Silver Moon (A Women of Wolf's Point Novel) by Catherine Lundoff

stepped up close, into not quite touching range.
    The breath caught in Becca’s throat and she looked up into her neighbor’s eyes, losing herself there for a moment. Then dragged herself back out, stomach still fluttering. “I…I just can’t talk about it. Not here, not now. I’ve got to finish my shift.” She brushed past Erin and headed to the paint section, her back prickling. If she kept this up, Erin might never talk to her again. And that, come to think of it, might make her life simpler.
    Shelly appeared in front of her, cutting her off before she could get up the aisle to comparative safety. Becca flinched away, startled, before she remembered her manners. “Shelly, you’re back! How’s your mom?”

    “She’s hanging in there; we can talk about that later. In the meantime, Pete told me about Ed. Why don’t you come back to the office and sit for a minute? I’m guessing that you’re not ready for the general public just yet. Pete’ll watch the counter.” She nodded to Erin over Becca’s head.
    Next thing Becca knew she was in the back office with the two of them. Shelly handed her a box of tissues. “Let it out. I can tell you’re holding back.”
    Becca knew she must look pretty bad, but it wasn’t like she was ready to burst into tears. Not right now. Not in front of them. It was way too humiliating. She started to muster an indignant denial, stringing together the words that would make it clear that she could take care of herself, most of the time anyway.
    Then she thought about the house and broke down sobbing despite herself. “Damn it! I didn’t want to do it this way,” she choked out. She took a deep, tremulous breath. Then instead of pulling herself together, she buried her face in a tissue and gave a few more deep, hiccupy sobs.
    She managed to stop long enough to say, “It’s Ed. He wants to sell the house, my little house, because he’s having babies with his damn midlife-crisis wife!” She collapsed into one of the chairs and bawled into a fistful of tissues.
    Erin took Ed’s folder from her lap, while Shelly rubbed her shoulders. Becca let out deep shuddering sobs, hating her loss of control almost as much as the situation. She wasn’t emotional like this normally and she didn’t want to start now. Stupid changes in her body, all of them.
    At least she ran out of tears pretty quickly, much to her relief. Erin cleared her throat when it was obvious that Becca was paying attention to her. “We might be able to help you with this, you know. Let me look into it and stop worrying about it while we look for a way to take care of the problem.”
    Time stopped for an instant as Becca considered what Erin’s tone of voice might mean. It seemed significant, somehow. Then she stared up at Erin in horror, Oya’s story flashing through her brain. Did she really hate Ed enough to want him dead? Especially since, if the wolves of Wolf’s Point went after him, she’d most likely be right there with them. Sure she was pissed off, but not really what you’d call rip-the-man’s-throat-out mad.
    Erin gave her a puzzled frown but it was Shelly who figured it out an instant before she did. “We’re not going to eat him, you know. What do you take us for? The Pack has an emergency fund and Erin handles our books. We should be able to get you a good deal on a loan and maybe some cash down.”
    Becca drew a long shuddery breath. These were her friends and neighbors. Of course they weren’t going to eat her ex-husband. What crazy ideas she was getting ever since she, well, started turning into a wolf. She pressed her face into her hands; maybe the Pack could recommend a good shrink too, one that specialized in dealing with this kind of thing. She found herself groaning out loud, then decided she was being silly and looked back up.
    “So who’s been putting these ideas into your head? I know we haven’t had any time to talk about what went down when you left for Mountainview, but I think