Untrusting (Troubled)

by A. J. Wells

  Maria locks the front door while Steve and I check on the puppies. They’re waking up so we take them out and bring them back in. “You plannin’ on staying here tonight?” I nod. “Can I stay, too?” I nod. “Good, ‘cause I brought the cot,” he’s smiling like a Cheshire cat. I smack him on the arm and he grabs me to pull me to him for a kiss.

  This time Maria breaks us up. “Enough of that, its closing time. Sher, the boarding house is gonna be full after tomorrow and we have no appointments ‘til after Christmas. Maybe, we can leave an emergency number to call and sorta take the next four days off. What’da ya think?”

  “Sounds great to me,” Steve and I both say and I continue, “but we’ll need to meet here four times a day to take care of the guests. And there’s that project we need to finish.” Maria nods and says she has to leave, the office is locked and the rooms were cleaned while I was gone.

  Steve asks what I want for supper, but I have no idea. He’ll surprise me and he leaves, too. I check on the puppies and they’re becoming a little more stable. I sit down to think about finishing the room from the damage the tornado did and how I might finish it. I’d like built in kennels or shelves that will hold the kennels might be better then I could always add more kennels if I ever needed to. And I need the walls tiled so I can wash them down, there’s already a drain in the room. That’s something I can check on while we’re taking time off.

  Steve comes in the back door carrying bags of food. He puts them down and goes out to get the table and two chairs off the patio. He’s still limping and using the cane, so I go out to help. He suggests I have a shower put in so I can shower here if I need to. “Are you saying I need a shower?”

  “Not necessarily, but you could use a change of clothes. You smell like you’ve been sleeping with dogs.” He’s smiling. As I’m about to ask him to leave, he hands me a box and tells me to freshen up in the bathroom. I, reluctantly, take the box and go to the bathroom.

  I’m surprised when I open the box. There’s a teddy that would barely cover a flea and one of Steve’s cotton plaid shirts. When I come out there’s candles on the table and real silverware and glasses. Steve’s in another room doing something. I can hear him moving around. I hurry to the office and take out my perfume spritzer and spray myself, lightly, and then again. When I come out Steve’s in pajama bottoms and a smoking jacket. The candles are lit and putting off a sweet smell of Gardenias.

  The puppies are moving around and I decide we should put them out and I feed them when we come back in so we won’t be disturbed during dinner.

  Steve holds a chair for me to sit in, but doesn’t say anything. I go to be seated. He brings out a plate of fried oysters and we nibble on those. Then he takes the plate away and comes back balancing two plates of steak and baked potato and two bowls of salad. I take the bowls and he sets the plates down. Then takes the salad dressing outta his pockets and shows them to me like they’re fine wine, over his arm. I snicker, but pick the French dressing. He sets it next to my water glass and sits down to eat. We chat about Christmas and Glen’s family coming tomorrow. Then I ask him what I can get Bob.

  “Bob needs some equipment, but it’ll have to be ordered and it’ll take two weeks to get here. It’s expensive, too. Grams has order equipment for all of us, but not for Christmas. We’ll go shopping day after tomorrow. Grams and Glen can let the guests out at lunch and mid afternoon. Okay?”

  “Okay. Now what’s all this about?” I ask indicating the sexy attire and dinner. Steve smiles and gets up to clear the dishes. He comes back with Strawberry Cheesecake. When he sets it down he sets a small box down with it. He goes to sit down and tho’ I’m dying to ask about it I don’t.

  We have dessert and when he comes back from clearing the table he scoots my chair out, meaning get up, dinner’s over. He pulls me to him and kisses me then picks up the box, “Aren’t ya even curious about this?”

  “Yes, but I knew you’d tell me when you were ready.” I’m really playing it laid back, when I’d really like to’ve seen what is in it as soon as he’d brought it out.

  He looks at me and smiles, “I can’t tempt ya can I?”

  “Not with that, but ya tempt me in so many other ways.” I tiptoe to kiss him, like I mean it.

