by Lisa Freed
“That’s a good little momma, Misty’s such a good girl.” Shirley’s face was wreathed in a brilliant smile as she watched her girl take the last of the abandoned kittens and make them her own.
Shirley stood. “I’ll keep you posted. Have time for some coffee?”
I did.
We carried our cups out to her back patio, and once settled down into her comfortable white metal patio chairs, we sipped and chatted for a bit before I needed to head out. I couldn’t resist peeking in on Misty and the babies before going though.
All six babies were contently pawing at Misty’s furry black tummy as they ate. Misty lifted her head once to glance at me then rested it back down, her eyes closed in fulfillment.
“Thanks again, Shirley,” I said on my way out the door.
“All in the timing, Teresa. Safe drive.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Deja vu slammed into me almost as hard as the door did on my toe when Lance launched into the house. Once again, I had answered a pounding on the door only this time it wasn't Victor it really was Lance. I could tell by his eyes, they were bloodshot but his normal icy blue.
It was past eight at night, my toe hurt and frankly I was in no mood for my temperamental neighbor.
“Lance, what is wrong with you? You nearly skinned my toe!”
He spared a glance at my feet before causally kicking the door closed.
Guess he was planning a long visit. I was quick to dispel that notion and shoved past him to open the door back up.
“Tell me what your issue is and get out. And it better not be about the blasted recycling can again.” I crossed my arms and tapped my foot once, quickly stopping after my toe protested. If it was broken I would be sending him my medical bills! Not to mention my unhurt foot upside his ass!
“Do you really think I could find love?” He stepped close, close enough for me to smell the slightly bitter smell of alcohol on his breath. He didn't appear drunk, yet he was no doubt on his way.
“What are you talking about?”
“At the carnival, when you read my fortune you said I would find love. Is it possible?”
Oh yeah...I had told him that. And maybe it was true, I'm sure some poor woman was foolish enough to saddle herself with a guy like Lance. He wasn't all bad, he was rather attractive if he didn't open his mouth. Good job, nice house, athletic, a bit of a drinking problem, a determined woman could straighten him out.
I must have taken too long to deliberate, Lance walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch slumping his head back on the cushions. He didn't make a sound, just stared blankly up at the ceiling.
Daisy strolled up and casually jumped into his lap. I was startled. Daisy was not a lap cat, at least not in the time I've had her. Hmm....
Lance stroked her soft fur and smiled. “Sorry I complained about your cats, they're not bitches.”
I sat down on the far end of the couch. I should have chosen the chair opposite of him, but for some reason I was loosening up in my attitude about Lance. There was something about a man with a cat in his lap that just made him more approachable.
“It's okay, I should have shut the windows.”
A month ago, when the weather started really warming up I had wanted to air out the house so had opened windows and the sliding glass door leading out to the deck. Then Kim had called about an emergency at Whisker Kisses, I can't even remember what it was now, but I left the house in a hurry leaving everything open. The cats were safe due to the screens but my neighbors had not been safe from their cries. Maverick and Daisy had wailed the entire time I was gone. The stinkers!
Mrs. James, two houses away, had commented in passing that my new kids felt abandoned and cried for me, but she did it in a lighthearted way. Not Lance, he stormed up to me the first chance he got and informed me that I was in violation of the HOA's noise ordnance and if he was disturbed by that caterwauling again he would call the police, animal control, and be filing a civil suit against me. I told him in a less than neighborly tone to stuff it where the sun doesn’t shine.
After that I was much more careful to close all windows before leaving the house and Lance avoided me like the plague. I was fine with both, though I missed the fragrant breezes when the lilac trees lining the backyard were in bloom.
“No, I was in the wrong. It had been a rough day, my head pounded and I was looking for an excuse to go off. I'm not some callow twenty-year old,” he colored slightly at that. Guess he forgot who he was speaking with for a moment, I took no offense, then he continued. “What I meant to say is I know proper behavior and I acted poorly and for that I apologize.”
“Apology accepted.” I smiled at him, hoping this truly was the end of our sour relationship. I hated the thought of being one of 'those' neighbors.
Daisy suddenly hopped down and headed for the kitchen, but not before giving me a sly wink. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn she was taking credit for Lance's about-face behavior.
“Nice cat.” Lance didn't seem to know what to do with his hands now that he didn't have a cat to stroke, so he settled for clasping them in his lap.
“Yes, normally she doesn't act that way with strangers.” Or anyone, I added mentally.
“Guess I'm not such a bad guy after-all.” Lance gave me a long penetrating gaze that I had to glance away from. I had forgotten that he was an attorney and into eye contact.
I wanted to lie but that stubborn streak of bluntness I was cursed with came barreling out, “Well I wouldn't go that far.”
To my surprise Lance laughed, a full rich chuckle that warmed his blue eyes and did wonders for the hardness of his face. This was the side of Lance that Victor had brought out and seeing it again did strange things to my insides.
Either I said something or Lance read the need that was flickering within because he was suddenly beside me, his strong arms holding me, his firm mouth taking possession of mine.
