Untrusting (Troubled)

by A. J. Wells

  Forty five minutes later, we pull into Miss Lili’s driveway and before we’re out of the car and into the trunk for our luggage there are people around us. Bob, Steve, Shay, Mom, Dad, and a distinguished looking man in jeans and plaid shirt. Glen. Maria and I look at each other and smile. Then Maria bends to pick up Shay and we lose track of Miss Lili and Glen for a few minutes. Once Maria picked up Shay, Bob hobbled over to hug them both and kiss Maria. I hug Mom and Dad then turn to Steve, who’d stopped away from the others.

  He doesn’t seem to know what to do so I go to him for a hug and a kiss. “I’m glad to be home, and I’m glad to see you,” I say and kiss him again, but this time I tickle his lip with my tongue. He moans and pulls me closer. I break the kiss and whisper to him not to drop his crutch and snicker.

  He tightens his hold on me and says into my hair, “Masochist.”

  Dad comes over, “Where do ya want your luggage put?” I break away from Steve and tell him to put it in my truck and go to help him. Miss Lili steps over to the boys, now that they’re girls are occupied elsewhere, to say “hello.”

  I hear Miss Lili gasp, while they laugh and see Glen turn to hide his snicker. Maria and I step over to hear what’s going on. “You boys need a switch across your back sides and your mouths washed out with soap.” Miss Lili turns to see Glen trying to hide his smile then spots us and grabs our arms to walk inside.

  “What happened, Miss Lili?” Maria asks.

  “Your ‘boyfriends’ said they’d make plans for the evening so I could have some time with Glen, and they’d be quiet when they came home, so I shouldn’t make any noise during my ‘visit’ with Glen. I was so shocked I almost paddled their butts, like I did when they were little kids. And Glen, hiding his laughter….” Then she busts out laughing and so do we. When she stops laughing, she says, “I guess they know,” and starts laughing again. Again she stops laughing, “I really should have expected them to say something sooner or later. Let’s get the garment bags sorted then have supper and you girls can take the boys home with you for a while.”

  “Is the reservation made?” Miss Lili asks Steve and Bob when they come in carrying her small cases, one in each hand with their crutches. They answer “yes.” “For seven thirty?” she asks. They answer “yes” again. Mom and Dad try to beg off supper, but Miss Lili and Glen won’t let them. Everyone, but the three of us, seems to know something we don’t. Their faces and reserve demeanor give it away. Miss Lili suggests we three freshen up and change, then go eat. She’s hungry.

  Maria and I are shown up stairs to the room where I had slept and the bathroom. We freshen up and change into fresh jeans and tank tops Mom brought up. Mom stays to talk while we change. She says she’ll man the clinic the next two days then we’re expected in the office. The boys had told her about the “vacation” and they all thought we could use a day or two to recuperate. Then we have two full days of appointments before the weekend. And next week we’re booked solid, too, and she’ll be there to help through the next week. She reminds us the boys are going back to work Monday then adds, “Now’s a good time to spend a ‘lotta’ time with them.” As we walk out the bedroom door, she adds, “Maybe, even over night.”

  Maria and I look at each other, not sure what to say, or do. “Mom, don’t ya think it’s still a little too soon for overnight ‘visits’? Steve and I aren’t sure we’re ready for that, yet.”

  She turns and stops in front of us. “Sher, stop being naïve. Steve’s been ready and so have you. If it means anything, your Dad and I are about ready to disown ya for teasing him so brazenly. We believe he’s proven himself if you’d just look past yourself and stop worrying about what the town might think. You’ve exaggerated the reaction of others. So stop it. Maria does have Shay to be careful of, but not to use as an excuse. Now, let’s eat.”

