Authors: Layne Macadam
“It was good of Anne to mind Cindy wasn’t it Shane?”
He agreed that it was then the conversation shifted. He liked her voice, it was melodic and calming as she chatted beside him, amusing, interesting stuff not frivolous bullshit guaranteed to bore him to death.
As he turned into Frosty’s street, he pointed out the house. “Looks as though the guys have arrived early and taken every good spot in the street,” he said, stopping the truck three houses down.
*
There were a number of pickups parked nearby and another in the driveway. Kathy assumed they must belong to the rest of the team as she stepped onto the sidewalk. Cindy was firmly tucked under her arm, her free hand slipped into Shane’s, and they strolled the short distance to the house.
Shane opened the gate. As they walked up the path, Kathy admired the freshly painted two-story dwelling with the manicured lawns and the neat gardens with their array of multicolored plants and flowers. It was a well-loved home, and someone was a keen gardener, that much was obvious. The combined scents of lavender and carnation mixed with the exotic fragrance of the apricot roses potted on either side of the front steps pleasantly filled her nostrils. Her eyes crinkled and her lips curled upward as the thought invaded her mind that if she was ever lucky enough to have kids, then this was the kind of house she’d like to bring them up in.
Shane’s knock on the front screen door brought her back to reality. He checked his watch. Kathy thought they were due at midday, but it was clear they weren’t the first to arrive. “Are we late?”
“No, we’re not eating till one. Frosty said to get here early, but I wasn’t banking on the guys being here so soon.”
Although Kathy was looking forward to meeting his friends, she was also a little apprehensive. Her and Shane’s relationship was still new, and she was enjoying the intimacy between them, but the fact that he wanted to introduce her around gave her a thrill.
Shane was about to knock again when Meredith’s mom appeared and threw her arms around him. He had explained earlier that he’d known Sarah almost as long as he had known her husband, in fact, he and Frosty had been together the day they’d met her. He described her as being a slight little thing then, barely five feet two with green eyes and blonde hair and how Frosty was besotted with her from the word go, and now twelve years later they were still just as much in love. It was the thing fairytales were made of.
“Hi ugly.” Sarah smiled and kissed him.
“My God woman, if you get any bigger you won’t fit through the door.” The affection in his tone took the sting from his words.
“Bite me.” Heavily pregnant with her third child, Sarah retaliated by giving Shane’s bicep a light thump. “So Ice, are you going to introduce me?” she prodded.
“Sure, this is Kathy Bellamy, she ah, lives next door to me. Kathy, Sarah Frost.”
Kathy had been wondering how Shane would make the introduction, whether it would be as his
friend
or his
girlfriend
, she hadn’t even considered the possibility of being delegated to the ranks of
neighbor
. After their shared intimacies of the past week, she thought they’d moved beyond
neighbors
and so was a bit miffed by Shane’s offhanded introduction.
“It’s so nice to meet you.” Kathy smiled as Sarah ushered them through the door.
“You look familiar, have we met before?” Sarah inquired.
“No, but you may recognize me from school, I’m Meredith’s new teacher.”
“Of course, now I remember. I’ve seen you in the playground. Meredith absolutely adores you. Everything is Miss Bellamy said this, and Miss Bellamy said that, she thinks you’re Wonder Woman and Batgirl all rolled into one.” Sarah laughingly informed her.
“I think she’s pretty special too, a real sweetie.”
“I couldn’t agree more, but I’m biased.”
The front door had no sooner closed behind them when Meredith came scooting along the corridor like a dervish. “Uncle Shane, Uncle Shane,” she screamed with excitement and launched herself at him.
Shane gathered her up and laughing, swung her in a circle. “Happy Birthday Squirt,” he said while the little girl rained kisses all over his face.
When Meredith spotted her over Shane’s shoulder, she lowered her voice and exclaimed, “Oh, hello Miss Bellamy, what are you doing here?”
“Happy Birthday Meredith, your Uncle Shane invited me. I hope you don’t mind?”
“No, that’s okay,” she said, but Kathy noticed she clung tighter to Shane’s neck.
“Miss Bellamy and I have brought you a very special present, Squirt.”
Shane unwound the little girl’s arms from his neck and set her down. Kathy handed him the puppy, and he placed her in Meredith’s outstretched hands.
