“My friend had a pony,” Rose said. “She wants me to have a pony, too.”
Alix’s eyebrows lifted. “I see,” she was on to her daughter’s game. “Well, we’ll have to see. I don’t think we have any room to keep a pony here.”
Rose turned back to her toy, disinterested in what her mother was doing and not particularly distressed by the answer, as if she didn’t really care. As she sat on the floor with her toy, she began to hum a soft little tune.
“‘A holiday, a holiday, the first one of the year’,” she whispered in her sweet little voice. “‘Lord Arlen’s wife came into church, the gospel for to hear’.”
Alix grinned as she organized the linen, listening to her daughter sing; she didn’t want to put anything into the closets or cabinets yet because they were going to paint, so she tried to put the more used linens towards the top. Still, she was distracted by the song.
“Where did you hear that song, baby?” she asked.
Rose shrugged her little shoulders. “My friend singed it to me,” she said. “Mommy, can I watch T.V.?”
Alix really had no idea what Rose was talking about, but that wasn’t unusual. The little girl had a huge imagination and would often make up songs and playmates, or draw pictures of animals that didn’t exist. It was all part of Rosie’s sweet charm.
“Sean is getting the television hooked up downstairs,” Alix said. “You can watch a video after dinner, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to go back downstairs and see if I can get the washer working, okay?” Alix looked at her daughter’s cluttered room, hating the fact that it would be several days at least before they could start packing stuff away, at least until the painters got busy. “Rosie, please unpack your box with the stuffed animals in it and put them in your chest so I can move that box out of here, okay?”
Rose was focused on her doll. “Okay.”
“Now, Rose Elizabeth. Please help me get everything straightened out.”
Rose simply nodded and Alix left, thinking that her daughter probably wouldn’t get around to doing as she was told until she was reminded again. Rose did what Rose wanted to do when she wanted to do it, and that was final. Sticking her head into Sean’s room to see that the young man had a lot of his boxes pulled apart and was shoving stuff into his dressers, she continued downstairs.
Just as she hit the bottom step, thunder let loose overhead that sounded like an earthquake and all of the lights cut out.
* * *
It was raining in a steady downpour and lightning streaked across the sky as Cord pulled his Ford truck into Alix’s driveway. From the base of the driveway as it arced up to the house was about 100 feet but even so, he could barely see the house through the sheets of rain that were pounding down. He pulled the truck up as far as he could and then put it in park, turning to the three young men in the car.
“Okay, boys,” he said. “Grab the firewood and the flashlights. Cole, grab the box of candles down there at your feet.”
“Dad,” Kyle, the middle son, whined, “do we really have to do this?”
“Yes, we do.”
“But we don’t even… I mean, who is this lady?”
“I told you.” Cord was losing his patience. “A new neighbor. Her house is all torn up and if we don’t have any electricity, then she doesn’t have any. I’m sure she could use the help. This is part of being a good neighbor.”
“Nobody was ever a good neighbor to us like this.”
“Shut up and get out of the car.”
The boys grunted and made faces at each other, but Cord ignored them. The three young men began grabbing around for supplies as Cord opened the truck door and bailed out. The four of them, arms full, jumped onto the old porch, which was sagging in places and made their way to the front door. It took three rounds of banging at the big, warped front door before it timidly opened. Alix’s eyes opened wide at the men on her doorstep.
“Hi,” she said, shocked. “What in the world are you doing out in this storm?”
Cord realized he was very glad to see her, like his heart lightened the moment she opened the door. She was dressed in skinny jeans and a long-sleeved shirt that showed every curve. He also realized he been right about one thing; she had an amazing body. It was hard to tear his gaze off the modest cleavage she was showing.
“Do you have power?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No.”
“How about firewood?”
Again, she shook her head. “No.”
He threw a thumb back at the collection of teenage boys behind him. “We do,” he said. “We thought we’d share with our new neighbor.”
