"Hi, Isaac, what's up?" I asked, reminding myself to do yogic breaths in order to control stress levels.
"Well, aren't you even going to invite me in?"
"Sure, but Brody will be here soon, and we're going out," I replied, allowing him entry.
Theo padded down the stairs and stretched himself before approaching Isaac for the obligatory snuggle. I'm sure Theo thought everybody came to the house just to give him a cuddle. I sighed again. Oh, to have Theo's life.
"You sigh a lot," commented Isaac.
I answered him with a glare. I mean, he was half the reason I had to sigh.
"Where are you going with Brody, and why wasn't I invited?" he asked indignantly.
"We're going to Weight Watchers to see if we can find the owner of the pedometer. You're welcome to go instead of me if you want." I watched Isaac rub his belly, ever so slightly.
"Oh, no. I'm fine, thank you." Yeah, I thought he'd say that.
"What's the sad face all about?" I asked. His face turned from sad to scowling again.
"Adam comes home today, and I still haven't forgiven him. What should I do?" he asked, dropping himself onto my couch.
"Forgive him and make up. Life's too short to fight."
"I have to tell him I got the job and accepted it. I start training in three weeks' time." Isaac smiled.
"You did? Wow, that's great news," I replied. I walked over to him, reached up, and gave him a hug. "Adam will be really happy for you. I know he will. He loves you. You need to give him some credit for that."
"I know he loves me, but how do we make this work?"
"You will. And if it doesn't, then it wasn't meant to be. You know I believe in Fate and that everything happens for a reason, and I believe you were meant to get this job," I said, tugging my top back into place.
"I'm just really scared. I'm so angry at him for the things he said to me, but I don't want to lose him either." I watched as Isaac's brows knitted together. "The girls are looking perky this afternoon," he commented, nodding towards my cleavage, which I will admit, had had some help from a new push-up bra.
I ignored him and continued on. "Smile. Be happy, and when Adam gets home, sit down and talk to each other. You can work anything out." I saw Isaac's shoulders relax just a little bit. "What time does he get home?"
"About eight o'clock tonight."
"Okay, well, go and pamper yourself and make yourself beautiful. Adam won't be mad at you for long." I grabbed Isaac's arm and led him towards the front door as I could see Brody through my window, walking across the street. As I opened the door, he walked through my little gate.
"Hmm…I see why the girls are looking so perky," Isaac whispered to me as he simultaneously gave Brody the once over. I swatted his arm and gave him a little push out the door.
"Oh! Will you take Theo with you?" I asked. "I don't like leaving him here alone at the moment. He gets scared really easily."
"Of course! Come here, little man," cooed Isaac, bending down to scoop Theo up. "Uncle Isaac's got some lovely treats at his house," he said, using his very best baby voice. It didn't matter what voice he used though. Theo heard the word treats, his ears picked up, and I'm positive a big smile broke out on his little face.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It didn't take us long to get to the meeting. Brody was still driving the green SUV since his car was taking a bit longer to fix. Apparently, my tow bar had done quite a bit of damage. Oops.
The lady who greeted us at Weight Watchers wasn't what I expected. To be honest, I'm not sure what I expected, but whatever it was, she wasn't it. For a start, she was Scottish and had a very broad accent, so I had to listen carefully to what she said, or I wouldn't be able to follow the conversation.
Secondly, she had a sense of humor. Well, that was my take on it anyway. I mean, when she commented to Brody on what a sweet man he was accompanying his girlfriend to her first Weight Watchers meeting, what else could she have meant?
"Oh, thanks. She needed a bit of encouragement. She never has the confidence to do these things on her own." He smiled, put his arm around my shoulders, and pulled me in tight.
Ignoring the gymnastics world championship in my stomach, I looked up at him and frowned.