And oh my! Victor had kissed me with Lance's mouth, but Lance had years of ownership experience and wow that man could kiss!
I melted into him, my body on fire. He was still a jerk, but Daisy liked him so that made him less of one, right? Either way I fully enjoyed what he was doing and intended to enjoy him and his body tonight.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The sun was sizzling my skin an unhealthy brown, and I was glorying in its heat when several drops of heavily chlorinated cool water dropped on my stomach. I peeked open my eyes to see Lance smiling and dripping above me. His wet hair had waves that made him look almost boyish.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
Shit! That one night of loneliness was coming back to haunt me. The term booty call must not be in his personal dictionary.
“Hey.” I tried the lukewarm approach, hoping Lance would get the hint.
He didn't. Instead he plopped his wet butt on the lounge chair near my hip.
“Day off? Want to go to dinner with me tonight?”
It wasn't just his hair that was making him seem younger, his face was open, his eyes clear and bright. Double shit! Happiness looked good on Lance, it easily took ten years off of him.
I didn't want to take that from him. Why did I give in to those darn hormones? This was all Victor's fault! If he hadn’t taken over Lance's body, if we hadn't had that day of mind-blowing sex, if I wouldn't have looked at Lance and remembered that, if, if, if!
Ugh. This was my fault.
“Just some much needed R&R. Dinner? Can I get back to you later?” Yup, I was a coward.
“If you don't want to go out I can whip something up at my place.”
“You cook?” Astonishment clearly saturated my words.
Instead of getting upset, like he would have in the past, Lance laughed.
Happiness made him look better, act more easy-going and sound sexier. Maybe dinner wouldn't hurt and if things carried over to the bedroom again...well no harm really.
What in the world was I thinking! I stood up suddenly and grabbed at
my huge turquoise beach towel. Since Lance was on part of it I had to tug, hard, to get it out from under him, and he stumbled up.
“Hey! Are you okay?” Concern creased his brow, and he managed to look sexy and somehow like a puppy all at once.
It was simply too much.
“Fine, I'm fine! Gotta go!” I tried to keep my cool, but that's hard to do when you are speed walking away from a pool with your suit riding up your butt.
Once outside the clubhouse, a quick glance confirmed nobody within eyesight and I plucked the wedgie out, wrapped my towel around my body and took off at a brisk jog toward my house.
Safely inside, I gave Maverick a friendly ear scratch and headed into the shower.
Aww...bliss. I scrubbed the sticky mixture of sunscreen and sweat off and tried to forget how adorable Lance looked. And failed.
And he had looked adorable, so carefree and happy. Dang it, I kept coming back to that. Had he really been so miserable that to now see him content was earthshaking? Yes. Yes, we had had limited interaction but he had been a wretched jerk or a pompous SOB every single time.
Yet I brought him into the light- go me! Did I want him to go back to the dark side? He was clearly smitten and he could be sweet. Good in bed, handsome, a real catch. If I was in the market for a husband. Which I wasn't, at least not yet.
Why did this have to be so confusing?!
My phone started screaming out the theme to the movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly scaring the bejesus out of me. With a quick twist the shower was off and I was puddling water all over my floor while staring at the phone's screen. I didn't recognize the number so didn't bother answering.
I wrapped my hair up in a jade green towel turban-style and grabbed another fluffy one for my body before trudging to my bedroom.
Agnes, laying in the center of the bed, greeted me with a small meow before reclosing her eyes to continue her mid-morning siesta. That made two cats accounted for with only Daisy MIA. I peeked under the bed and sure enough there she was along with what appeared to be all the cat toys we owned. Guess I had a hoarder on my hands.
Off went my phone again, same number. Grabbing it, I swiped to answer it.
“Hello.”
“Teresa, are you okay? You hurried off so quickly I was worried something was wrong.”
Lance! How did he get this number?!
“Listen Lance, I'm just really uncomfortable with how fast things are going and...”
He interrupted, “I'm being too forward? I'm sorry, hey can we talk face to face? I'm outside your door.”
Damn! The last thing I wanted was to have an uncomfortable conversation in person. I wanted to take the coward's way out and give him the 'it's not you it's me' talk on the phone.
“Listen, I just got out of the shower how about we do this another time.” I was stalling. I should click the phone off and hide out in the house for about a month.
“Teresa, please don't do this.” It was a plea and a whiny one, but Lord help me I caved.
“Give me a minute.” Then I disconnected the call, a minute too late.
Dashing to my closet, I tossed on a pair of shorts, sans panties since I rarely wore any, a ratty neon orange sports bra knowing that would stop me from any treacherous behavior and a black t-shirt that I routinely slept in. I really needed to do laundry.
I spared a single glace in the mirror and stuck my tongue out at my wet, unkempt image. Me looking like a drowned rat might be enough to scare him off without exchanging a meaningless word.
When I opened the door, a grimmer looking Lance greeted me. There, I had done it already, sucked all the life out of him.
He hesitated the briefest of instances before entering. Once inside I headed toward the living room, but his hand on my arm stopped me.
Lance placed a warm hand on my chin before lightly kissing my lips. He was good.