That brought a big smile from Alix and she stepped back, opening the door wide. “Did you see the Bat-Signal again?”
Cord laughed softly as he and the boys came in the entry. “In fact, I did,” he said, indicating the young men next to him. “So I brought Robin, Superman, and Aquaman.”
The boys had no idea what he was talking about, but Alix laughed. “Wow,” she said. “The whole Justice League. You’ve got connections.”
Cord shared her giggles before turning and pointing to the boys in order. “Actually, these are my boys – Chris, Kyle and Cole,” he said. “Boys, this is Dr. Hendry. She just moved in with her two kids.”
Alix smiled warmly at the three young men, all very tall and handsome like their father. Chris and Kyle were quite big and muscular, whereas Cole looked like he hadn’t quite caught up in the muscle department. He was tall and rather skinny, and he smiled awkwardly when their eyes met.
“Hello, gentlemen,” she said, noting all of the stuff they had in their hands. “Well, come on in and set that stuff down. It’s like Christmas!”
She said it so gleefully that the four of them grinned. Up until about fifteen seconds ago, Alix wasn’t feeling so great. The electricity was out, she couldn’t figure out the heating system, and the only thing working seemed to be the stove as it ran off propane. Her dinner in the crockpot was only half-finished because of the electricity outage, the washer was stopped mid-cycle, and Rose was having a meltdown because she couldn’t watch her videos. The unexpected appearance of Cord had her feeling some happiness and relief. Plus, she was just the least bit touched that he would go to the trouble. Even if he was coming on strong, she realized that she was very glad to see him.
“I would have called you, but I realized I didn’t have your number,” Cord said as he set a couple of flashlights on the kitchen counter.
Alix grinned. “I’ll take care of that before you leave. You really didn’t have to come all the way over here just to see if we were okay.”
He ignored the last part of her statement. “So,” Cord put his hands on his hips, surveying the kitchen. “What’s first?”
Alix cocked her head. “First?”
“Yes,” he nodded, looking over at the boys who were piling up the wood against the kitchen wall. “Kyle, go light the fireplace in the living room. Chris, you can light the fireplace in here.”
The boys swung into action as Cord returned his attention to Alix. “I’m assuming the chimneys are clear?”
Alix was a little taken aback as the man took charge. “Yes,” she nodded. “They had to be to pass the home inspection. But we wouldn’t need the fireplaces if I could just figure out how to use the heater.”
He shook his head, snapping his fingers at Cole, who produced a Coleman lantern and fired it up. “It won’t work,” he said. “The thermostat is probably electrical. Your heater is dead in the water until the power comes back on, but I’ll take a look. Meanwhile, we’ll light the fireplaces and that should heat the house up a bit.”
Overhead, the thunder rolled as if to punctuate the terrible weather outside. It seemed to rattle the entire house. Sean picked that moment to come down the back stairs, his eyes widening at all of the activity in the old kitchen. Alix caught sight of him.
“Hi, Sean,” she said, pointing to Cord. “You rememb
er Mr. Trevor?”
Sean nodded as Cord kicked in. “Please, call me Cord,” he told the boy. “Mr. Trevor sounds like I’m the high school principal or the boss you like to hate.”
Sean grinned, noticing another boy in the room as he tried to start a fire in the big, old brick fireplace. He was very curious. Cord could see where the boy’s attention was.
“That’s my son, Chris,” he said. “Kyle’s in the living room and that tall kid standing next to the stairs is Cole.”
Sean came down the stairs, acknowledging the young men who seemed to have infiltrated his house.
“Hey,” he said casually.
The boys waved back to varying degrees except for Kyle, who was in the living room. Sean stood somewhat awkwardly at the base of the stairs.
“What’s going on?” he asked his mom, or anyone who could answer him.
Alix looked at Cord as she spoke. “Cord came to the rescue with firewood and lights so we won’t be in the dark,” she said, lifting her shoulders as if giving up on trying to curb the man’s determination. He wanted to help and she was apt to let him. “Thank God, because I really have no idea where I packed my candles or flashlight.”