"Well, there's no need to feel scared," the lady replied. "We all have to start sometime. Now, I'm Colleen, and I'm the leader. If you'd like to come this way, we'll get you signed up and weighed, and before you know it, you'll be at your goal weight. You don't look like you have too far to go, so if you stick with the program, you'll be good as new in no time." She smiled as she turned her attention to Brody. "And you, lovely sir, can take a seat, and she will join you shortly."
"Okay. Good luck, sweetheart. I'm here for you," he replied, as he put both arms around me, pulling me in for a hug.
As his lips brushed my ear, I managed to hiss, "I'm not happy!"
"Just go with it," he said as he released his hold and took a step backwards. Not before I'd had a chance to get a good smell of him though. His Armani aftershave was so sexy that he was forgiven before he had even took a step away from me. I felt the heat rise from my toes and sizzle my ears as I locked my knees backwards so they wouldn't give out on me. I was going to have to work on my immunity to him, otherwise Brody was going to get away with whatever he wanted.
About ten minutes later I was totally over my lust attack, officially a member of Weight Watchers, and totally mortified my weight had snuck up quite a bit since I last had had the courage to stand on scales.
Brody had chosen a seat in the last row, his back to the wall, tucked nicely behind an exceptionally tall lady. This gave him the premium spot to crowd watch without being too visible to anyone walking into the room. I excused myself as I pushed past all the ladies who had chosen the seats around him and wondered if this side of the room was normally this popular.
"How did it go?" he asked, his smile firmly in place. I think my scowl answered that question.
"Have you seen her yet?"
"No. Not yet."
Great, I'd probably just gone through that humiliation for nothing.
About twenty minutes into the meeting—and yes, I did learn some very useful information—we saw a lady slink into the room and head towards the scales. Even from here I knew it was Lucy. I elbowed Brody in the ribs to get his attention. I heard the umph and thought I may have been a little too forceful. Looking at him, ready to apologize, I saw him rub his ribs, but his attention was on Lucy. He'd seen her too. As she turned towards the assembled group, she took the seat closest to her and flipped through the little booklet she'd been given about today's meeting. Thankfully, as the meeting progressed she didn't notice us. That spoke volumes. She must have been really engrossed in what she was reading, since every other woman in the room had noticed Brody almost instantly.
Once the meeting was over, she got up and left immediately. Brody and I were pushing our way towards the door when we heard Colleen call out for new members to stay behind and have a chat. Too bad, I thought. Don't have time to chat, even though I wasn't a hundred percent sure why we were almost running after Lucy.
I almost had to sprint to keep up with Brody. It was all right for him, I thought. His legs were really long, and he could cover ground in one stride that I needed about three for. I watched as he beeped the car open and flung himself behind the wheel. The engine was already running by the time I caught up. I'd only just closed the door when he started driving away.
"What's the hurry?" I asked, trying to put my seat belt on as he pulled into traffic at a speed SUVs were not built for.
"I want to see where she goes. Hopefully, she'll go home."
"Why do we care?"
"I want to see where she lives. Don't you wonder what she was doing in my house?"
"Maybe Betty left something there, and she was looking for it."
"Exactly. What was it though, that she couldn't knock on my door and ask me for? And why was she tied to a chair?"
I shru
gged. I had no idea. At present I was more annoyed by the constant locking of the seat belt every time I tried to pull it over my shoulder.
I'd only just managed to click it into place when Brody pulled to the curb on a street where every house pretty much looked like the other—all two-stories, with tiled roofs built from the same colored brick as the other.
Lucy pulled her blue sedan into the driveway, got out, beeped her car locked, then disappeared inside the house marked number eleven.
"What now?" I asked Brody, wondering what his next move would be.
"We wait."
I thought about this for a minute. "What are we waiting for?"
"Not sure."
"Why don't you just knock on her door and ask what she was doing there?" I asked.
"Not sure," he replied.
I sighed.
Thirty minutes later, I was restless. My bladder had filled nicely compliments of the full bottle of water I'd drunk sitting through the Weight Watchers meeting. Apparently, the body can't tell the difference between thirst and hunger, so filling up on water is a great way to reduce calories. Who knew?
