Chapter Three

Michael punched buttons on his computer and muttered under his breath, “Using up data for what? It’s running way too slow.”

He needed a shower. He was dressed in slacks and a sweater with his shirt and belt missing. He did, however, borrow back his thick socks that Paige had stolen. He looked less put together and felt far more at odds than his looks, especially the moment Linney entered.

“Hey, Groundhog Man. How’s it going?” Linney asked.

“Could be better. Really need to get this done this weekend. Cell reception cut out, so now I have to re-run—”

He looked up to see her broadening grin and chose to ignore it. “Do you know which carrier has the strongest Wi-Fi network up here?”

“Haven’t a clue.” She shook her head, grinning.

He turned away and sent off an e-mail request. “Can I help you with something, Linney?”

“Well, come to think of it, yes, you can, Tzaahneet. Do I have that right?”

He looked at her. “Strong, industrious worker? Tsahnit. Close enough. And thank you for the compliment.”

“Well, I was wondering, Tsahnit, what the hell was wrong with baseball and why’s basketball so much better?” Linney burst out laughing. She left without an answer and with a happy step straight to the kitchen.

Michael blushed again. Something he rarely did but found it happened often around these women. “Thin walls,” he called after her.

“Nope. Loud man. And I don’t know the word for it.”

Michael called out, “La chach-te.”

She poked her head back in. “That ain’t it, honey. But whatever you are, you are wiping out my Sagey Paigey. Dinner’s in an hour or whenever it’s done. Plenty of time for a shower.”

“Is that a hint?”

“More like a request.”

Wi-Fi or no, Michael was really liking the place.

****

“Paige?” Linney called up the stairs. “Can you come down and help, girl?”

“Sure. Coming.” Paige’s voice floated down into the foyer.

“And you, go up and shower.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Michael pushed a few last keys and headed for the stairs.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Paige hurrying down the stairs with a bounce.

Her hair was in a damp ponytail and she had on clothing, not warm clothing but layers of her own clean clothing. Clothing befitting the season but made for warmer climate. Her slightly fuzzy lamb’s-wool slippers were only outdone by an even fuzzier cream, cropped sweater over her blouse and expensive jeans. She was ready for anything this evening, apart from work.

Michael caught her toward the bottom of the stairs and pulled her into a kiss before she even made it to the floor. “Mmm. You smell delicious.”

Whap. Aunt Linney’s wooden spoon landed her own hand, but it startled them out of the embrace and Paige into a giggle.

“It’s my food that smells good.” She aimed the spoon at Paige. “You to the kitchen. And you—” The wooden weapon pointed at him. “—go make yourself more handsome. And don’t take all the hot water.”

He dashed up the stairs two at a time.

“Did you move your car off the road?” she called up after him.

“Just as ordered.” He added, “Yo hon do.”

“You bet I’m the boss. Well, of my house. Huh, but this isn’t my real house,” she mumbled. Then she called up the stairs, “But I’m the boss somewhere.”

Paige called from the kitchen, “I’m stirring, but it’s boiling over!”

“The kitchen,” Linney amended. “I claim to be the boss of the kitchen.”

****

The three set up the Formica table in kitchen for their meal. The old kitchen was large enough and so out of date it felt charmingly vintage with muted green-painted cabinets, others in varnished deep walnut with glass doors. The pegs held aprons, coats, and scarves. Dried gloves and mittens remained on the heat register while boots dried close by. Paige found placemats and stuck a candle in an empty wine bottle. Linney added a bottle of white wine labelled I’m Out of Coffee.

Michael, freshly showered, nodded at the bottle. “I wish I had a housewarming gift, but it seems some Dornheim and Myers women drank it already.” He found the wine glasses in the far cabinet along with a one-pound, oversized chocolate bar, which he brandished.

“That goes back.” Aunt Linney pointed to the chocolate. “It’s my desperation stash.”

“Pretty desperate, Auntie,” Paige interjected.

“Anything smaller and I would be nibbling it at. Got to have a really rough day to tap into that.”

Paige set the potatoes and green beans on the table. “How long have you had it?”

Her aunt shrugged. “A few months. Working hospice care can do something to you sometimes.”

Michael took the chicken from the oven and placed it on the trivet on the table. “A few months without chocolate would be a record breaker with the women in my family.”

“Who said I didn’t have chocolate? There’s scratch brownies cooling on the stove. It’s the hospice end-days when someone clutches my hand as they…” Linney stopped, took a few deep breaths, and shook her shoulders, as if that would clear away her thoughts.

She poured the wine.

“To those who are at this table and those who are no longer able to be.”

They clinked and ate, quietly at first, but the conversation grew and became lighter with each bite. The chicken meal was simple, plain, yet delicious. With each sip of wine came another toast. They toasted everything from chocolate to visitors becoming friends, clean driveways, and clean anything. No one said, “to love,” skirting the words but not the warm feelings being shared.

