Untrusting (Troubled) (30 page)

“Is that what ya think we’re
doin’?  We’re waiting for Miss Lili to give us our instructions, as
always.  And the game was a playoff.  That means it’ll determine who
plays in the finals.  And we didn’t know Shay had let the dogs out. 
So ya see…we’re guilty as charged.  I’m sorry, honey.  I’m new at
this engaged thing and…that’s all the more reason I should have acted
better.  But as for the boxes, only Grams knows who she hired last and
whose turn it is to work for pay.  She, also, knows who’s good at the
different jobs.  I guess we need to start keeping a couple of logs on
these things, so it’ll be easier to get things done now that Grams’ll be
between two families.  Honey, Bob and I know you and Maria are busy and
tired and we want to help y’all and take care of y’all.  We were
distracted today with the game and that wasn’t good.”

“Steve, we didn’t mind y’all being
involved in the game.  We objected to y’alls passing the work off to
someone else.  And we got the distinct impression that we would have to
cover y’alls parts in this Christmas box thing while we’re already buried in
work.  And y’all didn’t watch Shay while we were gone, working. 
Chaucee wasn’t noticed ‘til there was a break in the game.  I swear the
house coulda burned down and ‘til the TV went off y’all wouldn’t have
noticed.  Ordinarily, Maria and I would have joined ya, but the way things
went we were too disappointed to.  You guys weren’t there for anything but
the game, or so it seemed, and we were supposed to take care of everything
else, even your supper.  If ya knew we were tired, the least ya could have
done was watch Shay and, maybe, arrange supper, however or whatever that was. 
Now it’s getting late and I need to get some sleep.  I’ll see ya tomorrow,
goodnight.”

“Sher, I love you.  I’ll see
you tomorrow, goodnight.”

I don’t sleep well, but I do
sleep.  I can’t believe those two men acted like boys today.  I need
to talk to Mom tomorrow.

Maria and I talk about the guys
while we get the day started.  She’s still mad that Bob hadn’t watched
Shay.  “Shay wasn’t upset, he’d stay with Bob and if he wanted something
Bob had gotten it for him.  Maybe, it was that they didn’t know we were gone
for an hour after we’d left.  I had Shay in the tub before Bob noticed we
were gone and called.  I told him I didn’t know if I could trust him to
watch Shay again.  If we could be gone for an hour, how far could Shay
have gotten had he wandered off in that time.  He thought I was making a
big deal outta nothin’ ‘til then.  He apologized, but I’m not so sure I
want to forgive him yet.  I will, but I’m still upset at what could have
happened to the dogs or Shay.  I’m upset that the guys are waiting for Miss
Lili to line things up for them.  I know that’s the way it’s always
happened, but what happens when she’s not here?  Are we supposed to fill
in for her?  And when will we have the time for that?”

Steve’s been listening and about
scared us to death when he spoke.  “I realize we acted irresponsibly last
night, but it was only once in several months.  And, no, we don’t expect
y’all to fill in for Grams.  We work too, ya know, and we know y’all work
more hours than we do and, unless there’s a fire, y’all work harder than we
do.  We just got involved in the playoffs and reverted back to being
single.  We’re sorry and we’ll try to do better, but what’s the big fuss
about?  Shay’s fine, the dogs are fine and, except for being mad, the rest
of us are fine.  Why’d y’all run out like that, without a word?”

“We felt we were in the way and
y’all were busy.  We didn’t want to interrupt the game and we didn’t want
to argue in front of Shay.  There were several reasons and I gave you most
of them last night when we talked.  It’s time to open the office.  We
have six appointments this morning and this afternoon is open to take care of
check outs, the shelter dogs and the adoption of the Shelties.  Once all
that’s done we’ll have more free time.  By the way, did you leave Chaucee
in the house?”

“No.  Chaucee’s with me and so
is José.  He’s been having accidents since Grams has been gone.  But
I’m going to have to go to a meetin’ soon and I’d hoped you’d take care of them
for a few hours.  Grams said she’d be home Thursday or Friday.  We,
Bob and I, will need a little help ‘til then.”

“I suggest ya keep them with you
‘til ya drive Bob home and leave them with him then.”  Maria’s not giving
in on this.  “He gets around well enough to take care of them for a
while.  I think you guys need a little family therapy so we’ll use the
dogs.”  I nod.

Steve’s eyes show anger. 
“Fine.  See you ladies.”  He turns and hobbles away.