  Maria and I follow her down the stairs to join the others and we’re off to eat, Maria, Bob, Shay, Steve and me in Bob’s truck and the others in their cars. We discuss Glen’s visit on the way to the restaurant. The boys ask if they can come over for a while, to give Miss Lili “some room.” Maria and I laugh, “And Miss Lili thought we would have to entice them away from the house tonight.” I could only laugh at the look on the guys’ faces at Maria’s words. We discuss Miss Lili and Glen the rest of the way to supper. The guys have known about them for the last ten years, but have never said anything. Tonight when Glen arrived the three of them talked about it. The guys thought it was time for Miss Lili and him to stop sneaking around. Glen said he thought so, too. Our thoughts were to let them come out into the open, but he has other ideas. He plans to ask Miss Lili to marry him tonight and he plans to spend the week, regardless of her answer. If she says yes, he’ll move to Granite Bluff, because of Miss Lili’s ties here. He hopes to take some of the work of the town off of her. He knows about the partnership with us, seems she called him to talk about it before she did it and he’s advised her on other projects, too. The guys are all for them getting married, if Miss Lili wants to, and said as much to Glen. The subject’s dropped when we arrive at the restaurant.

  Supper was at the steak house and the conversation was about the trip and the information that was gathered. Shay sat between Maria and Bob who was next to Miss Lili. Steve sat next to Glen and I sat between him and Mom then Dad. We talked and laughed, had a cocktail and ate. I asked Dad to drive my truck home for me so I could drive Steve’s truck out after we drop Bob off at Maria’s. That taken care of, the evening was set for Miss Lili and Glen.

  After dinner we all go back to Miss Lili’s. Bob won’t fit into Maria’s car with his cast so we drop him off and I, finally, get to go home. Steve’s sitting watching the scenery as I drive. “Steve, I want to talk to you about us. I’d like ya to stay over tonight, but I’m nervous and scared. I don’t know what I’m afraid of, but I am. If ya don’t want to stay it’s okay. Thought I’d let ya know.”

  Steve’s not saying anything. I take it to mean he won’t stay. We get to the ranch and he gets out of the truck and we go into the house. My luggage and parents are there. Dad offers Steve a beer and they go outside to sit on the porch, leaving me and Mom to unpack. The guys move back into the living room to watch the news before we finish. When we’re through, Mom and I sat down with them ‘til the news is over then they go home. That’s when I thought of Bob and Maria.

  “Steve, I’m gonna call Maria to see if Bob needs a ride home. Do ya want to talk to him?” Since he hasn’t spoken to me since I’d asked him to stay I assume he’s not planning to stay. He nods.

  I call Maria and tell her Steve wants to talk to Bob and I hand the phone to him. When he takes it, I walk outside to the barn to see Izzie. I give her a carrot and while she’s taking it outta my hand I hear Steve come in. When he’s right behind me, he says, “Bob doesn’t need a ride tonight. So…if things work out, I’ll stay.” He puts an arm around my waist from behind and kisses my neck. Izzie nuzzles him, breakin’ us up. He scratches her forehead and she puts her head over his arm so he hugs her. She steps back and Steve turns me. “Scared?”

  “A little, but I think a kiss will change that, if it’s anything like they were.”

  “Can we go inside first? I don’t plan to stop once we get started, unless ya say to.” I nod and we go back to the house.

  When I step inside, my stomach becomes queasy, so I walk into the kitchen and fiddle with the dishrag. “How do we do this with your bad ankle and the crutches? I don’t want to reinjure it.”

  He steps up behind me and says, “We’ll work it out. Still willing?” He puts his arms around my waist and tightens his hug ‘til I’m against him. “Sher, we don’t have to do this now, if you’re having second thoughts.” He’s whispering into my hair, sending chills down my spine.

  “I’ll always have second thoughts, but I may never have the nerve to do this later.” I turn and kiss him. I nip at his bottom lip and he moans while he tightens his hug and pushes me against the counter. The lightening storm starts a
nd when he opens his mouth to tickle my upper lip with his tongue I meet his tongue with mine. He drops his crutches against the counter and gathers me closer to him and plunges his tongue as I plunge mine.

  He breaks the kiss to hold me to him and says next to my ear, “You just don’t know what ya do to me.” He continues to my neck with wet, warm kisses. His hands come up my back to squeeze the muscles and I almost forget about his ankle.

  “And you don’t know what ya do to me. We’d better get somewhere where we won’t hurt your ankle.” I hand him one crutch and putting his arm around my shoulders, walk him toward the bed.

  “You’re sure?” I turn toward him and take the crutch from him and toss it across the room at the couch then start to pull his shirt up. “I like that answer, but I need to sit down.” I help him turn and sit on the end of the bed and finish taking his shirt off. Good thing he thought of sitting, I only come to his shoulders. From his position on the bed he wraps both arms around me and pulls me to him, his head on chest. He takes the hem of my top and slides it up slowly, kissing each inch of skin as it’s bared.

