The Fourteen Day Soul Detox (13 page)

Susan:
Just
this once, no.

Me:
Oh,
you’re so magnanimous.

Susan:
You
know it.

I practically inhaled the Chai,
finishing the whole thing in almost one big gulp. “Did you
finish your sandwiches?” I asked when I was done drinking as I
looked into the rearview mirror.

“Yes,” Aiden said.

“Okay, make sure to grab your
trash,” I said.

“Let’s go to the pool!”
Aiden yelled as he opened his car door.

“You need to let your stomach
settle. Also, I have to change into my bathing suit and grab the
laundry first, sweetheart,” I told him as we all walked toward
the duplex. As we approached my front door, I quickly scanned
Clarke’s yard. Buster was the sole occupant, sleeping in his
open crate.

“Shh,” I whispered to the
kids. “Buster is sleeping.” We tiptoed up to the house,
though the kids giggled under their breath. Putting the key in the
lock, I opened the door slowly and quietly.

I gestured to the kids to come inside,
and closed the door behind them, making sure to lock it.

“Here, I’m going to put a
movie on for you two,” I said.

“Gymnastic floor exercises!”
Sarah shouted.

“No, something Aiden wants to
watch too this time,” I said.

“I don’t mind,” Aiden
said, shrugging.

“Sweetheart, you don’t
always need to go along with what Sarah wants. What about cartoons or
something?”

“No really, Aunt Jamie, I don’t
mind,” he said, grinning his gapped-tooth smile at me.

“You’re such a sweet kid,”
I told him, as I walked over to my computer and set up the video for
them.

They squeezed into one chair, barely
fitting, and sat watching floor exercises from the last Nationals.

“Don’t you want your own
chairs?” I asked them.

“No,” Aiden said.

“Alright,” I said, taking
the other chair and unwrapping my turkey sandwich. I took a bite and
my mouth filled with a heavy mustard taste. There was a good amount
of cheese and turkey, as well as some lettuce and tomato, but the
mustard drowned out the other flavors.

“You guys liked this?” I
asked the kids as I held up the sandwich.

Aiden glanced up from the computer
screen. “Yes.”

“Wow, this is a pretty
sophisticated taste,” I told him.

“Well, we’re
somistifacated,” he said as his focus returned to the computer.

“You sure are,” I said with
a grin before taking another bite.

My phone buzzed in my purse and I
pulled it out.

Cameron:
I’m
about to leave my house, do you guys need me to pick anything up on
the way?

Me:
No,
but bring your swim suit, I promised Sarah and Aiden I’d take
them swimming. I’m watching Aiden.

Cameron:
Will
do. See you in thirty.

“Hey Sarah, you want to do the
quarters?” I asked after my last bite of sandwich.

“Yes,” she whispered, her
gaze still glued to the screen.

“She says yes!” Aiden
called to me. “I’ll help too, I remember how.”

“Okay, cuties,” I said as I
went to get my spare-change jar from the closet. Setting the jar in
front of them, I let them have at pulling the quarters from the mass
of change.

Aiden plunged his hands in and called
out, “Money! Can I have some?”

“Aiden sweetie, if there’s
any quarters left over after we do the wash, you can have them.
Remember to wash your hands when you’re done, you guys,”
I said.

My laundry pile had been threatening to
overflow its basket for a while now, but as I entered my bedroom, I
realized that it must have succeeded this morning without my
knowledge. I usually sorted the lights from darks, but today I just
opened my laundry sacks and started shoveling the contents of my
laundry in.

Less than ten minutes later, I had two
huge sacks of laundry and an empty basket. Thankfully, my bathing
suit and throw-over were clean, so I quickly dressed in that before
dragging my laundry out of my room.

“How’s the money counting
going?” I asked my team.

“Look,” Aiden said,
pointing to a big pile of quarters.

“Wow, you guys are fast!” I
emptied the money into a sandwich bag then put that bag with my
laundry soap.

“Can I have some money? Like you
said?” Aiden asked.

“Only if there’s some left
over,” I reminded him.

“Is Sarah getting half of the
money or is it all for me?” he asked.

“Why don’t you ask her if
she cares,” I said.

“Sarah, can I have all the
money?” Aiden asked.

