by R. T. Wolfe
"You didn't come by this morning." He turned a page.
"Come by?"
Folding the paper, he reached down to rub Macey's ears. "Each day for the past three months, you've run by my house with this dog, sending mine into a fit. You didn't come by this morning. I overslept. Everything okay?"
"Well, come in off my porch. We'll have something to drink and I'll explain."
He noticed a grin and the way she practically bounced past him.
She was still in her work clothes. He watched the pieces of her hair that had escaped her pins move around her neck as she walked.
"Macey didn't want to run this morning. I was worried and got her in to see her vet after work." Brie took down two glasses and an unopened bottle of wine.
"Is she okay? Let me open that," he offered.
"Got it."
Of course you do, he thought.
"We'll need to celebrate." She had hardly gotten the cork out before turning. "She's pregnant!" she said and ran to him.
He barely had time to brace a leg behind him before Brie leaped. Landing in his arms, she wrapped her legs around his sides.
"We're going to have puppies!" She covered his face with kisses before ending at his lips.
He went from zero to sixty in no time. Inside him, heat exploded. Her firm legs wrapped around him, he held her up with her very female backside resting in his hands.
Brie pulled away and dropped to her feet, turning in a happy circle. He leaned against the counter, trying to recover and enjoying the show.
He hadn't known puppies were so important to her. "You sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. What makes you ask that?" She stopped dancing, but was still grinning as she poured the wine in the two glasses.
"Well, they're... discreet."
"Goldie is not discreet." She handed him a glass.
"How do you know Goldie's the dad?" He smiled now.
She took a long sip. "Are you saying my dog sleeps around?"
"No. I'm saying that she's free to... see whatever dog she wants. No commitment there."
Brie looked up at him through her lashes. "What if she's not interested in any other dog?"
"Guess that depends on if we're still talking about the dogs." He set down his glass.
The corners of her mouth lifted as she bit her bottom lip. Brie set down her glass and coiled one of her legs around the back of his.
He gripped her hips and pressed her into him. The moss green gaze dropped to his mouth as the blood drained from his head.
It was she who fisted his hair in her hands and closed the distance between their lips. Hers were full, her mouth soft, firm. She tasted of wine and woman. Intoxicating. Their lips moved together as their breath quickened. He probably had hold of her harder than he should have as he traveled a hand from her hip to her lower back. Wanting, he used the hand to pull her closer.
Lips moved, teeth grazed. His other hand traveled up her waist. His thumb brushed along the side of her breast. He drifted over her shoulder on his way up to braid his fingers through the back of her hair.
A sexy female moan escaped, making sparks ignite on his tongue. Her nails sunk into his back. Lightly, she bit down on his bottom lip, then opened her green eyes to him. He broke free for a few short seconds, and they gasped for air.
Bodies twining, they rotated until Brie was up against her kitchen counter with it rammed into her back. She would worry about the bruises later. His lips trailed painfully slow across her cheek, under her ear, down her neck, across her collar bone to the void in her throat and back up again. She was gloriously losing control in the moment only to have him repeat the path once more. He stopped when she purred his name.
"Say it again," Nathan choked.
She grabbed hold of his shoulders. "Nathan."
A car door shut. Nathan's eyes shot open, and he pulled away.
With determination, she yanked him back to her, turning this time with his back against the counter. She leaned into him, body to body.
"There's someone in your drive—"
The front door opened. Together, they broke apart and picked up their glasses. Desperately, they tried to catch their breath.
"Hello!" Liz called out. "You'll never guess what I heard after work today—oh, excuse me. What am I interrupting? Ha. That sounded inappropriate." She chuckled as she took off her coat and tossed it over a kitchen chair. Stepping between the two of them to reach for a glass, she said, "Sorry, Nathan. You're out of luck in that department. Once my sister makes a decision, no one can break her resolve."
Brie crammed the back of her hand against her mouth in an attempt to keep from choking on her wine. She straightened just in time when Liz turned to her.
