by Lisa Freed
“If I had been out here alone I would have found it!” I snarled, my pride smarting. Him and his lawyer logic!
“Keep your eyes open and I’m sure you’ll find one this nice someday too,” he said, while tucking the red piece into his pants pocket.
I briefly thought about tackling him and wrestling it away, or at the very least tripping his smug ass, but instead I kept my mouth closed and my feet to myself. Being good was very unsatisfying.
I’ll admit I pouted. Lance mentioned stopping at some shops on the way back to the house and I just gave him the stink eye. Though he probably thought it was the silent treatment because I was wearing my sunglasses and he couldn’t really see my eyes. If the sun weren’t so bright I would have taken them off so he could be paralyzed with guilt by the true power of the stink eye but he was also driving and I didn’t want to cause any accidents.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
I made Lance make a quick stop at Whisker Kisses, by promising it would only take twenty minutes max.
He rolled his eyes at me but nevertheless obligingly pulled the car into the parking lot. After he parked, he pulled out his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking on a few emails while you’re in there,” he said, his eyes never leaving the screen.
“Oh no you don’t, come on. Let me show you around.”
I gave him the tour, showing the four rooms and introducing him to the resident cats by name. When we went back down to the main floor he was under the mistaken impression that I brought him here for the sole purpose of showing him around.
“You said twenty minutes,” he reminded me.
“Well, yes, but that was to actually get a few things done. The grand tour didn’t count. Come on, you can help.” I went to our supply closet pulling out some size large disposable gloves, a scooper, and the waste bin that we used when cleaning litterboxes. I handed all three to Lance.
His smile froze as he looked at the items I was thrusting on him. “What are these for?”
“To clean the litter boxes.”
“And what are you going to be doing?”
“I need to give some meds, order more supplies,” I paused and checked the time on my Fitbit, “hopefully the night staff will be here soon or else I’ll be staying.”
“But we’re supposed to be getting lunch.” Lance protested.
“We can order some pizza or something, tons of places deliver.”
“You’re joking right? Why do you have to stay?”
“It’s just how we run things. I don’t like the place to be empty.”
“Don’t you just volunteer here? Why did you agree to this?” Lance’s voice had a whiny note to it that I didn’t care for.
“Lance, maybe I never made it perfectly crystal clear but Whisker Kisses is my baby, it’s a 501 C3 charity. I’m the head honcho around here.”
“You’re serious, not pulling my chain?”
“No.”
“Why?” he asked, the look on his face making it perfectly apparent he couldn’t understand anyone wasting their precious time on such a meaningless endeavor.
His why echoed in my head and I’ll admit I was getting mad. I took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself before answering him. “Because I love cats. It’s that simple. This is my calling in life.”
His blond head moved slowly back in forth in befuddlement. “I knew you had cats but had no idea you were this looney over them.”
I saw red and almost had a Carrie moment on him but somehow, I still held on to my temper, I needed some chocolate after all this! “Why is it looney to do some good in this world? I’m making a difference and it makes me happy.”
Lance, perhaps finally sensing he may have pushed me too far began to backpaddle. “Teresa, I’m sorry. That’s wonderful. You have the time and energy for it. I just don’t understand why you are letting it control your life like this. Why are we stuck here?”
I rubbed at my temples, a giant chocolate bar was needed.
“When you have a job or a commitment don’t you honor it? What kind of example would I be setting if I didn’t put in the same level of care that I expect from everyone else?”
“And I understand and respect that,” he began in his most annoying Lance- knows-best voice, which completely turned me off and caused me to tune out the rest of what he was saying.
When his mouth stopped moving, I pasted my brightest smile on my face and shoved the items harder into his hands until he accepted them. “Done? Great! Get to scooping so we can get out of here.”
His blue eyes blinked, his mouth pulling into a line so compressed his lips almost disappeared, but without another word he left.
Blowing a huge breath out, I went to the desk to begin ordering some supplies.
“Loverboy not liking shoveling shit?”
I whirled, surprised and elated to see Victor standing there, arms crossed over his muscular chest, a smile on his handsome face.
“Would you be okay doing it?”
“For you, honey, I would.”
“You say that now when you have no worries of it being tested,” I teased back before seating down at the desk. When I looked up again Victor was gone.
Fifteen minutes later Lance returned, his nose wrinkled in disgust. “Where do I dispose of all this?” he asked hefting the waste bin.
I got up from my chair and motioned for him to follow me. Back to the supply closet we went, there I got a special bright orange heavy duty plastic bag and gloved up. Due to the sheer volume of waste, I had hired a pet waste company to haul ours away. We used their bags and deposited them in the fluorescent orange can outside. They came and picked it up normally two to three times a month, more if I put a call in to them. With Lance’s help we transferred the waste from the bin to the bag and I sent him outside with it while I sanitized the bin and left it to dry. I was in the process of drying my hands when he came back in and started scrubbing his hands with a heavy sigh.
“Please don’t ask me to do that again,” he begged.
