Chapter 6
“Knock knock!” Kaiser called out as he opened the door to his parents’ house and led the way inside with Buster in his arms.
“In here,” Renata answered.
Kaiser put Buster down and unhooked his leash so he could have free run of the house. Buster promptly scurried away, his nails clacking on the tiled floor as he went. He turned to Cristie and extended his hand.
Cristie took his hand and let him lead her toward the back of the house.
As they reached the middle of the house, the whole house opened up with an open floor plan, the different sections of the kitchen, the living room, and a large white carpeted stairway leading upstairs separated by furnishings only, except for the kitchen which had a huge island in the center of it with half a dozen stools tucked against it.
“I brought somebody to see you,” Kaiser said before they stepped fully into the open area.
“I see that, and he’s eating my popcorn already!” Basilio said as he laughed at Buster standing on his hind legs and crunching popcorn a piece at a time.
“You can’t give him that, Dad,” Kaiser said. “He’s morbidly obese and is now on a diet.”
“He loves popcorn!” Basilio said, finally looking up to see that Cristie was with Kaiser. “Cristie! Hi, sweetheart!” Basilio exclaimed, getting up off the white sofa to hug her. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Me, too.”
“It’s only been a few weeks because we skipped Sunday dinners a few times, but it feels like longer,” Renata said, coming to hug Cristie herself.
“Hi, Aunt Renata,” Cristie said, melting into the always warm, always comforting best hugs in the world that Renata always gave her.
“How are you, baby?” Renata asked.
Cristie huffed a tired sigh.
“That bad, huh?”
“Yeah. It will get better, though, I know that. I’m just trying not to forget it,” Cristie said.
Basilio tossed a couple of pieces of popcorn into his mouth and sat down. “Come sit down, sweetie,” he said.
“We’re going out to dinner, I just wanted to see if you’d watch Buster for me. He’s exhausted so he’ll probably sleep all evening, but you can’t give him anything except his new diet food,” Kaiser said.
“Is he serious?” Basilio asked.
“Dead serious,” Cristie answered. “He’s old now, and he’s borderline diabetic. If we don’t get him to lose weight, he’ll end up having to get a shot every day and possibly lose his vision, too.”
Basilio immediately handed the bowl of popcorn to Kaiser. “Well, you’re cut off,” he said to Buster, picking up the dog and snuggling him before talking to him in a baby tone of voice.
“No wonder he loves you more than me,” Kaiser said to his father.
“He doesn’t love me more, he just likes me more,” Basilio said.
Cristie laughed at Basilio teasing Kaiser about his dog.
“Ignore them, they always fight over Buster. What kind of food is it he needs?” Renata asked.
“I have a bag in the car. Cristie gave it to me. I’ll run get it before we leave,” Kaiser said.
“Thank you, baby,” Renata said to Cristie.
“You’re welcome. Let me know when you need some more. It’s a prescription formula and Alex keeps it on hand at the animal hospital.”
“I will. And what about treats or something?”
“You can give him a piece or two of his food as a treat, but I also have a recipe for homemade doggie cookies. They’re made with natural ingredients and there are low carbs and no sugar in them. I’ll send it to you.”
“That’d be great,” Renata said. She reached out and laid a hand on Cristie’s shoulder. “You sure you’re okay? You don’t seem like yourself.”
“I’m not. My mate showed up and I’m not up for it,” Cristie said, her voice soft and low, almost like a confession.
“Your dad mentioned something about that, but I didn’t think it would be a bad thing,” Basilio said.
“Long story, but in short, he chose someone else, didn’t show any interest in me, and now he’s here trying to win me over.”
“Oh!” Basilio said, his brows raised in surprise at her explanation.
“Do you want him to be here?” Renata asked.
“No, I really don’t.”
“Are you completely over it, or…?” Basilio asked.
“I don’t know. I walked away, and did my best to make my peace with it, and now he’s here.
Turns out I’m still hurt. I’m still angry.
I’m floundering to be honest, and I don’t know what I want.
But I do know I’m not ready for this, and my father granted him sanctuary anyway, so I’m angry about that, too. ”
“Your dad doesn’t do anything rashly. If he granted him sanctuary, I’m sure there’s thought behind it,” Basilio said gently.
“Well, it certainly wasn’t thought for my comfort,” Cristie said.
“You know you are always welcome here, baby,” Renata said. “Our door is always open if you need a respite from having to be near him.”
“Thank you,” Cristie said. “I might take you up on that.”
“Mine is open, too. Even if I’m not here, just let yourself in and make yourself at home,” Kaiser said.
