“If the bathrooms and bedrooms are stocked like this I won’t need a single thing,” Remi said aloud.
Need kill red car,his Dragon snarled in his head.
No,Remi answered, ignoring his Dragon as he wandered down the hall to see what the rest of his house looked like. Behind the first door on the left, he found a bathroom, and a bedroom directly across from it on the right, then another bedroom just past the first, also on the right. At the end of the hall was a closed door. When he opened it, he was pleased to find the master bedroom with a king-size bed in it, covered in cool grays and blues for both sheets and the comforter. He stepped inside and noticed windows on the front and back exterior walls, and another above the bed that would look out at the animal hospital. He didn’t see a closet, but there was another closed door behind him on the wall the door to the bedroom was in. He went over and opened it, revealing a walk through closet, with another bathroom on the other side.
“Nice. Very nice,” Remi said. He saw the shampoo and body wash in the shower, then found towels, hand towels and wash cloths in one of the bathroom cabinets. He wasted no time turning on the water and letting it heat up while he went back to the living room to get his duffel of clothes. Minutes later he was stepping under the shower, groaning as the hot water coursed down over his body. “A long hot shower, then whip up a quick pitcher of iced tea, and settle in for some TV while we wait for Cristie to come home. Nothing better,” he said to himself as he squeezed shampoo into his hand.
Chapter 6
“Knock knock!” Kaiser called out as he opened the door to his parents’ house and led the way inside with Buster in his arms.
“In here,” Renata answered.
Kaiser put Buster down and unhooked his leash so he could have free run of the house. Buster promptly scurried away, his nails clacking on the tiled floor as he went. He turned to Cristie and extended his hand.
Cristie took his hand and let him lead her toward the back of the house.
As they reached the middle of the house, the whole house opened up with an open floor plan, the different sections of the kitchen, the living room, and a large white carpeted stairway leading upstairs separated by furnishings only, except for the kitchen which had a huge island in the center of it with half a dozen stools tucked against it.
“I brought somebody to see you,” Kaiser said before they stepped fully into the open area.
“I see that, and he’s eating my popcorn already!” Basilio said as he laughed at Buster standing on his hind legs and crunching popcorn a piece at a time.
“You can’t give him that, Dad,” Kaiser said. “He’s morbidly obese and is now on a diet.”
“He loves popcorn!” Basilio said, finally looking up to see that Cristie was with Kaiser. “Cristie! Hi, sweetheart!” Basilio exclaimed, getting up off the white sofa to hug her. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Me, too.”
“It’s only been a few weeks because we skipped Sunday dinners a few times, but it feels like longer,” Renata said, coming to hug Cristie herself.
“Hi, Aunt Renata,” Cristie said, melting into the always warm, always comforting best hugs in the world that Renata always gave her.
“How are you, baby?” Renata asked.
Cristie huffed a tired sigh.
“That bad, huh?”
“Yeah. It will get better, though, I know that. I’m just trying not to forget it,” Cristie said.
Basilio tossed a couple of pieces of popcorn into his mouth and sat down. “Come sit down, sweetie,” he said.
“We’re going out to dinner, I just wanted to see if you’d watch Buster for me. He’s exhausted so he’ll probably sleep all evening, but you can’t give him anything except his new diet food,” Kaiser said.
“Is he serious?” Basilio asked.
“Dead serious,” Cristie answered. “He’s old now, and he’s borderline diabetic. If we don’t get him to lose weight, he’ll end up having to get a shot every day and possibly lose his vision, too.”
Basilio immediately handed the bowl of popcorn to Kaiser. “Well, you’re cut off,” he said to Buster, picking up the dog and snuggling him before talking to him in a baby tone of voice.
“No wonder he loves you more than me,” Kaiser said to his father.
“He doesn’t love me more, he just likes me more,” Basilio said.
Cristie laughed at Basilio teasing Kaiser about his dog.
“Ignore them, they always fight over Buster. What kind of food is it he needs?” Renata asked.
