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“Sorry!” B.J. yelled. “The wind caught it. I’m going to shower! Won’t be long!”
Shirley grinned. B.J. had been slamming doors all his life. Today it was the fault of the wind. Tomorrow it would be something else. Truth was, B.J. was always in too big of a hurry to catch it.
Seconds later, Wiley came in the back door. “Thought I’d park out back and leave room for company out front. I’m gonna change.”
Now Shirley could relax. All her boys were accounted for.
***
“Cameron, I need help,” Rusty said, and turned her back to him so he could zip up her sundress.
Cameron turned away from the dresser to come to his wife’s aid. She was holding her long curly hair up off her neck so it wouldn’t get caught in the zipper, and he couldn’t resist a kiss below all those red curls.
“I’d just as soon be taking this off you, as putting it on,” he said.
Rusty laughed. “Hold that thought and you can do that later,” she said. “We don’t want to be late.”
Cameron grabbed the zipper tab and pulled it all the way up, then kissed the back of her neck one last time.
“Done and done,” he said, as she turned around to face him. “Damn, but you are a beautiful woman, Rusty Pope.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she said, and kissed him square on the lips before tearing herself away. “All I need are my shoes and I’m ready.”
The big white German Shepherd who’d been lying in the doorway watching them dress, stood up and whined.
“Ghost is sad,” Rusty said.
“He’ll be fine. I’m not taking a dog the size of a small Polar bear out to dinner.”
Rusty frowned. She couldn’t bear it when Ghost whined. “Then he gets the big chew bone, right?”
Cameron rolled his eyes. “Yes, he gets the big chew bone. He won’t miss us after that. Trust me. Ghost. Treat!” He said, and Ghost shot off down the hall at a gallop.
Rusty laughed.
“See?” Cameron said.
As soon as they gave Ghost the bone, he chomped it and carried it to his bed in the living room.
Cameron and Rusty set the security alarm, then locked up and drove away.
It took less than fifteen minutes to get up the mountain to where Shirley and her sons were living now. Just enough time for Rusty to watch the sun moving down behind the tallest treetops. It would be dark in an hour. She loved night on the mountain almost as much as she loved the man sitting beside her.
They pulled up in the yard and parked at the end of a line of cars.
“Good thing Shirley doesn’t have but four sons. She’d be running out of parking space with any more,” Cameron said.
They were on their way up the steps when the front door opened.
Aaron was standing in the doorway. “Welcome to the house,” he said, then stepped aside for them to enter.
“Something sure smells good,” Rusty said as they entered.
“Mama’s a good cook,” Aaron said. “We used to say that’s why we grew so tall, but after moving here, I’m thinking it was DNA, not roast and mashed potatoes.”
“You’ve got that right,” Cameron said, as Aaron ushered them into the kitchen. Sean and Wiley were already there and carrying the food to the table.
Shirley met them with a hug.
