At Peace (64 page)

We walked in the house, my arm around his
waist, his around my shoulders.

“It’s just grass,” I told him softly.

He stopped us at the front door and curled me
into his front. “Yeah, Vi, it’s just grass. And your brother just
died. I’d have a lot more patience with her shit if it was two
months ago or six months from now. She’s not gonna change but she
should be human enough to pick her times. She wasn’t so I hope that
check is not in your box. She needs a lesson and I’m in the mood to
give her one.”

“Joe –”

His head dipped down and he touched his lips
to mine before saying, “Don’t worry, baby, whatever I do won’t blow
back on us.”

“But, she’s alone, Cory hasn’t been back for
ages and she’s –”

He interrupted me. “A woman who needs a
lesson.”

“Joe –”

“Vi, beer.”

I studied him and I knew enough to know Joe
had made up his mind.

Therefore, I sighed, walked in my house and
got my man a beer.

* * * * *

It was dark, the girls were asleep and I was
cuddled into Joe’s side.

“Joe?” I called.

“Yeah, baby,” he answered.

“Scales are even,” I told him on a
whisper.

“What?” he asked.

I closed my eyes, pressed closer, opened
my eyes and kept whispering. “Missed Tim, missed a lot of things
about him. One of those things was knowin’ there was someone who’d
look out for me, the girls.” I pressed my lips together and bit
them both as I felt his body grow tight then I continued. “Remember
that night we met? I had to get out of bed in the middle of the
night to ask Kenzie to turn down the music?”

“Baby –”

“Tim would have done that. I wouldn’t have
had to put on those boots and go into the cold.”

“Vi –”

“I wouldn’t have had to leave our bed.”

He rolled into me, murmuring again, “Vi
–”

“I wouldn’t have had to tromp through the
snow, get cold or even get angry.”

His hands started moving on me under his tee
as he whispered, “Shut up, buddy.”

“Tim always had our backs, he never let
anything like that touch us. Never.”

“Vi, shut it.”

“You won’t either.”

“Shut it, Vi.”

“We had everything. Everything. Tim gave it
to us. Having Nicky, you had a lot, Joe, but you never had
everything so you can’t know how much it hurts to lose it.”

Joe was silent.

I kept talking. “Having it back, you
giving it to us, the scales are balanced.”

He didn’t tell me to shut up again. He kissed
me, not hard and greedy and demanding. No, it was long and tender
and beautiful.

When he was done, he tucked my face into his
throat and held me.

“Love you, Joe,” I whispered to his
throat.

“Love you too, buddy. Go to sleep.”

“Okay. ‘Night, honey.”

“’Night, baby.”

It took awhile for me to sleep. It took
longer for Joe. I knew this because I fell asleep before him.

It was strange I got to sleep because my mind
was focused on wondering what was on his.

But I got to sleep.

And I again slept the night through without
the nightmare.

* * * * *

The check was in the box the next morning
well before nine.

Tina was a bitch but she was no fool.

Joe looked annoyed. I was relieved.

The girls were both up early. Kate had her
last shift noon to four at the Custard Stand before quitting to go
back to school on Monday. Keira had a full day of sunbathing and
pool frolicking ahead of her at Heather’s, her last hurrah before
school started. I’d gotten them up because I needed to give them
instructions before I left and they started their days.

“Keirry, baby, can you clean your bathroom
before you go to Heather’s?” I asked, though I didn’t expect an
answer, I just expected her to complain about it then do it, so to
avoid the complaining I hurriedly turned to Kate and went on. “And
can you vacuum and dust before you go to work? I’ll mop the kitchen
after dinner tonight but I’ll be late because I have to do the big
shop for Gramma and Grandpap before I get home.”

Before Kate could agree and Keira could
bitch, Joe said, “Make a list, I’ll swing by the store after I deal
with the yard.”

All three pairs of Winters girls eyes went to
Joe.

It was me who spoke.

“Deal with the yard?” I asked.

“Tim’s folks’ll be here tomorrow, buddy.
Can’t have that word bleached into the lawn,” Joe answered.