By the end of the meal, the conversation gravitated to Linney’s days back when she lived in the old house.

“Of course, I tried not to hang out with your tag-along mom. She was a good six years younger. A bit of a bratty girly girl,” she said with a wistful smile. “Your mom baked a fine pie but was a terrible cook back then. I think I was the opposite.”

Michael pushed back from the table.

Paige patted her stomach.

Aunt Linney poked at the brownies with a spatula. “It looks like nothing has changed. The brownies are burnt to a crisp. Sorry.” She was about to toss them out.

“Wait. I have this.” Paige found a grater and scrapped off the bottom burnt part. “If we think, biscotti, they’re fine. See?”

“Easier for me to take along when I leave tomorrow afternoon,” Michael said.

“You’re leaving tomorrow? I thought you were staying ’til Monday.”

“Can’t, Flee. I have important meetings early Monday, and I need to get to some reliable Wi-Fi… Oh, don’t look like that. I can definitely be here by Friday or maybe even a dinner or overnight before then.”

Paige sighed and let go of her look of dismay. “Okay. Just hoping.”

Crunch. She bit into the brownie/biscotti. Her face screwed up, unable to hide how hard the brownie was.

“Hey, those whatevers I made might soften in some coffee,” Aunt Linney said.

“Who needs coffee?” Paige crunched again, louder than any carrot bite could be, trying to smile heartily.

Her aunt shook her head. “Pot of decaf going on for those of us who treasure our fillings. Besides, the night is still young and we had naps. This calls for game night,” she declared and began to wrap the leftovers in containers for the refrigerator.

All three joined in a synchronized dinner clean up.

“So, is it cards or scrabble?” Paige asked.

“Cards.”

“Scrabble.”

The two answers came at once. Then Michael and her aunt traded answers.

“Scrabble.”

“Cards.”

They stared at each other.

“Right. Boggle it is,” Paige announced.

It turned out to be difficult to play Boggle as each would crunch down hard on the dessert, breaking the other’s concentration. Coffee softened the treats, but the crunch turned out to be too tempting. They turned their attention to arguing over word viability with Aunt Linney doing most of the arguing and the cheating, much to her own glee. The game changed to Hangman with the rule being to use bizarre words or phrases.

“Calcunow is not a word,” Paige claimed.

“Hey there’s calculator. Why not a calcu-now?” Aunt Linney rebutted, laughing at her own joke.

Michael joined in. “My turn.”

His was worse.

“Paranormal distribution? Really Michael? My aunt is rubbing off on you. What the heck is that?” Paige demanded.

“This is a normal distribution.” He drew a bell curve. “This is a paranormal distribution.” Michael drew a ghost.

“Okay, that’s it. That’s the last straw,” Paige announced.

Both Michael and her aunt stopped laughing and looked at Paige. She smiled and pointed to the paper.

“See? The last straw.” She’d drawn a few straws and then one far to the end and pointed her pencil at it and laughed.

“That was truly awful! But not as bad as this. Why is England the wettest country? Because the queen has reigned for more than forty years.”

Michael joined in. “You asked for it. The first time I used an elevator was an uplifting experience. The second time let me down.”

“Did you ever screw while camping? It’s f’ing in tents. Intense, get it? In tents.” Aunt Linney could barely stop laughing at her own joke.

“Just like acupuncture, Auntie, it’s a jab well done. But did you hear about the commodes were stolen from the police station? The police are investigating, but they have nothing to go on.” Paige giggled at their groans and the paper napkins they threw at her.

“Is this better? Your calendar’s days are numbered?” She laughed. “Or…I used to sell computer parts, but I lost my…drive. Even better… I was reading this book on anti-gravity, and I can’t put it down.”

“Make her stop,” Aunt Linney begged.

Michael rose and tugged Paige from her seat.

“Wait, I have more. A man was caught stealing food items at the grocery store while he was balanced on the shoulders of two vampires. He was charged with shoplifting on two counts.”

Though Michael chuckled, he said, “That’s it. Say goodnight, Gracie.” He took the Boggle set and Paige’s arm.

“Did you know if you’ve seen one shopping center, you’ve seen the mall?” Paige made Michael groan with that as he ushered them from the room.

Paige objected. “One more. Did you know if you jump off a bridge in Paris, you’re…wait for it—”

“Do we have to?” her aunt called after them.

“You’re in Seine. Insane. Get it? The river. I always loved that one.”

“By the way, Michael…” Aunt Linney interjected, following them toward the stairs.

“Yes?”

“Not from my side of the family.”

He nodded but mumbled, “Not so sure about that.” Their smiles didn’t fade even after the laughter finally stopped.