AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ding, dong!
“Leena?” I call out.
My housekeeper usually opens the door. Where is she?
I’m on the rowing machine in the first-floor gym. The handle zips back to the starting position. The seat whirs against the metal runner when I bend my knees.
Ding, dong!
“Leena!” I holler again.
Then, when I don’t get a response, I stop rowing. My legs burn as I get off the machine. Same goes for my back muscles and shoulders. Rowing is a good blend of cardio and strength, and the past twenty minutes have already worked every muscle in my limbs. Lungs and heart, too.
I need to make sure I’m at the top of my game for the GQ photoshoot. These shoots majorly affect sales. Plus, a good workout makes me feel positive. That’s the state I want to be in when I talk to my professional fighter client, Bailey, who’s out in Taiwan later tonight. Bailey is a high-energy dude who is super proactive about keeping his mind right for fighting. I like to be right there with him on our coaching calls.
Ding, dong!
Who is at my door?
I don’t have time for a drop-in visit from my mother. She does this sometimes and pops in if an outing takes her through Windsor on her way home to Riley, where she lives with my stepdad these days.
I’m on a tight schedule. The time change makes it tough to get in coaching sessions with Bailey while I’m at work. So, I catch up with him late—nine o’clock to ten. Heck, it’s a better use of my time than watching television shows.
I wipe sweat from my brow, grab a sip of water, then walk that way. When I check my watch, I see that it’s almost eight o’clock in the evening. One hour before I have to get on the line with Bailey. Leena must have headed home.
I yank open the front door and get a shock when I spot my sister’s round face. Her hair’s chopped shorter than the last time I saw her, and she’s added a blue streak. Multiple rings line her ears, and another one decorates her nostril.
“Kate,” I grumble.
“Wow… you actually remember my name.” She brushes past me. “That’s impressive, given that you’ve acted as though I don’t exist for the past decade-plus.”
Already, with the bickering. I have not missed this over the years.
“I was in the middle of a workout.” I pull the towel off my neck and pat my brow. “It’s late.”
“Nice to see you, too, brother dear. It’s been a while. I see you still sweat like a pig.”
She’s lugging a black trash bag at her side. It’s full. With what, I don’t know.
“Perspiring is healthy, and exercise creates endorphins. You’d know that if you ever tried it. Hey—what are you…?”
I point at the bag, which she’s dropped by my marble-and-stainless-steel Malbec console table, which Leena recently polished. “Don’t put that there. I just had my housekeeper polish that yesterday. You’re going to get smudges on it.”
She grins—wickedly. “Oh, you want to talk about smudges? Just wait… Just you wait.” Then, she traipses across the entryway and back out through the door, which she leaves gaping open.
I follow after her and close the door.
Obviously, she’s not departing for good—though I wish she were.
She’ll be back with some awful, Kate-style surprise. I’ve suffered through many of her surprises over the years. When we were kids, she once jumped out from behind a car and creamed me in the face with a mud pie.
I don’t dare look in the trash bag, but I can smell it.
I sniff the air a few more times, trying to confirm my suspicion.
Yep. Dogs.
I definitely smell dogs.