"Brody, how long are we going to sit here and watch?" Brody hadn't moved much in the time we'd waited. His eyes never strayed from Lucy's house.
"Not sure." This seemed to be his standard answer today.
"Well, I really need to pee." He turned to look at me, probably trying to weigh up if I was serious or not.
"You'll be okay."
Five minutes later, I squirmed. "Brody, I'm serious. I can't hold on much longer." The pressure was building. Brody reached into the back seat and handed me an empty cola bottle.
"What am I going to do with that?"
"Pee in it. That's what I do." I took the bottle and looked at him. So many things ran through my mind that I wasn't sure which to say first.
"I don't have the right equipment to pee in a bottle, and why are you peeing in a bottle? Why don't you use a toilet like every other normal human being?" Maybe I'd found a flaw.
I never got to hear a response though. Lucy came out of her house and got back into her car. We sat and watched as she started it up and backed out of her drive. I sighed as I waited for Brody to follow her, knowing that any chance of stopping for a toilet had probably just gone right out the window. But Brody didn't start the car. Instead, he opened his door and got out.
What the…?
As he crossed the road, he turned and looked back at me, his eyebrows raised. I gave him a shoulder shrug and watched as he waved me to follow him.
He was going snooping around Lucy's house. No way, and I mean, no way was I following him. I gave him a small, two-finger wave through the windscreen and watched as he walked back towards me. Coming around to my side of the car, he opened the door and leaned in. My temperature rose.
"What's wrong?"
"Why do we need to look around her house? Why can't you just talk to her like a normal person would?" I whispered, shaking my head, my hair clinging to my skin as sweat trickled down my neck. Okay, I was feeling a little uncomfortable. I'm not sure if that was from fear or from Brody being so close.
"She's gone. It's fine. And I will talk to her. After I've had a quick look around," he said, holding out his free hand for me to take. "She'll never know we were here."
His arm rested on the roof of the car, and he leaned in so close I could smell his minty breath and that distinct, delicious smell of Brody. At this distance, I could even make out the pattern in his eyes. My stomach dove south.
"And she has a toilet."
I thought about this for less than a second, my original resolve disappearing very quickly at those words. "Okay!" I huffed, taking his hand and making moves to get out.
Brody didn't move, however, and all I ended up achieving was the placement of my face only inches from his. Oh boy! My eyes locked onto his, and I noticed their color deepen.
Moving my gaze to his mouth, I saw the corner of his lips turn up into a small but delectable smile. Seriously, it must have only lasted a moment, but it felt like months, my breathing deciding to go on holiday for that moment.
When Brody finally moved I had to take some very deep breaths to restore my oxygen levels back to normal, all thoughts of my bladder long forgotten.
* * *
I stood back and waited as Brody walked to the side gate and discreetly looked around to make sure no one was watching. The neighborhood seemed pretty empty. Most houses looked like working families lived in them, so people were probably still at work.
I heard the latch open and watched as Brody walked in and motioned for me to follow him. Ignoring my hammering heart, I did as requested, wondering why the hell I seemed to be snooping around other people's property so much lately. I had never done anything remotely like this before Brody had moved in across the road from me.
I found myself tiptoeing even though the soft grass muffled our footsteps. This morning I'd decided to wear my favorite black leather, high-heeled sandals in an attempt to make my legs look thinner for the Weight Watchers meeting. I really think I should leave a pair of flats in my handbag from now on, as this was the second time this week I'd been caught out wearing heels.
Fortunately, Lucy had a six-foot fence running around the perimeter, so if any neighbors were looking our way they wouldn't be able to see us. I waited while Brody looked in all the windows and then tried the back door. Unlike Brody's, it was locked. Releasing the breath I held, memories of the day we broke into his house came flooding back. I rubbed my head where I'd been hit.
"Seriously, can we go now?" I whispered.