We finish the day and I go to
Maria’s for supper.  We’re glad the shelter animals are home and three
more puppies were adopted.  We have two puppies left.  After supper I
let the dogs out and one of them stays with me.  She pawed at my leg to
get picked up.  When I pick her up, she wiggles around and nibbles at my
ear, causing me to laugh.  She licks my chin and my hand.  She’s a
little calmer than Chaucee.  I may keep her, but for tonight she’ll stay
here.

I go home to my place.  Maria
calls, Bob hasn’t called all evening and Shay’s upset that Bob’s not
around.  Between the two of us, we don’t know what’s going to happen. 
The engagements haven’t been broken, but we don’t know what the guys’ll
do.  We have no intention of breaking it off with them, so I guess we’ll
have to wait it out.  We hang up and go to bed.

The next two days are slow and
there’s no word from the guys.  I name my puppies Barney and Betty from
the Flintstones.  I decided to keep both of them when no one adopted
them.  They come to work with me every day and go home with me, now I can
go home at five.

 Miss Lili comes in Thursday
afternoon.  We’re glad to see her, but she’s mad at us.  “I’ve heard
the story and I understand why ya acted the way ya did.  The boys
apologized and yet y’all haven’t spoken for three days.  I don’t
understand that.  The boys aren’t sleeping well, except at the
station.  I dare say you girls aren’t sleeping well either.”  We both
nod.  “Then what’s the problem?  They’ve seen how hard it is to take
care of the dogs without help, get the boxes done and work.  Is that what
ya wanted?”  We nod again.  “Well, they’re about wore out.  I’m
home now, so that’ll help, but what are we gonna do to fix this?”  We
shrug.  “I want you four to figure this out.  When I release the town
trust to the boys I want them to have help mates and you girls are perfect for
them.  I expect to release the trust to the four of ya, ya know.  The
boys will need organization to do what they’ll have to do and I hope you girls
will attend to that end of things for them.”

“Miss Lili, we have four
enterprises we’re already doing.  They want kids and so do we, but how can
we do all that, keep our finger on the pulse of the town and coordinate every
charity event in town.  Organizing every big thing the town undertakes is
gonna take a lotta work and we already have a lotta work.  Then you add a
family to it.  When are we gonna have time to change diapers and stay up
all night with sick kids?”

“Don’t short change the boys. 
They’ll be right there with ya and they’ll help, but you’ll need to hire some
reliable help, too.  When both parents work, they have to work smart and
have help and support from those around them.  I think it’ll be easier if
you two stop thinking ya have to be super women and do it all yourselves. 
The boys will be help mates to ya and they’ll support your work.  Haven’t
they proved that to ya by helping through the puppy mill incident?”  We
have to nod.

“Okay.  Now tell me how things
went with the guests while I was gone.”  We give her a report on the
guests and the shelter.  I tell her what I’d done about Mr. Gustaf and
that all the dogs will be in tomorrow afternoon for a check up.  She
smiles.  “I knew you were the right person for the job.  My interest
is healthy animals and I’ll make up any loses so ya don’t have any problems
with finances.  It’ll be a donation to the animal shelter, so it’ll be tax
deductable.”

Betty and Barney come into the
kennel room and yip at the door, to be let into the office.  I let them in
and the race for Miss Lili.  She asks about them and I tell her I adopted
them.  Next thing I know Miss Lili is down in the floor playing with
them.  The puppies get tired after a bit and I let them into the kennel
room to nap.  Miss Lili tells me how pretty they are and then I have to
tell her where they came from.

After my story she asks “Now, what
are you girls doing for supper?  Bob’s off work tonight and Steve is,
too.  Seems he had a little accident and he’s home for a few days with his
foot up.  Maybe if you four get in sight of each other this argument might
end.  By the way, they don’t want to break the engagements.  What about
you girls?”  We answer “no.”  “Good so let’s get this fuss put to bed
and I mean that literally.”  She smiles at us and we smile back. 
Then she hugs us.  I explain I’ll have the puppies with me at supper and
she’s happy to have them.  Chaucee, José and Chief need to meet their new
siblings.

Supper is at her house.  We
help in the kitchen while the guys sit in the living room talking, tho’ we hear
a lotta of laughter and playing with the dogs.  I don’t know if they know
we’re here.  Stupid, they must, Shay’s with them.  Shay and Glen come
through the kitchen with the dogs to let them out.  Shay brought Bullet
with him, so there’s quite a pack of dogs.  We get hugs from Glen as they
go through.  Maria and I set the table and when the pack comes back through
Glen’s told to get the boys to the table.