“Thank you. You guys are awesome. I appreciate it more than you know.”
“It’s alright, I’m going to distract you,” Kaiser said, pulling her in for a hug.
“I think it might be impossible,” Cristie said into his chest.
“I have hypnotic abilities. Just ask any of my flavor of the weeks,” Kaiser said, starting to tickle her.
Cristie squealed as she pulled out of his arms, laughing at his tickling her.
Renata chuckled at their antics, they’d been close as children and that had never changed despite the fact that their family had only been nearby part time when Kaiser was little.
“You two are too much,” Renata said.
“It’s him! He’s too much. I’m just the same ole Cristie.”
“He can’t help it, it’s in his blood,” Basilio said, primping a bit as he looked regally around the room.
Everybody laughed.
“Where are you going to eat?” Basilio asked.
“We’re going to eat steak. Because somebody implied that if roasted by a Dragon, I might smell like grilled steak. I’m pretty sure that means that she wants a steak.”
“I always want steak. I am a true carnivore,” Cristie said.
“Same,” Kaiser said. “You ready?”
“I’m about to waste away. If you see a speck of dust floating by, it’s probably me, having been diminished to a speck of dust as I slowly starved to death,” Cristie said pitifully.
“Talk about being dramatic,” Kaiser said, turning her toward the front door. “Come on, let me feed you.”
“Y’all have fun!” Renata called after them.
“Drive safe!” Basilio said.
Minutes later Kaiser was back hoisting a thirty pound bag of prescription weight loss dog food over his shoulder. “Here’s Buster’s food.”
“Can you put it in the pantry?” Renata asked.
“Sure,” he answered. He set it down out of the way, then popped one of his claws out of the end of his finger and used it to cut a slit in the bag. “I opened it for you,” he announced. He turned around and took only two steps out of the pantry before he almost bumped into his father.
“What are you doing?” Basilio asked.
“Opening Buster’s new food?” Kaiser asked.
“No, with Cristie, what are you doing?”
“We’re going to eat. That’s it.”
“You know her mate is here.”
“Yeah, we kind of all just talked about it. But I knew before. We had a long talk while she checked Buster over. She’s hurting and needs somebody she can lean on.
I’m not going to turn her away just because her mate is here.
He shouldn’t have been a shit to her and she wouldn’t be so torn up about what to do. ”
“I’m not asking you to turn your back on her. I’m asking you to stay out of the middle of it.”
“Being her friend is not getting in the middle of it any more than you and mom are.”
“How are we in the middle of it?” Basilio asked.
“Did you not just invite her to come here whenever she needs to get away?”
“That’s what family does. It’s not placing themselves in the position of looking like there might be more than a friendship so that her mate is discouraged and goes away.”
“I never, not once said that I’d do anything like that,” Kaiser said. “All I did was offer her my place to escape to, too. And dinner.”
“Kaiser, just be careful. She is your friend, your dear friend, and if you get in the middle, that friendship could be damaged if she decided to forgive him and accept him.”
“I’m not getting in the middle, and even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. We have a stronger friendship than that.”
“Son, you don’t understand the pull that finding your mate can have on you,” Basilio said.
“How do you know what I do and don’t know about finding a mate? What makes you think I haven’t found mine and had to look the other way? Will have to look the other way — for freaking years? You noticed Cristie is out of sorts, but did you notice I’m not right? No!”
Kaiser stepped around his father and started out of the kitchen.
“Have you met your mate?”
“Too many times,” Kaiser snapped.
“Kaiser! Come back here!” Basilio said.
“Cristie’s waiting,” Kaiser said, without breaking stride.
“I want to talk to you, son. You’re obviously hurting,” Basilio said, following him through the house toward the door.
“I’m not hurting. I’m fucking numb,” Kaiser said, reaching for the front door and pulling it open so he could leave.
Just as he prepared to step through, Basilio put his hand on the door and shoved it closed.
Kaiser schooled his features into a non-aggressive expression, then turned to look at his father.
“Tell me what’s going on. Please. I only want to help you,” Basilio said.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Kaiser said.
“Does she know she’s your mate?” Basilio asked.
Kaiser huffed a laugh. “I’m more than sure that the thought of mate has never entered her head.”
“So that’s a no.”
“I gotta go,” Kaiser said, opening the door again.
“When you do want to talk, I’m here. No matter what’s going on, or why you’re so torn up over it, there’s always a way. We’ll figure out,” Basilio said.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Kaiser said again as he strode toward his car without looking back.
“Kaiser!” Basilio said in that voice that demanded to be obeyed.