Santa's Posse (19 page)

“Oh, okay.  Yeah,
the guy was breaking into my car, so I chased after him.  It was no big deal.”

Kellie was sure
she felt Miles stiffen beside her, but could have been mistaken as she was
elbowed by one brother, which sent her stumbling toward another brother, who
elbowed her, and sent her stumbling toward another brother.  “Way to go, sis,”
they echoed, as the manhandling continued.  Only the youngest of the men
appeared exasperated by his brothers’ behavior, however, he didn’t intervene. 

The horseplay came
to an abrupt stop, however, when Miles reached a hand out and nonchalantly
pulled Kellie toward him, depositing her safely at his side.  He didn’t miss
the almost imperceptible nod of approval from the youngest brother.  Kellie
gave him a questioning glance, as he draped a protective arm over her shoulders. 

Miles had little
sisters too, but his father would have throttled him had he tossed them around
like a football. 

“Hey, hey, what do
we have here?” the oldest inquired, watching Miles through narrowed eyes, and
then turning to Kellie.  “Mom said she thought you had a secret.”  He sent a
glance at Miles.  “Is
he
it?”

Kellie’s face
turned several shades of red.  Miles, however, appeared unfazed by the question,
though he still appeared rosy-cheeked to her. 

Ignoring her brother’s
question, she asked, “Hey, did you guys just come to say ‘hi,’ or did you head
this way for another reason?”

“Actually,” Keith
said, “Tyler wanted a new longboard for his birthday, and the one he wanted is
special-made at a store in Portland.  So, we decided to kill two birds with one
stone.”  Tyler was Keith’s oldest son and an avid longboarder. 

“You could have
ordered it over the internet and had it mailed to you,” she told him.

“I could have, but
then we wouldn’t have gotten a chance to see you.  What time do you get off
work?”

She tipped her
head in thought.  “I can manage to be off at five.  Can you stay that long?”

“Yep,” he told
her.  “How about a quick dinner out and then the boys and I’ll start back
home?”

“Sounds good,” she
said.

Keith gave Miles a
speculative glance.  “Care to join us, Commander?”

Without missing a
beat, he nodded in the affirmative.  “Wouldn’t miss it.”

***

Since her brothers
wanted to check out the mall, and then her condo later, Kellie gave her oldest
brother the keys to her place so they would have a comfortable place to wait
for her until she got off work.  As they strode off, she watched after them,
and then turned to Miles.  “Well, that was a surprise.”

He nodded his head
in measured intervals.  “Yes, it was.”

She smiled.  It
was good to see the boys again.  She hadn’t seen them together in one place for
some time.  Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.  “Miles, if you have plans for
the evening…”

He waved a hand
dismissively.  “I’m going to dinner with you.”  He sounded so adamant, she
couldn’t help but wonder why.  He read her questioning gaze.  “If they toss you
across the room, I’d like to be there to catch you.”

She laughed. 
“Just so you know, I can take any one of them—and with one hand tied behind my
back.”

“Well, sure,” he
said with a chuckle, “one at a time.  But there are four of them.”

“Well, three,
actually,” she said.  “Kevin has always been kind of protective.”

“I like Kevin,” he
muttered, and then suddenly glanced behind him, and then frantically in all directions.

“What are you
doing?” she whispered with concern.  “Is something wrong?”

“Dolores Angles,
twelve o’ clock.  Run!”

“Are you really looking
for an escape route?” she asked with a chuckle.  “Shouldn’t we just face the
music?”

“Do you want
another big, fat envelope?” he inquired, grabbing her hand and pulling her into
a nearby store.  He ducked behind a circular rack of t-shirts, pulling her
against him.  “Sorry,” he murmured, when she bumped hard against his chest. 

Crouched down
together, she felt the rhythmic beating of his heart, and his breath against
her ear.  She felt slightly disoriented, but managed to find her voice.

“You’re about to
be,” she whispered.  “Sorry, that is.  Dolores spotted us.  Here she comes.”

With a heavy sigh,
he rose and stepped out from behind the rack.  He turned and extended a hand to
her.  He pulled her up, and with a shoring breath, led her out of the store. 

She didn’t miss
the inquiring stares of the store personnel behind her, or the way they
hurriedly congregated at the register, putting their heads together for a gab
fest—no doubt about her and Miles. 

