Chapter 6 #2
“Come on, guys,” Lyle said, whistling softly.
The dogs all moved inside, and he closed the door.
“I don’t know what she’ll do, but I wouldn’t put anything past her.
” He locked it and then motioned to the stairs.
“I need to finish up warming up the sauce.” He climbed the stairs and James followed, enjoying the view.
Lyle stopped at the top, turning back. “Are you looking at my butt?”
James shrugged. “What if I was?”
Lyle snickered and continued up. James closed the basement door and grabbed another book from the living room before following Lyle to the kitchen.
He sat at the table and started reading about torts.
It was boring as all hell. But Lyle was there, and every now and then he’d stop what he was doing to lightly touch his shoulder.
It was comforting and it made him feel less alone in his head.
“Mushrooms?” Lyle asked.
James shivered. “No thanks. Never liked them.” He could make jokes about not eating fungus, but figured that wasn’t exactly nice, and Lyle was being good to him.
“Drove my mother crazy. She used to go out and hunt her own mushrooms. Then she’d come home with her prizes, though I’d never touch them. ”
“It’s fine. I can take them or leave them, but my father wanted the damned things in everything, so I had to get used to them.
” He put the pasta in a large pot of water and got the sauce going on the stove.
“I made the sauce a few weeks ago and put servings in the freezer for later. I love my own sauce, but it’s always too much, so I freeze some. ”
He set about making a salad and brought it to the table. James continued reading until the food was ready. Then he set everything aside, and Lyle joined him, the dogs all at their feet.
“This is amazing,” James said after the first bite. “You made it yourself?”
“Yeah. My grandmother had her secret recipe, and she taught me how to make her sauce. She never shared it with my mother, which peeved her off. My dad’s mom could be picky, and she never liked my mom. But she showed me how to make it.”
“It’s amazing. Did you ever show your mom?”
Lyle shook his head. “Gram made me swear not to tell her. Not that Mom knows I can make the sauce. I never told her. If she doesn’t know, then she can’t pester me for the recipe.” He took a bite himself.
A pounding on the door made him jump. James stood as Lyle paled and then followed the dogs as they barked in a frenzy. “What now?”
“Do you want me to answer it?” James asked, and Lyle nodded. So he went to the door, opened it, and started into the eyes of what could only be described as a six-and-a-half-foot bean pole of a man.
“That’s Debbie’s husband,” Lyle said from next to him.
James wondered for a second how he knew that, but then he supposed that if he’d seen him once, it wasn’t as though many people could be confused with someone a stiff breeze could blow over. “What do you want?” The dogs all growled and stood as sentinels behind the screen door.
“My wife and I are cleaning out her mother’s house.” He glared at Lyle. “You’ll be happy to know that after all the taxes and the bills are paid, there isn’t going to be much left.” He reached for the screen door, but when the dogs all barked, he stepped back.
“That isn’t my fault or my problem. Corky made her wishes known,” Lyle countered.
James gritted his teeth. “I’ll ask again, what do you want? Why are you here?”
“You should give one or two of those dogs to Debbie. She deserves them, and that will pay your share of the taxes. We can find them good homes where their blood lines can be carried on, and—”
“Yeah. I’m well aware that you and Debbie want to sell the dogs.
But her mother wanted them to stay together, and she wanted them to have a good life.
So I’m not going to give either of you anything.
The dogs hate you anyway… both of you. So go away, and I don’t want to see either of you anymore.
Clean out Corky’s house and sell everything.
The money is all you’re after. Just don’t come here again.
” He stepped forward and closed the door, then locked it.
James waited and then checked through the front window to make sure he was gone, and he was.
“Why do I get the feeling that the two of them are going to turn up again and again?”
“Because they’re entitled. They think they have some right to things that aren’t theirs. Who in the hell asks someone for one of their dogs? What kind of people are they? I mean…. Jesus. It’s like saying that you have four kids and we have none, so give us one.”
Lyle chuckled. “Well, it’s not the exact same thing, but you make a good point.
Corky always said that her ex-husband spoiled Debbie something terrible.
I now know that was why she wanted to keep the dogs away from her.
And I’m determined to do what she wanted.
They don’t deserve the dogs or anything else. ”
“Then all you need to do is keep them safe.”
“Yeah, but I keep wondering…. They know where I live and where the dogs are.” The implication of that statement sent a chill down James’s spine.