by Ben Cass
She added the detergent to the machine and turned it on. She set the bottle back onto the ground and turned to face Doyle. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Abby fanning herself, trading looks with Olivia.
“Sorry,” she said, as softly as possible. “Just thought it’d be funny to give them a show.”
Doyle shrugged. “I’m always up for messing with friends,” he said, “and I don’t have the energy to care. Besides, I look like hell right now.”
“Trust me, you don’t,” Ellie said, as calmly as she could.
A sudden spasm in her lower abdomen doubled her over in pain. Ellie gasped, taken completely by surprise. She ran through the calendar in her head and realized it was about the time to start her monthly sacrifice to the misogynistic uterine gods, if a day or two early, but this pain was new. She rubbed her stomach, pushing her hand in, trying to find the source of the pain.
Doyle reached out and steadied her. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Ellie tried to breathe deeply, forcing herself to calm down. She finally straightened up, and realized her friends were right next to her, looking worried.
“Just cramps,” she said, and the girls exchanged knowing looks and nods.
Doyle, however, snorted. “I call shenanigans,” he said. “No way those are period cramps.”
Ellie doubled over again as another spasm gripped her, a low moan escaping her mouth before she could shove it back down. Abby and Olivia grabbed her arms and steadied her, and Maddie took her hand.
“Coach may be right, Ellie,” Maddie said gently. “This happened last week, too, remember?”
“This has happened before?” Doyle asked. “This kind of intensity?”
Ellie shook her head, glaring at Maddie. “No!” Ellie said to Doyle. “You and I are not having this conversation. Ever.” She stood up, her hand pressed firmly against her lower abdomen. “Is it all right if they go upstairs with me?”
“I already told you it was,” Doyle replied, his eyes narrowed. She didn’t like the way he was studying her; she’d seen that look from her doctor several times when they had tried to figure out why she stayed so small and thin, looking closer to eleven or twelve than to seventeen. The doctor had been convinced she had an eating disorder, but Jen had thankfully refused to listen to his nonsense.
Another spasm slammed into her, and Ellie crumpled from the pain, unable to take it, another sound of agony escaping her lips. Somehow, Doyle scooped her up into his arms as she fell, which must have caused him some serious pain with his ribs, because he bit off an expletive mid-syllable. Ellie tried to protest, but as soon as she rested her face against his chest—omigod, those muscles!—the cramps ceased as quickly as they had started. She felt her body go limp, and sighed in relief.
Doyle said nothing. He just turned and walked to the stairs, carrying her up to the bedroom. Her friends followed behind. She heard gasps coming from them, and figured they must have finally seen all the bandages on his back.
Doyle carried her back to his bedroom and settled her onto the bed. He opened the drawer of his nightstand and pulled a medicine bottle out, popping the lid open and dumping a small red gummy thing onto his hand. He held it out to her, and she took it tentatively.
“Don’t ask. Just chew it,” he said. “It’s all-natural. Kira uses it to help with her cramps, so I always have some in case she comes to visit.”
Ellie shrugged and popped the red gummy into her mouth. It was surprisingly flavorful, like a cherry Lifesaver. It tasted so similar, in fact, that she asked him suspiciously if that’s what he had given her.
Doyle laughed. “No, I’m not trying to trick you with a placebo. I’m just trying to help, even if you don’t want me knowing about your girl problems.”
Ellie felt a relaxing warmth spreading throughout her lower abdomen. “Whoa. This thing works fast,” she said. “How have I never heard of it before?”
“Because you can only get it back where I come from,” Doyle replied. “I’m pretty sure your FDA would never approve it.”
"Alistair!” The shout of indignation came from the doorway, where Kira stood, bristling in anger. “We discussed this earlier, did we not? Have you no sense of propriety? There are now multiple young women in your presence! Put... a shirt... on!”
