“The police?” Isabella and Ty asked simultaneously.
“Yes, the police. Whoever that was, he wanted something. No one dresses all in black in the middle of summer unless he’s trying to hide his identity or something. Have there been any burglaries in this neighborhood?”
As he and Pete helped Isabella into the house, Ty informed the doctor of the septic issues in the neighborhood. “No burglaries, but plenty of poop!”
“Huh,” Pete said thoughtfully. “Let’s get her on the sofa. Isabella? I know that pain medication is strong. You doing okay?”
“Shurrrre,” Isabella slurred. “I just…wheee…wow…I dunno what you gave me, Pete, but it is schtrong…”
“Strong?” Ty guessed. “Isabella, why are you calling your doctor ‘Pete’?”
“He told me to,” Isabella replied, “and I think it’s becush he likes my mom…”
Ty looked at Pete, who was blushing to the roots of his short blond hair. “Um, that’s good, Isabella,” Ty told her in a very placating voice. “Lay down here on the sofa, k?”
“If he likes her,” Isabella mumbled, “he’d be a lot better than Rick. Sick Rick. Tick tick Rick. Rick is a d…” and that was all they could understand what she was saying as she finally succumbed to sleep.
After they got her settled, Pete dialed 911. “Yeah, hi, my name is Dr. Peter Myers. I’m at a friend’s house—I brought her daughter home and found an intruder on the property…” He continued, but Ty stopped listening, instead he focused on sleeping Isabella.
“You really like her, don’t you?” Pete broke Ty’s concentration.
Ty smiled. “Guy to guy? Yeah, I do. But she thinks of me as just a friend.”
“Eh, don’t be so sure,” Pete told him reassuringly. “I think you’d be surprised. She was really looking forward to coming home to see you.”
“Really?”
Pete smiled. “Really.”
“So tell me something, Pete. How right was she about you?”
“What do you mean?” Pete pretended he was clueless.
“About her mom? Do you like Mrs. L?”
Pete blushed more deeply than he did earlier. “Um…it doesn’t really matter, does it? Luci has a boyfriend now.”
“Yeah, and he’s a jerk. Does Mrs. L know how you feel about her? I’ll bet she’d rather be with you than that Rick guy…”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, Ty,” Pete began. Ding dong. He looked out the front window. “Cops are here already. That was quick. I’m gonna go out and talk to them. You stay here and keep an eye on Isabella.”
Ty smiled widely. “I’m not going anywhere, man.”
Pete smiled back. “Didn’t think you were, dude—didn’t think you were!”
Dr. Myers was gone about ten minutes; when he came back inside, Ty was still watching the sleeping Isabella. “Well, they said they’d look around, but the guy left a while ago, so…still, I’m not comfortable leaving you two here by yourselves until Luci comes home, so…”
“It’s okay if you have some place you need to be, Dr. Myers,” Ty told him. “I can stay until Mrs. L comes home.”
“I appreciate that you want to take care of Isabella, Ty; really, I do. But I’m thinking that maybe Mrs. LaFelini might want me to stick around.”
Ty grinned. He likes her! He likes her just like…well, he likes her. That’s so cool. I wonder if Isabella would like him better than…
Pete’s phone rang. “Dr. Myers. Hey, Luci. Yeah, I’m still here. We’ve…um, well, we’ve had a little excitement here. It’s okay—calm down. Um…when Isabella and I got here, there was some man skulking around your back yard. Well, maybe skulking is a harsh word—he was hanging around. What? No. I called to him, and he took off. I…um…” he looked embarrassed. “I gave chase, but he outran me—guess I’m a little more out of shape than I thought. No, it’s all right. The cops were here, and they checked things out—no sign of him, but…Look, I’m gonna stay here at least until you get home. Nah, I didn’t have any other plans. Isabella is asleep on the sofa; Ty’s watching her sleep. Yeah. Yeah. Very. I’m staying, Luci. Don’t hurry home. I’ll be here when you get here. Enjoy the rest of your shift. Yeah, nope, not on call until Monday, so it’s no problem. Yes, I’m sure. See you later.” He clicked off his BlackBerry. “Well,” he directed to Ty, “that’s settled. Now, what’s on television? And is there anything to eat in this house?”
