Celia's Puppies (9 page)

“
Ok. Website fixed.
And...” Blane pressed a few more keys. “Resecured. Email is out.
I’ll go with Sam.”

“
I’ll talk with Valerie,”
Jacob said. “Isn’t Mike being babysat by those military
people?”

“
Yep,” Jill said. “Alex
and her friends.”

“
We’ll need them today,”
Jacob said.

Every head in the room turned to look at
him.

“
Why?” Sam
asked.

“
Because this stuff is
designed to get and keep us running around. Someone at the school,
someone at the sites, someone at the office. That leaves the house
unmonitored.”

“
But they are in
Thailand,” Blane said.

“
We’re having a big party
on Friday. There are going to be lots of people in and out of here
setting up, getting ready for Oprah, and every other thing. Anyone
could do anything. You heard what they did to Jill’s
place.”

“
I’ll take care of that
first,” Aden said.

“
Thanks. Let’s hope I’m
wrong,” Jacob said. “I’m going to rest for one hour. Then, we
start.”

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday noon

“
I’m sorry,” Jill said.
“Katy needs to use the restroom. I used the restroom here so I know
where it is.”

“
Oh no problem,” Jacob
said. They were walking into their fifth job site. “Would you like
me to go with you?”

“
JAKE!”

“
It’s Marlowe!”

As with every site they had visited, the
Lipson Construction employees dropped what they were doing to greet
Jacob. The site manager, an Amazonian woman named Bambi, came
running out of the construction office.

“
I’ll be all right,” Jacob
said. “Go on.”

Jill carried Katy across one of Lipson
Construction’s largest road sites. An enormous water and sewer
project that started at Sand Creek on the Stapleton redevelopment
project and ended nearly ten miles south near Centennial, Jill and
Katy walked across the nexus point of the water in and water out.
Sam told her these permanent looking structures would move south in
a week. Like a turtle, this project picked up it’s belongings as it
inched its way along. Because of the size of the project, they had
erected a nicer, still portable, structure for the toilet.
According to Sam, ‘decent facilities’ were on Bambi’s mandatory
requirements list.

Katy had been tickled, petted, and loved at
every site. Someone always had candy or a toy especially for her.
The car rides were filled with Katy’s songs and stories. Jacob sang
along with the songs and laughed at Katy’s stories. Listening to
Jacob and Katy, Jill felt her heart ache. They were becoming a real
family.

Jill set Katy in a stall then went to check
her burns. She was standing at the mirror when a woman came in the
restroom. Wearing a hard hat and dark glasses, the woman made a
beeline for a stall.

“
Are you here with Jake?”
the woman asked from inside the stall.

“
I’m driving him around
today.”

“
Me too!” Katy said from
her stall.

“
My daughter is here with
us,” Jill said.

Jill stepped aside so the woman could use
the sink and mirror.

“
Jeez, what happened to
your head?” the woman asked.

“
Someone put acid in my
conditioner,” Jill said.

“
My sister did that to me
once. Hurt like hell,” the woman said. “She got mad at me for
something. I don’t even remember what. That was her
retaliation.”

Jill turned to look at the woman and
recoiled. She backed to Katy’s stall door to block the woman’s way
into her stall. Noticing Jill’s reaction, the woman’s brow furrowed
with confusion.

“
I’m Honey Lipson,” the
woman said. “I’m sorry. I seem to have...”

“
You’re not married to
Trevor?”

“
Trevor?” the confused
woman curled her lip at the idea then her eyes went big. “Oh my
God. You’re Jill. Trevor’s Jill. Oh my God. You had... You had long
hair! You...”

The women stood face to face. When Honey’s
eyes welled with tears, Jill’s rage and panic dissolved. The small
blond woman was crushed by Jill’s injury.

“
I’m so sorry,” Honey
said. “My sister did this to you. Didn’t she?”

Jill nodded.

“
Mom’s going to die. Just
die. Does Dad know?”