Ellie almost laughed as her friends turned and looked up—way up—at Kira, who was still glaring at her brother. “Girls, this is my new friend, Kira, who happens to be Coach’s twin sister.” Abby and Olivia exchanged surprised glances, then took turns studying Doyle and Kira.
“Twin bully, you mean,” Doyle muttered under his breath, turning to his closet. Ellie heard Maddie snort, a sound she quickly shut down when Kira’s eyes flicked to her for a split second.
“What did you say?” Kira asked Doyle, her voice snapping like a whip.
“Nothing,” he replied quickly. Ellie saw Abby and Olivia exchanged surprised looks. None of them had ever heard Doyle sound so deferential.
Kira eyed him for a moment longer, and then turned to the teenagers, bowing her head gracefully. “Ladies. A pleasure to meet all of you. Elowyn, are you all right?”
“Period cramps, she claims,” Doyle said from his closet. He emerged in a blue shirt, slowly buttoning it up. Despite her obvious frustration with him, Kira quickly walked over, swatted his hands away, and buttoned it for him, just as she had that morning.
“And you have reason to doubt her?” Kira asked her brother. “I would assume this young woman would be more familiar with her own body than her male coach. Or do you presume to be an expert on her menstrual cycle?”
Ellie covered her face with her hands, feeling the heat in her face. “Can we please not discuss this in front of him? And can you please not use that word? I hate it.”
“There is nothing to be ashamed of, Elowyn,” Kira said, an eyebrow up. “Half of the world’s population experiences it.”
“And the other half deals with the experience,” Doyle muttered. Kira’s hand shot out and smacked him on the back of his head. “Ow!” he protested, rubbing his head. “What? I was kidding!”
“I know,” Kira replied calmly. “I just do not care. It is time for you to leave.”
Maddie sat down next to Ellie and put her mouth right next to Ellie’s ear. “I like her,” she whispered. “She’s fierce!” Ellie nodded. The Evans twins quietly fist-bumped each other, trying to hide their grins.
“Kira, you know I didn’t mean anything,” Doyle said, but she snapped her fingers and pointed at the door.
“Out,” she ordered forcefully. “Jen is hoping to see you again tonight, and I told her I would send you over when I returned home. Why she would want to subject herself to you is a mystery, though.”
He looked over at Ellie. “How are you feeling now?” he asked her.
“Much better,” she said. “Thanks for the medicine, or whatever it was.”
“If it happens again, please tell me,” he said.
Ellie grimaced. “I think we both know that won’t be happening,” she said.
“She can talk to me, Alistair,” Kira said. “I am certain it would be easier for her. You have the medication in the nightstand, I presume?” He nodded. “Then I can take it from here. Go be with Jen.”
He raised his hands. “As you command, my lady.” He nodded to Maddie and the twins. “Short stuff. Thing one. Thing two.” He walked to the door, then paused. “By the way, in case you’re wondering, Abby’s to the left of Olivia. You two really need to step up your game if you want to fool me.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.
“Ma’am,” Maddie said, “you’re my new favorite female role model.” She laughed. “I never thought I’d see somebody boss Coach Doyle around.”
Kira smiled faintly. “Remember, as he was growing up and developing his...questionable...personality, I was right there, living in the same house. As his slightly older sister, it is my responsibility to put him in his place when needed.”
Olivia was still staring after
Doyle. “How in the hell does he do that?” she demanded incredulously. “That’s three times he’s barely glanced at us and known who we were!”
“Alistair is very good at noticing tiny, seemingly insignificant things you or I would never even think of,” Kira said. “It was impossible to hide things from him, physically or emotionally, when we were younger.”
“Maybe, but we’re identical twins!” Abby protested. “There aren’t any differences!”
Kira narrowed her eyes, studying the two redheads. “Turn around, please,” she said, spinning a finger in the air. The twins complied, arms held out from their sides. When they were facing her again, Kira smiled. “I already see at least three noticeable differences between the two of you, which means Alistair has probably spotted at least twice that many.”