Twenty-Six: A Sleepover
ISABELLA AWOKE, UNSURE of what events of the night before had actually happened and what might have been a result of her drug-induced dream state. She sat up and looked around—in the recliner, Ty was sleeping. Yeah, she remembered calling Ty to come over. But…was that Dr. Myers sleeping in the little red chair? She wiped the sleep out of her eyes. Sure enough—he was lying there, looking uncomfortable but sleeping nonetheless, with his long legs on the hassock in front of the chair. Isabella yawned widely. What time is it, anyway? She hopped up from the sofa before she remembered why she was on the sofa in the first place. Oh-em-gee! I can’t believe how much I hurt! She moved slowly into the kitchen where the blue numbers of the microwave told her it was 12:15. Just after midnight. Her mother would be home soon. Isabella thought back to the previous evening’s events—if Dr. Myers was still at the house, it meant that there had been a burglar or someone outside when they’d come home. Who was it? What did he want? The thought of someone spying on her and her mother made Isabella very nervous.
She hobbled back into the living room. “Ty,” she gently shook his shoulder, “Ty, wake up,” she whispered. “Wake up. Shhh. Dr. Myers is sleeping. My mom’ll be here pretty soon, and I wanna talk to you before she gets here. Come in to my room.”
Ty stretched and followed her into her room. “What’s up?”
“There was someone here tonight, Ty.”
“Yeah, I know. Dr. Myers told me. After you passed out.”
“I didn’t ‘pass out’!” She told him angrily. “I was on pain medicine.”
“I didn’t mean it like that, Isabella,” he tried to placate her, “I know that you weren’t afraid or anything. You’re one of the bravest people I know…And speaking of which…um…” he began carefully, “I need a promise from you, Isabella.”
“A promise? What kind of promise?”
“I need you to promise you won’t transform again. Intentionally, I mean. I know that if it happens, it happens, but I don’t want you to make it happen. And I want you…no, I need you to promise that you won’t.”
Isabella looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What are you talking about?” She thought a moment. “Oh, that nine times stuff? Oh, please, Ty. We’ve been over that again and again. Nonna Rose is a superstitious old Italian woman. Heck, ‘superstitious’ and ‘Italian’ are practically one and the same. I am not gonna turn into a cat permanently!”
“You don’t know that for a fact, Isabella. You think that you won’t, but you could be wrong. I…I care too much about you to have something happen…”
Isabella looked pleased, but said, “Yeah, well, okay—I promise. Sheesh. Anyway, I’m convinced that whoever was in the backyard was spying on me and my mom—and that it has something to do with Rick Tomasetti.”
“Um, Isabella,” Ty tread carefully, “I know that you don’t like the guy, but isn’t it a…um, well, a stretch to connect him to the guy in the backyard?”
“Under normal circumstances, maybe,” Isabella conceded, “but these aren’t normal circumstances. You have to trust my instincts, Ty. Animal instincts.”
Ty wanted to say, “You mean those same instincts that didn’t warn you that you were about to get kicked?”—but he bit his tongue and instead said, “Well, okay. So say that Rick is somehow involved. What do we do about it?”
“Well, the first thing we do about it is get to the library on Monday morning. My doctor says I can’t go anywhere tomorrow—er, I guess that’s today—but he said I can go out after today—I just need to
be careful. No bikes or running, stuff like that. So we go to the library and see if we can find out anything. That old Mrs. Norris seems to know a real lot about the area—let’s check with her. Then once we find that stuff out, we should know what we have to do next.”
“Wow.”
“‘Wow’? That’s all you can say—’wow’?” Isabella was annoyed.
“That’s not what I’m saying ‘wow’ about. You’re actually gonna follow doctor’s orders? Wow!” He grinned widely at her.
“Oh, stop it!” She feigned anger—and with her left hand, her uninjured side, she threw her bed pillow at him, hitting him squarely in the face.
“Oh yeah? So that’s how you treat me, huh?” Ty grabbed the pillow and was threatening back when Luci walked in.
“So…you two, what’s going on?”
Isabella blushed bright red. “Um, well, um…nothing.”
Ty was speechless. Nice save, Isabella, he thought.
