Two Weeks of Joy

by Megan McCoy

  “We love it when a plan comes together,” they both chorused and Joy hung up.

  Wow. Her life. What had just happened to it? Whatever it was, she was going to take full advantage of it. She punched ‘Jericho Campbell’ into her search engine and prepared – hoped - to be awed. Or at least reassured.

  “Hey, Professor,” Jericho called out as he walked toward his son’s room. While his son’s real name was Russell, he’d been The Professor since his tiny solemn baby face made his mom laugh and say he looked just like the Professor on Gilligan’s Island.

  “In here, Dad,” he heard back.

  “Got the horses tied up?” he asked, opening the bedroom door.

  “No, but Kerrie took them outside to do their business. I missed you. How long are you home for?”

  “Just tonight, but I have a couple bits of good news,” Jericho hated that his son sat in the wheelchair and didn’t run to meet him like he used to do. Hated the hearing aid protruding from his malfunctioning ear. Hated that his one arm would need ‘a lot of therapy’ to recover some motor control. Hated all this. But, at least he had the money to help him, where he couldn’t help his wife who’d died in the same accident. That had been over three years ago and they were still struggling.

  “What’s the good news?” Russell rolled over to him, and looked up expectantly.

  “I’m taking all next week off,” Jericho said, leaning over to peer into his computer screen. “What you playing?”

  “That new game you gave me. It’s kind of boring though. Got any better ones coming out?” Russ gave the screen a swipe or two.

  “Why is it boring?” Russ often tried out some of the new games his company wanted to put on the market. Jericho had found he was a good beta tester.

  “Just is,” Russ shrugged. He looked up from his game. “Are you really going to be off, or just work from here like you usually do when you say you’re off?”

  Apparently Jericho’s hesitation told Russ what he needed to know, because he looked away, and asked, “What’s the other good news?”

  “Oh! I think I have a dog trainer coming to help us with the horses,” he tried to high five him, but Russ just looked at him as if he were a fool.

  “Dad, the dogs are fine. I don’t trust your judgment on the dogs anyway,”

  “Hey, what do you mean by that?” he asked, offended.

  “It means you don’t like them and don’t think they are smart,” Russ explained. “I do like them and I really need some better help with them. I’m not dumb, Dad. I know they can be better than they are.”

  Jericho shook his head, hoping that therapy would help his son’s battered body eventually become as strong as his mind again. The dogs seemed to help his understandable depression though, which was worth a lot.

  “If they can’t learn they can go to the barn and live with the rest of the horses,” he grumbled, hearing Kerrie, Russ’s tutor and caretaker come in with the dogs. Two big active labradoodles bounded into the room, obviously delighted to see him. This breed had come highly recommended, supposedly smart, easily trained and intuitive, they were also low shedding and hypoallergenic. They were also huge, ate a lot, and bounced around like horses. The trainer had forgotten to mention those things. The dogs had worked just fine for her, but things had gone steadily downhill in the last few months. When he contacted her about a refresher course, she told him they would have to come there. He just didn’t have time to do that and didn’t want to send Russ out there alone. He’d worry too much about the boy traveling without him, even with Kerrie there to help him.

  “Mr. Campbell, welcome home,” Kerrie said in way Jericho knew she didn’t really mean it.

  “Hello, Kerrie, how’re things working out?” he hoped he wouldn’t kick himself for asking.

  “Russ is doing great. I did not sign on to do dogs though,” she looked at him as if he would banish them to the fictional barn, immediately.

  “I hired a trainer who is coming out to help us work with the dogs,” he reassured her. “She’ll be here Wednesday.”

  “Oh, thank goodness,” Kerrie said, so thankfully that Jericho got very nervous.

  He hoped this new trainer would work out. More than ever.

  “You can go ahead and go home, if you want,” he told Kerrie. “Russ and I are hanging out tonight.”

  It took her less than ten seconds to grab her purse and head out the door with only a back handed wave and no word of goodbye to Russ at all. He wasn’t very happy with that, but figured he’d be home enough in the next week to see how things were really going.