This was true but a quick fix was virtually
impossible unless you, say, killed all the grass around the
letters. This was an option which held merit since I didn’t want
Bea and Gary to see the lawn like that and worry. But after the
care I’d taken with my lawn, it wasn’t one I liked overly much.

“How are you gonna deal with it?” I asked
with curiosity.

“Dig it out. I’ll be at the garden center
sometime late mornin’ to pick up some rolls of sod.”

I hadn’t thought of this option mainly
because that was a lot of work, it would take a lot of time and it
would cost some cake. The first one I could do, the second one, no
way (making, for me, the task impossible, but not for Joe), the
last one, since Joe was paying for everything, was also doable but
I wasn’t used to having leftover money yet so it didn’t spring to
mind.

I had thought of watering the hell out of the
yard to drain away the bleach and sprinkling grass seed then
watering the hell out of the yard again. This would mean the word
“bitch” would be in my yard for weeks, maybe months, which
sucked.

Joe’s solution was
so much
better
.

Before I could tell him that, Keira piped up.
“I’ll help you!”

My mouth dropped open. So did Kate’s.

Keira giving up sunbathing and pool
frolicking to help Joe in the yard was a miracle. Such a miracle,
if I was a Catholic, I’d notify the Vatican, no joke.

Again, before I could say anything, Joe, who
was sitting on a stool next to Keira (Kate was behind the counter
with me), reached out and wrapped a big hand around the back of her
neck. Then he gently swayed her side to side.

“You’re with me, honey, we’ll have it done in
no time.”

Keira beamed at Joe. Kate turned startled
eyes to me. I wished I had time to lead Joe to our room and rip his
clothes off.

Since I had to go to work, instead I said to
Joe, “Walk me to my car?”

Joe’s eyes came to me, he nodded, gave Keira
one last sway with his hand, let her go and walked me to my
car.

I unlocked it, opened the door and stood in
it as Joe came to stand in front of me.

Then I bunched his tee in my fist, pulled him
closer, got up on tiptoe to get close to his face and whispered,
“Anything you want.”

His head jerked slightly and he asked,
“What?”

“Tonight, payback for the yard, payback for
makin’ Keira smile like that, anything you want. You name it, I’ll
do it.”

A slow smile spread on his face as his hands
went to span my hips.

“That’s quite an offer, buddy.”

I got closer, both my body and my face to
his and I kept whispering. “Be creative, baby, don’t know when I’ll
be feelin’ this generous again.”

“Oh, I’ll be creative,” he whispered back and
I felt my nipples get hard.

My hands slid up his chest and around his
neck and I laid one on him, my brand of a hard and demanding kiss
and Joe liked it. I knew this because his arms wrapped around me
and he growled in my mouth.

“Love you, baby,” I whispered against his
lips when I was done kissing him.

“
Yeah, me too,” he touched his mouth to
mine then said, “You get a break, make a list for the grocery
store. I’ll pick it up when Keira and I come ‘round to get the
sod.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll grill some brats tonight.”

“Okay.”

“We’ll get store bought shit to go with the
brats. Don’t want you cookin’, you’ll need to conserve your
energy.”

I shivered at what his words meant then
repeated, “Okay.”

He grinned and it hit me he was grinning a
lot lately. Smiling too. I liked this so I smiled back but I
suspected my smile was a lot like Keira’s beam. I suspected this
because Joe’s eyes dropped to my mouth, his face got intense and
then he kissed me, hard and demanding.

He did it better.

* * * * *

When I got home that evening, the yard looked
like a yard. No yellow-brown “bitch” in the middle of it. Joe and
Keira did such a good job you could barely see the sod lines. And
the rest of the yard had been mowed.

I walked into the house, seeing it clean and
tidy. Even the kitchen was sparkling, including the floor.

I knew why when Keira came running from her
bedroom, a boy band playing loud so she shouted over it, “I cleaned
the kitchen!”

I smiled at her. “I can see, baby.”

“And the bathroom,” she went on as I put my
purse on the counter.

“Thanks, honey.”

