Chapter 8
Maylee
Oren is in bed and thankfully sleeping soundly.
He’s enjoying school now that the teachers are making sure the bullying has stopped.
Most days Myles drops him at school and I pick him up.
I made sure my job knew I would leave in time, and if they didn’t like it, the job would be gone.
I would always put Oren first, and if needed I’d start my own law firm.
Lying on the couch, legs out and feet resting on Myles's thighs, I smile when he rubs my feet subconsciously. It’s just one of the things I love about him. He takes care of us without realizing it.
“What did you decide about the place next door?” I ask.
Myles turns his head and looks at me. “Well, Clem spoke to Lou, and she is going to look at getting us the best deal on the place she can. She’s going to get the key for us to look around. Then we can see how much damage, if any there is.”
“Any idea of what it’s selling at?”
“No, I didn’t ask. Probably should have, but you know Clem is good at dealing with that sort of thing. Whitney is good friends with Lou now, and you know her well enough. You’ve all had nights out. What do you think of her helping to get the place?”
My response is simple, “She’ll do what she can. Lou is a great person, and she knows her job better than her boss. If anyone can get you a great deal on that building, she will.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind us using our savings to buy the place? Clem is happy to go fifty-fifty as we always have.” Myles is watching all my reactions during this conversation, and it tells me he’s worried about how I feel.
“Myles, the money in the bank is for us to use when and if we need to. The garage needs expansion. You’ve talked about it for months. Stop talking and start doing.”
“I've got a new mechanic.” Myles fills me in on the man and his wife. He sounds nice and will fit in easily. “He starts tomorrow officially, but you know when I said he had the job he stayed and put himself to cleaning any mess he found in the garage.”
“That tells you he’ll be committed. That he’s not a young man, and I mean in his twenties or thirties says to me he’ll be grounded.
As you just said he had years with his last employer, so he’s stable.
A good third mechanic will offset costs because he’ll take up the slack that you have had.
Which means any customer that had gone out of town because you couldn’t fit them in, won’t have to now.
” It makes sense to me to have another mechanic, and by the sound of Dan, he’ll fit in perfectly.
“We’ll see, but I was thinking of inviting him and his wife Synthia over at the weekend.”
“Great idea. I’ll get Whitney in on it too, and we’ll have a table of favorites.” I grin because I can imagine a rack of ribs, mac and cheese, pizza, fried chicken, hot dogs, and desserts like brownies and apple pie.
“Come on, let’s get to bed. We are both at work tomorrow,” Myles says as he moves my legs and stands from the couch. Holding his hand out for me to take, I stand, give him a seductive smile, then make a run for it, leaving him chuckling behind me.
“You better be in bed when I’ve locked all up Maylee, or you’ll regret it.” Myles laughs, and I make sure I rush to be ready because I know what’s going to happen once Myles gets into the bedroom.
It’s Saturday morning, and the week has flown by. Of the adoption, I’ve heard nothing as yet. I’m not impressed that the powers that be are taking so long, but that is how the system works, so we can only sit it out.
Dan and his wife are coming this afternoon.
Whitney and I have been planning all week.
We have the feast, as we call it ready. Including all the mini favorites for Oren.
He’s in a mischievous mood this morning, so I sent him to Whitney’s for a while because he’s up to something.
But so are Whitney and I, and revenge is sweet.
Later in the afternoon, we are all sitting around the table and munching on whatever we feel like.
Synthia is lovely. I think she’s going to make a great addition to our friend base.
Lou couldn’t come today, although we had invited her.
She is fighting for a better deal for the garage, so we are in the ‘wait and see’ mode at the moment.
“This is a great rib you have made, Maylee,” Dan says, and I smile as Synthia wipes sauce from his cheek. Men, they have no shame. He doesn’t care a hoot that she’s mothering him.
Looking at Oren, who is sucking a rib like his life depends on it, and of course, is smothered in sauce, when he grins. “I like ribs. Good as fuck!”
The entire table stops moving. My eyes slowly return to Oren, who continues sucking that rib with no sign he’s done anything wrong.
“What did you say?” I mumble, shocked, and annoyed. My eyes move to Myles where I squint, letting him know I know where that word has come from. Then I slowly turn to Clem to let him know he hasn’t got out of it either.
“I said the ribs are good,” Oren states, obviously unaware of what he actually said.
Synthia giggles as she reaches over and pats my hand. “Don’t worry, Maylee. That’s nothing compared to what you have coming.”
“What?” I gasp.
“He’s male. He’s a miniature man. You know what men are like, and he’s going to grow into one. My two did worse than that Maylee, so buckle up and be ready.” Again, Synthia laughs, but it’s more full-on this time, and I can see she’s reminiscing in her mind.
I give Myles a filthy look, but he’s concentrating on his plate, making sure not to give me eye contact. Whitney starts to giggle, and I turn to look at her, which earns me a wink and more laughter.
“You’ve all got thirty minutes before we go into Clem’s yard where we promised to help sweep the leaves.” I give Whitney a side-eye, and she gives me a small nod in response.
Now, I have to fill you in on the fact that Whitney and I have a Nerf Super Soaker Foam Blaster. Both have full tanks of watered-down shaving foam. It’s the best we could come up with after all our Google research.
I wait for Myles to have his back to us before I grab my Nerf from behind the water barrel, and I zap him, laughing like a witch the whole time.
Myles freezes for a moment before he turns slowly to give me a look that says, revenge. Whitney zaps Clem and Oren right before she turns it onto Dan.
Synthia is clapping her hands and hopping from one foot to another with delight. “Let me have a go.”
I hang on to my Nerf and blast each of the men and Oren. I make sure I hit Oren around his legs and not his head. He is laughing so hard that he’s making weird squealing sounds.
Seeing Myles stalking me, I take off around the yard. Turning and blasting him every few yards I cover. Whitney has given her blaster to Synthia who has made sure Dan looks like a snowman.
Myles catches me eventually of course, but by that time the Nerf has run out of shaving foam. That doesn’t stop him, however. He picks me up firefighter style and carries me to the large water barrel where he dumps me into it, taking my breath because it is freezing cold.
Climbing out of the barrel, I make sure I climb Myles like a monkey climbs a tree, soaking him through, but covering me in the residue shaving foam.
People passing on the sidewalk stop and watch for a moment, but continue on, laughing or smiling as they do. Not so much across the street where Mrs. Bradshaw is giving us nasty looks. I don’t care. I wave so she knows it doesn’t bother me one hoot that she doesn’t like what we are doing.
It's a good day, and it's good fun, and our new friends Dan and Synthia have had a great time. Oren has loved every minute, and that’s all that matters to me.