"What is the matter with you?"
"We're having puppies!"
"You and who? The stud retriever?"
"Who? No. With Goldie. With Nathan's dog."
"How do you know they're his?"
"Does everyone think my dog is a slut?" She tilted her head back, laughed and then filled a glass for her sister.
She finished hers in a third, long, deep drink. "I'll have to buy 'we're expecting' chocolate bars. Pink and blue." Brie twirled in a circle. "I'm going to go change. Drink some wine, Liz."
As soon as Brie went upstairs, Liz asked, "How much has she had?"
Nathan held up his hands in defense. "Just the one glass."
"Well, keep her going. She hasn't let loose since... anyway. She's been happier than I can remember for a while now. I expect that's thanks to you." Liz picked up her glass, rotating it in her fingers. "You hurt her and I'll hunt you down and kill you with a shovel," she added with a warm smile.
His brows lowered as he looked to her. "Noted."
* * *
The next day was a Thursday and Brie stopped over to tell Lucy the good news before heading to work. She brought her a pink-wrapped chocolate bar. They ate scones and drank coffee in the dawn of the morning.
"They'd just better not dig in my petunias. I work hard in my flowers and don't need a bunch of yapping puppies digging and pooping in them."
She rolled past the comment. "When will Molly be back? If you talk to her, tell her I'm taking her out for a celebratory drink. She can bring Roger with her if she'd like."
"He's long gone. Says she's sworn off men. Again." Lucy sipped her coffee. "I'll tell her anyway. You run along and make sure that Macey is comfortable. She'll need extra rest. None of that running her for miles every morning."
"Spring break's next week. I'll have plenty of time to take care of her." Brie jumped up and kissed Lucy on the cheek. "I'll see you soon. I'm going to tell Amanda before she's off to her temp job."
"Bring Clifford some of these." Lucy held out a box Brie noticed was already packed and sealed.
As she walked around the cul-de-sac sidewalk, she thought of how good she felt. She hadn't had the dream in weeks. The grass was turning green, and she knew that underneath the dead leaves would be the beginnings of new life. Rose answered when she knocked. "Morning, Rose. Is your mom up yet?"
"She's in the shower." Rose pleaded with Brie. "Gweat-gwanddad is making me wead books. I already know how to wead books."
"I bet you are a great reader. Give these to your granddad, will you, and tell—"
"I'm out. I'm out." Amanda made her way down the stairs in a white terry-cloth robe.
"Hmm. Late night?" She smirked.
"So?"
"With the cop?"
Rose opened the baked goods.
"You'd better get those to your great-granddad or Mrs. Melbourne will have our hides."
Looking thoughtful at that idea, Rose turned and headed for the kitchen.
"Things still going on between the two of you?"
"They aren't really going on. We didn't end up in bed that night we sort of doubled if that's what you're getting at. He was paged and had to bail. I decided it was best not to wait around. I've been holding out on him since. I don't really know why. H
e may decide to give up on me. I think I like him. He gets called off all the time. Has to cancel half the time, but I don't mind. It'll make it easier when I get called abroad."
Brie listened. She couldn't ever remember hearing Amanda speak more than a few sentences about any man, even Rose's father.
"So, what brings you here to interrupt my morning after a late night of no sex?"
"Macey's going to have puppies. Look, I have chocolate bars wrapped in blue and in pink. I'm not sure what color to give. Hopefully, I'll need both."
"That retriever come of age?"
"No. I keep forgetting about him. The puppies are Nathan's dog's."
"At least someone's getting some," Amanda said as she led her to the kitchen.
* * *
Chocolate was shared at Bloom and congratulations offered. By the next day, she left the extras on the workroom table. Susie Phillips had found a greeting card made just for the owners of expecting pets. They made cards for anything these days; Brie laughed as she read it while she walked down the hall.