“Kate vacuumed and dusted and I put the
pictures back in the frames,” Keira continued, pointing to the
pictures which were in the frames and back on our shelves.

I looked but I didn’t look closely. I wanted
them back where they were but I wasn’t ready to see pictures of Sam
just yet.

Keira finished with, “Joe wanted you to put
your feet up when you got home.”

I bet he did.

At this, my smile widened and the back
sliding glass door opened, Joe coming through it followed by a
prancing Mooch. He looked sweaty and hot seeing as he was sweating
while wearing nothing but a pair of cutoff jeans and running shoes.
He didn’t even have on socks.

My mouth went dry.

“Joe mowed the yard,” Keira kept the
information flowing.

“
Mm-hmm,” was all I could get out seeing as
my eyes were still glued to a sweaty, hot-looking, cutoff jeans
wearing, bare-chested Joe.

Joe came to me, curled his hand around my
head and pulled me up, giving my mouth a touch with his.

“Gotta shower,” he muttered then he turned
away, nabbed Keira the same way as he walked by her but he kissed
the side of her head.

Keira beamed up at him. Joe grinned down at
her. Then he went to our room.

Keira looked back at me. “Joe says I’m the
best assistant he’s ever had. He’s gonna teach me
security!
”

I was trying to listen to my daughter but
mostly I was thinking of Joe in the shower.

“That’s great, honey,” I muttered as I walked
to the fridge and opened it in order to open a bottle of wine,
thinking I should put my feet up and relax starting now. Joe
probably intended to be energetic but even if he didn’t, I did.

Then I stopped and stared in my fridge which
was so packed full of food, it was a wonder it didn’t explode.

“What the…”

“Oh, yeah, forgot to say, Joe and me, we went
a little crazy at the grocery store,” Keira told me and I turned
stiltedly to her to see she was walking back toward her room. “He
said to put anything I wanted in the cart and anything you or Kate
liked. So I did.”

“Keira, honey, it’ll take us a year to get
through this much food,” I called after her, she stopped at the
entry to the hall and turned back to me.

“Yeah. So?”

Oh Lord, she was sounding like Joe and I had
no idea if this was good or bad.

I also had no reply.

Fifteen minutes later, Joe was out of the
shower, dressed in tee and jeans and in the kitchen getting a beer.
I was sipping my wine, waiting for him to get a beer so I could sit
out on the deck while he grilled. The boy band music was gone and
Keira was on her back on the couch, marathon texting some boy (or,
considering the number of beeps from her phone, half a dozen of
them). And Mooch was gnawing a dog toy to shit when Dane’s yellow
pickup hit the drive.

Dane always took Kate to and picked her up
from work. She’d been off work for over an hour and a half but this
wasn’t unusual, they’d often dink around, doing their thing (what
that was I did
not
want to
know) or meeting with friends before he’d bring her
home.

Therefore I wasn’t paying much attention when
I heard the pickup in the drive. I was watching Joe twist the top
off a beer and then toss it in the bin.

Then the front door opened and it slammed,
hard and
loud
.

Joe’s head shot around to the door and I
turned on my stool to see Kate stomp in, stop, take us all in then
shout, “
Never!
I’m
never
speaking
to him again! If he calls or comes to the door, I do
not
want to talk to him and I
do
not
want to see
him.
Ever
again!
”

Then she burst into tears and ran to her
room, slamming the door.

“Oh shit,” I muttered, my eyes going to Joe
who was looking at the hall then his head swung around to the
window and he watched the pickup speeding away.

I put my wineglass down, slid off the stool
and announced, “I’ll go talk to her.”

I went to Kate’s room, knocked once then
opened the door.

She whirled on me, face red, wet and
heartbroken and screeched, “
Get out!
”

I walked in, murmuring, “Honey –”

“
Out! Get out! Out, out,
out!
” Kate
shrieked.

Deciding my daughter needed some alone time,
I started to back out but hit solid Joe.

“Come here, girl,” Joe ordered, his voice
quiet.

Oh shit.

Kate didn’t tell Joe to get out. She just
glared at him which was both smart and brave.