When Sarah didn’t answer Aiden, I
closed the laptop, which made her look up at me.

“Aiden asked you if you want to
share the quarters with him,” I said to her.

“I want to watch the floor
exercises,” Sarah said as she grabbed my hand and tried to pull
it away from the computer.

I sighed. “I think it’s
fine, Aiden.” Picking up the computer, I told Sarah, “Baby,
we’re about to go to the pool. Make sure you go potty first.”
After Sarah ran off to the bathroom, I turned to Aiden. “Make
sure you do too after Sarah, buddy. Also, rub on some sunscreen.
Please give it to Sarah when you’re done.” I handed him
the bottle.

Looking into the closet, I realized I
still didn’t have any towels. We would have to swim until the
towels went through their wash and dry cycle. Grabbing the other pool
toys, I folded up the single towel in the bathroom just as I heard a
knock on the door.

As I reentered the living room, I saw
Sarah answering the door. Cameron stood in the doorway behind her
with a big smile on his face. “Hello, sport,” he said.

“Sarah! Always wait for mom to
answer the door! That’s dangerous!” I yelled.

Sarah threw herself at Cameron, giving
him a big, wide-armed hug.

“Your mom is right, Sarah, you
never open the door. I could have been anyone.” He patted her
head.

I walked over, crouching down in front
of Sarah. I pulled her away from Cameron so she had to face me.
“Sarah, never, ever answer the door. That’s dangerous,”
I said again.

Sarah let out a bout of nervous
laughter and hit me smack dab on my nose.

“Ouch!” I said, grabbing my
face.

Sarah ran away from me. “Go in
time out!” she screamed as she ran into her room and slammed
the door after her.

“You okay?” Cameron asked
as he helped me up.

“I’m fine. That’s a
nice scene to walk in to. I’m sorry,” I grumbled.

He examined my face. “Let’s
get you some ice.”

“Are you okay, Aunt Jamie?”
Aiden asked.

“I’m fine, cutie,” I
said, patting his head as I walked by toward the kitchen.

Cameron pulled my blue ice pack out of
the fridge, and opened the right drawer to find the clean kitchen
towels. He gently pressed the covered ice-pack to my nose. Even with
the towel, it was shockingly cold.

“You know your way around my
kitchen,” I said.

He gave me a warm grin, his free hand
going to the back of my neck. “I haven’t seen you in a
dress in over a year,” he said.

“Laundry day,” I said.

“If only every day could be
laundry day,” he whispered before grinning at me.

“You bring your trunks?”

“I’m wearing them,”
he said. “I brought some towels too.”

“Oh good.” Pulling my face
away, I looked down to find he was indeed only wearing his board
shorts and a T-shirt. “We should probably get the kids out
there. Do you mind taking them into the pool while I start my
laundry?”

“Yeah, of course, but let me
carry the bags to the laundry room,” he said.

“Sarah, you can come out of time
out!” I called.

The door opened and Sarah walked out
slowly. After about thirty seconds of her just standing there,
looking at her toes, I asked, “What do you say?”

“I’m sorry,” she
whispered.

“Okay, angel, let’s go to
the pool,” I said, giving her a hug.

Cameron helped me carry all my bags to
the laundry room and waited while I unlocked the door. I handed him
my keys, showing him which one was the pool key, then he and the kids
headed off to the complex’s pool.

As I propped the door open with a rock,
I took a deep inhale of the dry laundry scent, smiling a little to
myself. Flipping up the light switch, the florescent lights flickered
on. I dragged my bags inside and glanced down the line of washers.

“Crap,” I mumbled, seeing
that all of them had a zero on their time monitoring screen. When I
checked down the line, I found all four washers full. “Ugh,”
I called in exasperation and walked toward the exit.

When I was about three feet away,
Clarke stepped into the doorway. His light brown hair fell loose over
his chiseled, angular face. He was looking down at his phone as he
walked, but his face came up and his dark deep-set eyes immediately
found mine. A big grin spread across his mouth as his gaze slowly
moved down my nearly-transparent bathing suit cover.

“Excuse me,” I said, as I
pulled a bag up in front of my chest and tried to step around him.