“No promises,” I said, my mood much improved from earlier.
He came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Let’s go out dancing,” he said against my neck in a warm rush of air.
“Dancing? You’ve never expressed an interest in that.”
“I am now. I want to feel you in my arms, your body against mine, coming alive.”
Oh my! Lance was in a mood; his words were stirring delicious thoughts.
“Then later, the fire that ignited in our blood we will douse in bed as passion consumes us.”
I gave him a sideways glance. What had come over him?! He was pouring it on rather thick.
“What about lunch?”
“Forget lunch, let’s go to the clubhouse pool.”
“Now that is an excellent idea,” I said, as he suddenly twirled me out of his arms to face him for a long kiss.
“Back to the houses for swimsuits,” he said in-between nibbles on my lower lip.
“Okay,” I said with my eyes still closed.
Lance dropped me and my car off at my house where I changed into my new emerald green tankini and grabbed my pool bag that was already stocked with essentials. Sunscreen, lip balm, oversized beach towel rolled up, paperback book, spare sunglasses and some cash for the pool clubhouse grill. Stepping into my sandals, I was ready to go and walked down to the pool.
I was quick but Lance was faster. He had already claimed two lounge chairs for us and was completely stretched out on one, a most satisfied smile on his lean face.
I leaned down and whispered in his ear, “Hey there, sexy.”
His closed eyes opened behind his dark shades. They obscured the color of his eyes but not the heat in his stare. “Hey there yourself.”
Lance was in a pair of plain blue swim trunks, nothing remarkable about them at all, they were the same ones he always wore. So why was the sight of them making me all giddy over him? Or his broad chest
. Yes, I saw him shirtless all the time in the bedroom but there was just something about him today that was sending me into overdrive.
“This was a great idea,” I said plopping down on the chair next to him after spreading out my towel.
“We should do this more often before summer is over.”
I blinked in surprise, I had suggested the very same just a week ago and he had scoffed at me. Hmmm…guess it was a good idea when he mentioned it. Whatever, I was in the mood to go with the flow after our mini-blowup earlier. “Sounds like a plan.”
I had put on my sunglasses during the walk over but now I shoved them up into my hair to rub sunscreen all over my face. I looked at his ungreased body. “Don’t you want some sunscreen?”
“Sunscreen, no, I don’t need any, my skin doesn’t burn.”
I looked over at his blond hair and pale torso and gofer’s tanned arms and neck and shrugged my shoulders while lavishing tons of SPF sixty on myself. I didn’t want to be red as a lobster and if he was foolishly forgoing it today that was on him.
We spent the next few hours, reading, swimming, eating lunch from the clubhouse grill, it was so restful. This was probably the most relaxed I had seen Lance in…well, in ever! Looking over I squinted then lowered my sunglasses for a better look to confirm what I thought I saw. His nose, chest, and shoulders were pink.
So much for dancing, I’ll be stuck pouring aloe on him tonight, I thought.
As if he read my mind, his hand drifted to his chest and he rubbed at it. I saw him grimace then sit up, flexing his shoulders. “They must use a lot of chemicals in the pool. My skin is feeling very itchy.”
“No, it’s probably the sunburn you’re feeling.”
“Sunburn? That’s ridiculous! Greeks don’t get sunburn!”
“No, but pale-skinned guys from Philly do,” I said sharply. Why had it taken me so long to make the connection?! Poor Lance was not going to be happy about this.
Victor/Lance did have the sense to look slightly embarrassed. “Yes, well, I forgot that.”
“And you forgot your promise to leave Lance alone!”
“I never promised that!” he snapped, pulling a damp towel around his shoulders.
“I told you though.”
“And when do I listen to you?”
“Good point. Maybe you should start. Like now- let’s get you out of the sun or poor Lane is going to get sun poisoning.”
We put on our sandals, heading back to my place.
As we walked he whined. “Sunburn really hurts. I think I’ll be going now.”
“No!” I shouted, grabbing his arm as if that could keep Victor’s spirit from leaving Lance’s body.
Surprisingly, he did listen and stayed. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t know how Lane is after you leave him. Does he fall over, is he immediately with it? I don’t need to be dragging an unresponsive man through the parking lot in the development I live in!”
“Oh, well, I guess it’s sort of like waking up. I only stuck around once to see how he responded.”
I gave him a killer glare. “Aren’t you a great guy-you hijack his body and don’t even wait around to see if he’s okay!”
“Obviously he has been,” Victor said with more than a touch of indignation in his voice.
“And how many times have you body snatched him?!”
“Several.”
“When he’s with me?”
“Only that one time- and well, now.”
“You’re being truthful with me?”
His eyes drifted away, “Okay, maybe one other time.”
“When?!” It really irked me that I hadn’t known the minute that Victor had taken over this time. And now to know that he had completely fooled me before- frankly it scared me.
“Forget that last part.” He tugged me forward. “Hurry up, let’s get this body some help.”
We power-walked back to my place, Victor waiting impatiently for me to open the door.
