Strangers with Benefits (Siren Publishing Classic) (26 page)

“Seven.”

“All right then, we’ll be there!”

“I have to go, but I’ll be back to pick the two of you up at six thirty. Do you want me to come to Den’s or here?”

“I have to get dolled up, so get us from his place.” His mother winked and gave a little dance.

She popped out of the parking lot with a list of things to do.

She had to get the kids first and since she was a bit early, she would sign them out. Then she needed to stop at her office to look at the prototype. Something about the pictures they sent over wasn’t jiving with the way she had designed the original and she needed to see what it was.

After that, she had to get herself ready and make sure the kids were presentable.

When she picked up her babies from school, they practically skipped all the way to the car. Leaving early wasn’t a habit she had fostered and the only time they usually did was for the odd doctor’s appointment that she couldn’t schedule after school or for sickness.

But today was a special occasion of sorts…

Or that was the reasoning she gave herself when she clicked the computer to check them out.

By the time they left school, she pulled into her parking space at work and ushered the pair inside. They had been to her job a time or two, but not very often.

They loved the development room, though. There were lots of toys the engineers put together between projects for the fun of it and there was a huge mechanical grasshopper that they could program to do stuff, like hop onto the walls and bounce around.

“Before you play with that grasshopper, do your homework!” She called out before she left them to their own devices.

If she was lucky they would listen to her, otherwise it was going to be a long night.

She let them have their time with the mechanical insect while she checked the prototype. When she looked it over, it was larger than she had originally accounted for.

The band was an inch wider and the “display” was five inches from top to bottom.

It was a bit too big for practical wear though as she put it on and saw how high the display was off the arm.

There had to be a way to slim that down a bit.

She looked at the computer and checked the schematic again.

She noticed that the actual model had an extra chip in it that hers had not.

“What’s this chip for?” she wondered aloud.

“It’s for the Braille reader.”

“But the original only had one chip. Why two?”

“Because the one only would do English. This allows for French and Spanish, too.”

“Ah.” That would put her back at the drawing board.

Either she would need to draw up more than one design for each language or she had to reorganize the circuitry.

“I’ll have to find a way to remove some of the bulk.”

“I knew you were going to say that.” Elisha sighed. “By the way, what happened yesterday?”

“I’m good friends with the officer that was shot.”

“Good friends, huh?”

“Yeah. He helped me when my car was broken into last month.”

“Really and that was enough to have you pass out? Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you have been using personal time like it’s going out of style and you took the last two days off.”

“Fine, you caught me. We’re dating.” Not true, of course, but better the small lie than the crazy truth.

“Hmm. Okay.”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“I didn’t say a thing.”

“You didn’t have to, Lish.”

Elisha laughed. “Well, how is he?”

“He’s fine. Should be able to go home in another day or so. The doctor was a bit concerned about infection due to the amount of debris in the wounds before they removed the bullets.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m glad he’s going to be okay.”

“Me, too.”

By the time she looked up, it was five and she needed to get home.

Katie was in the process of programming in a set of commands to make the grasshopper leap in the air.

“Okay, time’s up!”

“Really, Mom?”

“Yes.”

They sighed in unison and sluggishly walked back to the car.

When they were on the way home, Sidonie realized she had to tell them about the fact that Den’s parents would be dining with them.

She turned down the radio.

Katie stopped dancing. “That’s my joint mom!”

“I have to tell you guys something before we get home.”

“Okay… what?” Mark asked.

“We’re going to Ruth Chris’s tonight.”

That was followed by a fit of hollering and whooping.

“But we are going to have guests. You know I went to the hospital to see a friend of mine, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Okay, well his parents came into town and he asked me to take them to dinner since he can’t.”

“Is he your boyfriend?” Katie asked slyly.

“It’s not like that. We’re friends.”

That was a lie, but there was no way she would let her children have any idea of what she had been up to with Den.

“Uh-huh,” Katie said and Sidonie glimpsed into the rear view mirror at her daughters smirk. “Mom’s got a boyfriend! Boyfriend!” Katie sang out and Mark added a beat box sound to the chorus.

“You two, shut it.” Sidonie couldn’t help laughing, though.

They stopped, although the pair of them snickered all the way home.

So much so, that neither of them asked for her to turn the music back up on the ride.

They ran upstairs, Katie snagged the hall bathroom first and Mark went into his room to choose something to wear.

Sidonie popped in to Katie’s closet and found a simple peach colored dress and white cardigan that was age appropriate, but dressy enough for where they would be. She wouldn’t have time to straighten her hair, but she could do a quick French braid.

Thank goodness Mark was a boy. Dealing with his wardrobe was much simpler. She found his woolen brown golf cap and he pulled out a pair of chestnut colored slacks, matching vest and paired it with a leaf green button down shirt. By the time he brushed his closely cut waves, the boy was ready to go.

She had to find something for herself, and that took much longer. She only had to touchup her makeup, with a dusting of powder and a new application of lipstick.

Once they were finished, they piled into her SUV and set off to Den’s house. She sent Den a text to let him know that she was on the way to pick up his parents, but she didn’t expect a response any time soon. More than likely, he was napping.