  “Did you eat yet?” he asked Russ. “Want to come to the kitchen with me and see what we can scrounge up?”

  “Sure,” his son put the video game down and began to roll out of his room. “I had supper, but I think there’s some ice cream in the freezer.” “If we have some, it better be in the freezer,” he said as he fell into step beside him. “What do we do with them?” Russ laughed and said, “We shut them in the room, and they go to sleep.”

  Jericho waited till Russ was out the door and did that just, realizing he missed being home, but he had not only had to be both parents to his son, but step in to the CEO seat in the software company his wife had started. This company would be his son’s legacy and he’d vowed to make it a great one for him. Lori would want him to do that. He would not let her down.

  “You’re so silly, dad,” he pulled open the bottom freezer, then got himself a bowl and spoon while Jericho rummaged in the fridge for leftovers. They’d moved most things lower so Russ could help himself as much as possible, and Jericho really struggled when he was home, not to do everything for him. Often it took a strength of will that he hadn’t realized he possessed. He munched on the piece of cold pizza he found, while Russ scooped a couple spoons of ice cream in his bowl.

  “Did Lucas make it over this week?” he asked about his son’s best friend.

  “He did. He’s trying out for baseball again,” the wistfulness in Russ’ voice felt palpable to Jericho. They’d been on the same team since preschool, till the accident.

  “Next year, bud,” he said, as confidently as he could. “The doctors say you’ll be on your feet soon, and that will give you a while to get stronger to run those bases after that home run hit.”

  Russ rolled his eyes. When had he started doing that? Chair or not, he wasn’t a little kid anymore. Teenagers scared him. Even when he’d been one, they’d scared him. He had been so glad to get to college and away from the high school drama and hormones. But then Russ asked, just like a little kid, “Will you come to my first game, Dad? You never did before.”

  Jericho looked him in the eye, and said, “You can count on it.” And decided that nothing would stop him from attending one of the games ever again. No matter what it took.

  Chapter Two

  Joy walked off the plane, heading down the ramp into the airport, “We’re here, Tymber” she told the dog tucked firmly into the pack in front of her. He, as usual, didn’t seem impressed, poking his nose out, taking a look around and then tucking it back in to sleep. She was impressed, though. Arizona was the furthest she’d ever been from the Midwest and she couldn’t wait to see how different it looked. What life was like here. Sunshine. She could not wait to bask in the warmth.

  She deserved a working vacation, she reassured herself. There was no reason not to enjoy herself while she was out here. How hard could it be to brush up a couple of already trained dogs? She knew it would be the people who would be more challenging but she hoped to break their training up into several times a day. Add in an hour of theory a day and hopefully they would all be good by the time she left. How many of them would there be, she wondered?

  Kane and some Professor were meeting her at the airport. She’d chatted with Kane several times while making the arrangements and was looking forward to meeting him. He seemed funny and easy to talk to. She’d vowed this was not a man-seeking opportunity though, but a relaxing vacation. Last thing
she needed right now was a man messing in her life. There would be plenty of time for that later, after the balance in her bank account rose dramatically. Thigh high black boots, here she came.

  Watching all the people being greeted by family and loved ones made her a bit sad, however. It would be nice to have a small family welcoming committee when she came home. Jennifer and Henry were the closest thing she had to family in Illinois. Her folks were in Florida, enjoying life. Her brother was stationed in Germany, apparently dating a local, so who knew if he’d ever come home.

  She liked it that way, being alone with no one to answer to, she reminded herself, peering around the crowd to look for Kane and whatever kind of professor who had nothing better to do than come meet her at the airport. Maybe it was his wife, and he was just so proud of her designation that’s what he called her? That would be so cute. She actually hoped that’s what it was.