Great.  Just
great,
she thought
.

***

“Dolores, the
Santa suit fits fine,” Miles said from between gritted teeth. 

She stood back, a
finger on her chin as she studied the recently altered suit.  “It’s still a
little short,” she declared.  “Did you grow?”

“The suit’s fine!”
he insisted.  “And I’m roasting.  I need to get out of this thing.”

She watched him,
her face contemplative.  “You don’t sound right.  Are you … sick?”

“No!”

Dolores turned to
Kellie and aimed an accusing finger.  “You’ve been sick.”  Her eyes widened.  “
You
got him sick!”

Kellie was taken
aback, glancing from Dolores to Miles.  Finally, she found her voice.  “
Are
you sick?”  Before he could answer, she reached out and checked his forehead
for fever.  He was burning up.  “Great.  You are sick.  I told you!” she said
in an exasperated tone.  “I knew this would happen.  You should have listened
to me.”

Dolores watched
the exchange, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.  “Swapping a little spit, eh?”
she said.

“No!” Kellie and
Miles cried in unison. 

“Uh huh,” she said
dubiously.

“Look, Kellie
wasn’t feeling well, so I heated up some…”  His words trailed off, his face set
in a frustrated scowl.  “I don’t have to account for my actions.  Neither does
Kellie.  We’re adults—consenting adults.”

“Miles!” Kellie
cried, aghast.  “Do you know how that sounded?”

He gave her a
confused glance, and then his face contorted in frustration.  “I didn’t mean
that the way it sounded.  We haven’t…”  His words trailed off, and he shook his
head.  “I don’t feel so well.”

Dolores turned
accusing eyes on Kellie.  “Don’t you know better than to kiss a man when you’re
sick?  Look what you’ve done to him!  His face is rosier than the jolly old elf’s
himself.”

Miles began
tugging at the belt around his artificially expanded midriff.  “Dolores, Kellie
did not…”  He let out an exasperated growl.  “Help me out of this thing!  I’m
warm!”

Dolores pressed
her lips together.  “Miles Blake, you’d better be well by the evening of our Santa’
Posse deliveries, or I hold—”  She spun around and glared at Kellie.  “—
You
responsible.” 

She backed away,
her hands in the air.  “I…”

“Kellie, please
help me with this suit,” Miles implored.  “I think I’m going to pass out if I
don’t get some air.”

She rose and
studied his face.  He was purple with fever.  “Okay, let me help you with the
belt.”  She unfastened it, as he looked on in frustration.  She tugged it away
and hurriedly undid the buttons on the suit. 

“Thank you,” he
uttered.  “I can take it from here.”

Just as he was
stepping away, several deputies strode into the room.  They let out a
collective laugh at the sight of their boss in costume.  “Hey, Commander
Claus,” one said, laughing.  “Your posse has arrived.  Anything we can help you
with?”

He muttered an
unintelligible response and disappeared into the restroom.  He returned a short
minute later in sweats and a t-shirt.  Kellie noticed him shiver, as if he had
the chills.

“Miles, you look
awful!” she said.

“You look awful!”
Dolores cried.

“You do look
awful,” one of the deputies confirmed.

“I think I’m
dying,” he said.

“Typical man,”
Dolores said with a disgusted snort, and turned to Kellie.  “This is all your
fault!”

***

“Okay, look, I’ll
be gone about an hour,” Kellie told Miles, who was bundled up on his couch. 
“You just rest and I’ll bring you some soup later.”

“You don’t have
to,” he said, sounding nasal and cranky.

“Hey, you were
there for me when I was sick,” she said.  “I owe you.  Besides, I’m the one who
got you sick.”

“You didn’t mean
to,” he said, sounding plugged up and sleepy, and the slightest bit accusatory.

After saying
goodbye, Kellie hurried outside and found her brothers in Keith’s idling SUV,
waiting for her.  He shifted into drive and she directed him to a nearby
restaurant.  There, she checked her watch constantly, since she wondered how
Miles was faring.  She knew first hand how bad he was feeling, since she wasn’t
entirely over the illness herself.

“You seem preoccupied,”
Keith said, nudging her side with his elbow.  “So, fess up.  You like the
commander, eh?”

She was surprised
by the question.  “Well, I…”  

“Kellie—has—a—boyfriend,”
Keith said in an annoying, sing-song voice, grinning from ear to ear.

