Love Octagon

by Felicia Rogers

  Maybe the computer room being small wasn’t such a big deal after all. Look at all he was getting in exchange! Contented, Kevin relaxed in the late afternoon sunshine, leaning his head back against the seat and falling into a light sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  Something was tickling his nose. As Kevin reached up to slap it away, he heard a giggle. He opened one eye just a tiny sliver and saw a small child holding a feather. He wore a big, goofy grin as he stared at Kevin.

  In a gruffer tone than he meant to use, Kevin asked, “What are you doing?”

  The child—he thought it was three-year-old Parker or maybe Jackson—skittered away from his side like he’d been whipped. The boy cried as he ran into the house, screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!”

  “My goodness, Parker, what are you yelling about?” came Leah’s voice through the back door.

  “Daddy scared me.”

  Kevin shook his head. Scared him! Oh well, the kids must be skittish or something. He would have to remember that information. Looking around, he thought about going back to sleep, but since the sun was setting, he decided to head inside. Before he could get up from his seat, the other twin came over.

  His little hand was outstretched. He placed a sticky palm on the top of Kevin’s forehead and in a strange voice said, “I’m Jackson. Take me to your leader.”

  When Kevin didn’t respond, Jackson made a choking noise. “Oh no, my brain sucker is dying. Dying…”

  Kevin slapped the little boy’s hand off his head and stood up. He towered over the small kid, giving Jackson the look. Jackson stepped back, eyes wide with fear. Kevin left him rooted to the ground and headed inside. Kids!

  When Kevin reached the living room, it was surprisingly empty. No noise was heard. The old Christmas poem’s lines, “Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,” ran through his mind.

  Kevin sat down on the couch. What now? All his projects were completed, and he was in a house with seven beautiful women. Whatever would he do? Kevin relished the possibilities.

  He walked to the mantel and stared at the wedding photos. When the bag lady fulfilled a wish, she went all out! There wasn’t a one of these ladies he’d kick out of the bed for eating crackers.

  He picked up each photo and studied them one by one. He wondered how the nighttime arrangements worked. It appeared he had children with four of the women, so there were relations occurring at sometime. Maybe it was on a rotating schedule. Yeah, one woman for each day of the week! He snickered under his breath at the thought. He’d just walked into every man’s dream.

  As he mused over who might be his delicacy of the night, Dana walked into the room. “Alone again. Finally.”

  “Yeah,” Kevin answered, trying not to drool.

  Dana sat down and patted the seat beside her, causing Kevin to have a case of déjà vu. “Come over here and sit with me. I’m sorry about the interruption from earlier.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  “It’s so hard being the last wife,” she said with a pout. Dana ran her hand through the back of his hair as her breath stroked his ear.

  “Yeah, I guess so.” He didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. Her touch was turning his brain to mush.

  Dana folded her legs under her and leaned forward. He saw her tongue stick out of her mouth. It was headed toward his ear. What was she doing? Was she going to give him a wet willy?

  Before he could find out, they were interrupted again. “Dana, what do you think you’re doing?”

  Dana sat back with a sullen look. “Well Karen, if you must know, I was trying to make out with my husband.”

  Kevin’s head shifted back and forth as the women argued over him. This was too good to be true! He stared at the two of them, smiling. Brain disengaged, he tuned out their actual words until he heard, “You know this is our week of sabbatical, or rest. No one gets him this one week of the month.”

  “What!” said Kevin, lunging off the couch.

  Two sets of eyes faced him as he asked Dana, “What was all the blowing on my ear and trying to make out business, if this is your week off? And why do you all have a week off anyway? And what does ‘a week off’ even mean?”

  “Well Dana, are you telling him or am I?”

  “Go ahead, Karen. We all know how you love being the center of attention.”

  “Very well.” She faced Kevin and took on a serious tone. “When women live together, certain things which happen to them align. It’s called the McClintock Effect. So one week out of the month, since all seven of us have the same bodily schedule, and we all have our—”

  “Whoa. Wait a minute. You don’t have to spell it out for me. I get it.”