The girls exchanged surprised glances. “Like what?” Abby asked, but Kira shook her head, still smiling.
“While I often get some small enjoyment from intervening in Alistair’s little games, I shall let this one slide. Let us see if you can figure them out on your own.” She turned her attention back to Ellie. “Now, Elowyn...you say you are just experiencing painful menstrual cramps?”
Ellie groaned. “Do you have to use that word? But yes, that’s what I think it is.”
Kira nodded. “Very well. You know your own body better than I do. However, should the pain return or get worse, please let me know. I would hate for it to be something unrelated we ignored.” Kira shook her head. “And I apologize for my brother’s crude attempt at humor a moment ago. He was as uncomfortable with this as you are, I can assure you.”
“Really?” asked Maddie, who’d been quietly listening. “He seems like the most self-confident person I’ve ever met. Kinda surprising periods bother him.”
“It is not the menstrual cycle—the periods,” Kira corrected when Ellie groaned again. “Alistair is uncomfortable because he cannot do much to help, and that bothers him.”
Ellie pointed at her mouth. “He gave me medicine. That’s helping.”
“It is,” Kira agreed, “but it is only temporary, and it is the only thing he can do. Alistair has this uncontrollable urge to help people. He will put himself in harm’s way—unnecessarily, even—if he needs to.”
“Like running into a burning building to save people he barely knows?” Ellie asked. Kira nodded in agreement.
“He once jumped into a freezing river to save a girl he’d never met from drowning. There might have been other, safer ways to rescue her, but Alistair did what he thought was the right thing, and dove in without considering the consequences. They were both fine after, but he had managed to save her on his own, even if he nearly died in the process.”
“Nearly died?” Ellie asked. “You can’t just leave it there, you know.”
Kira rubbed her neck with her hand. “The girl was walking across the top of a small dam in the river when she slipped. The dam was normally wet, and it was very cold that day, so it was actually slightly frozen. She hit a patch of ice and fell right into the water. The river was quite swollen at the time, the currents much stronger than usual. Alistair happened to be on the shore, and even though there were people with her, nobody reacted in time. He dove right into the water and got hold of her. Somehow, he was able to lift her over his head and toss her onto the shore before the current carried him away.”
Kira fell silent for a moment, her gaze distant. “I was there, too, and I had never been so scared in my life. Alistair is very comfortable in the water, but the temperature sapped his strength quickly, and when the current threw him against a rock, the impact dazed him enough to affect his escape attempt, and he could not get himself out. Some men had been out hunting, and they grabbed him from the water and got him warmed up by a fire. He did not recover for a couple of days.”
“So the whole hero thing is just his shtick, huh?” Abby asked. Kira shook her head.
“I assure you, it is not a shtick,” Kira said. “It is a way of life.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jen sat in the back of Doyle’s car, his twin sister sitting to her left, behind the driver's seat. He had spent most of the previous evening in her hospital room with her, while Kira had stayed at his house with Ellie.
Shortly after Doyle arrived at the hospital yesterday evening, Jen had been able to fall asleep. There was something about him that made her feel safe. While that grated against what her stepfather had called her “stubbornly independent nature”, Jen couldn’t deny she felt able to relax with Doyle next to her. Three brushes with death in less than a week had left her questioning things.
She’d expressed this to Doyle, and he had simply taken her hand and said, “Anything that tries to threaten you will have to go through me first.” His calm, confident tone had reassured her more than anything else could have.
Jen had fallen asleep a few minutes later, and from what the nurse had told her this morning, Doyle had sat there, wide awake and holding her hand, all night long. His sister had brought him a change of clothes this morning, and he’d showered before Jen had been released.
She thought back to leaving the hospital a few minutes ago. As she’d expected, there had been a group of reporters and news cameras in her face the second she emerged from the door. Things like this didn’t happen in their small town, and certainly not to the same person!