  My hands are in his hair, making sure he doesn’t get too far away. When he reaches my bra, he unfastens it while I remove my top. He’s sitting and can’t get it over my head. The warm, wet kisses are taking me past the lightening and into an inferno. He slides his hands into the back of my jeans and pulls me closer. I bump his leg and come back to my senses enough to straddle his legs to keep from bumping his ankle. Then I fall into the inferno and don’t come up for air ‘til I collapsed onto his chest.

  “Sher,” he says into my hair as he kisses the top of my head. As soon as I can breathe again I kiss and rub his chest, liking the feel of the cool, soft hair on it.

  As we recover from the exertion and mindlessness of lust and I’m on the verge of sleep, I hear, “Sher, I have a problem. My jeans are tangled with my shoes and bandage and I need to get them off.” I sit up to carefully move off of him and slide to the edge of the bed to go around it to help him. He sits up to help me get the jeans off of his bad ankle without hurting him. “I should wear shorts like Bob does.” I look at him. “It’s the only thing he can wear without cutting a slit up the leg.” I hadn’t noticed Bob was wearing shorts.

  While I’m up, I go to the bathroom then Steve hops in after I’ve finished. While he’s in the bathroom, I get a drink and go back to help him to bed, but he doesn’t need it. I offer to get him a drink but he got one in the bathroom. We cuddle up in bed and he says, “Sher, we didn’t use any protection.” I tell him I’m on the pill. He doesn’t say anything, but lies back, relaxing and snuggling closer.

  For the next while we snuggle, with a few kisses. Then the fire takes over again. As the sun’s coming up we’re going to sleep.

  At noon when we wake up, the fire flames again. Then we shower together, taking our time, and get dressed. Steve calls Maria’s to ask if Bob needs a ride home. He’s going to spend the afternoon with Maria. She has to see her mother, but first she’s going to get his truck. Then he calls Miss Lili. Everything’s fine there, too, so, he decides, there’s no rush to get back to town.

  That’s when I remember the dogs. Steve reminds me there are no dogs. There’s a knock at my door and I holler for them to come in. Dad comes in and says Mom’s covering the clinic today, so I can relax. Besides, we’ll need to get some groceries, he says as he hands me a bag with bacon, eggs, potatoes, milk, juice and bread. Then he goes around the room to pick up the crutches and hands them to Steve, telling me to make coffee. Dad walks out onto the porch. Steve and I look at each other and shrug as Dad calls Steve outside. I ask Steve how he likes his coffee. Black.

  I take the coffee out to them and they’re sitting there talking about the ideas Steve’d had to help the ranch make more money. “I guess we’ll have to work it up on paper,” I hear Dad say. “Breakfast ready for this young man, yet?” I answer no and get up to start it.

  Steve comes in a few minutes later and hugs me from behind while I fry bacon. “Your Dad’s pretty cool, never said a word about my staying over.”

  “He better not. He and Mom have been on me since the carnival to get it done so I’ll relax enough to see where this will go.”

  Steve chuckles, “Grams’ has been saying the same thing to me.”

  “I figured she had since she’s said it to me.” The phone rings. I’m needed at the clinic. We put the food away and head for the truck.

  Chapter 14

  We get to the clinic to find everyone gathered in the waiting room. Mom says Miss Lili wanted a family meeting. She comes out of the kennel room with Glen and Chaucee. “Good morning…afternoon, everyone. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything. I have some very important questions that need to be answered, immediately. But we need to sit down first.” We all sit down in the waiting room chairs and a few of the stools from the exam rooms.

  Miss Lili continues, first by thanking Maria and me for keeping her boys for the night. Then holds up her hand to stop any response, “I’m sure it was pleasant for all concerned,” and keeps a straight face. Mom’s snickering in the office, tho’ and Glen’s smiling with his chin on his chest.

  Steve’s not taking the razzing like a gentleman, “I guess the same would be true of you, too.”

  Miss Lili, not to be out done, says “I included myself in the statement”, while Glen shifts in his chair and Miss Lili grins, really big, then sobers.