Brody answered me by reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. I had no idea what he was doing, but a minute later he had the door open. And he questioned me about breaking and entering?
"It's only fair. We'll be even then." He smiled that really enchanting, crooked smile.
As he slowly pushed the door open, he peered inside before entering and motioned for me to follow. I took a deep breath. Why, oh, why did we have to do this? Who really cared why Lucy was in Brody's house?
Brody grabbed my arm and pulled me inside, re-locking the door behind me. Interestingly, once inside I felt a bit calmer. Now at least no one on the outside could see us. We just had to pray Lucy wouldn't come home soon. Plus, I felt a lot safer with Brody than I had with Isaac. Go figure.
Lucy's house was pretty much what I had expected—lots of lace curtains and doilies. The furniture was older, but still in very good condition, and every surface sparkled with cleanliness. The odd thing was there was no dog. I thought someone who worked at the animal refuge would at least have a dog. If not a dog, then a cat, but there was no sign of any animals at all.
"What are we looking for?" I asked, barely above a whisper.
"Not sure," he replied.
"Do you have any answers today other than 'not sure'?" I asked, irritability starting to show.
Once again he answered me with a smile. "Just look for anything that seems out of place."
Okay, that didn't help much. I didn't even know this woman, how would I know what should or shouldn't be in her home? Brody walked through a door into the living room, leaving me alone. My bladder was really starting to play up, and I thought about finding the bathroom.
"I'll look upstairs," I said, as I passed Brody on the way to the staircase.
The toilet was a welcome sight as I hurried in and sat down, giving a sigh of relief as the flow started. I took a moment to look around, but other than the carpet on the bathroom floor, nothing seemed wrong about this room. Sure the pink bathroom suite was not something I would have chosen, but considering the age of the house it wasn't unexpected.
I stood and closed the toilet lid. I was just pulling my undies back up when Brody rushed through the door, quietly shutting it behind him.
I was about to yell at him about giving a girl some privacy when he turned and put his hand over my mouth.
"Lucy's home," he whispered.
All the moisture in my mouth dried up, and my heart rate moved into the heart attack zone. The start of a panic attack gripped me. Brody let go of me and moved toward the bathroom window. I heard it squeak as he opened it, and looked at him as he motioned for me to jump out of it.
Now two things ran through my mind at this stage. One, I was scared of heights, and two, I was scared of heights. I had walked up a whole flight of stairs to reach that room. That meant it would be a two-story drop if I jumped out the window.
I shook my head. No way. I'd rather face Lucy. We could hear her moving around downstairs. Brody grabbed my arm and pushed me towards the window.
"I can't. I don't like heights." I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror on the wall, and I'm not sure where all my blood had gone, but it had definitely vacated my face.
"It's okay," he whispered. "There's a roof out there to stand on. The back of the house has been extended on the ground floor. We'll walk along it and get down from there somehow."
Now this sounded good in theory, but I still had to scale the bathroom sink and get my tush out of that small opening. We heard the stairs creak as Lucy started her ascent. Brody lifted me under the arms and pushed me towards the window. My heels slipped on the vanity as my snug, black skirt moved up around my waist, my backside pushed into Brody's face as I crawled out through the window. Thank goodness I'd worn my good undies today.
Sitting on the roof tiles, I pressed myself against the wall behind me. I'll give Brody his due, for such a large man he was very agile. He was out that window before I could take a breath. He then gently pushed the window closed, and we sat back and held our breaths as we heard Lucy enter the bathroom and then turn around and leave again.
My heart rate decreased slightly at the knowledge that Lucy hadn't caught us—yet. We still had to get off the roof. By that time I would be dehydrated from the amount of sweat running from my palms.
We sat and waited, my breath coming out in short, sharp spurts, the height making me dizzy and anxious. I didn't know what we were waiting for, but I honestly didn't care. The longer I sat there, the longer it would be before I would have to look down and contemplate how to get off the roof.
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