She’d raised her hands, silencing the small crowd. She knew most of them; some from Groverton, some from Harris, and even a few from Overbush, an hour or so south. Her heart had been pounding. Still, she knew what she would have done in their shoes, which was the exact same thing, and so she had faced them, put on a brave smile, and spoken quickly.
“I don’t really have anything to tell you folks right now,” she’d said, “because I don’t even know anything myself. The sheriff is investigating, and I have to wait to hear from him.”
For some reason, Doyle had shifted slightly, his sister glancing up at him with an arched eyebrow. Kira hadn’t said anything, but Jen had gotten the impression she had wanted to. She’d continued, “All I can tell you is my doctors have recommended I take a few weeks off to let my body and mind recuperate, so I will be heeding their advice.”
With that, Doyle had gently touched her elbow, and when she’d looked up at him, he’d gestured towards the car. She’d nodded, and he led her there, pushing his way through the small crowd. One reporter had shoved a recorder in Jen’s face, yelling questions; she hadn’t recognized him as one of her frequent media contacts. Doyle hadn’t even hesitated. He’d reached out, grabbed the man’s shirt with both hands, and lifted him off the ground before tossing him to the side.
The man had quickly bounced back to his feet, screaming something about the first amendment to Doyle, who’d taken a single, quick, menacing step towards the man. That had been enough; the man’s face had paled and he’d bolted from the scene. Doyle turned his head, scanning the rest of the crowd, but nobody else had said or done anything.
Jen looked at him now, glancing over the front seat and up at him. She still didn’t know how to describe her feelings towards him, but she knew they had intensified over the last day. She wondered if he felt the same way.
She finally decided to break the silence. “I can never thank you two enough for everything you’ve done for us. I hope Ellie wasn’t too much trouble yesterday.”
Doyle laughed out loud. “Are you kidding? After her friends left, she spent a lot of the night cuddling my dog. They’re best friends now. I’m not sure, but when I went out to the barn around eleven, I think I interrupted her trying to teach him the electric slide.”
Jen found Kira’s reaction, a sort of choked-off laughter, to be rather odd. It was just a dog, after all. It wasn’t like the dog could actually dance.
“What kind of dog is he?” inquired Jen politely. “Ellie’s always wanted a pet, but our parents wouldn’t let her have one. She’d have allergies, they always said.”
“Theonus is a Rottweiler,” answer
ed Kira. “He looks vicious and scary, but he can be a big baby, especially with girls.” She still sounded very amused to Jen, for some reason.
“You really live out in the middle of nowhere,” said Jen, noticing all the open land around her. “I haven’t been out here much, and didn’t realize how isolated it really is.”
“I prefer the solitude. It gives Theonus a chance to run around whenever he wants.” Doyle glanced out the window to his left and then pointed to a house off in the distance, to their right. “Most of the land on the left belongs to me already, and over there on the right is some abandoned farmhouse. I’ve been thinking of buying it, just to have a handyman special.”
Jen looked at it. “If I recall correctly, that’s where the Madsens used to live.”
“The coach I replaced?” asked Doyle.
Jen nodded. “They moved here a year or two ago but moved back home recently.”
Doyle continued down the road, his house coming into sight. They reached the driveway about three minutes later.
As the car pulled into the long driveway, Ellie came running from behind the house to greet them as Doyle rolled to a stop only a few feet from the front door. Kira helped Jen climb out, although she felt much better than she had. Ellie gave her a big hug, which she returned with enthusiasm.
“You act like it’s been a year since you’ve seen me,” Jen commented. Ellie squeezed harder. Jen released her and studied her. “There’s something different about you,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know what, though. You look a little tired, too.”
“She kept herself busy last night,” Kira said, smiling. “Between playing with Theonus and helping me fix up the house some, she found time to cook a fantastic dinner for the two of us.” Kira looked over at Ellie. “I need to get that recipe, when you have the time.”
