by Deborah Camp
“Trudy. How’s it going?” Levi asked.
“Good.” She lowered her voice. “He knew just now that the phone was going to ring.”
Levi’s warm chuckle tickled her ear. “Told you.”
“I’ll fill you in more later. I don’t want to leave him in there—.”
“Yeah, yeah. Go on. I just wanted to be sure he was there and you were getting along.”
“Thanks. Love you.”
“Love you more, baby.”
She ended the call and joined them again, unable to get rid of the big grin on her face. “Guess who was calling,” she said, looking pointedly at Stuart.
He lifted his gaze to hers. His lips parted as if he were going to respond, but then he bobbed his shoulders instead of answering.
“You won’t even hazard a guess?”
He looked at Wes and then back to Trudy. “I don’t know people you know.”
Trudy sat down again. “Right. I just thought that, since you knew that the phone was going to ring, you might also know who was calling.” From the corner of her eye, she saw him jerk as if she’d delivered a little shock to him. “Levi and I have this thing where we can think really, really hard about each other and we feel it. We feel the connection. Is that how it is when you know that someone’s calling? You feel it? Or does an image of a phone pop into your head?”
Stuart pushed aside his plate and sat back in the chair, his gaze now studiously fixed on the salt and pepper shakers in the center of the table. Trudy chastised herself. She’d gone too far, too fast. Exactly what she’d had told herself not to do.
“How about some banana pudding?” Wes said, breaking the tense silence. He stood and gathered their plates. “Stuart, would you mind helping me dish it out and serve it?”
Stuart scrambled from the chair and bounded up the steps to the raised kitchen. Trudy heaved a heavy sigh when Wes offered her a sympathetic smile and patted her shoulder before joining the boy. She berated herself, but tried to shake off her defeat when Stuart arrived back in the dining room. He held a bowl of pudding, which he carefully placed on the table before climbing back up into the chair. Wes served Trudy a bowl of it and then sat down again to enjoy the dessert. Stuart smacked his lips after the first spoonful.
“It has whipped cream on top of it,” he told Trudy just in case she needed to know the identity of the fluffy white stuff.
“Yes, that makes it extra delicious,” she said, spooning some into her mouth. She let him enjoy the dessert without further comment. Frankly, she didn’t know what to say to him after that faux pas. She felt as if she were treading water instead of making progress. Still, she liked watching him gobble up the pudding, rolling his eyes in a comical way, and saying “mmm-mmm” every now and then.
Wes cleared the table and Trudy led Stuart into the laundry room. She let Mouse out of her crate and the dog scampered immediately to the boy, which didn’t surprise Trudy and totally delighted Stuart. He plopped down on the floor and giggled uncontrollably as Mouse kissed his face and neck and hands.
“She l-likes me!” he managed between Mouse’s exuberant kisses.
“She certainly does,” Trudy agreed, leaning back against the washer and enjoying the delight emanating from the boy. She opened a jar of treats and held it out for Stuart. “Give her one of these and she’ll be your friend forever and ever.”
He took the biscuit from her and then held it up for Mouse to see. The gray Chihuahua stood on her hind legs and jumped in a circle, waving her front paws, and emitting a squeaky bark that had Stuart in stitches again.
“You’re so funny,” he said, giving Mouse the treat. He petted her apple-sized head while she chomped on the crunchy dog biscuit. “And soft. Her fur is so soft!”
“I know. Kind of like velvet, isn’t it?” Trudy slid down the washer until she was sitting, legs akimbo. “She’s my baby.”
He grinned and wrinkled his freckled nose. “She’s not your baby.”
“Well, I treat her as if she were,” Trudy amended. “I spoil her and love her and I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
He grew quiet, his smile fading. Trudy bit her lip, wishing she hadn’t spoken so plainly about her love for the dog. She knew her words had made the boy focus on the loss of the people he loved most in his life.
“I’m sorry about you losing your parents, Stuart,” she said, wanting to address the elephant that had lumbered into the room.