“
Sam?”

Honey nodded.

“
He knows,” Jill
said.

“
Let me help you with the
cream,” Honey said. “That’s what you were doing when I came in
right?”

Jill gave her the burn ointment. Honey
dabbed the ointment through Jill’s stubble of hair to the burns on
her head.

“
Mommy?”

Katy came out of the stall. She lifted her
hands and Jill picked her up.

“
Oh my God. Everyone’s
been talking about Jake’s little girl,” Honey said. “Oh my God.
That’s Katherine.”

Jill flushed Katy’s toilet. When she turned
around, Honey Lipson was gone. She washed Katy’s hands and made her
way to find Jacob. When she arrived, she saw Honey and Jacob deep
in conversation.

“
What is it?” Jill
asked.

“
Honey is going to talk to
the police about her sister. She says...” Jacob’s eyes scanned
Jill’s face. “They’re planning on fighting the restraining
order.”

“
She called Mom last night
to ask for money,” Honey said. “They want me to pick them up at the
airport Friday morning. She told Mom that she and Trevor are going
to Val’s party.”

“
NO! NO! THEY CAN’T COME
BACK!” Katy screamed.

Sobbing, Katy turned her face into Jill’s
chest. Jill pushed past Honey to the Lexus. Getting in the back,
she held Katy while she cried. Jacob came around to the open car
door to rest his hand on Katy’s back.

“
What should we do?” Jacob
asked.

“
She’s just a little girl,
Jacob. She’s really scared.”

Jacob nodded. Katy turned her wet face to
him.

“
I’d eat some French
Fries, Daddy.”

“
With Ketchup?” Jacob
asked.

“
And a
balloon?”

“
Of course. Green?” Jacob
smiled.

“
Can we go to the zoo?”
Katy asked.

“
I have to work some more,
but I had a call from your friend Paddie. He’s hoping he could come
over this afternoon. You can stay with us or...”

“
Paddie? Mommy, can I see
Paddie?”

“
After French Fries?” Jill
asked.

“
Ok,” Katy said. “Will you
stay with me, Mommy?”

“
Blane can meet us for
lunch then take me to the remaining sites.”

“
Are you sure?”

Jacob winked at her. She helped Katy back
into her car seat. Getting out of the car, Jacob held her.

“
It’s going to be fine,”
he whispered.

“
I hope so.”

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 1:30 P.M.

It had been a long, long time since Jill had
laughed so hard. Katy and Paddie were a comedy team. If they
weren’t chasing each other around, they were pretending to be
someone they knew. Right now, Katy was pretending to be her Uncle
Mike.

“
That’s just how it is.”
Katy lowered her voice, puffed up her chest and put her hands on
her hips.

“
No, he’s more like,”
Paddie puffed up his chest. “Where’s the cereal?”

Paddie and Katy squealed with laughter. Mike
picked one up under each arm. They both giggled and squealed. He
set them down near Alex Hargreaves. Dressed in a tank top, shorts,
and her huge smile, she looked more like someone on vacation than a
military guard.

“
Let’s play a new game,”
Mike said. “Aunt Alex will show you how to play.”

Katy ran forward to Aunt Alex. Alex bent
down to hug the tiny girl.

“
You’re going to help me
like you help Uncle Mike,” Katy said.

“
I hope so,” Alex said.
“See this guy?”

She pointed to a tall, thin man with dark
curly hair.

“
TROY!!”

Paddie threw himself at the man. He picked
him up and twirled the little boy around. Excited, Katy jumped up
and down in front of him. A tall man, he knelt down to shake Katy’s
hand.

“
Troy is going to be your
‘I-can-do-anything-to-you-guy’”

“
Oh wait,” Jill said.
“What if they hurt him? I don’t want...”

“
He’s tough. Plus he
volunteered,” Alex said. Leaning into Jill, she said, “We’re bored
out of our minds babysitting your brother. You’ve got to help us
out here.”

