6
Gigget fought the tingle of excitement; Bing was coming over and would be joining them for dinner. The minute she got home from the farmer’s market, she called her friend Lulu.
“Are you and Tink able to join us for dinner tonight?”
“Sure, we’re available. What time?” Lulu asked.
“Five-thirty,” Gigget said.
“Can I bring anything?”
“This is such short notice it would be rude for me to ask you bring anything. Just come.”
“OK. Is something up?” Lulu asked. “You sound kind of funny.”
Oh, there is definitely something, but I have no idea how to tell you. “Everything is fine, but I’d like your company tonight.”
“OK. We’ll see you later.” Lulu disconnected the call.
The house was relatively clean except for the living room where the kids had scattered toys. She turned on some soft instrumental jazz for background music.
The kids were playing happily in the backyard, but it had gotten cold in the drafty old farmhouse.
She cranked up the heat and threw on a fleece sweater before she began to prepare for dinner. Thankfully she had some pies that hadn’t been cooked yet. She assembled one, put it in the oven, and tossed chili ingredients in the slow cooker. Chili with macaroni noodles. A nice loaf of fresh bread she’d left to rise earlier, and a pie for dessert. Perfect dinner for a cold day.
As she beat up the dough, her mind whirred with unpleasantries about Zeph and Fez as thoughts of once again sharing her life with a man surfaced. She had a list of qualities…kindness, a sense of humor, maybe someone who loved adventure and perhaps excited about traveling for vacations… Oh, and Lord, could he love Jesus? And her kids?
Tingles would be a bonus.
She sighed. The dough had been through enough abuse. She draped a towel over the dough bowl, set it near the warm stove, and proceeded to clean up the flour.
A blast of cold air preceded the entrance of her children. The door slammed shut. They took off their coats and came in. Their noses and cheeks were rosy as were their fingers.
“Will it snow, Momma?” Amoretta asked.
“It doesn’t snow here in September,” Gigget said as she pulled twigs out of Amoretta’s pigtails. “Were you rolling around in the leaves?”
“Not a lot have fallen yet, but we raked up a little pile and pretended it was big,” Djoni said lifting up his hand as high as he could reach to indicate how high they dreamed a pile would be.
“There will be plenty in a few more weeks. And sometimes we get a little snow by the end of October. Don’t rush winter, you two.” She pulled some leaves out of her son’s curly hair and ruffled it. “Grab the broom and dustpan for me, please. We have to get ready for company for dinner tonight.”
Djoni brought her the items.
“Thank you. You are both dirty from playtime. Wash your hands and put on some clean clothes. I don’t want our guests to think I’m raising ragamuffins.” She began to sweep.
“What’s a ragamuffin, Momma?” Amoretta asked.
“It is a child with worn and dirty clothes. Make sure you wash your faces.”
“Will we still need baths tonight?” Djoni asked.
“Given the twigs and leaves in your hair, I suspect it would be appropriate, don’t you think? And what is tomorrow?”
“Sunday.” Amoretta pouted. Funny, she usually liked baths.
“And why is it important to dress nice for church?”
“Out of respect for Jesus,” Amoretta said in a flat tone.
“What’s the matter, dear? You sound sad.”
“Mr. Twinkle didn’t say he would be our daddy. God isn’t answering our prayers.” The little girl folded her arms in front of her.
Oh, dear. “Honey, maybe God has something even better for us. And is it possible that God didn’t tell Mr. Twinkle about any such plan yet? You need to wait on God’s timing, not ours.”
Amoretta sighed and headed to the upstairs bathroom.
Djoni nodded. “I’ll talk to her, Mom. Don’t worry.” He took off after his sister.
Had they forgotten that Bing was coming to the house to install the security doorbell? Would that and dinner make them believe he was courting her? Lord, give me wisdom to deal with these children .
She had just put the broom away when the front doorbell rang. The sound of a herd of elephants descending the stairs indicated she would not be the first person there.
“Mom! Mr. Twinkle is here!” Djoni called.
Gigget smiled at her guest. “Come in, Mr. Twinkle. Djoni, please close the door.”
“OK, Momma.”