“You have to promise to take good care of her, and be gentle ‘cause Cindy is just a baby.”
The little girl’s eyes almost popped out of her pretty face. “Oh thank you, this is the best present ever.” She beamed and turning to her mother, asked with a mixture of delight and disbelief, “Is she really mine? Can I keep her?”
“You’ll have to check with Daddy first, and if he says it’s okay then of course you can.” Sarah replied with an exaggerated wink in Shane’s direction.
“So, you haven’t discussed it with him then?” Shane stated the obvious.
“No, I thought it more prudent to present him with a
fait accompli
. She’s been begging for a puppy for such a long time, but he keeps arguing that a dog will dig up his precious garden, and you know how anal he can be about that. Anyway, I’m all for family harmony, so I thought it would be much more entertaining coming from you.”
“Gee thanks a bunch Sarah, I’m so looking forward to that. Not.”
Sarah graced Shane with a foolish grin before turning to her daughter. “Sweetie, why don’t you take Cindy outside and show Daddy what your darling Godfather’s given you for your birthday.”
Meredith scampered for the back door, the little puppy snug in her arms. Sarah turned back, her grin encompassed them both, and she didn’t even try to disguise her impish delight.
“It gets better, you should see the size of the playhouse, Wolf’s given her, it’s going to take up half the back garden. I thought Patrick was going to have a seizure when he saw it, when he sees the dog it’ll just cap off his day.”
“You’re an evil wench.”
“Yes, but a charming one. Now grab a beer and go out and face the music while Kathy and I get better acquainted. By the way, the boys are out the back putting the miniature house together, it even comes with its own furniture for heaven’s sake. You know what Wolf’s like, he spoils these kids as if they were his own.”
Shane grabbed a cold one and sauntered across the kitchen, at the door he turned and pointed a finger at Sarah. “Don’t interrogate her,” he warned.
Sarah responded with a loud air kiss and promptly ignored him. “Have a seat,” she invited.
Kathy perched on a kitchen stool and glanced around.
“What can I get you to drink, wine, juice, soda?”
“Soda would be good thanks.”
Sarah took the soda from the refrigerator and poured it into a tall glass, added a couple of ice cubes, and placed the effervescent drink on the kitchen counter. “Tell me all about yourself, you’re not from around here are you?”
“No, I’m from Baton Rouge. Was it my Southern accent that gave me away?” Kathy laughed.
“Yeah, something like that. You know Kathy, I feel like we’re already friends, Meredith talks about you all the time, she’s very fond of you.”
“I’m very fond of her too.”
“So tell me, do you have any brothers or sisters?” Sarah began the interrogation that Shane had warned against.
“No, there’s just little old me.”
“What about your parents, what does your dad do for a living?”
Kathy’s eyes clouded. “He was killed in a car accident when I was ten,” she explained.
“Oh Kathy, I’m so sorry, that was inconsiderate of me.”
“No, it’s all right—it was a long time ago. After his death Mom sold the farm and bought a restaurant in Baton Rouge. She was a great cook.”
“Was?”
“Mm, cancer. She was diagnosed over a year ago, when she became too ill to work, I sublet the restaurant and threw in my job to care for her, she died four months ago.” Her eyes swam and she blinked rapidly. “Afterward I needed to get away. My friends didn’t understand and tried to talk me out of it, but the memories kept crowding in until I thought if I didn’t get away I’d go mad. Lucky for me I saw the teaching job here, applied for it and
voila
.”
Sarah placed a comforting arm around her shoulders and declared, “Lucky for us too Kathy. Meredith’s come out of her shell under your guidance.” Then her eyes lit with devilment and in a hushed tone confided, “And I’ll let you in on a little secret too, you’re the first woman, Ice has ever brought to this house.”
* * * *
Ice cracked open his beer and took a long swallow before walking down the yard to greet the guys. They were standing in the sunshine enjoying a cold one of their own and loudly discussing the next step in erecting the playhouse.
From the number of tools and diagrams lying nearby, it was going to be a rather involved project. Sarah was spot on, it would take up a huge chunk of the garden, and Frosty was not going to be a happy camper. The next few hours would test his resilience to the extreme, and he still hadn’t seen the dog. Meredith had been sidetracked in her quest for permission to keep the puppy by a gaggle of little girls all waiting impatiently for a turn to hold Cindy.
