(Dream Man 03) Law Man(91)

Then I asked Mitch’s back, “Did our discussion yesterday about teamwork penetrate…” I hesitated for emphasis before finishing, “at all?”

He put the oatmeal box down and turned to me. I glared into his dancing, beautiful, fathomless, dark brown eyes then suddenly found myself crushed to his long, hard body, his strong arms caging me in.

In my ear, he muttered his answer. “Yes but also kind of no.”

“I didn’t think so,” I returned acidly, my hands at his waist pushing back.

His head lifted up, he smiled down at me and asked, “You want oatmeal?”

I glared up at him and I really wanted to say no and there were a lot of other things I really wanted to say. But I couldn’t because firstly, his mother and sister were there and secondly, I’d had his oatmeal yesterday, he squirted maple syrup in it mid-nuke and it was really good.

“Yes,” I snapped.

His smile got bigger, he gave me a squeeze, let me go and turned to the oatmeal. I turned to my coffee mug which was sitting in front of Billy. That was when I saw Mrs. Lawson and Penny, still smiling huge, and Billy, his eyes going from me to Mitch and back again, his expression again fifty years older than he was.

I decided to ignore all of this and concentrate on caffeine.

It was the best decision I’d made all morning.





Chapter Nineteen

Harsh, Bright Light of Mara World





I stared at myself in Mitch’s bathroom mirror.

Seeing all that was me, I realized I’d made a huge mistake. Huge. Enormous.

My eyes moved over my made up face. Then they moved over the hair I’d curled into big soft curls and let fall around my shoulders. Then they took in the silky, sapphire-colored, blousy top I had on that came up in gathers to my neck and wrapped around with a wide sash which tied at the back of my neck, totally exposing my shoulders, arms and back. And last they took in the nice jeans and awesome silver belt I was wearing.

And I knew.

I knew I couldn’t do this. I had to rectify my mistake.

I heard the front door open.

Mitch was back from taking the kids to Penny’s. We were going out to dinner.

So that meant I had to rectify my mistake now.

* * * * *

I was clueless at the best of times but apparently when my life was in turmoil, something that hadn’t happened since I’d moved away from my crazy, mean Mom, it hadn’t happened because I guarded against it every second of every day, I was even more clueless.

But two days before I’d woken up in a dream come true after a night that included spending time with Mitch on the couch which was (almost) a different kind of dream come true. I fought it but not hard enough. It lulled me, sneaking up on me, taking over my safe cocoon and wrapping me in one that felt safer, snugger, warmer and much, much better.

* * * * *

The morning Mitch’s Mom and sister came over, Mitch made oatmeal while decreeing he was taking Billy to school. He did this again without discussing it with me. Then again, he was going out, I had Billie to look after so I didn’t argue since his bossy edict made sense.

He had a shower while I talked to his (surprisingly) easy to gab with Mom and sister who were both really nice with Penny being very forthright and equally very funny and his Mom letting Penny mostly carry the show while smiling sweetly a lot.

Mitch took off to take Billy to school and himself to work. But not before he grabbed my hand, led me to the door where we stood with our audience watching (including Billy standing right there) and said good-bye like an old married couple. That was to say he curved an arm around my waist, pulled my body into contact with his, brushed his lips against mine then muttered there, causing a belly whoosh, “See you tonight, honey.”

Then he and Billy were gone. I was in a daze that took awhile to shake off and Mrs. Lawson (who insisted I call her Sue Ellen) and Penny hung around and gabbed with me until Billie got up. They stayed long enough to meet Billie and for Billie to charm them then they left.

Mitch called me late morning to ask about Billie and I slid deeper into my dream world listening to his deep voice on my cell phone asking about Billie. In this dream world, I told him she was fine, up, her appetite was normal and all seemed well in Billie world.

Then he asked me about my day and I told him I was doing laundry, going to the grocery store and picking up Billy and asked if I could go to my place to do the laundry. Then he told me to use his washer and dryer. I decided not to argue because there was no purpose but I would add laundry detergent to my grocery list so we didn’t use all of his.

Still in the dream world, I shared that I’d called my insurance agent the day before and asked if I could get into my apartment the next day because the agent was coming over to inspect the damage and make a report. To this, Mitch told me he didn’t want me over there unless he or LaTanya or someone was with me, asked when the agent was coming and informed me he’d meet him. I argued about this because the agent was coming at eleven and Mitch would have to leave work. Mitch told me the Station was just a ten minute drive and Pierson’s was not and it wasn’t a big deal. Then I told Mitch he was doing too much. Then Mitch said something in his gentle voice that ended with “baby” and I immediately agreed with a breathy, “Kay.”