  “If ya don’t stop that I’ll forget what I’m trying to do,” he says looking up at the ceiling. I try to take a step back but he won’t let me. “I don’t want ya to move, just don’t kiss me like that…yet.” I just stand there looking up at him, a little pouty and teasing him.

  “Sher, I asked ya to marry me two weeks ago. I love you and I want ya to wear this. It’s Grams’ rings from my grandfather Buck, but I had them reset for you. Will you still marry me?”

  “Yes, Steve I will. I love you, too.” He opens the box and the huge diamond has been made smaller to go with my taste. It’s set in a lacey looking setting with chips down the side on the band. Steve says the lace look is called filigree. The point is, he had it made for me. “It’s beautiful, it suits me and I love it.” He takes it out of the box and slips it on my finger. It looks like it belongs there. Then I lose it. I forget about his ankle and jump up to kiss him and not “like” I mean it because I really mean it. Steve catches me and pulls me tight to him with one hand. His other hand is on his cane and starts to carry me somewhere. “Steve, put me down. I don’t want your ankle hurt again. I’m too much weight to add to that foot.”

  “I don’t want to put ya down. I want ya as close to me as I can get ya.”

  “I know, but the puppies need to be put out and the door closed before we go to bed.” He groans and puts me down. We put the dogs out then put them away, close the door and lock it. I start toward the room where I have the bed when he stops me.

  “Not that way.” He takes my hand and leads me into one of the exam rooms. He’s moved the table and desk out of the way and there’s an air mattress with sheets, pillows and a comforter, nice and neat, waiting for us. It wasn’t neat for long.

  Startled, I wake up. There’s someone in the office. It’s Maria, here for work. I shake Steve and tell him to put on his pajama bottoms while I put on his shirt. He groans but comes full awake when he hears Maria calling for me. “Maria, we’re here. I’ll be out in a minute. Stay there.”

  I get dressed in the clean clothes Steve had thought to bring for me, and go into the office to start the coffee. “Good morning.”

  In a whisper, Maria asks what happened. “The place looks like we’re moving.”

  “We had a little celebration,” and I held out my hand. She says it pretty and it suits me.

  Steve comes to the door, dressed, “Good morning. Is that coffee I smell?” I pour us all a cup and hand them out. “I have a mess I need to clean up, but first let’s get this table and the chairs back outside. Then I’ll get things back to normal in the exam room, okay?”

  “Why don’t ya take care of the exam room and Sher and I will take care of the table and chairs and the guests.” Maria doesn’t miss my groan. I completely forgot the guests. She looks at me and the look says “you didn’t.” I nod and cringe. Steve ducks his head and disappears into the exam room.

  We go out the back taking the table and coming back for the chairs. Then go to the boarding house. It’s not too bad, but it does need to be hosed down. Steve brings the puppies out and we start letting the guest dogs out. He says he’ll clean up the kennel room while we clean the boarding house and, maybe, the dogs there. The puppies can’t be bathed but they need to be cleaned so I ask Maria to take care of it while Steve cleans their kennels and I hose out the hotel and bathe the dogs. Maria believes that sounds right, considering.

  Two hours later, I’m finished and go into the office wet and smelly. The puppies are gone and so is Steve and any sign of our “celebration.” Miss Lili comes in while I’m outside drying. She comes out with a bag saying Steve sent it because he was afraid to come himself. She laughs. Maria and I don’t think it’s so funny. She asks to see my ring and I show her
. She loves it.

  She says Steve told her about the mess he’s caused with his “surprise” and he was afraid to come back too soon. He thinks you girls need a little time to forgive him. “I’m not upset with him. I’m upset with me, for forgetting my responsibilities. The dinner and everything was very nice and romantic. I got carried away is my only excuse and it’s not a very good one.”

  Maria goes in and comes back out carrying my teddy. “That explains this much better than my imagination did.” Miss Lili starts laughing as I jump up to grab the handful of fabric off of Maria’s fingers. I stuff it in my jean pocket. Maria laughs, “I guess, my imagination was right after all. Thing is, Bob got one for me very similar to it.” Now my face isn’t so red.