Jill nodded.

“
Ok, let’s start with
something easy,” Alex said. “Show me how you punch.”

Katy and Paddie tapped at Troy.

“
Ah come on. You can hit
harder than that! Give him a good whack.”

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 3:25 P.M.

“
This was a very good
idea,” Valerie said.

She lay naked on a mattress in his artist’s
studio. The studio’s evaporative cooler worked over time but the
small space was still hot. Mike was drawing flowers with ice cubes
on her sweating body.

“
Every actress needs her
beauty nap,” Mike said.

Valerie giggled.

“
You’ve been very good for
me,” Valerie said. Rolling over onto her side, she said, “I was
wondering...”

“
I’m going back to LA with
you on Sunday,” he said.

Valerie’s hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes
filled with tears.

“
If the house is too
small, we’ll have to get another. I’ll check out the garage to see
if I can work there,” he continued. “It’s time.”

“
What about Wes? What
about…?”

“
I don’t give a shit about
Wes, Valerie. I’ve only ever, always cared about you.”

“
What about
hockey?”

“
Now that’s a problem. We
talked about it as a team. We used to only play Saturdays at
midnight. We moved to Wednesday because the teams are better. But
Colin thinks the better teams will move to...”

Valerie kissed him. One pulling kiss led to
another. Valerie drew him on top of her. Taking her hands, he
stretched her arms above her head while his mouth worked its way
from her ear down her neck. She shifted, inviting their union, when
he pulled back.

“
Wait,” Mike
said.

He kissed her then moved to the mattress.
Concerned with his tone, Valerie sat up to look at him.

“
That make-up guy? That
Michael Moore? He said… Well, then I talked to Alex and she agreed…
And...”

Mike shook his head and looked away from
her. Valerie pressed his head back to look at her.

“
He asked me what I was
hiding from. With the beard. He said the scar’s not bad and hardly
noticeable. Moore... He said I should...”

“
Shave off your beard,”
Valerie said.

Mike nodded.

“
I’ve asked so much of
you,” Valerie said. “I... We can cancel Oprah. You don’t have
to...”

“
I’ve practiced my
interview, Val. I’m ready. Plus command wants me to tell my story.
It’s important... I just...” Mike’s eyes scanned her face. “I’ve
been hiding a long time.”

Valerie put her hand on his chin. Their eyes
held for a moment.

“
Will you... I bought all
the stuff... John told me how to do it. His beard grows really fast
and Alex won’t kiss him with a beard. If he’s goes a week without
shaving, he has...”

Valerie gave him a lingering kiss.

“
I’d love to see your
beautiful face again,” Valerie said. “Scar and all. Tell me what to
do.”

He gave her a cordless electric razor. She
yanked the sheet from the mattress and wound it around his neck to
catch the hair. By his instruction, she clipped an inch at a time
until only a quarter inch of stubble remained. She took his hand to
feel the stubble.

“
You’re sure?” Valerie
asked.

“
I can’t hide forever,
Val. They just win that way,” he said. “I’m... It’s over. I want to
live in the present with you.”

Holding his face, she leaned forward until
their foreheads touched. She breathed in his scent, his warmth,
then kissed his forehead. Moving without hesitation, she sprayed
the foam into her hand. She worked with slow, gentle, delicate
care. The sound of the razor scraping over his skin seemed to
bounce off the walls.

Finally, she was done.

Letting out a breath, Valerie sat back. Her
hand went to her mouth and her eyes filled with tears. Her gorgeous
Mike had returned to her. Finally.

“
That bad,
huh?”

He hopped up and went to the pedestal sink.
Checking himself in the mirror, he washed off the last of the
shaving cream. He was rubbing some special ‘no bump’ cream over the
place where his beard had been, when Valerie came up behind him.
Her head peeked over his shoulder and their eyes held in the
mirror.

In one movement, he spun around, lifted her
from standing and carried her back to the mattress.

Chapter thirty-two
Who knew?