That seemed to satisfy Sean as he made his way over to his mother, still looking rather bewildered with all of the activity.
“Are we still having dinner?” he asked.
Alix nodded. “The stove is propane, so I can make us something,” she said, looking to Cord. “Did you guys eat? The least I can do is make dinner for all of your trouble.”
Cord, who had been peering over Chris’ shoulder as the teenager tried to light the fire, turned his attention to her.
“No trouble at all,” he assured her. “This storm is supposed to go all night so we just thought you could use the help.”
Alix’s eyes glimmered at him and the wall of uncertainty she had put up against him earlier in the day was fading fast. The man was handsome, charming, and thoughtful. She certainly couldn’t fault him for those qualities.
“And I appreciate it,” she said. “But if you don’t let me do something for you, I’m going to cry.”
He grinned. “I didn’t bring wood over so you’d feed us.”
“I realize that,” she said, turning for her stove, “but I’m going to do it, anyway, and no argument from Batman and the Superhero Legion.”
Cord didn’t say a word. The truth was, his plan had worked perfectly and, once again, he was speaking to the woman he’d thought about all day, every minute of the day, until the storm broke and he saw another opportunity to make a nuisance of himself. He decided right then and there that he was going to see her every day, with any excuse, until he got up the nerve to ask her out. He wasn’t one to work quickly when it came to women, but he was willing to make an exception in her case. He didn’t want the opportunity to slip past him.
As he took over from Chris lighting the fire in the old hearth of the kitchen, Alix banged around behind him. She was pulling out flour and cans of stuff, and he saw her pull a roasted chicken out of the refrigerator. As he finally got the fire started, he just stood there, pretending to monitor the growing blaze when what he was really doing was watching Alix work from the corner of his eye. It had been so long since he’d watched a woman cook in the kitchen that he’d forgotten what warm and homey feelings it brought about. He’d missed them.
As Alix began to pull apart the chicken and got some kind of stew cooking in the big pot on the stove, Cord meandered over to the counter to see if there was anything he could do.
“Can I help?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No,” she said flatly. “You’re a guest.”
“I’ve done my share cooking. I know my way around a stove.”
She looked up at him, craning her neck back because the man was so tall. “Do you cook a lot at the firehouse?”
He nodded. “We take turns,” he said. “Some of the guys can’t cook at all, so they’re the ones that usually buy the groceries. Guys like me, who actually like to cook, take the duty so long as we don’t have to buy the groceries or clean up.”
She smiled at him as she pulled apart the chicken breast. “What do you like to cook?”
He shrugged as he moved to the sink to wash his hands. “I cook a lot of beef,” he grinned, drying off his hands on a kitchen towel. “Chili, burgers, steaks, that kind of thing. My boys were raised on an entire herd of cattle, I swear.”
Alix laughed softly. “You do the cooking for them, too?”
“I do.”
“Don’t they see their mom on occasion?”
He moved over to the chicken she was pulling apart and picked up a leg. He began to shred it and put the meat in the simmering pot.
“Not really,” he said, his voice rather subdued. “Dianne and I were married when we were both students at Cornell, but she went on to get her Ph.D. when I went in to the NFL, and that’s when things started to change. We had Chris and Kyle right off the bat, but by the time Cole came, we had just really grown apart. Cole was two when we divorced and she remarried pretty soon afterwards and had more children. I think she forgets about her first family. She’s pretty busy with her work and her younger children.”
Alix was watching his face as he spoke, the somber tone. She could see the distress on his face no matter how much he tried to mask it.
“It upsets you,” she observed softly.
He looked at her, shaking his head. “Not me personally,” he said. “But I do feel bad for the boys sometimes. It’s hard to have a mom that treats you like an afterthought.”