  “I have a more mature version of it that Glen got for me.” Miss Lili says. “By the way, we’re having a meet and greet dinner at the house tonight for Glen’s family. Steve’s at home moving some of yours and his things so it’s ready for our guests. Now, I’d appreciate it if you’d take the bag and change into something less fragrant. You may want to go home to shower tho’.”

  “If it’s okay with you two, I could use a shower. I’ll be back right after. I may stop to get wrapping paper and bring the gifts I need to wrap back. I haven’t wrapped anything I’ve bought yet. I can spend the afternoon quietly cursing at the packages that never want to come out right. I’ll see y’all in about an hour.”

  I can’t find any wrapping paper in town, so I return to the office. Miss Lili has some things she has to do, but she’ll send over the wrapping paper she has left and bows, ribbons and tape. I start sorting the bags of gifts while Maria and I talk about what to get the guys. We still haven’t gotten any ideas. Glen comes in and overhears our conversation. “You ladies seem to be in a quandary. Why don’t you go for something you’d like to see them in, something personal, maybe sexy. It’ll get a laugh Christmas morning and could be very nice later. Here’s one box of wrapping stuff, I’ll get the others.”

  I start sorting through the box of paper, its all high class stuff. I choose several then have another box of paper to sort through. It looks like it’s sorted according to gender and when the next box arrives, age, too. Good, now I can leave it in the boxes ‘til I need something from the box. However, the next box has bows in it in plastic bags with matching ribbon and name tag and a small box of tape.

  Steve brings lunch over and we let the guests out. Don’t want to do that again. We have lunch and I send the wrapped packages back with him. I still have others to wrap. These are the ones that need to be delivered. After supper Maria and I are going shopping, leaving Shay with the guys. We’ve decided to take Glen’s suggestion.

  Steve and Bob are off work today because they’re delivering Christmas trees, gifts, tree decorations and food baskets. Miss Lili wants to get as much of the town taken care of as possible before Glen’s family arrives. Maria and I missed out on most of that work. Organizing the requests was enough to tell us there was a lotta of work involved in getting it all put together.

  Mom drops by to see what my schedule is for the next few days. Maria says she’ll let the dogs out in the morning and at lunch, but I’ll have to let them out in the afternoon and at night. I agree to that, since Steve and I will be staying at my place ‘til the new part of the family leave. Mom wants to know if I’ll have time to spend some of Christmas with them. I tell her I’ll find out when Miss Lili is going to have dinner then I’ll know better when we can spend time with them. She’s not too happy. She says she and Dad are feeling left out and they miss me, but we’ll talk later, since we’ll be back out at the house for a few days.

  I let Maria go home early, after we put a sign in the window saying we’re closed ‘til after Christmas to call the alternative numbers if they need help. I continue to wrap gifts ‘til Steve comes looking for me. Glen’s family has arrived and he’s finished delivering Christmas to half the town. Miguel comes by with Miss Lili’s gift and I pay him. It’s pretty grand for a suggestion box.

  Steve’s confused about what it is, but I don’t tell him anything about it. I tell him, Bob and he are gonna be babysitting Shay tonight while Maria and I go shopping for him, Bob, Miss Lili and Glen. He says okay. “Will that be the last of the shopping?” I tell him I think so. Miss Lili had said she and Glen had shopped for his family for us. He said the tree shows the increase in family.

  I ask about Yolanda and Penny. They’re doing well. Penny’s happy, but preoccupied in taking care of her mother. Miss Lili had a Christmas tree set up in their living room for them. Then put all their gifts from everyone under it. They both cried when they saw it. Yolanda’s doing better, but she’ll be doing very little for a few more weeks. She saw the doctor, today and she’s still on a lotta of medication.

  He has to go and I should meet him at Grams. She wants us to visit with Glen’s family for a while before supper. I tell him I’ll be along soon, I need to let the dogs out and check their water.