“I miss my body,” he mused, “young, strong, Greek.”
“I miss you being a ghost and opening the door for me,” I groused pushing the door open and walking in. Maverick and Daisy, who had been on the stairs, took one look at Victor/Lance and took off. “They agree that you’re a jerk.”
Victor ignored me, as usual and continued talking. “I shake my head at how foolish I was. Drugs, reckless behavior, if I knew then what I do now things would have been so different.”
“Let’s go get some aloe on you, I have a bottle in the fridge.” In the kitchen he put his towel down on a chair and sat on that. His swim trunks were dry but I still thought that was a nice gesture on his part.
Grabbing the chilled bottle, I squirted some of the metallic blue gel in my hands and began rubbing it into his shoulders. “Do you honestly think that would have made a difference?” I asked, referring to his earlier comments. “That’s part of youth, the feeling of endless time and vitality.”
“You have a point but I know better now. Give me a twenty-year-old body with my now seventy plus years of experience and I would enjoy every moment. No more coke, driving drunk…”
“Loose women?” I interjected.
“Hey, nobody’s a saint.”
I pinched his earlobe.
“Ouch! Be nice!”
“I was being nice.”
Without warning Victor flipped me over his shoulder into his lap, his mouth swooping down to capture mine.
Was this cheating on Lance? I thought for a brief moment before opening my lips for his advancing tongue. When I looped my arms around his neck, he let out a hiss.
Oops! Sunburn.
“Guess dancing and sex are both out now,” he said with a reluctant sigh.
“Probably for the best,” I said.
“That is one thing I really want to do with you. Slow dance with you in my arms…” He stopped suddenly, his eyes darting away.
It left me wondering if he had been about to say what I thought he was going to. Most likely it was better left unsaid. Yet I felt the same, had for years- the realization made me very sad. It was funny, normally love made you happy and filled with hope. There would be no hope for Victor and me because there was no chance for a future for us, no happily ever after.
“I’d better go to Lance’s house and leave him there. Guess you won’t be surprised if he calls you tomorrow full of questions.”
“No, I won’t be. I’ll come up with some explanation.”
After depositing me gently in the kitchen chair, Victor left.
When he was gone I realized he had sneakily maneuvered me into forgetting all about that unanswered question of what the other unknown time he had occupied Lance’s body had been. The rat!
Not that it truly mattered, it was over and done with and Lance was unhurt. It was only my pride stinging. If I had missed Victor taking over Lance, what else was I missing that was going on under my nose?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The answer unexpectedly came the next day when I walked into Whisker Kisses and faced a full-on interrogation.
I was surprised by the large gathering of volunteers in the front entranceway, Gwennie, Dana, Sandy, Aaron, Parker, Jen and Madison were all in a semi-circle around the desk. At first, I worried there was a huge issue, but if that were the case why hadn’t I been called?
“Hi T,” Sandy said with forced cheerfulness that wouldn’t have fooled a third grader.
The others eyed each other with guilt a flushed crimson on many of their faces.
What had I walked into?!
“Hey, morning meeting?” I asked over my shoulder as I walked into the kitchen where I deposited on the counter the heavy carton of canned cat food that had been in our outside donation box.
Turning I wasn’t surprised to see they had followed me, obviously something big was going on and I was clueless as to what.
“T, you know we love you but something has definitely been up with you,” Gwennie began only to be cut off by Da
na.
“New relationships can be time consuming. We all know that.” The spry retiree looked around at the others nodding their heads and gave me a gentle smile before continuing. “But you’re never here anymore.”
What in the world was she talking about?! I was just here yesterday and then left because of the Lance/Victor situation. Ugh. I opened my mouth to say that, that they were insane and to cite all the other times I had been in, but then realized I couldn’t recall the last time I had spent more than a few minutes popping in for random things.
“Time gets away from us all,” Madison, a fairly new volunteer, put in.
I looked at the sea of gentle faces surrounding me. No judgement just compassion and a willingness to help. And I had let them down.
“Guys, I’m so sorry. I had no idea I was dropping the ball. How bad is it?”
I shouldn’t have asked, I could barely make everything out as they all began to talk at once.
“Petty cash is empty, we need litter and meds.”
“Ashley reports that all the cats in room one tested negative so can be switched to the open room. We were waiting on you to okay it, but it’s been a week so we just did it today.”
“You never got back to Sandy if you could do a foster run on the fifth so Aaron did it. He needs a mile’s reimbursement okayed.”
“You forgot to lock up last night when you left.”
That last quiet remark from Parker came through loud and clear, I was slipping majorly! I sniffed loudly, determined not to cry.
“Okay, well I’m here now, let’s take care of it all and I promise I’ll be more with it from now on.”
“Dumping Mr. Lawyer?” Jen asked bluntly.
“I think so.”
“Can I have his number?” Sandy piped up.
Several elbows came out to nudge her letting her know it was way too soon, which made me laugh and appreciate all of them even more. It also served to break the mad tension that had been in the room since I got there.