he said.
“No.”
“No?”
“No, it isn’t a problem,” I said, unintentionally taking a step away from him.
He cocked his head to the side squinting at me. “Something wrong?”
Yes, something is wrong. Your attack dog is charging after someone as we speak. It could be my guardian, Michael, it could be my ex-husband, Lawrence, or it could be one of his hired killers…but hey, let’s just talk about dinner tomorrow night. I shook my head trying to recover. “I was just envisioning you and your guest having to endure my cooking. Not a pretty picture. I’d be happy to serve dinner. Thrilled that Susan is preparing the food.” I rambled. “I imagine after dinner tonight you know I’m not much of a cook. You and the boys were quite well mannered not to make any faces while you ate.” I paused. “Is it 10:30 yet?”
“Not yet.” He peered in the direction Romulus ran. “Romulus is chasing something other than the tennis ball.”
“Other?”
“Rabbit, raccoon, red fox. The iron bars on the fence keep Romulus in, but they offer enough room for small animals to wander onto the grounds.” He whistled loudly and Romulus came running. I was relieved he didn’t have blood dripping from his mouth. “Whatever it was climbs trees or Romulus would have caught it.”
I wondered if Michael climbed trees.
“It’s time,” he said turning toward the house and gesturing for me to go first. His expression remained curious. I wasn’t sure if he thought I was an insubordinate employee or an escaped mental patient.
9
Evening came soon enough and after the boys and I ate, Emmet’s guest arrived. The woman at the door was very plain. She was petite and mousy with light brown hair; although it wouldn’t be fair to call her ugly, she wasn’t at all attractive. I would have thought Emmet would be dating a gorgeous supermodel-type woman. He was quite handsome and in incredible physical shape—two things about him I consciously ignored.
The boys came out of the kitchen and greeted her. It was obvious they weren’t fond of her. They followed me back in the kitchen as I put together a tray of ramakis and uncorked a bottle of Merlot.
“That’s Elizabeth,” Josh said rolling his eyes.
“She seems very nice,” I said hoping he would elaborate—and he did.
“I don’t even think Dad really likes her. She’s just someone to talk to that understands all his big words. She has a mustache, you know. Girls aren’t s’pose to have mustaches.”
“Shhh.” I said. “You don’t want her to hear you.”
“It’s okay. Dad knows she has a mustache, and he knows we don’t really like her. He says we don’t have to. We just have to have good manners around her.”
“Well, saying that a lady has a mustache isn’t really good manners.”
“She smells funny and snorts when she laughs,” Eli interjected.
“Maybe we should change the subject.” I giggled.
I brought the appetizers in and poured the wine, trying to slip in and slip out so they had some privacy.
“Oh, could you be a dear and get me some water too?” Elizabeth asked in a condescending tone making it clear that I was the help and we were not equals. “Oh, and Hanna,” she said again with her condescending tone purposely getting my name wrong, “do bring the boys in so we can bid them a goodnight.”
“Of course.” I answered through my slightly gritted teeth. At least I don’t have a mustache and smell funny. “What time would you like dinner served?” I asked Emmet.
“I’ll take care of it, Annie,” Emmet said noticing Elizabeth’s attitude was not going over well with me. Maybe he feared I would spit in her food.
“As you wish.” I responded with a light sarcastic tone.
“Well?” Josh asked.
“Well, she does smell funny, and has a mustache. Did you notice she has fat ankles and her bulging eyes are too small for her face?” I whispered.
“She has a big head.” Josh added.
“Like a lemur.” Eli giggled waving his hand behind his rear end like a tail. Being the pillar of immaturity, I imitated Eli and soon Josh joined in. We were all waving our arms behind us like tails and making squeaking noises. I had no idea what a lemur sounded like, but this noise was as good as any.
Finally, I handed each boy a glass of water and sent them in without me to say goodnight. Truthfully, I was hoping one of the boys would spill it all over Elizabeth, but alas, no such luck. I met them at the stairs and we all giggled and squeaked on our way up to bed.
I heard Elizabeth’s car pull out just after 9:30. Before I strolled downstairs for nightly ‘Romulus’ time I looked out my balcony, thoroughly scanning the grounds to see if there were any shadows lurking in the night. Nothing. As I reached the door to the backyard the grandfather clock chimed 10:00. Perfectly on time I commended myself.
Emmet was holding the door open for me. “Elizabeth…she takes some getting used to.” I just listened. “Romulus is getting used to you. The more often you are with us in the evening, the quicker I can train him to obey you. It will be useful when you can exercise him by yourself, especially when I travel so Amanda doesn’t have to come and do it.”
“I’ll join you nightly. I’m looking forward to being on Romulus’ good side.”
“Annie.” His tone was a bit more serious. “I appreciate the effort you are making to get comfortable with all aspects of our household. You made my bed as if you spent time in the military; and I suspect you refolded all my towels.”
“Guilty as charged,” I said. “I notice…things…and I haven’t served in the military.”
“For three years I’ve been trying to have Susan fold the towels my way. She does so much right with the boys that I finally let it go.” He paused. “Passive-aggressive woman.” He muttered under his breath. “You make a true effort to notice how I prefer things around here and mirror them.”
I just smiled. This was easy compared to being with Lawrence.
Susan came over early today and we did some of our work together. We spent a few hours in the laundry room getting caught up, and another few in the kitchen. She patiently taught me more on the art of cooking, although she seized any opportunity to make fun of my lack of skill. I returned fire with shots about towel folding and the disarray her bedroom was in. I teased she could have several reptiles nesting under her bed and would never know it!
“Susan, you have been so helpful this week. I really would like to do something special for you. Any ideas…besides cleaning under your bed?”
“Well, I have been thinking…” she said. “It’s difficult to take time off…hard to get someone to care for the boys and Emmet is always working on an