  “You’re probably wondering about Leah, since you seem to have had a momentary lapse in memory. If one of your wives is pregnant, they follow the same schedule out of courtesy to the rest of us. It also gives you a one-week break.”

  Kevin was aghast. He was in a house full of women for a whole week with no work to interfere, and he was married to them so sex was okay, but he wouldn’t be having any! He threw his hands in the air in frustration. It figures.

  Rounding on the two gawking women, Kevin asked, “Where do I sleep during this week of blissful rest?”

  “Why, on the couch, of course.”

  “On the couch! You mean you don’t have some small basement room with no air circulating for me to sleep in? Some place dark and cramped? Some place with plenty of spiders?”

  “But of course not,” answered Karen, seeming a little surprised by his attitude.

  Dana whispered, “Is his behavior getting worse to you? I think it’s getting worse.”

  “Please stop talking about me like I’m not here! I’m not crazy! I just want to go to bed! Maybe when I wake up tomorrow this nightmare will be over and everything will be back to normal.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Tuesday…

  Kevin watched the wall clock as the minutes ticked by. It was five a.m. and the house was hopping. He’d pulled several layers of covers over his head to try to drown out the noise but it was no use.

  He threw back the covers, sat up on the edge of the couch, and stretched. The couch was too short and he’d slept with his knees drawn up all night. Every muscle in his body ached. When he moved, his back sounded like a bowl full of crispy rice cereal.

  Shuffling down the hallway, rubbing sleep from his eyes, Kevin stumbled into the kitchen, paralyzed by the multitude of gazes upon him.

  “Good morning, honey,” said Leah, as she came over and kissed him chastely on the cheek.

  “Yeah, good morning. Where’s everyone headed?”

  “Cathy, Billy, Emma, Pierre, Gina, and Roxie have school. Kitty, Jackson, and Parker have a play date.”

  “And what about you guys?”

  Martha continued to answer for the group. “Leah is taking the younger three to their play date. Candace is taking the children to school. Karen, Dana, and Shannon are headed to the gym. And Randi and I are going shopping.”

  “Martha, I’ve already told you I don’t want to go.”

  “Randi, I’m sorry but you have to.”

  “But why? I don’t feel good.”

  “She’s the laziest person I’ve ever met,” muttered Candace.

  “Candace!” replied Martha.

  “Well Martha, it’s the truth and you know it. Every month during this time she acts like she can’t even move. I’m sick of doing all her work and mine too!”

  Kevin watched as nods of agreement went around the room. Obviously Randi’s laziness was a consensus. Randi kept her head lowered while the others talked about her.

  “Be that as it may, Randi is the only one not committed for the day and she will be going with me, and that’s the end of it.”

  “So, what am I supposed to do all day?” Had he asked that aloud?

  “Well Kevin, I guess you are free to do anything you wish.”

  Freedom to do anything he wished. The possibilities were endl
ess. As he stood rooted to his spot and thought of all the things he could do, Martha thrust a plate of pancakes and syrup his way. Kevin carried his plate to the dining room.

  The area looked like a hotel breakfast room. A long buffet table graced one wall. It was filled with Danishes, cereal, biscuits, jam packets, butter, and jugs of milk, OJ, and coffee. Kevin set his plate on the table and retrieved a foam cup filled with coffee, carrying it back to his place.

  Kevin sat at the table alone, actually soothed by the chaos and activity swirling around him in the room. He began to contemplate his day and what to do with it. Since the women had done everything around the house, there was nothing to occupy his time. The computer was inaccessible unless he wanted a neck injury. The TV had disappeared to parts unknown. He thought about calling the guys and going to watch a movie, but he remembered they were all at work.

  As Kevin raised his cup of coffee to his lips, he saw a picture on the wall. It was from a fishing trip he’d taken long ago with his father. His father had been fanatical about fishing. In order to fish, one had to be at the water, which was buried five miles back in the woods, before daybreak.