“I believe I have everything I need to get these cameras set up. You’ll be able to monitor them from your phone. And it will alert you to any movement,” Bing said.
The kids were listening to Bing.
“Children, go play in the living room. Mr. Twinkle has work to do.”
The kids scampered off.
She turned her focus to Bing. “Can I get you something warm to drink? Coffee, tea, or even hot chocolate?”
The man grinned. “Hot chocolate sounds wonderful, especially if you have those little marshmallows.”
“You bet.”
“I’ll be on the porch getting this one set up. Just open the door to hand me the mug. I can set it on that table you have out here. Thank you.” The click of the door cut off any chance for her to respond.
She returned with the hot chocolate and opened the door.
Bing was sitting in a chair reading the instructions.
“Here’s your hot chocolate.” She set it on the table.
He glanced up. “Where are your circuit breakers?”
“In the basement.”
“Do you know how they work?”
She shook her head, ashamed that she had little understanding of something that was probably important to know.
“Please show me. I need to turn off power to this before I get to work.”
“OK.”
~*~
Bing followed Gigget to the basement and walked to the breaker box on the wall. “Here it is on the guide, number eleven, which conveniently also handles the back door. Cool.” He turned to her. “It’s good to get familiar with this. If your power goes out in one room or outlet it, could be due to the breaker being tripped. Then it flips like this.” He tapped the breaker and stepped back. “Now you flip it back on.”
Gigget stepped forward, and he caught the aroma of bread and something sweet. She flipped the breaker back to the on position.
“Good. Now turn it to off, so I don’t get a jolt when I work on that doorbell.”
Even in the dim light of the basement her smile was inviting. She flipped it. “There.”
“Good. Now you are aware of how to flip the breakers off and back on if there’s an outage somewhere in the house.” An involuntary shiver overtook him. “I’m not fond of basements.”
“Me neither, but it came with the house.” She led the way back to the stairs. “When there are tornado warnings I’m willing to sit here though. Better than the alternative.”
“Agreed.” This appealing woman was a pretty little package. The only question was whether God intended her to be a gift for him. He wasn’t too sure about that yet.
“I’ll be out front and then in the back. I’ll come inside when I’m finished.” He headed out the front door.
The doorbells weren’t difficult to install, except the cold air made his fingers clumsier. He finished up the back door, and then went to his truck to stow the tools.
Another vehicle pulled into the driveway.
“Mr. Twinkle, I had no idea you would be here tonight,” Lulu said.
“I didn’t expect you to be here either. Good evening, Tink, Lulu.” He shook Tink’s hand with a firm grip.
“What are you doing here?” Lulu asked.
“Lulu,” her husband chided.
“It’s OK. Someone smashed the pumpkins the kids painted the other day, and I offered to install some doorbells with cameras so that if something happens again, Gigget can hopefully identify the suspect to the police.”
“Why didn’t we ever think of that? I’ve often worried about her safety out here all alone.” Lulu stepped towards the house.
“You’ll need to knock,” Bing told her. “The breaker isn’t on to test them out yet.”
Lulu went up the front steps and knocked.
Tink touched Bing’s elbow. “You’re a good man to be concerned about her safety.”
“Thank you.”
Together the men headed up the stairs and followed Lulu into the house.
“Gigget, do you have a bathroom where I could wash up after I turn the breaker back on?”
The smile Gigget directed to him brightened the hallway. “Sure. There’s one right here. Help yourself.” She hurried away with her other guests.
Bing went to the basement to flip the breaker. He checked the app on his phone and could see the front and the back of the house. Returning upstairs he washed his hands and went to test the doorbell. Both worked.
“All done?” Gigget asked.
“Yes. I need set up the app on your phone so you’ll be notified if there’s any movement or if someone rings the bell,” he said.
“Oh, here it is.” She grabbed the phone off the counter and handed it to him.
“No security on here?”
She shook her head. “Never needed it before.”
“Dinner is served,” Gigget called.
By the time Bing entered into the dining area, everyone was seated.
Tink and Lulu sat on one side of the table, the kids were on the other.
Gigget pointed him to the seat at the head of the table. He set down her phone. It would take some time for the app to download anyway.