“So, Mom, when do we get to meet him?” Katie asked as Sidonie turned the corner.

“I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

“Why not? It’s not like we can’t pretend to have manners. Mark won’t pick his nose and I won’t curse my little brother out when he does something stupid.”

“Stop calling me little brother. You were born fifteen minutes before me and I don’t want to hear about it for the rest of my life.”

“But that fifteen minutes made a big difference in our maturity levels, dontcha know?”

Sidonie sighed. She probably had the only set of living twins with two different birthdates and different astrological signs to boot.

Katie was born at eleven fifty-one January nineteenth, and Mark was born at twelve-o-six on the twentieth.

They were definitely two different people for sure, although they had each other’s back. No one could mess with their twin and get away with it.

“Look Katie-did, he’s just a friend and there are no plans for that to change in the near future.
Capice
?”

“Okay, Mom.” Katie sulked. “But why can’t we meet him? We’re about to have dinner with his parents and we’ve met all of your other friends before.”

“I just met his parents because I was at the hospital and mentioned the reservation, so he asked me to bring them along. And, little miss nosy, you haven’t met all of my friends.”

“Have so.”

“Have not.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Fine. Prove it.”

“We know Ms. Mimi. We met Diyah and Maya and we even went to the work barbeque and met all of the people that you work with.”

Sidonie sighed. Maybe Katie was right, but that didn’t have to mean that she was about to admit it.

“There are others not on that list.”

“Okay. But you aren’t friends with them. You don’t introduce us to associates.”

Damn, foiled by her own kid. “Either way, no, you’re not meeting him. Can you please save the inquiry for when we get back home?”

“Okay, Ma.”

“Thank you.”

When they arrived at the front door, she called Den’s house phone.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mrs. McTavish?”

“Is that you, Sidonie?”

“Yes, ma’am, I just wanted to let you know I’m outside.”

“All right, Earl and I will be out in a sec.”

“No problem.”

When Mr. McTavish opened the door for his wife, she took the front seat and he took the back, despite the disparity in their heights.

“Katie and Mark, say hi to Mr. and Mrs. McTavish.”

The couple asked the children a few questions, ones she was used to hearing as a parent.

Did they know what they wanted to be when they grew up?

Mark wanted to play professional basketball, but decided that his backup plan was to take engineering in undergrad. Katie said she wanted to be a nurse, but that changed from day to day, although nursing was the most frequently offered choice.

Of course, Mrs. McTavish mentioned Den’s desire to be a police officer since the age of five, which made Sidonie cringe inside. Her children were already curious about the man and she didn’t want to spur further questions she couldn’t really answer.

Not in a PC manner that would satisfy the two amateur detectives in the back seat.

Once they arrived and took their seats, Sidonie had to admit that the twins were on their best behavior. They didn’t probe too much, just a touch of their natural adolescent curiosity came out to play. But for the most part, they ate their meal without an elbow on the table and no bickering, which was highly appreciated.

After the meal was finished, Sidonie had to deal with the sticker shock of spending a car payment on dinner. But the meal was delicious and nothing was out of place, the service pristine and, in all honesty, she earned enough to splurge on occasion.

She loaded the car back up and when everyone was inside, Mrs. McTavish looked at Sidonie. “So you’re going back to the hospital tonight?”

“Yeah.” She smiled.

“Do you have someone to watch your babies while you are away?”

“I have a girlfriend that is going to come over.”

“Call her and cancel. Earl and I would love to take care of them for the night.”

She didn’t want to refuse and seem rude. But it felt even ruder to accept.

“I don’t think that’s necessary. But thank you so much for offering.”

Mrs. McTavish took her hand. “Now, I’m Den’s mother. But I am letting you take care of my son while he is in the hospital, because he wants you there. If I am willing to trust you with my baby, you can trust me with yours.”

When it was put that way, how could she refuse?

Sidonie messaged Mimi and told her to not worry about it. It felt odd, was odd, but she loved the couple on sight. She grabbed her bag and talked to the twins before she left.

Of course, Katie played a game of twenty-one questions.

So, are we going to meet him?

What happened to him exactly?

Why hadn’t they heard of him before?

Was the house they went to his?

Were those really his parents or was he adopted?

What did he look like?

And were they going to move into his place?

As she was going to work in the morning, she would dress at the hospital, but she planned to go home in time to take the kids to school, so they wouldn’t even have a hiccough in their schedules. When Den was ready to go, he’d call her so she could come and get him. His parents would have to take over from there.

It was nearing ten when she dragged her tired feet back into Den’s room. When she arrived it was to pandemonium. There were five people outside of the room, munching on cake and conversing, plus three in the room.

Den looked at her and grinned. “They decided to have a party.”

There was even a cake. What was left of it looked like a half dissected torso, but apparently there was a bullet hole wedge removed from the middle of it. Den’s tray contained that piece and she shook her head.

She walked next to the bed and looked at him. His coloring was better and instead of the pale complexion of his father, some of the sun seemed to be back in his skin, more like his mother. “I’m gone a few hours and come back to this?”