He was close upon me and when he lept into the still morning air, I sensed it. The rhythm of his gait suddenly changed and I dodged left, side steppin...g and bending my body so that the wolf seemed to fly past me, his head turning and jaws snapping at the air where my right shoulder had been a split second before.And then I was on him, springing before the animal even landed, so that as he tried to turn I was falling onto his thickly furred back, grabbing deep handfuls of coarse hair and skin. My. "What do you mean by that?" he growled. "Get out of my chair." He reached down, grabbed Darlene's upper arm and yanked her roughly to her feet."I meant, you played good," I said, watching.Darlene moved over and sat on the sofa with me. Mike reached over, grabbed the remote out of her hand and started flipping through channels."I was watching that," Darlene complained."Tough." Steve," Darlene whined. Mike's Dad, Steve Reed, had come in the house behind him."Mike's had a hard day. Let him watch. According to Kimberly, I was a ‘keeper’. Unbeknownst to me, the combination of what Kimberly said, and what I’d done for them, had made a very deep impression on Danielle’s psyche. Seven weeks later at Memorial Day weekend, I returned to Emerald City. I had called Danielle and told her I would be there mid-day Thursday, and asked if she wanted to meet me somewhere. Danielle said she’d call me back, but she never did. Late Thursday morning I got a text message from Danielle telling me that there. Breakfast's ready."Peter arrived a few minutes later and looked Louise over appreciatively. "Very nice," he said, "but it might be wise to bring another jersey in case it gets cold and your mack in case it rains."He refused a cup of coffee and the pair of them left."She's quite taken with him," said Annette."Good. She could do a lot worse and he's a lot more fun than dear old Warren." Well I hope they have a super time together today." So do I. What time are the Thornes expecting us?".