Entertaining herself on the play gym nearby was Mandy, Frosty and Sarah’s four-year-old daughter. When the little girl spied him, she came hurtling up the garden like a whirlwind and attached herself to his leg in a death grip.
Ice bent over and ruffled the blonde little tomboy’s hair and stiff legged walked over and greeted his friends with Mandy still clinging on.
“Nice playhouse, Frosty.”
“Shoot, is there no end to this monstrosity?” Frosty grumped, laying out another piece of the puzzle.
“Look on the bright side—next time you’re in the doghouse, you’ll have somewhere nice and roomy to stay.” Ice didn’t even attempt to conceal the smirk that accompanied the remark.
“Yeah, and it looks like you’ll have company too.” Wolf tilted his head indicating the parcel of girls heading their way.
Frosty turned and smiled, Meredith and her entourage of tiny squealing females were coming at him full tilt.
“Daddy, Daddy, look what Uncle Shane and Miss Bellamy gave me for my birthday.”
Ice stood back and waited for the explosion.
Frosty’s eyes skewed to Meredith’s just as the fluffy thing in her arms barked. “It’s a dog,” he announced stupidly, and then inquired in disbelief, “You bought her a dog?”
Ice raised a brow and grinned at his best pal knowing he’d sent him into a tailspin.
“This day just gets better and better.”
“Her name’s Cindy, Daddy. Mommy said I can keep her if you say so. Please Daddy, can I keep her, please. I promise to take good care of her.”
“What about my garden? There’ll be nothing left of it after today.” Frosty bitched at having been saddled not only with a monstrosity of a playhouse, but with an unwanted dog as well and could see no way out.
“Look on the sunny side Frosty,” Hawk offered seriously. “Little dogs only dig little holes and leave little messes.”
“That’s right. And just think it could be worse, Ice could’ve got her a Labrador.” Havoc chortled, trying without success to contain his mirth.
“Yeah man, every kid needs a dog,” Wolf added his two cents worth. “What are you gonna do, disappoint the kid on her birthday and say she can’t keep it?”
The team was having fun at Frosty’s expense, and Ice was glad the attention had been diverted from him knowing full well the minute Kathy made her entrance the tables would turn, and he would bear the brunt of their ribald humor. He wished he hadn’t been so obvious in his attraction to her that night at the club, and then, maybe, he could brush it off as just a neighborly association.
Ice disengaged Mandy from his leg, and she ran off to play with the other kids and the new puppy while he took a seat at the table next to Hawk.
“Very funny guys, how can I fight that?” Frosty pointed to his two daughters blissfully playing with the new puppy. “But you wait Ice, and you too Wolf, I’m putting it out to the universe, so mark my words, what goes around, comes around, then we’ll see who has the last laugh,” Frosty prophesized as he jabbed a finger first at Ice, and then Wolf.
“Tell me you’re not still into that cosmic bullshit?” Havoc asked.
“It ain’t crap.” Frosty tossed his empty beer bottle into the bin then his face flashed with puzzlement. “Hang on a minute, who the bejesus is Miss Bellamy?”
Ice cleared his throat. “Ah she’s my neighbor, actually I got the puppy from her,” he announced offhandedly. “And funny enough as it turns out, she’s also Meredith’s teacher, she’s inside with Sarah now.” Ice ordered himself to remain cool and not give them any ammunition. Why the hell did he bring her anyway? ‘Cause dumbass, he thought with his dick instead of his head. He answered his own question.
“For chrissakes, this is crap. Not only do you bring a dog, but you bring your bloody school ma’am neighbor responsible for sticking me with the creature.” Frosty’s rant caused the guys to hoot with laughter.
“Keep your hair on mate, it’s not that bad.” Havoc’s attempt to ease the situation failed.
“Easy for you to say mate, you’re not the one stuck with it.” At Frosty’s terse words, Havoc tugged the brim of his Akubra lower and folded his arms.
“Hey Ice, doesn’t your building have a no animals policy? So what the hell was she doing with a dog anyway?”
Before he could answer Wolf, the back door swung open and Sarah and Kathy trundled down the yard carrying plates of food for lunch.
“Dad just phoned and said they’re ten minutes away, so you may as well light the barbeque,” Sarah announced, handing her husband the meat tray then turned her attention to the guys. “Has everyone met Ice’s
friend,
Kathy?”