her she could come back later. Honestly, I just want to get it out of the way.”

“That is fine.” Ruth squeezed my hand and I squeezed it back.

Before long we were home. Ruth went to get changed and I started on dinner; a concoction of diced sweet potatoes, apples, onion, and a few other things all pan-fried together. I also fried up some chicken sausages to put on mine.

“That smells wonderful,” exclaimed Ruth when she came into the kitchen. I smiled at her and she bent down for a kiss. Without warning she took my head in her hands and kissed me deeper. I gasped as her tongue lightly flicked against my lips, but as suddenly as it began, she pulled away.

“Wow...” I breathed.

“More of that later,” she teased, and turned around to leave.

Grinning like an idiot and feeling like the luckiest man in the world, I watched Ruth’s butt wiggle and sway as she walked away with her tail swinging freely. I’d noticed that she’d started doing that when she was trying to be coy. I didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but I certainly found it alluring! Once she’d left the room I adjusted my erection and finished making dinner.

I dished out a couple plates and went to the table, where Ruth already had tableware, glasses of water, and napkins waiting.

“Thank you for making dinner. It smells delicious,” she said with a smile. I kissed her forehead and sat down.

“You’re welcome.”

We must have both been hungry, because for the first few minutes, neither of us said anything. However, we did have something to discuss.

“So, how do you want to break the news to our neighbor?” I asked.

“I think we just tell her, but it would probably be best to let her get settled in first.” I thought for a moment, but wasn’t able to come up with anything better.

“Yeah, I suppose that’ll work,” I replied with a sigh. We finished our meals, and I put the food away into containers that we could take in our lunches while Ruth got started on dishes. I was done quickly and went into the front room to go relax on the couch for a little while.

Before Ruth had finished there was a knock at the door. My heart starting to pound furiously in my chest as I headed over, took a deep breath, and opened it. As expected, Felicia was standing on the other side.

“Hello again. Come on in!” I greeted as cheerfully as I could while my stomach was in knots.

“I’ll be out in a minute, I’m just finishing dishes,” called Ruth from the kitchen.