He threw back his head and laughed, his eyes shining when he looked back at me. “We’ve got the laundry thing covered. Cypress apparently has a knack for it. He likes it done a certain way.”
“As any true adult does.” I took a step towards the door and that was
all
it took for Aspen to get the hint it was time to go. That was the other reason I had no problem helping them or having them stop over. They never just plopped down and wouldn’t leave, overstayed their welcome, or imposed in anyway.
“Well if you need anything, let us know too,” Aspen offered as he jogged down the stairs. I gave him a nod and smiled at his little wave before he ducked out my front door, not being able to shake that weird feeling again I’d been having the past couple of days. That insane one that made me seriously wonder that my made up worlds in my books and my reality were comingling and maybe something was wrong in my head.
That one that they were already helping me when I wasn’t looking. Insane, right? It was that or I had little elves racing around my house taking care of chores when I wasn’t looking.
Or I had early onset Alzheimer’s at
thirty
. I’d never heard of anyone getting it before their mid-forties but then again, things could happen. Bad things. And I did have a history of Alzheimer’s in my family. The pieces didn’t add up for that though.
I could forget changing the lightbulbs out on the front porch. And sure, the guys could have done that and maybe not have told me. But it disappearing from my to-do list? Okay, the other option was they changed it out and I thought I wrote it down but I really hadn’t. I acknowledged that.
That was
not
the only change around my house though. Oh no. I would have let one thing like that slide as being busy and everyone can forget shit.
My toilet downstairs had been a pain in my ass since I’d moved in. I’d asked the owner to fix it several times. Always he’d adjust the nut, saying that the insides were the wrong size, but that was enough. Yeah, because who doesn’t want to stick their hand in the tank every month and just tighten that nut? I also knew enough about plumbing that if the insides were the wrong size that the flap that stopped the water flow of the tank refilling was as well.
It had been on my list
forever
to take apart that damn toilet and replace the insides. I’d even looked up the model number and printed out the right sizes of everything I’d need. I’d measured, gone through all the motions. It had been on the kitchen table. I simply had not gotten around to doing it.
Yesterday I had used the toilet and it sounded different when I flushed it. I had assumed it was time to tighten the damn nut and lifted the cover of the tank, cursing myself once again for not just fixing the thing already. Only to find the insides replaced. All new. Now, I know, the insides of a toilet can all look the same and it would be really easy to forget what they look like.
Except I hadn’t. They had been really old. And these were brand spanking new.
And that flap to stop the water had been pink.
It was now blue. That float to balance the value do-hickey had been white.
It was now black.
I was
not making it up.
It could not all be in my head. Worrying that I seriously had forgotten a major, half day project like replacing the toilet guts, I raced to my computer and logged in to my online banking.
Not a single debit card transaction or pending purchase at Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Menards in the past two weeks. And I wasn’t a person who carried enough cash in her wallet to cover the amount it would cost to replace all of that.
Now if anyone had a
logical
explanation for how the fuck my toilet guts had been replaced and the damn thing had been fixed on its own besides magical elves running around my house, I was more than open to hearing it. Really, I was.
Crazy to think my neighbors were sneaking into my house and fixing things for me at night? Of course, but I was still having the dreams that they were touching me in a non-sexual way under the covers at night. Yeah, so all around, I was leaning towards I was losing my damn mind.
But still grateful for the toilet being fixed and the lightbulbs changed out and the half dozen other things done and
disappeared
from my to-do list. Insane, right? I guess it was just a few more reasons to add to why I’d end up in a padded room one day.
This was all racing through my mind as I pulled some burgers out of my freezer and threw them in the microwave, setting them to defrost a few minutes as I walked out onto the deck to start the grill. Maybe it was best to simply accept the gift of help and let it go? I mean, people had believed in benefactor fairies for centuries—god knew I’d done enough research on them over the years I’d been writing about paranormals.
It could just be they’d taken notice of me because of it and decided to pay me a visit.
“Yeah, good one, Cara,” I muttered under my breath as I pushed the ignite button, the grill lighting right up. I walked back inside and removed the meat from the microwave, checking that it was defrosted enough before opening the package and laying them carefully on the grill with the spatula. I watched the flames kick up, the juices dripping down and sizzling loudly. I had just closed the top when I saw Teak come
racing
out onto his deck.
“Oh my fucking
god
, she cooks
too
!” he exclaimed loudly. Then my eyes about popped out of my head as jumped the rail and landed on the ground
ten
feet
below.
“Are you insane?”
I shouted as he raced across our strip of joint yard, over my bottom level deck, and then up the stairs to me.
“Please tell me you have enough to feed me too, beautiful Cara,” Teak moaned as he lifted me in his arms and swung me around. “I’m
so
tired of takeout!”
“Teak,
chill
!” Cypress called out. I was on my feet, shaking my head and trying to get my bearings, grabbing onto Teak’s biceps to steady myself as Cypress and Aspen came thundering up my stairs. Wow, I hadn’t noticed how muscular they were until that moment. I mean, sure they were always shirtless, but I’d continually picked
lean
as the adjective of choice.
I now changed that as I was holding onto his arms. He had very well-built, nicely developed arms. I, of course, focused on that as I looked at Aspen and Cypress and noticed they did too. Did I have my priorities in line or what?
Shaking my head again, I stared up at Teak. “Are you okay? How did you not break a leg jumping down like that?”
“It’s not that far,” he chuckled, giving me a wink. “Maybe seven or eight feet with the slope of the hill—no more than a step ladder.”