“Ty, is this how you make sure that my daughter is resting?” Luci’s words were accusing, but her tone was light and humor filled.
“Um…well, um…she was sleeping until just a few minutes ago…”
Luci laughed at his nervousness. “It’s okay, Ty. I know my daughter has a mind of her own. Tell me, darling daughter, how are you feeling?”
“A little better, but I still really hurt,” Isabella told her mother honestly. “Not sure what that pain medicine was, but boy, did it knock me out! Did you see Dr. Myers sleeping in the living room?”
“Yeah, I saw him,” Luci replied. She hadn’t had the heart to wake Pete, who seemed to be deeply asleep.
“I think he likes you,” Isabella told her mother in a sing-song voice. “And he’s not married, Mom…”
“Oh, Isabella.” Her mother had no other words.
Isabella grinned. She knew that ‘Oh, Isabella’ meant that she had hit a nerve with her mother—and that always made her feel a little better. “So, you’re gonna at least think about it, aren’t ya?”
“Think about what?” her mother asked as Ty stood by looking amused.
“Pete. Dr. Myers. The guy with the shiny white Jag. The one who’s sleeping in your living room. Dr. Love,” she said in a deep comical voice.
“Ty? What is it you guys are always saying? Oh-em-pee or something?”
“Gee, Mrs. L, gee. “Oh-em-gee means ‘oh my God’. It’s ‘gee’, not ‘pee’.” He suppressed a laugh, although Isabella was laughing raucously. “I think she’s still suffering the effects of the pain medicine.”
Luci agreed. “Yeah, that stuff will knock you on your butt—especially if you aren’t used to it.”
“But,” Ty added, “I think she’s right about Pete—Dr. Myers—liking you. He does.”
Luci blushed. “Oh, Ty, between you and my daughter…”
“Mrs. L, he likes you—he’s already your friend, right? And how many guys would offer to spend the night sleeping in a stupid chair just to keep Isabella safe? And he’s a doctor and he has a nice car!”
Luci shook her head. “Now I know where Isabella gets it, Tyson! Do you want me to take you home—do you need me to call your mom?”
“I…um…I told her I was staying over, Mrs. L. To keep an eye on you and Isabella. I hope you don’t mind, but I brought my sleep pants…”
“But where will you sleep?”
“Sofa?”
Luci frowned. “That sofa isn’t very comfortable, Ty. I mean, I can always get out the air mattress…”
“Nah, Mrs. L. Don’t go through any trouble. I really don’t mind the sofa at all. Thanks, though.” Ty smiled at her and then at Isabella, who had curled up on her bed and closed her eyes.
“Well, okay,” Luci acquiesced. “If you’re sure, you’re sure. Isabella?” No answer. “Come on,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “Ty, let’s go out into the living room.”
When they reached the living room, they found that Pete was awake and yawning. “Hey, Luce, you’re home,” he told her.
“Observant,” Ty muttered under his breath.
“Stop it, Ty!” Luci scolded him quietly. “How are you, Pete?”
He stretched his long legs in front of him. “Okay. This chair is not the most comfortable chair to sleep in but during residency, I slept in worse. How’s Isabella?”
“She’s okay. Sleeping in her room. Ty’s going to spend the night on the sofa, so you can go home now. We’ll be all right.”
Pete yawned again. “You sure? Because I don’t mind staying…”
Luci smiled to herself. Maybe the kids are onto something… “No,” she protested, “you need your rest—aren’t you coming off ten straight days on?”
“Yeah, but I’m okay, Luce. I’d rather be sure you were all right. Anyway, by the time I drive home, I’ll be wide awake and unable to sleep, so…Ty, where are you sleeping?” Ty indicated the sofa. “Couch. Unless you want me to take the recliner? I can sleep in the recliner—it’s comfortable. Better than that chair you’re in. You take the sofa and I’ll take the recliner.”
“Okay,” Pete agreed, “sounds like a plan.” He stretched again and got up from the chair. “You have an extra pillow, Luce?” he asked her.
“Well, gee, I wondered if you guys were gonna remember that this is my house! Isabella and I are fine; we don’t need either of you staying with us. Honest. You can both go home, and I’ll lock the doors as soon as you’re gone.”