“I'm sorry if I'm rushing you. I've been so completely overwhelmed and...” He broke off to run a shaking hand through his hair and looked distracted for an instant.
When his gaze returned to me it was as if the old Lance had taken over once again, pushing the more carefree vulnerable one back into the dark.
“Let's sit down.” Without waiting for my answer, he marched into room with an air of determination and sat on the couch that now held some savory memories of us.
Feeling it would be rude to stand or sit on the opposite chair, I sat down next to him.
Wondering what his next move would be, I caught myself staring at his lips. Oops! Not good. I glanced down and found myself fascinated with his crotch, even worse! His eyes! Those were safest.
No, they weren't. His eyes were a sea of blue, an endless ocean of pain, loneliness and somehow a spark of hope. I was that hope.
“Teresa, you are a much more complex young woman than I ever would have thought and I...” He paused, the cold Lance warring with the Lance of warmth and happiness. “I am very attracted to you, well I guess that's no surprise given the other night.”
He blushed. The man actually blushed and I think that is when I lost any resolve I had of pushing him away.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Where's your friend at?”
I glanced over at Amber who was plopped in front of the TV, eyes glued to the cartoon. Lance and I had only been dating two weeks and I had been very hesitant to have him here around my niece but my sister Megan had been perfectly fine with it. No doubt she was hoping he stuck around and kept me out of trouble.
“Mr. Lance? He's in the kitchen.” I peered around the corner confirming that he was indeed still in there making a mountain of grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.
“No, not him. The other man who is really tall and dark.”
The other man...Amber had just described Victor, but how...
“Amber, when did you meet him?”
“Last time. He was really quiet, but he smiled at me a lot and made funny faces. I liked him.” Things were simple when you were four, silly faces and smiles won you over.
What floored me and made my heart pound faster was not Amber's acceptance of Victor, it was that she had seen him.
Plopping down on the floor next to her and resisting the urge to grill her like suspect, I watched a few moments of cartoons with her.
I came to two conclusions, modern day cartoons sucked- they were nothing like the great ones I grew up with. And as a tuft of cat fuzz settled inches from my nose, I really needed to clean up between visits from my weekly maid, Helen, or else get her to start coming in twice a week.
Blowing the cat hair tumbleweed away, I tried to keep my voice as normal as possible.
“Amber, why didn't you mention the other man to me?”
Rolling over on her back she turned her head to give me a quizzical look. “Aunt Teresa, he's your friend, why didn't you mention him to me?”
Oh, I didn't envy my sister with this one!
“I didn't know he was going to be around.”
“Because he's a ghost?” Those big brown eyes blinked innocently up at me.
“Ghost? No, why would you say that?” I managed to stutter out.
“Because he gave me a wink and walked through the wall.”
Victor and I were going to have some words the next time I saw him!
“Oh, yes, guess that would make him a ghost.” Sweat tickled down my spine and armpit.
“Don't worry, I didn't tell Mommy.”
Was this kid a mind reader too?! A talent I didn’t possess but could really use.
“Good, thank you, Amber. So why didn't you tell your mom?”
“I didn't want her mad. She wouldn't let me come here anymore.”
“Why would that make her mad?”
“Cause I tried to tell her about a little girl I saw at the beach one day and she got mad at me. Told me not to make up stories.” Amber's voice trembled as she spoke, her sweet button nose turning pink, the telltale sign that tears would soon follow.
I wrapped her in my arms, sh
e snuggled close.
“You believe me, Aunt Teresa?” she sniffed.
“Absolutely, my darling girl!” I never wanted to move, just stay there inhaling her fresh child scent. How could a small child make an adult feel so safe?
Lance came out of the kitchen, stopping when he spied us, a big grin spreading across his face.
“Girls, lunch is ready if you two are done with cartoons and whispering.”
Giggling, Amber sprang out of my arms running past him to hop up on her traditional middle stool at the cherry oak breakfast bar.
I got up a tad slower, snagging the remote and turning off the TV before heading to the kitchen.
Lance grabbed me in a backward hug as I walked past. “You're too cute,” he murmured into my hair.
Relaxing in his embrace, I glanced over and up into his laughing blue eyes. “You’re pretty cute yourself. Thank you, by the way, for making lunch.”
“Absolutely. I make a mean grilled ham and cheese. Thank you for letting me meet your niece, she’s adorable.”
“She is, isn’t she?” I looked over at Amber who was impatiently swinging her legs back and forth and feeding Maverick strips of ham. “Amber!”
“Maverick is hungry! He says he wants a sandwich too.”
I moved out of Lance’s embrace, striding over to the counter. “Oh well, Maverick will have to settle for his kitty food. The sandwiches are our lunch.”
Amber’s lower lip popped out. “Can’t Mr. Lance make another one for Maverick?” She turned her endearing, large brown eyes over to Lance, who I could see visibly melt. If I didn’t step in soon he would be making sandwiches for all the cats.
“Nope, ham is full of salt, not good for kitties.”
She thought that over and seemed to accept it because she stopped shredding a sandwich for Maverick, despite him reaching up a paw and tapping at her leg.