She entered her classroom as the bell rang from lunch and the children started making their way down the hallways from the playground. Her teacher's aide took afternoon attendance while she walked around listening to the recess news each child had to share. Andy played with his markers, balancing them along his supply box.
The class quieted as they'd learned to do when they heard the tone coming from the announcement speaker. "May I have your attention please?" Sandy spoke through the intercom. "Teachers and staff, we are moving into a lockdown. Please secure your classrooms until further notice."
She looked over and walked toward her door as she addressed her aide. "This is the drill where we pull in any children from the hallways, lock the doors and move our students away from the windows. You gather them by the coat hooks, and I'll check the hallways."
As she was trained to do, she locked the door as she stuck her head out to look both ways for any children that needed to be pulled in from the hall. She noticed Mr. Babb as he walked around the corner. It took her a fraction of a second to figure out the call was not a drill and that Mr. Babb was headed for her room. Instinctively, she stepped out and shut the door behind her, placing herself between it and Aaron's father.
"This won't help you. You know that," Brie said with arms stretched pleadingly outward.
"I want my boy." She could see Mr. Babb as he shook beads of sweat along his forehead. "Nobody's gonna fucking tell me when I can fucking see my boy."
Repeating what he said was all her brain could think of. "You want your boy. I can see that. He is your boy. Getting him this way will only make it so you can never see him again. Please, Mr. Babb." He kept inching toward her. She tried not to back up. She was too close to her classroom.
"Don't talk down to me, woman." Still walking, he pulled a gun from the back of his pants.
She nearly vomited.
"I know what you social worker people are like. Think you're better shit than the rest of us. Think you can fucking tell me how to discipline my own boy." He spoke using his hands, causing the gun to point erratically in response. "I knew you people would try to stop me. You made me do this. Made me. Bring. This. Gun." And he stopped, pointing it steady at her.
She willed herself to keep calm. Lie, she told herself. "I'm not those people, Mr. Babb. I'm not a social worker. I want to help you. I want to help you see your son, but I know taking him this way will make it so you'll never get him back." Through her peripheral vision, Brie could see a police officer round the corner. She made herself keep eye contact with Aaron's dad.
"Lying bitch! You know they won't let me have him after this. Get out of my way before I put a bullet between your lying bitch eyes—" The officer jumped him from behind. Within seconds, he'd wrestled the gun out of his hand and had dug his knee dug into the back of Babb's back, his arms were stretched unnaturally behind him.
She leaned against the nearest wall, clutching her stomach. Another officer came up behind her and hauled her down the opposite hall. She couldn't remember what happened next.
Finding herself sitting in an office chair, she waited for someone to tell her what to do. Mr. Babb was actually very quiet, his chin buried in his chest as the officers maneuvered him through the hallway toward the exit.
Sandy stood in the doorway glaring at her. No, grinning at her. "You've done it this time, Miss Chapman. You get all the union representation you want. You've broken protocol."
She looked crazed, her voice shaking, her eyes red and opened wide.
"Nothing to say? That's okay. I'll say it." Her voice was getting louder.
Heads around them started to turn.
"You broke protocol during a lockdown. Not a drill. An actual lockdown. You left your class without trained, certified staff. Went out to the hallway instead of staying in your locked room." She was yelling now, maybe screaming.
Babb and the two officers escorting him had made it to the foyer. One of them turned and headed toward Sandy with arms up like he was trying to calm a wild horse.
"You. Are. Suspended. Suspended! Until further notice. Pack your bags. You're not coming back. You think just because you played saint and reported Aaron's abuse—"
Babb exploded. Hands cuffed behind him, he butted heads with the remaining officer and lunged in Brie's direction.
The officer near Sandy pushed the principal out of harm's way, sending her to the floor in front of Mrs. Seward's desk. He closelined Babb, caught him before he fell, and pressed him against the plate glass of the office.