Pete looked at Ty. “You going anywhere?”
“Nope. You?”
“Nope.” Pete grinned at Luci. “Okay, it’s decided. We’re not leaving. So…about that pillow?”
“Argh! You two are impossible!” Luci wasn’t as truly exasperated as she appeared. “Yeah, okay, fine. I’ll get you each a pillow.”
After she left the room, the two men congratulated each other with knuckle bumps and grins. “Good going, dude!” “No, you, dude—are the master!”
Luci reentered the living room and pretended that she hadn’t overheard their conversation. “Am going to bed; I’m beat. If you need anything else…well, not to be rude, but…get it yourself. Pete, Ty practically lives here. He knows where everything is.”
“Yeah, I know,” Pete told her. “He helped me find something for dinner.”
“Of course he did. Good night, Pete. Good night, Tyson.” And Luci smiled to herself as she closed her bedroom door. It was tough for her to admit, but it was going to be nice to sleep in a house protected by a man…or two.
Twenty-Seven: Doctor’s Orders
SUNDAY MORNING, LUCI awoke to the scent of freshly brewed coffee wafting through the house. She sat up in bed and took a deep breath. In addition to the coffee, she could smell what…eggs? Whatever it was, it smelled delicious, and she jumped out of bed and threw on her terry cloth bathrobe. She looked down at the old garment, wondering why she hadn’t until now noticed how stained and worn it was. She pulled the robe off and went into her closet and pulled out a pink track suit that she’d worn only once—before she decided that pink really wasn’t her color, even though Isabella told her differently.
“Hey, something smells really great,” she called as she entered the hall between her bedroom and the living room.
Ty, Pete and Isabella were all sitting around the kitchen table eating omelets. “Hey, sleepyhead,” Isabella teased her. “Where you been? I told Dr. Pete that the smell of coffee would wake you. And that was almost an hour ago!” Isabella had decided that “Dr. Pete” was a safe appellation. She wasn’t totally comfortable calling him “Pete”, yet calling him “Dr. Myers” seemed too formal.
Luci took a seat and the mug of coffee that Pete offered. “Mmmm,” she murmured after taking a sip. “That’s great coffee. You made that here? With my coffee? Seriously?”
Pete grinned. “Yeah, learned a trick in med school. Needed good coffee to stay awake. Amazing what you can learn when you have to…”
Luci took a bite of her breakfast. “And what is in this omelet?”
“I’ve never had such a good omelet! Seriously. It’s delicious.” She suddenly realized that she hadn’t asked Isabella how she was feeling. “Sorry, Isabella. How are you feeling?”
“Yeah, I was wondering when you were going to get around to remembering me,” Isabella pouted for a second but followed it with a huge grin. “You’re just that impressed with Dr. Pete’s cooking. Can we keep him, Mom? Can we, huh? Huh?”
“Oh, Isabella!” was all that Luci could manage. She swallowed her bite of omelet and followed it with a long swallow of coffee. “You’re treating Pete like he’s a lost puppy you found on the street, Isabella!” To Pete, she said, “You’d think I never feed her or something. I make her breakfast whenever I’m not working!”
He smiled at her and locked his blue eyes onto hers. “It’s all right, Luce. I need to get going, anyway—get outta these clothes and get a shower. Before I go, though, Miss LaFelini, I want to check out those ribs.”
“Why?” Isabella asked with a mouth full of breakfast. “You said I have to rest today, and I’m gonna. It’s not like they’re any more bruised—or broken, for that matter…”
“Isabella, listen to Dr. Pete,” Ty told her before Luci had a chance to do so.
Luci was only a little surprised when Isabella gave in. “Okay, here.” She stood up and pulled up her pajama top to reveal her side, which had gone from red and purple to purple and black.
“So much for them not being more bruised this morning,” Luci murmured. “Isabella, that looks absolutely terrible!”
“Yeah, it looks bad, but I think it’s getting better,” Isabella argued. “I’m not in nearly as much pain…”
“Well, that could be because I made you take a pain pill and an ibuprofen with your orange juice,” Pete interjected with a smile.
The First Nine Lives of Isabella LaFelini Page 15