  I have a hard time parking in the drive, it’s full. When I get inside I find there’s no room here either. For only eight more people to be here, it’s wall to wall people. Glen’s family is sitting in the living room talking a bit while Miss Lili and Maria are in the kitchen cooking. Glen, Steve and Bob are coming and going, serving Glen’s family. I go in to be introduced and notice the kids, they’re high school or college age, are bored. I say hi and go back into the kitchen. “What do these people do for fun?”

  Miss Lili hasn’t a clue and neither does Maria. I start helping in the kitchen. Soon Shay comes in and wants to go outside to play Frisbee with the dogs. Maria tells him to ask Bob to go with him. He does and the next thing we know all the kids are in the backyard with Bob, Steve and the six dogs. The four adults are sitting in the living room like the living dead. Glen’s daughter comes in to ask for another glass of tea. I tell her sure and show her where the refrigerator is when I fill her glass then I tell her to help herself. She says okay.

  I follow her into the living room and only the women are left. “Where’d your husbands go?”

  “They decided to sit on the porch.” Claudia and Betty say.

  “You don’t have to sit in here by yourselves. You can join us in the kitchen, if you’d like. At least we can get to know each other if ya do. We can talk and cook at the same time.”

  “That would be nice.” Betty says. So they come in to talk and watch, I thought. Next thing I know they’re helping with the meal.

  I step to the door of Yolanda’s room and knock. A nurse opens the door. “Is Penny here and can I see Yolanda?” Nancy introduces herself and calls Penny. I tell her she needs to go out to play. She doesn’t want to ‘til I tell her everyone’s out playing and Nancy will take care of her mother for the time she’s playing. So she goes out.

  I go in to see Yolanda’s looking much better. I ask how she is and she says she’s feeling much better. Nancy says she’s still short of breathe and can get around some on her own, but not for very long. Her strength will come back a little at a time. I tell her to feel better and leave her to rest.

  I ask Claudia to ask the ones in the backyard if they want something to drink and I go to ask the self exiled husbands if they want a drink. Then ask them to come in for it. The next thing that happens is they hear the shouting and laughing in the backyard. Claudia comes in saying drinks would be appreciated out back. I load two trays up with disposable cups filled with iced tea and have the husbands take them out. Miss Lili keeps looking at me and sorta frowning. But nobody’s complaining about being included.

  We ladies finish getting supper ready, the tables set up and set. Then I holler out the back door, “Come and get. Don’t forget the cups and trays, guys.” It worked. They all come in laughing and talking, to each other. The dogs come in, go lay down and go to sleep. I tell Miss Lili I have to check on the dogs in about thirty minutes. She tells me to go, they’ll wait for me to get back and she smiles at me. Maria goes with me so we’ll get done faster and we’re
home in time for supper to be served without any delay.

  The talk at the tables is almost deafening, but we’re beginning to mesh as members of a newly formed family. Glen and Miss Lili are smiling and laughing. I suggest at supper that the men should barbecue tomorrow and give the ladies a break. It’s received very well. Miss Lili looks at me like I’m a brazen hussy suggesting such a thing. But I smile at her like it was a compliment. She frowns and I smile bigger. I’ll have to talk to her before I leave.

  After supper, which everyone complimented, Maria and I go back to let the dogs out and leave Betty and Claudia to help Miss Lili clean up. It serves them right for sitting while Miss Lili worked so hard to feed them. We get back in time for dessert and we help clean that up. We don’t want to act like the others. I excuse Maria and I, telling them we have a few more gifts we have to get before tomorrow night. Betty, Claudia, and Miss Lili want to come with us. So we ladies leave it all in the men’s hands.

  We take Miss Lili’s Caddy and have a great time. When we get back, we stop at the office to check on the dogs. Betty and Claudia are impressed with our ventures. Betty, an interior designer, loves the boarding house design and recognizes it as the brothel from “Cheyenne Social Club.” Claudia, an efficiency coordinator, loves the space and time saving design. Now, we’re making points with them.