by Nathan Grant
“Good idea, I’ll call one of the guys at Franny’s place to come over so we can give it a full sweep just to be sure,” he said pulling out his cell phone.
The next morning while Rudy was checking out the house, Olive had agreed to go shopping with Claudia, and Franny stopped by the resort to finalize the wedding reception menu and take the load of invitations to the local post office.
“Considering the police can’t seem to locate Jake do you think it was a good idea for Olive and Claudia to go out shopping alone,” Luc asked, handing Franny one of the sample cookies for the wedding.
“I’m sure they will be fine, after all they are in public, and Claudia arranged for a driver, who is part of the team that takes care of her personal security. And it seems our little Claudia takes after her auntie and has a little friend with her at all times,” she told him.
“Friend huh, so now there are two crazy broads running around Sedona with loaded guns in their purses,” Luc kidded.
“Hey! Let’s just set the record straight and make it three; Olive now has one too,” she laughed, taking another cookie.
Luc rolled his eyes as he visualized a wedding with everyone packing. He glanced over at Zain who held up his hands.
“Don’t look at me, you know I have a gun near the bed, its just common sense especially since we are basically out here alone at night. Besides, Claudia and I have had a firearm of some type ever since our parents deemed us old enough to be responsible. Growing up on the family ranch, you never know when you might run into a Rattlesnake or worse, as we found out the hard way,” Zain told him, remembering Claudia’s horrible experience.
“Well just the same, there are some of us who aren’t crazy being around a bunch of drunks with loaded guns,” Luc said ruefully.
“Whatever,” Zain breathed and then walked outside to check on the finishing touches to the landscaping.
“Well now that you’ve stepped on your future spouse’s toes what else is there for us to get up to,” Franny smiled, reaching for yet another cookie before Luc slapped playfully at her hand.
“You want to fit into that gorgeous dress you know,” he scolded.
“Bitch,” she returned.
“I’m not going there, I’m not officially part of the family just yet you know,” he said with a smile.
“Fine with me, have it your way but there is no escape for you, and if you tried to run off, we’d all band together and hunt you down, guns and all,” she promised.
“So we have the menu set, the DJ has booked the date for one month from today, the flowers have been ordered, invitations are out, the photographer a friend of mine is coming here, and all the other details are falling into place.”
“There is one thing I have to say; I think Claudia is the best organizer I’ve ever come across. She has handled all the boring stuff without a complaint and made it seem simple. Help me put the samples in my car, and then we can walk up to Olive’s place and see what’s going on there with Rudy,” Franny said, picking up the smaller box.
As they came around the last turn and could see Olive’s house they saw Rudy out in front, pacing back and forth while talking on the wireless house phone.
“Yes this system was breached and it wasn’t detected. Every room in the house had a bug planted inside and it took several sweeps to find them all. Joe just finished sweeping the place and is going to do it again just for good measure but this time he’s including the nearby grounds in his search,” Rudy said into the phone.
He listened for a moment and suddenly his face twisted in anger.
“Didn’t you just hear what I said? That guy bugged her whole house, and programmed in a secondary administrator’s code that was cleverly hidden. He assaulted Olive yesterday and if I hadn’t been there God only knows what would have happened to her. In his hurry to get out of there he left a small bag, that he’d placed by the side of a chair and it contained some tools and a small container of what looks like cocaine so will you just quit talking and get the hell over here,” he demanded, hanging up the phone.
By that time, Franny and Luc had covered the last of the distance to Olive’s house after acknowledging a roving guard. Now they were standing there, both with shocked looks on their faces after hearing the last of Rudy’s phone conversation.
“Are you fucking kidding me,” Franny demanded, glancing over at Luc who was on his phone dialing Zain.
Franny whirled around to look at Luc when he ended the short call.
“Call Claudia when you’re done,” she whispered to him as he nodded his head in agreement.
Turning back to Rudy, Franny grabbed hold of his arm, and noticed how tense he seemed.
“Are you serious, that jackass is probably on drugs? At least that would account for all his erratic behavior. Thank God he has a dick too tiny to interest Claudia,” she raged, without thinking about what she was saying or how lame it sounded.
She then looked up and saw the shocked yet amused look on Rudy’s face and started to giggle.
“I’m almost afraid to ask this Franny but I just can’t help myself. What the fuck do you personally know about Jake’s dick, and I’ll even stick my neck out farther and ask just how do you know,” he managed to say before giving into a laugh.
Rudy glanced over at Luc, who was having a hard time keeping a straight face seeing Rudy putting her on the spot, and just shook his head knowing whatever was coming, it was going to be good.
“Claudia as you know had a date with Jake that brought all this to a head, and my personal,” she began, but Luc began to giggle at her choice of words and stopped her mid-sentence.
“I’m sorry,” was all he could manage before bursting out laughing when she turned to glare at him.
“You should be especially since you heard what Olive said last night smart ass and she already knew about it. I saw you get up to use the restroom so that is probably how you missed all this Rudy. Okay, now as I was saying Claudia had a date with Jake,” she began, shooting a dangerous look at Luc, “and things didn’t go as planned.”