  Finally, she stood against a wall to wait a bit till the crowd thinned out. She’d call him on the cell number he’d provided if she couldn’t figure out where he was soon.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a big man, dressed in jeans, loose red shirt covering a good sized frame, sleeve tattoos, and sporting a purple Mohawk approach her. Immediately she wondered if she had any change in case he was going to ask for a donation to some cause or the other.

  “Joy?” he asked.

  “Kane?” She was not expecting this.

  “I would have found you sooner if you’d mentioned you were wearing a dog,” he said, smiling in a way that belied his big size and almost scary look.

  “I would have found you sooner if you’d mentioned the purple Mohawk and tattoos,” she retorted, smiling at him. “Good to meet you!”

  He held out his arms, obviously wanting a hug, and she stepped into him, well, as much as she could with the dog between them. Tymber gave a warning yip, and they both backed away, laughing.

  “Good flight? Let’s go get your luggage,” he said. “Sure hope you can help us out. The dogs chewed through the Professor’s computer cords last night, and the boss man isn’t happy.”

  “I’ll do all I can,” she promised. “Where is this professor you were bringing with you?”

  “Russ wasn’t feeling good this morning. I left him home and he was really disappointed. I’ll have to bring him out to watch the planes one day this week.” Kane led the way to the luggage claim.

  Joy made the leap in her mind, “And why do we call a twelve year old the professor?”

  “There’s some story about his mom thinking he looked like one, but it really fits him, you’ll see. Let me know when you see your stuff and I’ll grab them.”

  Half an hour later they were tucked into what thankfully looked like a normal car and not the backside of the motorcycle he looked like he rode, heading away from the airport. “How long have you worked for Jericho?” she asked, looking around for her first sight of cactus. She’d never seen a real cactus other than the tiny ones in the stores.

  “You call him Jericho?” Kane glanced over at her, seemingly startled.

  “Yeah, I guess. Why, what do you call him?” she asked. It hadn’t occurred to her to call him anything else.

  “Jericho or boss man. But only a handful of us do. He’s rather intimidating, apparently,” Kane said.

  “Really?” she shrugged. “I’m an alpha bitch. Ask any dog. They’ll tell you. I don’t intimidate easily.”

  “That’s good to know. He likes to be overbearing. Just know he’s a really good guy underneath.”

  Joy laughed, “I already knew that. He’s paying me a butt load of money to come here for a couple weeks to train a couple dogs that a lot of people would have gotten rid of.”

  “The Professor wants to keep the dogs, and he’d do anything for that kid, no matter what it takes,” Kane made a left turn heading east and the traffic began to thin out.

  “How long till we’re there?” she asked.

  “Why? You in a hurry?” he teased. She liked him already.

  “Tymber probably has to pee,” she told him.

  “Oh, I can stop by the side of the road. He can wet the tires,” Kane flipped on his blinker and began to pull over.

  “Oh, that’s okay, we can wait a bit. He hasn’t told me he has to yet so you can go another little way. So tell me about the house, and the kid, and these doodle dogs, and what happened to Gilligan and Mary Ann?”

  “What?” Kane turned his blinker off.

  “Professor, Lovey, Thurston – where’s the rest of the gang?”

  “Oddly, that’s the names they came with, so we just kept them. I’m sure the rest of them were in the same litter. “

  “Would have been weird if you’d gotten The Professor,” she observed.

  “True fact,” he agreed. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes – do we need to stop and rent a tree or think he can hold it?”

  Joy giggled, “He can hold it, me, too, for that matter.”

  “Didn’t think about you,” Kane said. “Sorry.”

  “I’m a big girl and am sure I could inform you if I needed to stop,” she felt very relaxed and comfortable with his purple haired, tattooed, pierced self. She hoped everyone here was as comfortable to be with as he was and in a day or so, she’d fit right into the household and find lots of time to sneak off for some Arizona sun. Early spring was gorgeous here, and still wet and cold back in Illinois. She’d go home with a tan and be the envy of all her friends who were still pasty winter white.