He stepped into my path. When I tried
to go the other way, he stepped into my path again.

“Clarke, let me pass,” I
said in an annoyed voice.

“Hey, I’m about to move my
stuff, you can have the washers,” he said, standing so close
that the bag I held up between us brushed his chest.

I forced myself to shrug. “Oh,
that’s okay, I’m in no rush. I’ll just come back
later.”

“It’s just going to take a
minute. If you’re in no rush, why can’t you wait one
minute? If it’s too cramped in here, just wait outside. Here,
do you want some help with that? It looks heavy.” He tried to
take my laundry bag, but I pulled it back.

“I’ve got it,” I
said, pulling it to my chest. “No problem, I’ll just wait
outside.”

When he stepped out of my way, I walked
past him, hugging the wall as much as possible. Outside of the
laundry room, I moved the rock that I had used to keep the door open,
and I used my hand to close the door slowly. Right before it was
completely closed, I called out, “I’m going to do my
laundry tomorrow. See you later.”

Grabbing up my laundry bags, I walked
around the building to where the large black gate surrounded the
pool.

I stuck my face through the gate,
looking to where Aiden and Sarah were both pretty-much attacking
Cameron in the pool.

“Hey Cameron!” I yelled.

He looked up and seeing me, he waved.

“Can I get my keys? I need to go
to the other laundry room, that one was full,” I called.

He walked out of the pool with the kids
still attached to him like barnacles.

“Hey, Aunt Jamie,” Aiden
said, when the three headed monster walked up to the bars.

I smiled as Cameron winked, handed me
the keys and headed back to the pool, kids still clinging to him.

My laundry grew very heavy as I carried
it to the next laundry room over, which was behind the building’s
main office. I quickly divided the clothes into three loads and
started them going. Setting my phone timer for the right amount of
minutes, I stowed it in my bag. As I exited the laundry room, I held
my hand up against the glare of the sun. When my vision cleared, I
saw Clarke standing feet away and looking straight at me.

I inhaled sharply, rocking back on my
heel.

Clarke looked to the building behind
me, then again into my eyes, raising an eyebrow at me.

Giving a half hearted wave and a forced
smile; I turned and walked toward the pool. When I looked back over
my shoulder, Clarke’s broad-muscled back seemed to strain
against his shirt as he walked in the opposite direction toward where
our apartments were.

Immediately, I picked up my pace,
jogging until I reached the gate leading to the pool area. I let
myself in with the keys, and then leaned back against the gate. My
hand pressed into my chest, feeling the rapid beat of my heart.

When my breathing and heartbeat settled
into a more steady rhythm, I walked into the pool area. Both Sarah
and Aiden splashed at Cameron as if their lives depended on it, and
Cameron gave as good as he got. They were all smiling and laughing
loudly. They were all so concentrated on each other; none of them
noticed my approach.

Dropping my stuff off at a chair and
pulling off my swimsuit cover, I walked to the deep end of the pool.
Diving shallowly, I submerged in the cool pool water and stayed
under. I swam under the water, opening my eyes and aiming for the
group across the pool. The chlorine stung my eyes so I closed them
until I thought I was likely close to the group. I popped out of the
water right beside Cameron. They all stopped splashing for a moment,
looking at me in surprise. Then I did a wide sweeping splash at both
of the kids.

“War!” Aiden yelled, before
splashing full force at me and Cameron.

Cameron grabbed me, pulling my body in
front of his like a human shield.

“This is how you treat your
reinforcement?” I yelled at him as I was splashed nonstop.

“All is fair in love and war,
baby,” he called back, his head hiding behind my back.

“Ha—” I gurgled as a
large amount of water went into my mouth. “Okay!” I
shouted after probably ten more minutes of the nonstop splashing. “We
surrender!”

“No, I already tried that, it’s
worse,” Cameron said into my ear, chuckling.

That’s when Aiden and Sarah swum
up and started tickling me mercilessly.

“Escape!” I said, diving
under the water. A strong hand grabbed my ankle and reeled me back
in.

“Oh, no you don’t,”
Cameron said as he wrapped me in his arms. “You’re not
going to escape that easily.”

“Whose side are you on?” I
said, trying to squirm out of his arms.