“Usually dates don’t cause someone to break the law Franny, and like I just asked, what is all this talk about Jake’s dick,” he asked again, with a straight face while intentionally pressing her buttons, and shooting a quick wink to Luc.
Luc thought he was going to pee his pants trying to stop laughing at her unexpected predicament.
Franny sighed, and shook her head at Luc and then turned back to Rudy.
“As you know Jake was employed here and to be honest did a fine job of it. He however was somewhat of a braggart to his coworkers, and Claudia in particular,” she said slowly, trying to be tactful and choose her words carefully.
“What the hell would he brag about, his work? Franny this just isn’t making any sense to me and I don’t get the point of all this,” he said, sounding tired.
“No Rudy it wasn’t his work, didn’t you get what was being said last night,” she began, feeling a real disconnect.
“You mean the guy told everyone about his dick,” he asked sounding incredulous that anyone would talk to the coworkers about something so personal.
“That about sums it up, he also was going on about his prowess during and after dinner to Claudia making sure she got the point.”
“Oh dear God,” he said, still sounding dumbfounded.
“So they had a date and all was going on just fine and he kept teasing her about it. So they got back to her house and were starting to get things moving in the right direction,” she said, but Luc cut her off.
“And he noticed it was getting a little late, and wanted to get things right out into the open,” he added, barely able to control his giggles.
“You really are a little bitch,” she scolded, slapping his arm and trying not to laugh, and even noticed the smile on Rudy’s face.
“So he apparently took his pants off and Claudia burst out laughing,” Franny said, starting to giggle.
“The guy sounds like a rea
l jerk but that wasn’t very nice of Claudia, the guy couldn’t help it, it was the way he was born,” Rudy said with a straight face.
“No, she’s not like that, really she’s not. It is just that she’d had such a buildup that it just struck her funny. The sad thing is she was prepared to go along with him as she liked him but he took it the wrong way and left in a hurry,” Franny told him.
“A little pissed off,” Luc added before the three of them all began to laugh.
“He tried to stir up trouble with the guys working here but we resolved that and they are fine now. So it seems drugs along with low self-esteem are playing with each other here,” Franny said.
“It would seem so, that is some story, and I just thought they didn’t get along at their date; I missed the whole dick thing. Getting back to the security issue, I sure can’t figure out why he’d bug the place unless he’d planned to rob her house and wanted to make sure no one was there,” Rudy surmised.
“Either that or whoever he was working with wanted to make sure she was there alone,” Luc said.
“At any rate we’ve removed the bugs using gloves, disabled the second code, and reset everything. I’ll hand the devices and the bag over to the police who should be here soon, and they can take it from there. I’m glad this was suggested last night considering what we found, Olive would have been in danger.”
“What a mess,” Luc said and then saw Zain hurrying up the path to them.
“I still think that Claudia, Olive, and you Rudy should think again about staying at my parent’s place especially with all this new stuff coming to light. The new security team for here should arrive this afternoon and we can have them keep an eye on Olive’s place for a while twenty-four by seven,” Zain said.
“Good ideas but you know as well as I do that Claudia and Olive will never hear of it so it’s a dead issue from the start.”
“Well whatever happens I don’t want Claudia to stay at her house for a while, she is going to stay with me like it or not; I don’t want a repeat of the last several months,” Franny said with a shudder.
“You two play well together so that shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. What did Claudia have to say to you Luc when you let her know what Rudy said,” Franny asked, after seeing him talking to her while they were bringing Rudy up to speed with the latest clarifications about the new security team.
“She wasn’t happy to say the least. She did say that she was still surprised about all this as she honestly thought Jake wasn’t a bad sort at all. She actually sounded sad about the drugs but when I told her about the extra code and the bugs, that changed her tune and she was more than upset about the invasion of Olive’s privacy. She told me she was going to take Olive to lunch and tell her there where she could fully explain things to her. After that she figured Olive would want to get back here and talk to Rudy,” he told them, his voice sounding flat due to having to relay the bad news.
“I’m glad Claudia will tell her, they seem to get along well and have formed a bond of sorts,” Franny said.
“I’ll say, she talks about her all the time and adores her. All of you have done wonders for her self-esteem and have helped her tremendously,” Rudy added.
“You haven’t done so bad yourself by all indications,” Luc quipped, and was rewarded by a sharp look from Franny.
“Whatever works I always say,” Rudy said, and they all snickered at his joke.
Chapter Seven
The weeks seemed to fly past, it was finally a few days before the wedding, and the first of the guests were due to arrive soon.
Before they all descended in on them, Franny was explaining to Luc about the highlights of their family.
“And of course we have dear Aunt Gertrude Simon coming into town first. In addition, considering how fussy that woman can be, she called ahead to make sure she has the primo place to stay here. When I heard she was actually coming here, Zain’s parents and I flipped to see who would be stuck with her, and I lost. As it turns out however, she insisted that she wanted to stay in one of the resort cabins and ‘near the boys.’ She is the oldest member of the Simon family and a spinster I might add, and I know who is talking. I swear that woman is so old she has to be fossilized, God knows she’s been propped up many times over,” Franny said, while Zain noticed how Luc was starting to look a bit uncertain as he saw how agitated Franny seemed. He knew that was very out of character for Aunt Franny.