  Well, you know, the ones who didn’t go to the tanning salon anyway. They obviously wouldn’t care. Not that she really cared what they thought, of course. But still there was a small part of her pitiful, poor, close to broke self that wanted everyone to know she managed to score a great job in a warm place and managed to get herself a good tan in the process. Nah, she wasn’t that much of a show off was she? Well. Maybe. We all have vices, she assured herself silently.

  Pulling into the driveway she looked, awed, at the house in front of her. Okay, this was more than nice. The house was huge, and the roof was funny. All bumpy, unlike the shingles on the Illinois houses. Sand instead of grass in the front lawn. Huge house – did it have three or four or six bedrooms? Did just two people live here? Jericho and Russ? Did they rattle around like rocks in the can she sometimes used to get attention from her trainees?

  Joy jumped out to let Tymber have his way on the local vegetation. Cactus? What? She wasn’t sure but hoped that she could find her way to an indoor bathroom soon.

  “What the hell is that thing?” She heard. Sadly, she knew exactly what the –thing- was he was talking about. And who the he was who asked.

  “He’s a hairless Chinese crested. What are you?” she gave her standard response, keeping a close eye on her dog who didn’t know where he was.

  “Your new boss.” Well, that sounded assertive. She could handle that.

  Turning slowly, she called, “Tymber, come.” As her dog jumped in her arms, she tucked him into his pack, and faced her new boss. All righty then! Quite hot and she wasn’t talking about the weather. None of the comfortable presence near him she felt with Kane. This man would challenge her. Some guys had a thing about alpha females. This one seemed to think he was the only cock strutting in the lot, and for some reason she couldn’t wait to challenge his manly self. He might be her boss, but she had a contract. She’d get paid no matter what. Of course she wanted to do a good job, and she would. Nothing harder than leaving an untrained dog when you knew they’d get dumped at a shelter or worse.

  Although, hey, if he wanted to play a game show titled ‘whose is bigger!’ she’d do it. Should be very fun. She’d played it before. She always won. Sometimes she thought it might be just as fun to lose, but she’d found no one worthy of losing to so far. His six foot something, tall, dark, and handsome self might very well give her a run for her money, but nothing she couldn’t handle. Maybe. What was that thrill in her belly? She liked it, whatever it was.

  �
��Hello, new boss,” she smiled and held out her hand to shake. “Do you have a bathroom in this monstrous house close by?”

  His mouth twitched a bit as he reached for her hand and she held her breath waiting for his touch. Oh yeah, she knew that would be every bit as good as it was. She’d heard that some people felt the thrill of a touch all the way to their toes. Her thrill stopped – higher.

  “Yes. As a matter of fact, there are several bathrooms in that monstrous house. Would you like me to show you the way?”

  “That would be extraordinarily thoughtful as long as you’re the fastest tour guide in history,” she replied.

  “I can be,” oddly he didn’t let go of her hand, but he did call over his shoulder, “Kane, can you bring her luggage in?”

  “Sure, boss man,” Kane’s amused voice floated back to her as she was pulled into the house. Dang, he had long legs. But he seemingly understood the need for speed and she appreciated that. More than he knew, probably. Pulled through a set of red double doors, she took a deep breath of cool air. She hadn’t realized how hot it was outside before she came inside. It was just spring. Way too early to be this hot. Dry heat? Yeah, still hot.

  Less than five seconds later, they stopped in front of an ornate blue door, “Your throne awaits, m’lady,” he said, opening the door to the most opulent half bath she’d ever seen in person. It felt as if she were in an episode of the home and garden channel. People really lived like this? Apparently.

  “Thank you, kind sir,” as she swept in as grandly as her traveling grungy self would let her, and just hoped he wasn’t standing right outside the door. Or if he was, the running fan would cover any sounds. Washing her hands, a bit later, she looked around. Really, barring an extremely upscale hotel she visited someone in once, this was the fanciest bathroom she’d ever seen. Were these marble countertops? The faucet was so shiny she could see her face in it. Sure it was distorted, but, really, it was the thought that counted.