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After getting Wi-Fi and Internet to the house, Sean set up his own IT office in their home, and his online website, then he began growing a new clientele.
Wiley was ecstatic when he got hired as a daytime security guard at one of the music venues and came home beaming, carrying in uniforms, his badge, and the weapon he’d been issued.
Shirley celebrated with him, but the irony was not lost upon her of having an ex-husband serving a life sentence, and two sons who’d chosen careers in law enforcement.
B.J. got a job driving a delivery van for his Aunt Annie at her bakery in Jubilee, but for the time being, Aaron was staying home to help his mother settle in. He missed being on the force and wasn’t sure where to go from here.
And then one morning not long after their arrival, Cameron called to ask if it was okay if he dropped by that evening after all of the family was home, that there was some family business they needed to know about.Instead, Shirley invited him and Rusty to eat supper with them, and they accepted.
“I haven’t cooked for anyone but family in so long I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have company,” Shirley said as she took a big beef roast with vegetables out of the oven and set it on the counter to rest.
Aaron grinned. “You’re a good cook, Mama, and you know it. Do you want me to put the leaf in the table?”
Shirley beamed from the compliment as she nodded. “Yes, to the table leaf. With seven at the table, we’ll need it.”
He went to get the leaf from the hall closet, while Shirley began cleaning fresh vegetables for a tossed salad. She had three apple pies cooling on the sideboard, a basket of dinner rolls beside it, and fresh green beans warming on the stove that she cooked and seasoned with bits of ham. All she needed was for Wiley and B.J. to get home from work, and the company to arrive.
Moments later, she heard a car driving up.
“That’s Wiley,” Aaron said, and then they heard the rumble of B.J.’s Harley as he pulled up to the house. “And that’s B.J.”
“Good. Then all we have to do is wait for Cameron and Rusty.”
“What does he want to talk to us about?” Aaron asked.
“I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon enough,” Shirley said, then winced when the front door slammed.
“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.”