  In his father’s opinion, if a fisherman arrived after sunrise he wouldn’t catch a thing. The man might as well go home and try another day.

  Kevin smiled at the childhood memories. Fishing. This sounded like a good idea. He finished breakfast, retrieved the tackle box and his fishing pole, left a note for his wives, and set out.

  It took awhile to reach the right spot, and he missed sunrise by a country mile. But it didn’t matter. It was perfect. The sun glistened off the crystal clear water. The sound of crickets chirping and the wind whistling brought back memories of days gone by.

  Kevin found a comfortable place to stand and cast his line. As soon as the hook hit the water and the bobber floated to the top, he noticed another line. When he looked to his right down the rocky shore, he saw something he hadn’t expected. Angela.

  Was she following him? The girl had been at the grocery store and the park, and now here too. She faced him, seeming to notice him for the first time. Slowly she lifted her hand and waved in his direction. Then as if she didn’t care about his existence, she faced the water and continued fishing.

  Kevin decided not to let her presence disrupt his serenity. He would ignore her. That was it. But when he heard her grunting, he had to look her way. The temptation was too great. When he did, he noticed how her muscles were taut as she worked to reel in a large catch. She cranked the reel, the rod bowed with the strain. As the fish neared the bank, Angela attempted to grab her net, but without both hands on the rod, the fish was getting away.

  Kevin rushed from his position, dropping his pole to the ground. Running to her side, he grabbed her net. As she brought the fish close to the shore, he thrust the net into the water and placed it under the flopping catfish. The thing was huge!

  As Kevin plucked the net full of the fish from the water, he had to use two hands to keep the net pole from bending under the weight. “Wow, Angela! What a cat!”

  “Thanks,” she said, a red hue covering her cheeks.

  “Do you have anywhere to store this thing?”

  Angela led him to a cooler up the hill. Not speaking, she opened the lid, and he dropped the fish inside. As it fell into the ice, he noticed several other fish unmoving in the box.

  “You’ve been busy.”

  “You always have better luck when you get started before the sun.”

  “Yeah, so I’ve heard,” he mumbled.

  “So, how’s the vacation going?”

  “Pretty good. I’ve gotten all my projects completed.”

  “Oh.”

  Wonder why she cares?

  With a dismissive tone, she said, “Well, thanks for your help.”

  “Huh?”

  “With the fish.”

  “Oh, yeah. You’re welcome. I guess I should get back to my pole.”

  She nodded, and he headed back to his spot. As Kevin fished, he kept glancing toward Angela. Amazing. He had seven women at home, tripping all over themselves to satisfy his every need, and he was still impressed by Angela.

  Fish after fish bit her line. By lunchtime, she had a full cooler, and he had nothing. He sat down on the rocks and thought about going home. When Kevin was a boy, his dad would always cook part of their catch for lunch. His belly growled as he realized, since he’d caught nothing, he had nothing to eat. Then he smelled it, the distinct odor of charbroiled fish wafting toward his nostrils. He trained his gaze forward, not wanting to show Angela his level of interest.

  Focusing on a tree across the river, Kevin picked up a pebble and skipped it across the water. Another pebble skipped alongside his, only going a tad farther. He noticed her shadow above him as she spoke, “Kevin, would you like to come and share lunch with me?”

  He wanted to say no, he wasn’t hungry. But his stomach’s loud rumbling would have labeled him a liar. Angela smiled at the noise, and he answered, “I guess I do.”

  They walked back to the fire and watched the fish fry in silence. He couldn’t help but watch for her annoying habit. She constantly messed with something on her body. Her glasses when she wore them, her nose, her hair, her skin, rolling up a piece of paper over and over. Her hands were in constant movement. It drove him crazy to just sit and watch her. But today those things were absent. Perhaps it had all been nerves? Why hadn’t the thought entered his mind before?