With his faced smashed against the window, Babb stared at her. She sat frozen in the same chair she had been in all along. "I'll kill you," he mouthed before the officers joined again to drag him out and into the squad car.
"Get her out of here." A third officer pointed to Sandy who was standing and adjusting her designer skirt. "We'll interview her in another room."
* * *
Brie sipped water while waiting for her turn. She was in the conference room adjacent to Sandy's office, listening to her boss berate her for breaking the rules. The press and cameras were here now. She swore the woman was enjoying this. The police finished with Sandy, then ordered her home.
The questioning seemed to take hours. They reassured her a number of times that her class was safe and honestly didn't know what had gone on. She remembered every detail and went over it again and again. The officers were gentle and patient and repeatedly explained that the questions were procedure. The interview process hadn't changed in the last six years, she thought, and this was nothing compared to what she went through back then. When they were done with her, they asked if she'd like a ride home.
"No. I can drive. Thank you, officers." She took a deep breath, lifted her chin and asked if it was all right for her to leave.
She didn't think to pack her bag before she left. She didn't remember the drive home. Without opening the garage door, she pulled up to her house, put her truck in park and leaned her head against the back of the seat. Turning her eyes to her rearview mirror she tried to make sense of the day. She wouldn't have done anything differently. Babb would have gone ballistic if he'd seen her lock him out. It would've been wrong to put the children through the fear of having an abusive father pounding on the door, shooting at the door. Now, she'd lost her job.
Pack your bags. You're not coming back.
She could hear Macey whining and made herself get out of her pickup to unlock the front door. Macey ran past Brie without so much as a greeting and around to the back. Plopping on her porch, she leaned against one of the white pillars.
* * *
It was all over the news. "Teacher suspended for breaking procedure during lockdown." "Gunman apprehended outside suspended teacher's classroom." Standing between houses wasn't wise at this time of day, but the excitement of seeing Brie's trauma was too much to resist. It was time to get intimate.
Pretending to stroll along the creek had been easy. No one could hav
e noticed the raw hamburger that was dropped in the tall grasses along the backside of Brie's neurotically manicured yard. Standing here, watching the dog eat the poisoned meat, was more exciting than gutting the rabbit.
The excitement turned to arousal when Brie came around the side of her house. She must be looking for the mutt. Sort of dragging her feet. Poor baby. Poor, poor fucking baby. This is what happens when you mess with people. Arousal turned erotic when Brie saw the dog stumble and fall.
* * *
Brie's legs froze. Macey lay on her side in the yard back by the field next to some winter-brown tall grasses. She battled the molasses feeling as she tried to make her way through a dizzying mental fog to her lifeless dog. When she reached Macey, she noticed the raw meat mixed with white powder lying on the ground next to her. She could hear someone yelling her name. Her eyes rolled back and Nathan caught her as she vomited violently in the damp grass.
Chapter 15
Nathan took Brie by the shoulders and shook her once, hard. "Listen to me. You are not going to pass out. Listen to me, Brie." He grabbed her face in his hands and forced her eyes to his. "I am going to carry Macey to your truck. You are going to walk. We are going to get her help. Walk with me now, Brie."
McKinney came running from around the front of Brie's house.
Nathan looked at him from the corner of his eye, considering.
"What happened?" McKinney yelled as he jogged to them.
Nathan already had Macey in his arms. "Find a bag or something. It looks like the dog ate some laced meat. It's in the grass by—"
"I'll get it," Brie interrupted. "I'm okay. Drive her to Dr. Lanter. Please, go. Corner of Brookfield and James streets. I'll come with Brian and the meat."
"She's breathing, baby. We can fix this." He walked around to the drive, gently placed the dog in the front seat and took off in Brie's pickup.
* * *
The three of them sat in chairs in the front waiting room of the vet's office. It was a small area with cold linoleum floors and shelves filled with prescription dog and cat food. Brian noticed some of the Pet Worldmagazines on the small tables between the chairs were dated years ago. No one spoke.