He blinked rapidly, drawing her attention to his long, inky lashes. “I didn’t lose them. They’re dead.” His small chest rose and fell with his short, sharp sigh.
Empathy banded her chest, nearly cutting off her breath. “That’s a figure of speech. A poor one, I suppose. They are lost to you, but not completely gone.”
His gaze tracked to her and his face crumpled a little. “What’s that mean?”
“Well, I believe that when people pass over – die – they can still see us. They’re still aware of what we’re doing. They’re sort of watching over us. In fact, there is a lady named Ethel who has passed on, but she watches out for me. I call her my spirit guide.”
“Like an angel.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Up in heaven.”
“Exactly. So, you believe in heaven?”
“I guess, but I don’t know where it is.”
“Neither do I, but I do know that there is a place beyond here.”
“Up in the sky somewhere? Where the planes fly?”
“No. It’s beyond that. Way beyond. We can’t get there by plane or even by spaceship.”
He puckered his brow, carefully considering her words as he absently stroked Mouse’s pointy ears. Finally, his expression cleared and he looked at her from beneath his lashes. “I see a phone.”
It took her a few seconds to follow his train of thought and then her breathing shallowed. “In your head?”
He nodded, his expression deadly serious. “I see a phone and then it rings in my head. And then a real phone rings. Does it do that in your head, too?” The hopefulness in his tone nearly broke her heart.
“No, but I know people who experience that same thing. Different things happen to me.”
“What things?” He crossed his legs and Mouse sat in his lap.
She had thought about how she’d describe her abilities to Stuart and had discussed the best way to tell him about them with both Levi and Dr. McClain. Still, she chose each word carefully because she didn’t want to frighten him by revealing too much all at once.
“Sometimes I can share thoughts with people.” She gauged his reaction. He seemed interested but not fearful, so she continued. “I share impressions with living people I don’t know. Their thoughts and what they see and hear enter my head.”
“How come?”
She traced a ridge in the slate floor with her fingertip. “I don’t know. It’s been happening since I was your age. Do you know what being psychic means?” When he shook his head, she resumed her tracing on the ridges and bumps in the slate floor. Stuart kept his gaze affixed to Mouse. “I’m psychic. So is Levi. It’s when you have special abilities that allow you to sense things, see things, know things that most people can’t. What about ESP? Have you heard of that?”
“No.”
“How about intuition?”
His eyes lifted to find hers. “Mommy told me about that. It’s when you get a feeling that something might happen and it does.”
So, his mother – and perhaps his father – had noticed his abilities. That was good to know. “That’s right, Stuart. You have intuition and so do I. Just in different ways. What we can do is kind of like how some people can draw beautiful pictures or how some kids can learn how to spell words faster than the rest of the class. We’re born with it.”
“Like blue eyes and brown hair,” he murmured, then heaved a sigh.
Trudy noticed the sadness fall over him like a cloak. “Is that something your mother said about intuition?”
“Y
eah.” He rubbed Mouse’s head, carefully, gently. “Why can I, but my friends can’t? Mommy and Daddy couldn’t either.”
“Your parents talked to you about what you can do?”
“Some. But I don’t get it.”
“Look, not everyone has the same gift. We all have specific talents, keen interests, and even degrees of intuition. I know how this can all seem confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. I’d like to be your friend and help you explore your special gift.”
Wariness glinted in his eyes, making them look cold. “Why?”
She reached out and tapped his nose. “Because I like you, nut butt.”
He defrosted, grinned, then giggled. “You said butt.”
“Yeah, I did. I said nut, too. Anyway, I like you and I think it’s cool that we’re both psychic. I wish I’d had a psychic pal when I was your age. You know, someone who could show me the ropes. How it could help me or help other people. As a kid, I was scared of what was happening to me, but if I’d had a friend who understood it, it wouldn’t have frightened me so much.”
“Sigh-chick.”
Trudy chuckled. “No. It’s sigh-kick.”
“Sigh-kick.”
