Learning to Drive... Him Crazy (11 page)

Kelli slumped her shoulders and said, "I'm
sorry, Cal. Now that you said that I do remember. I honestly didn't
remember you including that until now, though."

Cal believed her and gentled his voice as he
said, "I'll tell you what. I am proud that you called first. That
shows me you were being responsible and taking your punishment
seriously. Why don't the four of us go out for dinner tonight and
we'll stop at Dairy Queen for dessert? I'll call John and talk to
him."

They agreed and thanked him. After the call,
they talked about the turn of events. The girls were disappointed,
but happy at the same time. He was making sure they got the ice
cream they wanted, but not giving in on his original decree. That
was typical of their two men. They could be frustrating at times,
but yet consistent in watching out for them. All in all they agreed
they felt fortunate to have men who paid such close attention to
them, which really did make them feel cherished.

That evening when John came to pick Alana
up, he took her in his arms and gave her a kiss. "I hear you're
hungry for ice cream?"

"Yeah, it sounded good to us, especially as
hot as it was this afternoon."

"You weren't trying to sneak around and get
past Kelli's grounding, were you, by having you drive instead of
her?"

"If we were going to do that, we wouldn't
have called first, would we?"

John had a big smile on his face as he said,
"Nope. Just checking." He gave her another kiss, this one longer
and more passionate. "Are you ready to go? We're going to meet them
at the restaurant."

"Yeah, just let me change sandals."

"Why do you have to change sandals? Those
look fine."

"These are new and I'm breaking them in
around the house. They're rubbing my foot a little bit in one spot,
but it's getting better. I want to wear some that are more
comfortable tonight, though."

She turned to go to her bedroom, but John
stopped her with his hand on her arm. "Those are new?"

Seeing the look on his face she quickly
explained, "New in the sense that I haven't worn them out yet, but
I bought them before we met." She turned red as she said, "I bought
them after I failed my driving test the first time. They're not
real comfortable, though, so I haven't stepped outside this
apartment with them yet. That's what I consider new."

"Okay, that's better," he said with a smile.
"I hoped you didn't mean they were brand new. I did a lot of
paperwork today and my hand's a little cramped up. I was hoping you
weren't going to give it a workout tonight."

"Very funny," she said as she watched him
flexing his hand. She turned then to go to her bedroom to change
shoes.

John waited patiently, but after a couple
minutes he started back to check on her. "Everything okay, Alana?
How long does it take to change shoes?"

As he got outside her bedroom door, which
was open, he heard her say, "Oh, damn." She came out the door then
and almost ran into him.

"Are you okay," he asked as he caught her in
his arms.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him.

"Good," he said as he reached back and gave
her three solid swats on her bottom.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"For cursing. What was that all about?"

"Because I stubbed my toe on the bed. It
hurt." She reached back and rubbed her bottom as she said, "Now my
butt hurts, though, and it kind of took my mind off my toe."

He pulled her hands away, holding them as he
said, "If you keep rubbing it I'll spank you again. Then it'll hurt
more."

"What?"

"You know you can't rub the sting away after
a spanking."

"Even just a short one?"

"Especially just a short one. It doesn't
hurt as much to begin with. If you rub it away you won't even feel
it."

"That was the idea," she admitted a little
sheepishly.

He chuckled, shaking his head at her. "Let's
go, you little minx, before you get yourself into real
trouble."

True to their word, they all went to Dairy
Queen after dinner and had ice cream mixed in with lots of talking
and laughing.

Two days later each of the girls got a sales
flier in the mail about the big annual sale at Newjangles, their
favorite department store. Kelli called Alana. "Did you see what
all they have on sale?"

"I sure did. They have some shoes at half
price! We have to go."

"I know," Kelli agreed. "They have a
terrific sale on jeans, too, and we've both said we need to get a
couple pairs of them. When do you want to go?"

"How about tomorrow? You're off early, and I
know I can get off early. We don't have anything big going on right
now. John's not coming over tomorrow night because he's going to
mow his yard and do some stuff at home."

"Cal isn't, either. He has a meeting with a
client tomorrow that he says will probably go kind of late. It's a
new client and they're making sure they know exactly what he's
looking for, so he says he'll probably take him out for
dinner."

"So tomorrow it is then?"

"Yep. What time do you want to leave?"

"I can probably get off at 3:00. Do you want
to go then?"

"Sounds good." She turned quiet as she
asked, "What about the guys? They'll have a fit."

"Oh, that's right," Alana said in a dejected
tone. "I forgot about the grounding."

"Yeah, me, too. But this sale only happens
for two days, once a year. We can't miss it!"

Alana looked hopeful as she asked, "Do you
suppose if we explained that they'd make this one exception? Surely
they didn't expect us to miss this once a year event."

"I can't speak for John, but I know Cal
wouldn't," Kelli said sadly. "He would probably try to find a time
to take me to the sale, but he wouldn't make an exception."

"You're right. John wouldn't, either. He'd
probably take me to it, too, but that would be a problem in itself.
He wouldn't understand why you have to buy shoes when they're half
off, even if you may not need any right at the moment. You'll need
them sooner or later, so you practically have to buy them when
they're on that good of a sale."

"I know. It's just like jeans and tops. Can
you really have too many?"

"Not in my world," Alana declared. "So what
should we do?"

After a long moment in thought Kelli said,
"I say we go. We'll try to watch our spending, not buy as much as
we normally would, but we have to go and at least see what they
have. Maybe they won't have much we have to have."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to get in
trouble with Cal for driving."

"And I don't want you to get in trouble with
John for buying more shoes."

"I say we're adults. Let's go to that sale
and act like adults!"

Kelli giggled as she said, "Yeah. We'll buy
the store out of jeans and shoes. No kid could do that!"