“So then let me see if I have this straight; she is Franny’s grandfather’s sister? Therefore, that makes her your great-aunt, and you’re Zain’s great aunt, so Gertrude is his great-great-great-aunt? How can that be, I mean she must be ancient as you say,” Luc pondered.
“Smart boy and lets just leave it at Aunt Franny or you lose favor around here smart ass. Like me, she was a surprise baby; a real surprise and came very late in life, and I mean late. She is actually about five years older than I am Luc, and I was just kidding about her age earlier, and if you ask what it is, you get slapped,” she promised, daring Zain to make a comment.
Luc was amused and turned to Zain with a wicked smile on his face.
“I see where it comes from, it seems a lot of your family must be pretty active very late in life,” he snickered.
Franny wasn’t having any of it, and poked him in the arm.
“I wouldn’t laugh about it if I were you Luc my dear, it looks like you’re in for it for the rest of your life, why I can see it now, my little Zain chasing after you in a wheelchair,” she giggled.
Luc hooked arms with Zain and smiled back at her.
“Fine with me, it will keep things interesting,” he laughed in return.
“So about Gertrude; she tends to say whatever comes to her mind, is very direct, and actually doesn’t look her age like the rest of us. Being the family matriarch, no one crosses her and that suits her just fine. If she doesn’t like you, watch out, if she does, watch out,” Franny smiled, seeing the smug look disappear from Luc’s handsome face.
“What’s that supposed to mean,” he asked turning to Zain.
“What Aunt Franny is trying to put delicately,” Claudia said, walking in the room, “is that she’s a super rich dirty old lady, who can easily drink us all under the table,” Claudia said causally, picking up a nearby apple and taking a bite.
“Is that where you guys got it from,” Luc smirked at them and was instantly rewarded with two slaps.
“That was a bitchy thing to say and I’m hurt,” Franny told him before she leaned over to kiss his cheek.
“So then she sounds like someone I should like then, considering how much I like both of you,” he added, moving quickly over to stand by Zain.
“Claudia, were we just insulted? Again,” Franny asked, giving Luc the evil eye.
“I don’t think so I figure he’s just trying to see where he fits in. I think the best thing here is to let him deal with her on his own and see how that shakes out. I do however think it would be a kick to listen in,” she laughed.
“Great idea, how about we have Luc pick her up at the Sedona airport and they can have some private quality time and get acquainted?” Claudia asked.
“Now guys, that’s not fair, he hasn’t even married me yet and I don’t want him running off on me,” Zain teased shooting Claudia a gleeful grin.
Franny clapped her hands delightedly.
“It’s settled then; Luc she comes in at two this afternoon and you need to go get her now. She will be arriving on her private jet so you won’t have any trouble knowing who she is. I’ll text her in a few minutes to let her know to be on the lookout for the most handsome man in the airport. Take her some flowers to welcome her and she’ll be just fine,” Franny said, barely able to control her laughter.
Luc looked over at Zain with a sinking feeling.
“If you play in the kitchen you just might get burned, so welcome to the family. I’ll have some bottles of champagne on ice to destress with once you pick her up, that is if you do get back he
re,” Zain said, watching Franny wink at Claudia.
Luc stood there looking stunned.
“I think I want a divorce,” Luc said, sitting down and putting his head in his hands, looking miserable.
“Oh it won’t be that bad Luc, and on the slim chance she likes you, well just think you’ll have yourself a new drinking buddy,” Franny told him, attempting to look serious.
“Okay guys enough is enough; so what am I really up against here, what if she doesn’t like me?”
“Listen, he’s right; enough is enough, you two. Luc she is just an older woman who likes to drink and can be very nice, despite the gun in her purse. She and I always have been very close and she can be a lot of fun, especially after a few glasses of icy champagne,” Zain tried to assure him.
“If you say so, well I’d better go get ready and change, I sure don’t want to be late and start off on the wrong foot here with Auntie and who knows maybe I’ll have a new pal,” he said walking out the door.
“You guys were really awful to him, I’m sure he thinks he’s on his way to an execution from the bitch from hell,” Zain said, shaking his head.
“Oh lighten up Zainy, you know those two will hit if off, just for the record, you are getting better at your descriptions. We were just teasing him and want him to have some fun instead of all the recent stress. Aunt Gertrude will love him, and you know it; you’ve always been a favorite of hers. You two are getting way too jittery about the wedding and need to lighten up and have some more fun,” Claudia said, putting her arm around his shoulders and giving him a squeeze.
“And keep in mind that she didn’t even mention her gun, at least at first. You know how proud she is of that thing, and I hope to God she doesn’t pull it out when they are on their way down the hill from the airport,” Franny giggled.
“Great, well that should really get things started with a bang, I just hope not literally. So there is still no word or sightings of Jake around the area? The police told me last night that they figure he just took off somewhere and won’t be coming back this way anytime soon, or has found a very secure hiding place,” Zain said.