“That’s it. That’s us.”
He stroked Mouse, who was falling asleep in his lap. “Could you bring me here sometime for lunch if we’re friends?”
Her heart cracked open. “Sure. Do you like it here?”
“It’s quiet. Not like the shelter.” He made a gross face. “It’s real loud there most of the time. Babies bawl. Kids cry. Smells funny, too.”
The crack widened and it was all she could do not to gather him into her arms and hug him tightly. She cleared her throat before she spoke again. “You’re welcome here any time, Stuart. In fact, let’s make a date right now for you to have lunch with me this Saturday. Are you free then? I could come pick you up.”
“I see Dr. McClain Saturday morning.”
“Then that’s perfect! I’ll plan to pick you up at her office and we’ll have lunch here. Maybe we’ll even take in a movie.”
His whole face brightened. “Really? Have you seen the new Avengers movie?”
“No, I have not, but I want to! Would you see it with me?”
He nodded, gently nudged Mouse out of his lap, and stood up, suddenly animated. “Thor’s in it. I like him the best. And the Hulk! He’s super cool. The way he gets all big and green and, oh, he’s funny, too.”
“I know. I like the Black Widow, Dr. Strange, and I have a thing for Bucky Barnes.”
“Oh, yeah. He’s all right, too.” He bounced on the soles of his black Keds and did some shadow boxing. “A guy in my school said he met the Iron Man when he was in Hollywood on vacation last year.”
“Is that so?”
“Yep. And he said that he’s not very tall and not very big. Just average.”
“It’s the special suit that makes him so humongous and strong. His brain is what’s big about him.”
He regarded her for a few moments and she could swear that she’d moved up a notch or two in his estimation of her. “Yeah! He’s really, really smart.”
Feeling better about their communication, Trudy flattened her hands on the floor and pushed up to her feet. “You want to go across to the park and hang out a little while before I take you ho-back.” She gulped and nearly choked on her own spit when she’d almost said home. The shelter was not his home. Couldn’t be. It was where he stayed. The house where he’d hidden in the closet was home, lost to him just like his parents.
He leaned down and patted Mouse again. “Can we take her?”
“Absolutely. She loves the park. Here.” Trudy grabbed the leash from the hook near her and gave it to him. Spotting it, Mouse ran in circles, yipping excitedly. Stuart laughed at her antics. “Clip that to her collar and let’s get going.”
“Okay . . . uh, Mrs. Wolfe.”
Trudy rested a hand on his small shoulder and he looked up at her with those big, expressive eyes of his. “How about if you call me Trudy now that we’re friends and all.”
His grin was slow and inched up one corner of his mouth. “Okay. You can call me Stewie, if you want. That’s what my friends call me.”
Her chest tightened again, this time with pleasure. She patted his shoulder. “Let’s go, Stewie, before Mouse gets dizzy from running in circles.”
They set off with Stuart and Mouse in the lead and Trudy following them, feeling as if she were walking on air.
Chapter 5
She wasn’t sure how it happened, but somehow the next day Trudy found herself touring the house in Peachtree Heights East with Levi and Gennie, the Realtor. The house was just as wonderful as she’d remembered and she could tell that Levi liked it, too, although he didn’t seem as excited about it as she’d hoped. Still, he asked a lot of questions – questions she wouldn’t have even known to ask.
“What are the property taxes?”
“How much land is included?”
“Are there restrictive building codes? This isn’t zoned as an historic property, right?”
“City utilities? How much does the electric run a month? How many AC units? Any solar panels?”
“Are the utilities for the other houses on the property tied to this house or separate?”
“So, it was built in 1928 and remodeled in 1990 and 2010?”
“When was the pool last resurfaced? What kind of heating element does it have? When was it installed?”
“How old are those kitchen appliances? Are they still under warranty?”
The questions flew and Trudy couldn’t tell if the answers pleased him or not. A few times he frowned and once he seemed marginally impressed. That was when Gennie told him about the security system that had been recently installed and showed him the basement room next to the underground parking garage where all the security monitors were located, their black-and-white images flickering and storing footage of nearly every part of the property. Naturally, Levi was all into that, along with the privacy gates and safe room.