Miss Lili is a genius.  She
sets us across the table from Steve and Bob.  We haven’t seen each other
since Sunday or Monday and we have a hard time concentrating on the
conversation and eating for a few minutes.  Then we avoid looking at each
other so we can be involved with the activities at the table.  “Have you
girls seen the boxes for Christmas, the boys made?”

“Yes.  They’re quite
distinct.  Had any referrals yet?”  Maria’s curious about the
response.

“They’ve only been out for a day,
but I plan to check them tomorrow.  The pastors and the priest say they’ve
had several donations and the ‘center’ says they’ve received several boxes of
food donations.  That means I’ll only need to get hams, turkeys and
dressing fixin’s for the boxes.  I hope everyone remembers to include
sizes for the clothing.  I’m gonna contact several farmers to see if they
have a surplus of vegetables they want to get rid of and buy it from them for
the baskets.  I have several dozen boxes ordered that are
Christmassy.  They’ll be here in about a week.  I’ll need a lotta
help filling them.  The churches are gonna coordinate with us so we have
everything for everyone in the families we’re giving to.  The letters to
Santa will help with our shopping trip.  The churches are taking in toys
that are in good shape and we can fill in with the new toys.  Oh, don’t
let me forget the Christmas trees.  We want them out a week before
Christmas.  We’ll need drivers for the pickups since the boys won’t be able
to drive.  And we’ll need tree decorations for those who don’t have them.”

“Anybody ready for dessert?” 
Miss Lili goes from one thing right on to the another.  Shay hollers
“Yeah,” then feels embarrassed because everyone’s laughing at his eager response. 
Glen gets up to get it and comes back with a small wedding cake.  “We were
married in Austin yesterday with the Governor and Alma as witnesses.  We
didn’t want to wait, or have a big wedding.  We’re sorry y’all weren’t
there, but this was a no fuss wedding.  Glen’s kids accept me, but they
didn’t like his getting married at his age.  So we just did it.  I
hope y’all aren’t too upset.”

We all congratulate them and they
cut the cake handing Maria and I a small bouquet of flowers.  Miss Lili
says the flowers are because we’re her bride’s maids.  A bottle of
Champagne and glasses are brought out and we toast the bride and groom. 
Then Miss Lili proposes a toast to the next brides and grooms at the table and
look at us.  Hesitantly, we drink.

“That brings up a very good
question, Aunt Lili.  Maria, are we still gettin’ married?”  Bob’s
not shy about the argument or the possible outcome.

Maria looks a bit defiant when she
says, “I haven’t heard anything different, but it is a good question.  Are
we?”

“As far as I’m concerned we
are.  And you?”

“We are then,” Maria says and Bob
smiles and raises his glass again and sips.

“And us, Sher?”  Steve figures
it’s his turn to put the fuss to rest.

“I haven’t called it off. 
What about you?”  I’m just a defiant as Maria was.

“Not me.  So are we?”

“Yes,” I say and Steve smiles and
sips.  We eat our cake and the guys go to the living room.

“How’d Steve hurt his foot
again?”  I ask Miss Lili.

She snickers, “Chaucee ran under
his feet and he stumbled and fell, after he stepped down hard on his bad
foot.  It happened just outside of your office the other day.  He was
surprised you didn’t hear him yell.  In fact, he thought you’d ignored the
yell.  After our talk this afternoon, I know ya didn’t hear him. 
There’s a lotta misunderstandings in both y’alls relationships.  I suggest
y’all talk to the boys and have an open heart and mind.  Remember they’re
just men.  That’s a shorter way of saying ‘grown boys in size, but not
always in mind.’”  We laugh and go in to join the guys.

Maria and Shay have to leave soon
and Bob walks them out.  He has to work tomorrow morning, but asks is he
can come over after work.  Maria says yes, she’ll be at work ‘til five but
now she’ll have more time since all the facilities are empty.  They kiss
goodnight and Shay has to break them up so he can go home to bed.

I take the dogs out and Steve goes
with me.  He’s back on both crutches, but he still comes up behind me to
hug me.  “I’m on pain pills again, but I’d like it if you’d stay
tonight.”  I agree to stay and I turn to kiss him.  The five dogs
break us up and Chaucee wants me to pick her up, as do Betty and Barney. 
I do and I’m back into my juggling act, even with them between me and
Steve.  We’re both getting our faces washed and we’re laughing about
it.  “Whatever possessed you to name these two Betty and Barney?”