“Miles is not my
boyfriend.”  She took a deep breath.  Keith was behaving like a pre-adolescent,
rather than a man of forty-two.  With some difficulty, she resisted the urge to
clock him upside his head.  He had always delighted in teasing her, but she was
simply
not
in the mood.

He glanced around
the table at his brothers.  “Obviously she likes him.  I saw the way she looked
at him.  I’d suggest we do a background check on ‘im, but presumably he passed
one already, since he’s a cop.”

“That doesn’t mean
we can’t do a little interrogation of our own,” Kyle suggested, bringing a fist
against the palm of his other hand.

“We should
probably ask him his intentions,” Ken suggested.  “He might need some
clarification.”

“Hey, over here! 
Stop talking about me as if I wasn’t here—as if I were still sixteen.  I didn’t
need bodyguards then and I certainly don’t need them now,” Kellie groused.

Keith gave a
hearty laugh and slapped the tabletop, snaring his brothers’ gazes one by one. 
“Remember when she was in high school, how we dug the hole in the
backyard—rectangular and six-feet deep?  Remember how we told her prospective
boyfriends that there was a ready-made grave in the backyard.”

“Remember that one
guy you hated,” Kyle remembered, laughing menacingly.  “You carved his name on
a piece of wood and set it as a headstone.”

“Never saw
him
again,” Keith laughed.

“Yeah, and hey,
thanks,” Kellie said drolly.  “I liked him, and thanks to you guys I never got
a date to the prom—any prom!  Or any other dance, for that matter!  You guys were
scary!  You’re still scary!” 

Keith feigned
contrition.  “Sorry, little sis.”

She wasn’t fooled. 
Not in the least.    

“Seriously,
though,” Keith began, “are you dating this guy?  Is he your boyfriend?”

She shook her
head.  “We’re not dating, and he is not my boyfriend.”

“But … you like
him?” he persisted.

“I mean, okay,
yes, I like him, but do I need a … boyfriend?”  She crunched her face in
contemplation, but roused herself.  “I mean, no, probably not.  I’m busy, he’s
busy, we’re both busy…”  She glanced off into the distance, at a point beyond
her brothers’ heads, actually forgetting they were there.  “I have to do well
in this job.  Who has time for romance?” she asked herself.  “I certainly don’t
have time for romance.  Frankly, neither does he…”

Keith watched her
through narrowed eyes, understanding right away that his sister was grappling
with conflicting emotions.  He’d seen her go through similar misgivings in the
past.  She’d always been so focused, in both high school and later, college,
and had resisted serious romantic entanglements.  But, she wasn’t getting any
younger. 

“You’re missing
out, sis,” he said, suddenly serious.  “Don’t you want someone to share your
life with?”

“I…”  She sighed. 
“I’m just so busy.  I’m worried about taking time away from my job.”

“You’re entitled
to a personal life,” Ken said. 

“You’re busy?  So
what?” Keith added.  “Who isn’t?  The truth is, he seems like a good guy, and
frankly, it’s about time you thought about settling down.  I can’t speak for
your other brothers, but I, for one, am tired of worrying about you.”

With the exception
of Kevin, the youngest, the others echoed their agreement, prompting her to
give each of them a dirty look. 

“Well, don’t worry
about me then,” she said.  “Who asked you to worry about me?”

“Can’t help it,”
Kyle said.  “You’re our little sister.  It’s part of the job description.”

“Yeah,” echoed
Ken.  “We know you’re tough as nails, but you are one tiny little girl.  And
we’re hours up the road.”  He shook his head.  “We just can’t protect you
adequately, considering the distance.”

“I’m a woman,” she
said in a surly tone, enunciating the word.  “I’m not a little girl, and I
certainly don’t need protection.  I’m almost thirty, by the way.”

“Then it is time
for you to settle down,” Keith said, and then cried with alarm.  “Are you
really almost thirty?”  He did the calculations in his head.  “Geez, if you’re
thirty, then I’m about to turn forty.”

“You were forty …
two years ago,” she said drolly.

“He does seem like
a decent guy,” Kevin, the youngest, said, directing his words to her.  “I could
see he wasn’t pleased to see these jerks shoving you around at the mall.  I
thought he was going to punch Keith in the jaw.”