  “But that’s not why we’re here. Glen has asked me to marry him and he’s willing to live here with me because of my guardianship of the town. I want to marry him, but I need to know how my boys and girls feel about it. Be aware, I have already accepted his proposal, subject to what ya’ll say. Now, what do ya have to say?”

  “Will we need to find someplace else to live?” Steve’s not sure he wants to move. “We need to stay in town because of our job and you always need help with your projects. Our shifts and then being on call the rest of the time makes it necessary.”

  “No. Glen and I wouldn’t know what to with that big house and just us. He has two children from his first marriage that are married and he has four grandchildren. They visit once a year during the summer and then all of them at Christmas. Otherwise, they’ll not be here at the same time. We’ll make sleeping arrangements when necessary. But you boys are not expected to move.” Steve and Bob nod.

  “Now, what do you girls think?” Miss Lili is looking at Maria and me.

  “I think it’s great. When do you plan to get married?” Maria’s not concerned, at all. Miss Lili looks at me.

  “I don’t know what to say. I’m not even sure why I’m included. I’m just your partner and if there’s no problem with the partnership then I don’t need to be here.” She frowns at me and Steve looks at me, confusion showing on his face. I look at Mom and she’s horrified at my words and attitude.

  Miss Lili sees my lack of “belonging”, “Sher, you’ve hurt several people by not understanding that you belong to my family, too. You and Maria are ‘my girls’, just as Steve and Bob are ‘my boys’. Please don’t hurt us again by omitting yourself.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand your meaning. When’s the wedding date?” I say softly, having to re-group.

  “Bob, you haven’t said anything, yet, cat got your tongue?” Miss Lili wants to hear from everyone.

  “Steve and I spoke with Glen, yesterday, before y’all got home. He knows we think your happiness is important. If this will make ya happy, I have no objections and neither does Steve. Until our situations are settled, we’d like to stay where we are. So, are congratulations in order, or not?”

  She reaches for Glen’s hand and he looks at her and she nods. We all spring up to congratulate them. Then we ask again, “When’s the wedding?” No date yet. They still have to talk to his kids.

  After the hugs, I walk out back to look around. The yard toys are here. I’m avoiding what I’d said earlier, but Miss Lili joins me. “The yard’s nice, isn’t it?”She puts
her arm through mine and squeezes it. I turn to hug her.

  “Miss Lili, I’m really sorry I hurt your feelings. I didn’t intend to, but Steve and I aren’t an item yet and I thought you thought we might be. Ya know, because of last night.”

  “Didn’t ya enjoy yourself? Ya seem more relaxed. I thought more than sex might have happened. I’m sorry I assumed it had. But you should take your time. By the way, when Steve goes back to work, you can spend the night at the house if you and he want. Now, let’s go look at the ‘cat house.’” We chuckle as we wander over to the resort and find the arrangement very nice and accommodating to both the animals and us. Maria joins us and we’re all very happy with how it turned out. Everyone appears behind us and they approve, too.

  We walk over to the animal shelter and find it’s as appealing as the resort in functionality. Miss Lili turns to us and says it’s time for a sign to be added to the front of the clinic. “If you girls agree, I’d like to call the resort ‘Wagin’ Tails Layover’ and the animal shelter ‘Granite Bluff Animal Shelter and Adoption Center.’ Of course, Cal will have to okay the animal shelter name, but I think he will.” We laugh, knowing he will.

  Maria and I like the names and so do the others. We go out into the yard and I see Chaucee. She’s a beautiful Scottie. She comes over to me, putting her front paws on my foot and I bend down to pick her up. She starts wiggling in my arms and licking my face, chin and neck. I fall for her, again, and start nuzzling her against me. Then I remember she’s Miss Lili’s. And then Chief, who needs to be checked on and José needs his splint removed, too. I’m back in my comfort zone, work.

  Steve comes over to me, “She’s a cutie, isn’t she?”

  Nodding, I put her down. “Chief needs to be checked and José needs his splint off soon.”

  “They have appointments Friday. We didn’t forget.” I nod. “You’re awfully quiet. Sher, are we okay? I can’t tell when we’re around other people.” I turn and kiss him then take one of his crutches and put his arm around my shoulders and we walk back into the clinic. “I’m huingry. We haven’t eaten today. Can we get a burger, or pizza, or both?”