“And Teak is a mountain climber,” Cypress quickly added, not meeting my eyes when I glanced at him. “He’s been repelling and whatnot for years. He knows how to take a landing so it’s no big deal.”
Liar.
“Right, so you’re not hurt,” I drawled, stepping back and looking him over as if that would make a difference.
He shrugged. “Totally fine. Sorry I startled you. I’m just starving and
so
sick of takeout.”
“So you said.” I sat down on the bench seat, still a little shaken from the
holy shit
moment and stampede of men racing at me when all I’d set out to do was make a couple of burgers. I gestured for them to do the same, smiling when Teak plopped down next to me. “You’re going to have to fill me in here, Teak. I’m not a mind reader. I know the takeout around here blows—”
“Oh my god, you think so too?” he gushed, moving his hand to my leg as if relieved I wasn’t insulted. I chuckled and nodded. “What’s with that? It’s like the only place right around here that’s eatable is Taco Bell. How are the Burger King and Pizza Hut so bad? And that’s really it out here!” We were a few suburbs outside of Omaha, right before it became all nowhere farms and county roads, so yeah, tiny didn’t quite cover it.
“There’s one Chinese place that’s not bad but anything else you have to hike it up to 370,” I agreed.
“Yeah, but then everything’s cold by the time you get back,” he whined, even going so far as to stick out his lower lip. But it wasn’t annoying. It was cute.
Plus, I’d bitched about the same damn thing.
“And the only thing that delivers out here is Godfather’s Pizza, and while we don’t mind paying for good food, that is not food worth paying that price for,” Aspen drawled.
I bit back a smirk. “I made the same mistake the first week I was here.” Then I went for the obvious to which I had a feeling I knew the answer. “So cook.” I burst out laughing when all three of them winced. “That bad?”
“We almost burned down the kitchen,” Cypress admitted. “It was a good thing Teak had thought to get fire extinguishers because we’ve used three. I mean, yeah, we’ve got toaster waffles, but I burnt eggs and started a fire with bacon. Aspen ruined a pot making pasta. Teak just about exploded the oven trying to bake chicken. Fuck, I bought one of those frozen lasagnas and
still
we ended up setting off the smoke detector.”
“We’ve come to the conclusion, after a week of all of us trying, that some people have it in them to cook and we do not,” Aspen drawled, shaking his head. “People should know their limitations and that is ours. We discussed getting a grill, but fuck, that involves
gas or charcoal
and there are trees around here. We could burn down the whole subdivision the way we’ve been going.”
“I do love to cook, and I hate doing it for one,” I hedged, smiling when I saw hope fill three sets of eyes. It was a
bizarre
idea, and I did barely know them, but they were
sweet
and I was kinda lonely living by myself now, especially since my pup was gone. It wouldn’t be the
worst
thing for me to have more adult human interaction and conversation that wasn’t with my imaginary characters.
“Please, Cara,” Teak whimpered, wrapping his strong arm around me, laying his head on my shoulder. “Whatever you want, anything you need. We will be your slaves if you just
feed us
.”
“You don’t know if I’m even any good,” I chuckled, shoving him back. “You could hate my cooking worse than the takeout around here.”
“Not possible,” Aspen groaned, leaning back in the chair. “Besides, the people we bought the house from said you made the best treats around the holidays, so if we stayed on your good side, we could get loaded up with sweets.”
“Jesus, anything they
didn’t
tell you about me?” I hissed, once again annoyed how they ran their mouths.
“Screw them, remember?” Teak murmured, always uncomfortable when anyone was upset.
“Yeah, right.” I mentally shook it off and went back to my plotting. “I’m not the best at remembering to shop for supplies so you guys would have to handle that if I give you lists of what I would need, okay? And there might be some adjustments along the way because I have no idea how much you guys would eat. I’m assuming a lot more than me.”
“For sure,” Cypress snorted. “But yeah, you tell us what to get and we’ll do it.”
“I’m assuming you can microwave leftovers and handle that on your own?” I drawled, glancing between them. As much as I was cool with the idea of us hanging out and eating together it wasn’t like I wanted them invading my kitchen twice a day, every day.
“That we can handle,” Aspen agreed, picking up on what was going on.
“And we’ll do all the cleanup of course,” Teak added.
Now I
really
liked this idea. I hated doing the dishes. “Okay, then let’s make a quick grocery run because I don’t have enough to feed you monsters tonight.” I stood and turned off the grill, the burgers toast by now anyways.
“Really?” Teak breathed as if I’d just agreed to paint their rooms instead of cook them dinner.
“Yes, we’ll try this for a week,” I chuckled as I walked into the house. They followed after me, practically vibrating with excitement. I locked the sliding glass door and grabbed my purse. “Let’s say five nights I cook, one you guys pick up something, and one we do our own thing. I’ll make sure there’s leftovers you can reheat for most lunches, and the rest you can build your own sandwiches without burning down your house. You shop for the supplies and clean up. Deal?”
“Yes!” came a chorus behind me as I led them out of my house. Oh my
god,
they were so excited it was hard not to be as well.
Then again I was. I loved cooking, trying new recipes, and feeding people. I was half Polish after all, and it was the Polish way to feed people. Plus they got stuck doing the grocery shopping, did the dishes, and I spent five or six nights having dinner with three
gorgeous
men.
Actually I didn’t see a single drawback to this arrangement. It was a sweet deal for me.
We headed over to the local Hy-Vee, and within three minutes of being there, I realized I would have to go with them at each store I shopped, at least once, before I could send them on their own… Because they were clueless. Okay, some of the stuff was me being picky after having cooked for years, learning tricks of what worked best, but yeah, they were still pretty clueless.