Alix’s brow furrowed with sorrow as she went back to pulling chicken meat off the bone. “That’s sad,” she agreed quietly. “I feel bad for them, too. Actually, your kids and my kids are kind of in the same boat. My ex-husband is kind of a paradox in that he financially supports his kids completely, provides them with insurance and all that, but it’s like pulling teeth to get him to come to a school play or a back to school night. He’s much more active with Sean, at least as much as he can be, but I think he forgets Rosie exists sometimes. She was our ‘oops’ baby.”
He finished pulling the meat off one chicken leg and was going in for another. “How many years between her and your son?”
“Twelve and a half.”
He nodded in agreement. “That must have been a surprise.”
Alix laughed softly. “A wonderful surprise,” she clarified. “She’s my angel.”
He grinned as he put chicken meat into the bubbling pot. “She’s a cutie, that’s for sure.”
Alix’s smile turned grateful as she finished with the meat and washed her hands. He wasn’t finished yet with the legs and wings, but the truth was, he could have been finished minutes ago except for the fact that he just wanted to stand there and talk to her. So, like a dork, he was milking the situation for everything it was worth. As Alix began to measure flour into a bowl, the thunder clapped again and the windows rattled. She jumped and so did the flour.
“Dammit,” she hissed, noting the flour on her shirt. “I hate storms.”
He grinned. “You’d better get used to them,” he told her. “We get a lot of weather around here.”
She made a face at him as she began to pour cold water into the flour. Before she could reply, Kyle and Chris came into the kitchen and headed for their dad.
“Dad, the living room chimney is smoking a lot,” Kyle said. “Water is coming down into it.”
Cord quickly washed his hands before following the boys back into the living room. A good deal of white smoke was rolling out of the fireplace and he got down on his knees, trying to peer up the chimney to see what was going on. Alix had followed them into the living room and now stood in the doorway, wiping her hands off.
“Don’t tell me something else is broken in this old house,” she said rather fearfully.
Cord was trying to look up the chimney without getting his hair singed. As he did so, his cell phone went off and he pulled it out of his p
ocket and put it to his ear.
“Trevor,” he said shortly.
He was still looking up the chimney as someone on the other end spoke to him. Alix gave up standing there, not really wanting to know if something else was wrong with the house and went back to the dumplings she was making. She could hear vague voices in the living room as she rolled out the dough and began to cut it into long strips, putting the strips into the simmering chicken broth and adding a can of creamy celery soup and a can of green peas. As the dumplings began to cook, Cord came back into the kitchen.
“I’m so sorry to ruin your dinner, but I have to go,” he told her. “I’ve been called in to work.”
She looked concerned. “That’s too bad,” she said. “Is it the storm?”
He nodded. “Apparently, it’s wreaking havoc and they’ve got rigs going out all over the area on calls. The system is overloaded so they’re calling in reinforcements.”
Alix was disappointed but tried not to show it. “I’m sorry you have to go, too,” she said. “You’ve put in so much work here today that I feel bad that you have to run off before I was able to feed you.”
He smiled weakly at her, his blue eyes glimmering behind the rimless glasses. “I hope this won’t be the last invitation we ever get.”
She smiled in return, allowing herself to feel the warmth of the strong attraction she had towards the man. She was fairly sure he was feeling it, too, judging from the expression on his face.
“Of course not,” she said softly. “There will be other dinners, I’m sure.”
His eyes held her just a moment longer, the mood between them moving from polite and interested warmth to something a little deeper, a little more probing. Cord eventually opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something more but he stopped himself, snorting nervously when she grinned at him and giggled. He was pretty sure he wanted to kiss her goodnight but there was no way he was going to do that. At least, not tonight. So he backed away, purely to help his self-control.
“I’ll get the boys out of your hair,” he gestured back towards the living room where they were still gathered.
“Wait,” she stopped him. “Why not leave them here? I’ll have more than enough to eat and I can drive them home when they’re finished.”
Dark Secrets: A Paranormal Romance Anthology Page 227
