Courting Alley Cat (16 page)

              Justin found himself waiting once again on the neighbor’s doorstep. Only this time it wasn’t in anticipation of a date. This time it was in response to a summons by a formidable woman. Granny.

              He had a good idea what it was about. He knew that she had returned last night and he was fairly certain Alley had picked her up from the airport, though she certainly hadn’t told him so.

              Only because he hadn’t answered the phone. She had certainly tried to get in touch with him. Repeatedly. He shifted his weight and knocked again.

              Though he had a good excuse, he wasn’t sure he would be believed.

              And he wanted to be believed. He still wasn’t sure how he’d managed to get this reputation with Alley. Everyone else knew him as a steady and loyal individual. But the one person that he truly wanted to be steady and loyal with saw him as a cad.

              It just wasn’t right.

              He simply could not wait until he could see her again to straighten this mess all out. He hadn’t done a very good job of it last time, but this time he would come clean. He would tell her everything. She had to believe him.

              Finally, someone came to open the door. It was Granny. He always marveled that someone who looked like she did was called Granny.

              Despite having just traveled halfway across the world, she looked rested and energetic. She was wearing a little gray suit with a skirt and a jacket. Her short hair was stylishly groomed and her make-up was fresh and flawless. She did not look a day over forty.

              He hugged her as he always did and caught a mild scent of her favorite Prada perfume.

              “You look beautiful,” he said.

              Instead of teasing him back like she usually did, she merely looked sternly at him. “Come have a seat,” she said, turning, obviously expecting him to follow.

              Justin followed her through the kitchen and as they headed toward the living room, he stopped and stared. Alley’s office space had been cleared out and the dining room was back to being just that - a dining room. It was as though she had never been there.

              “Come on in,” Granny said, beckoning him to follow.

              If Justin hadn’t known himself better, he would have begun to wonder if he had imagined his interludes with Alley in this house. The time she had sat perched on his lap as she explained the book she was writing. The time he had made her breakfast after sleeping on her couch in case the kidnapper showed up at her doorstep again. And so many other countless little moments that had made him love her all the more.

              “Where is Alley?” he asked as he sat on the edge of the sofa.

              “She isn’t here.”

              “That, I can see.”

              “Good,” Granny said, nodding sharply.

              Justin had never seen her like this. He supposed that he was bumping up against her belief that he had somehow harmed Alley. Which led him to wonder.... “Is she alright?”

              Granny seemed to relax a degree and nodded, this time, softly. “Yes, she’s alright.”

              “Good,” It was his turn to agree.

              “I’d like to know your intentions toward my granddaughter.”

              Justin almost laughed, but caught himself in time. Though his intentions were indeed to marry Alley, the question struck him as old-fashioned and unnecessary. “I intend to marry her,” he said, bluntly.

              He had to give her credit. Granny showed no reaction whatsoever. “Then perhaps you’d best explain your behavior,” she said.

              This, Justin thought, seemed reasonable.  He knew he had some explaining to do and he was more than prepared to do so. “You’re referring to the phone calls yesterday?”

              Granny nodded.

              “Mark found it amusing that I had my arm inside his cow. I was trying to correct a breach birth. And was successful, I might add. I told him not to answer my phone. Of course, I couldn’t answer it, and I wasn’t in much of a position to stop him.”

              Granny almost smiled. He could see the twinkle in her eyes, but she held strong. It was her next question that told him he was in trouble.

              “Tell me about Brenda,” she said.

              Justin didn’t bother to hide his groan. This whole Brenda thing had so gotten out of hand. She was an old friend. A flirt. Not the kind of woman he would get involved with on a personal basis.

              Would he ever finish paying for that moment when she had decided to plant a kiss on him? It wasn’t like she hadn’t done it before. And just like then, it had never had an effect on him. Never would. In fact, he found her somewhat repulsive. To him she was a scullery maid to Alley’s princess.

              “What do you want to know?” he asked, feeling defeated.

              “Just tell me what’s going on. That’s all I ask.”             

              “Nothing,” he said.                           

              Granny gave him a look. A look that could have brought down a better man than he.

              “We’re working on a project together,” he said, though apparently from Granny’s expression, that was not the best thing to say. “We’re on the Animal Search and Rescue team together,” he continued, taking the plunge. It was the only way out of this. He had planned on telling Alley anyway. Telling Granny was about like telling Alley.

              Granny was silent. “Go on,” she said, softly.

              “You know Brenda, right?”

              “I’ve met her.”

              “Then you know the kind of person she is. A little coarser than most, but she knows dogs. And for this project, that’s what we need.”

              “What project?”

              “The girl who was kidnapped.”

              “What girl?”

              “I forgot you’d been out of the country. We had a local girl kidnapped last week. Actually there’s been another. And the Animal Search and Rescue has been involved in looking for her.”

              “And that has what to do with you?”

              “I’m a member of the Animal Training Team. We’ve been working with some new dogs and I had to be there to make sure everything went properly.”