  After the meat cooked, he took a flaky piece of fish and placed it in his mouth. The tender meat melted on his tongue. “This is delicious.”

  She blushed. “Thank you.”

  After Kevin stuffed himself with the succulent lunch, he asked, “How has your vacation been?”

  “Boring,” she blurted. Then as if trying to cover what she’d revealed, “I mean, well, the truth is it’s been boring. I spent the first three days cleaning and working on my house. I’ve finished everything on my list already. All my family and friends are at work. So, I’m just rambling around the house, wondering what I can do to kill time.”

  “Why did you take all your vacation at once if you didn’t need that many days?”

  “They made me. They thought I was accumulating too many hours off. How about you?”

  Kevin sighed. “Same here. I mean, I had things I needed to do, but I didn’t want to take all the days at once.”

  “Why is it everyone thinks they know what’s best for us?”

  “Good question.”

  Just then Angela’s pole jerked again. She picked it up and went to reeling in another fish. This one was putting up quite a fight, and Angela was having trouble holding on to it.

  Kevin jumped to his feet. Getting behind her, arms wrapped around her middle, he reached around and grabbed the pole. The reel turned, winding the string. She strained backward in his arms; her back nestled against his chest. A sudden feeling of pleasure caused his throat to constrict.

  He felt heady with the light aroma of soap and the scent of her shampoo. Why had he never noticed how good she smelled? Suddenly, he realized the line had gone slack.

  Breathlessly Angela said, “I think it got away.”

  “Yeah.”

  They both let go of the pole, and she twisted in his arms, facing him. His gaze was involuntarily drawn to her mouth. Before he knew what happened, he’d leaned down and brushed his lips lightly across hers in a gentle caress.

  They jumped apart. Kevin felt heat rise to his cheeks. Angela’s cheeks tinged with a ruddy color. What had caused him to do such a thing? It was way too early to be kissing her.

  “Angela, I’m—”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  “What?”

  “Apologize!”

  “But…”

  Angela paced back and forth, her arms swinging violently at her sides. When she stopped she pointed a finger toward and said, “Kevin Earl Smith. I’ve been trying to get your attention for months. You will not apologize for sharing a kiss wi
th me.”

  “How did you know my middle name?”

  “Well,” Angela stalled. A look of guilt crossed her face. “I looked it up in your employee records.”

  Kevin arched his eyebrow.

  Her shoulders sagged, and she kicked at the ground with the toe of her shoe. “I know, I know. A little extreme and obsessive. I was curious about your name. The letter ‘E’ is unusual for the start of a name.”

  “Okay.”

  Looking up from the ground, Angela asked, “You don’t think I’m weird, do you?”

  “No. Actually, I’m a little flattered.”

  With Kevin’s admission, they spent the rest of the afternoon talking and laughing at and with one another. He noticed that not once did she engage in her annoying habit of messing with something. Maybe it had been nerves, or maybe before he’d noticed it because he wanted to find something wrong. Whatever the case, she wasn’t doing it now.

  Looking down at his watch, he said, “Oh my goodness, Angela, look at the time. I better go.”

  “Will I see you again this week?”

  “Uh…” He wanted to say yes, he truly did, but he had seven wives. Angela would go ballistic if she knew the truth. He had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn’t want to be number eight. “I’m not sure. I’ll call you.”

  “Okay.”

  Kevin left her on the banks of the river, alone.

  Chapter Twelve

  When Kevin arrived home, the house was in an uproar.

  “I told you to keep Rick out of here!” yelled Karen.

  “Oh, back off, Karen,” Candace retorted. “He had to come by and drop off the kids.”

  Martha interjected. “Candace, you know Rhonda and Todd are always welcome to come over. But we don’t like it when Rick brings them.”

  “Put a sock in it, Martha! Use your parent psychology on someone else. Rhonda and Todd are as much a part of this family as your kids. And Rick isn’t all bad.”