When I saw her getting ready in the morning, I wrapped my arms around her waist and decided to try and persuade her to stay home one more time. "You know, if you stay home we could have lunch together and possibly have a quickie in one of the barns."
She laughed and leaned over to put on her mascara. I watched the silly face she made as she began to apply it. "Conner, I have to go back to work. We've talked about this."
I leaned my head on her shoulder and looked at her through the mirror. "I just have a bad feelin' about it."
"My father is coming and making sure that only the two of us have access to the building. I will keep the door locked and ask clients to ring the bell for entry. The locks will be changed by noon today. You have nothing to worry about. Besides, you promised to take me there and pick me up when I close. I will be perfectly safe."
I sighed. "I just worry about you, that's all."
She turned around and reached her hands up my chest. "Conner, I love you. I promise you that I will be okay. You don't have to worry. I'm a big girl and I'm not as weak as you think. I have something to protect and there isn't anything that can take that from us."
Maybe I was sounding like a pussy. I knew what Ty felt like when he was afraid of losing Randa.
A loud scream caught our attention. I flew out of the bathroom and met Ty at Bella's door.
Ty walked up toward my little niece, who was standing on her bed screaming still. "Iz, what's wrong?"
She pointed toward a pile of toys. "There's a mouse in my room, Daddy. It ran over my foot. Get it out!"
Ty looked back at me and I could tell he wanted to laugh. I followed him over to the pile of toys. "Bella, go run into your parent's room. Me and your dad are going to take care of this."
She got to the door and turned around. "When you catch it, can we keep it? I never had a pet mouse before."
Ty pointed toward the door. "Princess, we can't keep a mouse. You know the dog will try to eat it. Where is that dog anyway?"
"She's hiding under Jax's crib."
He sat up on his knees. "Why is she hiding?"
"Because she ate another pair of my underwears and so I beat her with em."
"Iz, don't beat the dog. If she does it again you tell us, you hear?"
She disappeared out of the doorway. "Okay, Daddy."
Ty looked up at me and started laughing. "You believe that shit? That dog has eaten a dozen pair of underwear. Why the hell do dogs like the smell of soiled underwear?"
I lifted up my hands. "Fuck if I know?"
"If it's not one thing, it's another. Okay, I'm going to lift the toys and you grab the damn mouse."
I crouched down and got ready. "How do you even know it's still in this pile?" That mouse could have been in the kitchen by now.
"I have to at least check. I lied to Iz about the last one and when she saw it again, she got all pissed at me. You know I can't stand when she gets mad at me. I have to be her hero."
"For Christ sakes, you catch mice, not lions."
"Shut the fuck up and just help me. I promised your sister that I would feed the boys this morning. They were up all damn night again."
I shook my head, feeling like catching this sucker was going to be impossible, but as Ty lifted the next little bear, It dove down into the pile more. "Did you see it?"
I shook my head and got my hands ready. Now, most people would hate to touch a mouse with their hands. They were the same damn thing as a hamster. One time we had these two hamsters that got out in our house. We searched everywhere for them. One night our lamp shorted out and then there was this horrible smell. My dad pulled the couch out and there was a fried hamster, sitting next to the cord. That next week the other was sitting up on the couch right next to him one night after work. When we caught him we realized he had doubled in size. My father pulled the couch away and a giant ass spot of carpet had been eaten up. The hamster died a couple days later, I'm sure of carpet poisoning. My sister cried for days over it. After that, I really didn't care about hamsters.
When I saw the little mouse making another move, I closed my hands around it. It tried to squeeze out, but I closed my hands tighter. "Where do you want me to put it?"
"In a plastic bag, then smack it on the floor until it dies." Ty was so serious, I had to take a double take.
"Say what?"
"Yeah, you can't let it go. It will come back inside the house. I don't feel like doing this shit every damn day."
I shook my head and carried the mouse into the kitchen. Ty followed me and opened the plastic bag. I dropped the little rodent inside and watched him tie the bag in a knot. I walked away before I could witness his rodent cruelty. I got what he was doing, but damn, it was fucked up.