              Granny sat quietly, studying him. “I don’t suppose you told Alley about this?”

              Justin shook his head. “How could I?”

              “Yes, how could you?” Granny echoed.

              “I’ve been needing to. It’s just that…” he rubbed his eyes in frustration. “It’s just that we were indoctrinated to only tell trusted family members. I can’t even tell my friends.”

              “So, you really didn’t feel you could trust Alley.”

              “That’s not it at all. I just can’t go around telling people. Just because I want to marry her doesn’t mean she has any interest in me.”

              “It makes perfect sense to me,” Granny said, perplexing him even more. “You played it safe.”

              “I had to. I can go to jail for telling people that I shouldn’t.”

              “Jail. Oh my.”

              “It wouldn’t be my first choice.”

              “I don’t blame you.”

              “You don’t?” Justin looked askance at her. She was acting rather oddly. “I thought you thought I should have told her.”

              “I seems to me that you had a perfectly good reason for not telling her. I mean, after all, why would you trust the woman you are planning to marry?”

              Alley pulled back onto the interstate from the rest area and navigated the onramp. She’d been driving in heavy traffic for two hours, while every cell in her body screamed that she was going in the wrong direction. She should be driving toward Hanover, not away from it on her way to Dallas.

              However, Granny insisted that this was the only way.

              Justin’s intentions needed to be clarified. She took a deep breath.

              There didn’t seem to be a right answer as to what to do about him. On the one hand, she felt he really cared about her. Especially in the way he kissed her, so soft and firm all at once. For hours.

              But on the other hand, there was Brenda and who knows what other women he was “up to his elbows” in.

              Granny had promised to call after he had left her. She trusted her grandmother to handle things in her best interest. But would Justin see it that way? Could she convince him to follow her to Dallas without telling him what he would have to do to “win her back?”

              That was Granny’s plan after all. Granny believed that if Alley disappeared, Justin would have to prove his love for her and track her down. She thought maybe he wouldn’t be sure how much he cared about her until she was gone. It sounded a little like pop psychology to Alley, but Granny insisted it was the way she had caught Grandpa.

              Alley wasn’t sure how her parents ended up together. Funny, but she couldn’t remember them ever having said.

              Inspired to discover their story, she opened her cell phone and dialed her parents’ number.

              “Honey, shouldn’t you be working?” her mother immediately asked after they said hello.

              “Yes, but actually, I’m on my way to Dallas,” she said as she maneuvered around a blue sedan that had been blocking the left lane.

              “Whatever for? Did you run out of clothes again?”

              Alley laughed for the first time that day. “No, Mom. I’m not out of clothes.”

              “Then what? Tell me what’s wrong. It’s that Justin, isn’t it?”

              “Well...”                           

              “I had a feeling about him,” her mom insisted.

              “Mom,” Alley groaned. “I just need to come home for awhile ok?”

              “Did you bring Charlie?”

              “No. Granny’s home.”

              Silence.

              “I picked her up at the airport last night.”

              “I see. It was nice of her to tell us.”

              “It was late when she got in and her cell phone needed charging.”

              “Ok, then, it was nice of you to tell us.”

              “Things have been a little crazy.”

              “I suppose you can tell us all about it when you get here.”

              Alley said goodbye and got off the phone. She was perplexed by her mother’s negativity. Typically, she was much more understanding.

              As she got into Dallas, on impulse, she took the exit to Zena’s apartment instead of her parents’ exit. Pulling into guest parking, she was thrilled to see that Steven’s camero was there. She would get to see both her friends at the same time.

              She sprinted up the stairs and rang the doorbell. And waited. And waited. Rang the doorbell a second time. A third. Zena’s car was there, too, so either they had gone off with someone else, or.... they weren’t answering the phone.

              That was odd. She took out her cell phone and dialed Zena’s number.

              No answer, but Zena appeared at the door.

              In her bathrobe.

              “Zena,” Alley said, “you’re sick. What’s wrong?”

              Zena looked at her oddly. Then Alley saw Steven on the sofa. Also in his bathrobe. “Steven’s sick, too?” she asked hesitantly, her brain unable to grasp the situation.

              Zena and Steven exchanged a look. “We’re not sick, Alley,” Zena said.

              “But I don’t understand.”

              “Come in,” Zena said, stepped back for Alley to enter.

              If Zena and Steven were not sick, then was there was only one explanation for their both being in bath robes. But... Steven was gay. There had to be something else.

              She smiled.

              “What’s going on?” Alley asked.

              Zena held up her hand to display a shiny diamond on her ring finger of her left hand.

              “You’re engaged?”

              “Yes,” Zena smiled for the first time since opening the door.

              “Who to?”

              Zena’s smile disappeared.  “Alley,” she said, shaking her hand. “Steven and I are engaged.”

              “But – Steven....” What was she supposed to say? She had never discussed Steven’s homosexuality with him. She had just always assumed that she was right about it. Apparently she had been wrong – ever so wrong. “I don’t know what to say. I thought we were all just... best friends.”