The next day Kelli picked Alana up at work
and they went straight to the store. They went to the jeans first
and Alana picked out two pairs. Kelli got four. They each got some
shirts to go with the jeans. Then they went to get shoes to match
their new shirts.

They were meandering around the shoe
department, not wanting to miss a single pair they had to offer.
While they were there the security guard came over to talk with the
man that worked in the shoe department. They talked a few minutes
before going in the back, in the storeroom. They emerged a couple
minutes later. The security guard left and the employee went to
help an older lady. He disappeared in the back again and came out
moments later with a shoebox. He helped the lady try the shoes on,
then rang them up for her and she left.

He came over to Alana and Kelli next. "Do
you ladies need help finding anything?"

"No, we're good," Alana assured him. "We're
practically professionals at shoe shopping. We've got it down."

The man, whose nametag said Jason, chuckled.
"I thought I'd seen you in here before."

"Oh, yeah," Kelli agreed. "Probably on
several occasions."

He smiled as he said, "I'll let you
professionals alone then. Call me if you have any questions or need
any help." When they assured him they would, he went to help the
next person.

The girls shopped for shoes another 20
minutes, and took their must haves to the cash register. A younger
lady rang them up, and they left, carrying three more pairs of
shoes for Alana and two for Kelli.

They hurried home, anxious to try on their
new outfits with the shoes to see how fantastic they looked
together, then get them hidden just in case one or both of the men
dropped by after all.

As Alana took the third and last pair of
shoes from the box she inhaled sharply. "What's wrong?" Kelli was
at her side immediately.

"Look what I found in the shoe box," Alana
said, pulling out a red stone. "It looks like a ruby."

"Let me see it," Kelli said as she took the
stone from her friend. She turned it over in her hand a few times,
and held it up to the light. "I don't know my gems that well, but
it sure does look like either a ruby or a garnet. It's got to be
some kind of gem. What's it doing in a shoe box?"

"I don't know," Alana answered. "What should
we do with it?"

"I don't know. You got a heck of a buy on
those shoes," Kelli said, giggling.

"I'll say. But I wonder where it came from,
and whose it is."

Deep in thought, Kelli added, "And why was
it in a shoe box at Newjangles Department Store?"

"Good question," Alana said. "Do you suppose
we should take it back to the store?"

"And give it to who?"

Alana shook her head. "I don't know." She
suddenly looked up at Kelli. "Oh, my gosh. Didn't I hear on the
news last night that there's been a string of robberies involving
gems?"

Kelli's face paled as she answered, "Oh,
that's right. What did they say about the thefts?"

Alana got her newspaper and they anxiously
read the front-page article. Alana looked up, and talking as much
to herself as Kelli, said, "So there's been a string of thefts of
gems and jewelry, but mostly gems that haven't been made into
jewelry yet. The thefts have taken place throughout the eastern
half of the state, but the FBI seems to think there's some
connection with this area."

"Do you think this is one of the stolen
gems?" Kelli asked.

"I don't know," Alana said. "But I think
it's a definite possibility. What should we do?"

Kelli shook her head. "I think we've got to
talk to John."

Alana looked shocked. "Are you crazy? Do you
know what those two would do to us if they knew you drove us to the
store, where I bought more shoes? We wouldn't be able to sit down
for a month."

"I know," Kelli admitted, "but what else are
we going to do?"

"I don't know, but we have to think of
something." They sat down at the kitchen table and thought. "Wait a
minute," Alana said. "What were the security guard and that
employee talking about?"

Kelli squinted her eyes. "I don't know. I
wasn't paying much attention."

"Me, either, but think. I'm sure we heard
some of it. They were pretty close to us."

Kelli thought back and said, "Yeah, you're
right. The guy that worked there asked the security guard if he'd
talked to Sarge."

"Yes, I did hear that. I wondered when he
said Sarge, if he meant a sergeant of some kind. I wouldn't even
have thought of that until I started dating a policeman. So, who do
you suppose Sarge is?"

"I don't know," Kelli answered, "but whoever
he is, the guard said Sarge wants to know if he found it yet."

Alana looked pale as she said, "I thought
that's what he said. Then they went back in the back room and I
couldn't hear them. But do you suppose the 'it' they're looking for
is that gem we found?"

Kelli looked rather scared herself as she
said, "I'll bet it is. That means somehow the department store is
involved in the thefts."

"Or at least some of their employees," Alana
agreed. "That also means we're holding a stolen gem."

"So now what do we do?"

"I'm not sure," Alana said. "Maybe we should
go see if we can overhear anything else, or see if we can find out
anything about those two guys that were talking."

"Okay. Should we go back today?"

"I don't think so. That would look really
suspicious, don't you think? The sale still goes on tomorrow, let's
act like we're looking for more shoes tomorrow. We can try some on
so it looks real. We'll try and get both of their names off their
name tags and if they talk to each other we'll try to get close
enough to hear."

Kelli nodded and said, "We can pretend to
shop close to the shoe department and watch for the two of them. If
they're both there we'll go shoe shopping."

"Good idea," Alana said. They made
arrangements to take time off from work so they could go and be
back before John or Cal would be at their apartments.

The girls talked on their way to the
department store the next day. "I'm glad Cal didn't come over last
night," Kelli said. "He would have known something was wrong right
away."

"Are you going to be able to get a handle on
it by tonight?"

"I think so. I needed time to think it all
through, and I did that last night. I think I'll be okay by the
time I see him tonight. How about you, does John know when
something's bothering you?"

"Yes, he does," Alana admitted. "I'm hoping
I can pull it off. I spent all night last night trying to decide
what to do with it, where to put it."

"Did you find a good place for it?"

"I hope so. I put it in the waste
basket."

"In the what?"

"Well, if you broke into a house and were
looking for something would you look there?"