They looked at the guest house, which was a charming two-story structure with a covered walkway that joined it to the main house. From the two-bedroom guest house, they could see one of the ponds on the property, this one surrounded by boulders and stocked with koi. Gennie said another pond was located to the west of the house, complete with wild ducks, Canadian geese, and a gazebo. Closer to the front of the property, but hidden by cypress trees and a hedge stood another house, another two-bedroom with a small patio that was meant for a property manager. Behind it, a fenced area contained three heated and cooled dog kennels.
“Might be nice to have guard dogs,” Levi murmured. “Aside from Mouse, of course.”
“Or maybe we could adopt some greyhounds,” Trudy suggested. “I’ve always wanted to rescue retired track dogs. Poor things.” She poked him in the ribs with her elbow when he chuckled at her. “Oh, hush!”
“You and your big, mushy heart,” he teased, slipping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to his side for a quick hug. “I’m grateful to be a beneficiary of it, though.”
Gennie Germaine sauntered up to them, a hopeful smile on her pretty face. “Can I show you anything else? Any other questions I can answer for you?”
“No, you’ve been quite thorough and helpful,” Levi told her.
“Wonderful.” She slipped two fingers into a small pocket in her tailored jacket and pulled out a business card. “If you want to make an of—.”
“We’ll take it,” Levi said, causing Gennie to freeze in mid-sentence.
“I . . . you want to go to contract?” Gennie looked as surprised as Trudy felt.
“Wait.” Trudy edged away from him. Was he serious? “You’re making an offer on this place?”
“Not an offer,” he said, smiling indulgently. “We’re buying it. You’re right. It’s a good fit for us and it’s not too far from the office. In fact, there’s plenty of room for a helicopter pad.”
“Helicopter!” S
he laughed, but she wasn’t amused. “No, Levi. Let’s think about this.”
“I have, Trudy. You like it, don’t you?”
“I do. I think it’s lovely.”
“Okay, then let’s make it happen.” He shook his head when she started to argue. “Look, if we decide it’s not exactly what we want, then we’ll find something else later. I buy real estate every week, Trudy. This isn’t a big deal. It’s not life or death. It’s a business transaction, pure and simple.” He returned his attention to the Realtor, who was smiling, her eyes alight. “The asking price is seven million eight?”
“Yes. The sellers haven’t been willing to budge much, but we can probably get them to—.”
“It’s not too far off the mark. The driveway has to be repaved and I noticed that the roof hasn’t been replaced for at least ten years, so that will need to be addressed,” he interrupted her again, his tone brisk, almost brusque. “I’ll waive an inspection and pay seven five, cash.”
Trudy stared at him, realizing that she was now watching CEO Levi Wolfe in action. He was quite formidable! No wonder people jumped to attention when he appeared. She’d seen it happen in the halls and conference rooms at Wolfe Enterprises, Inc. She’d also seen grown men and women leave his office looking as if they’d lost a heated verbal brawl. Darla had confided in her once that office code for when Levi was in a “take no prisoners mood” was Wolfe Attack. She’d laughed at that, but Darla hadn’t joined in.
Gennie’s mouth was ajar, but she closed it with a click of her teeth. “Let me call the listing agent right now. Excuse me.” She turned and walked a distance from them as she punched in numbers on her cell phone.
“Seriously, Levi,” Trudy hissed. “You need to slow your roll. We’re buying a house, not an enchilada dinner!”
One side of his mouth hitched up and sparkles danced in his eyes “An enchilada dinner? You’re so fucking adorable.” He rested his hands on her shoulders and bent his knees to be eye level with her. “It’s a great house. I love the art deco architecture and it’s in good condition for its age. We can furnish it together and meld our tastes. Your parents and siblings can all come at one time or separately to visit us because there is plenty of room for them here. It’ll be fun.”