Chapter 1
“Lou, I think you may have bitten off more than you can chew with this one.” Louise spoke to herself as she stared into the flames starting to catch in the fire pit.
Swirling her sweet red wine around in the glass, Louise leaned back in her patio chair. Hearing the familiar squeak of the old metal base was slightly comforting as she tried to shake off the day’s stresses.
Two weeks.
Jacob Jr. had only been living with her for two weeks and she was already over it. The cute nephew that she played with at family functions had decided to turn into the devil the moment Louise picked him up for an extended stay at her house. Louise couldn’t really blame him either. His dad, her youngest brother, had checked himself into a much-needed rehab program for two months which had thrown Jr.’s life so out of routine that he was reacting like any other four-year-old would.
Horribly.
Louise had known that Jr. thrived on routine in his life. She just hadn’t expected the lack of his familiar daily schedule to be as if she were feeding gremlins after midnight.
Everything she did was wrong. She bought the wrong type of mac and cheese, the bathwater she ran was too cold, and she forgot to grab his favorite pair of sneakers from his dad’s house.
Earlier this morning, he had thrown a tantrum at day care drop off that would act as birth control to anyone watching for at least the next year. His angry screams had hit a pitch so high that she wouldn’t be surprised if she had permanent hearing loss. The reason behind the fit that he had thrown was still something that Louise couldn’t figure out. Between the boogers running down his face, his high-pitched squeals and the thrashing of his legs, she thinks it was because he didn’t want yogurt raisins for his snack, but honestly, she couldn’t be sure. It had been chaos.
Complete and utter chaos.
Between Jr. crying as if he were mortally wounded, the crushed box of raisins under his feet as he stomped them to smithereens and the entire parking lot staring at her, Louise had wanted to scream herself.
Is this what she had to look forward to when she had kids? Were the other moms talking about her as they stood in their workout clothes twirling their perfect ponytails?
She had been so completely embarrassed that after walking Jr. to his class, her tires almost squealed as her car left the parking lot so quickly.
Louise rubbed her forehead before taking another gulp of the wine in her almost empty glass.
Gah! She shouldn’t care what the other parents said but she totally did. She hated not being in control of a situation and this was a prime example. Her poor nephew couldn’t really shoulder any of the blame. Jr. didn’t understand what was really going on and he was just a kid trying to figure out why his dad was gone. Her brother owed her big time for watching Jr. until he was released. Not only did he owe her, but the rest of the family did as well.
The thought of her siblings and parents prompted Louise to reach for the half full bottle of wine she had propped up on the small side table next to her chair. Pouring herself a healthy glass she looked up at the stars and tried not to curse the people that had shuffled Jr off onto her.
Out of their large family, Louise was the only one expected to step in and help with Jr. She had heard all the excuses.
You have more flexibility with your job, Lou.
You live alone and have a guest room. That’s better than Jr. sleeping on my couch.
You don’t have to worry about school, it would be easier for you to watch him.
I don’t think having him around the dogs is a good idea; they are so big they could accidently hurt him.
Even her own parents, Jr.’s grandparents, had not offered to watch him while their son was getting treatment. The excuse her mom had used was that Poppy Ralph wasn’t used to kids being in the house anymore and poor Jr. would get in trouble more often than not.
What really burned her biscuits was that Louise agreed with everything that had been said. She did have flexibility with her job as a yoga instructor. Her house had two guest rooms and a nice yard with plenty of space for Jr. to play. She wasn’t in school like some of her other siblings so she didn’t need to juggle classes with daycare. Her dad was getting to be that grumpy old man that yelled at the kids in the neighborhood and Jr. would not be immune to his crotchety old ass. Everything they said made sense as to why Louise needed to be the one to step in and help. The only problem was that it was getting old.
Louise always was there to bail out her family. Even when she was younger and living at home, Louise acted more as a second mom than an older sister. School functions, class projects, rides to games and band practice…all of it had fallen on Louise. It had been one of the reasons Louise had taken up yoga. She had needed the calming effect that yoga helped her achieve. In fact, she had needed it so much that she ended up becoming an instructor at the local gym.
Yoga had become her life after she left home. The essence of it fulfilled something deep in her soul and no matter how much turmoil she was in when she entered, she left feeling lighter and focused. It made sense for her to become a certified instructor simply because she spent so much time at the local studio.
It was also something she was extremely successful at. With the body positivity movement sweeping across the country, Louise had a waiting list to get into her classes at the small studio she worked in. Everyone was wanting to take a yoga class that was taught by someone who looked ‘normal’. Louise wasn’t the toned fitness model that graced the cover of yoga magazines and videos. No, she had plump thighs, plenty of cushion on her ass and some rolls around her waist. She was soft and round and she was still able to do what she loved. And the fact that she looked the way she did encouraged others who weren’t the normal gym types to seek out her classes and feel comfortable during their sessions.
Louise reached for the bag of chocolates she had tossed down onto the chair next to her. Unwrapping the morsel, she took in the backyard that had become her oasis these last two weeks. Now that Jr. was living with her, she wasn’t able to catch up on her shows in the evening anymore since she was afraid of him walking in and getting an eyeful of zombies. The poor kid had enough on his plate without adding flesh eating walkers to his bedtime worries. That meant that she had been sneaking into the backyard after bedtime and lighting a small fire while she sipped, or gulped if she had to be honest, a bottle of wine.
Her yard was the perfect size for the house she had. Louise had a small wooden deck that came off the backdoor that flowed down into the yard where her fire pit was centered. Mismatched patio chairs, aka garage sale finds, circled the pavers and the entire yard was surrounded by a tall wooden privacy fence.
It was cozy and perfect and all hers.
Louise washed the chocolate down with the rest of her wine, smacking her lips at the deliciousness of the combination. Using her fireplace poker, she stoked the fire a bit before propping her feet up at the edge of the stones to absorb the warmth. Even though it was early October, they had already had a few cold days in Larryville this year. The fire, combined with the leaves rustling from the crisp breeze blowing through made her wish for spiced cider and Halloween movies.
It was perfect.
Until she heard the sirens.
Sirens that sounded like they were getting closer and closer to her house at the end of her block. Was there a fire next door?
Louise tried to turn a bit in her chair to peer over the fence but she couldn’t see anything but darkness. The neighborhood only had one street light and most of the other houses on the block were unlit. Her neighbors usually weren’t outside much once it cooled down after the summer which meant quiet nights for Lou sitting by the fire.
Relaxing back, Louise worried for a moment that Harold, her elderly neighbor, may have hurt himself and required a 911 call. That thought was quickly dismissed when she remembered that Harold’s daughter had picked him up for a trip to an out of town family reunion for the weekend.
Sending up a silent prayer that the sirens wouldn’t wake Jr., Louise refilled her wine glass this time pouring all the way to the rim.
Carefully holding the glass as steadily as possible, she was just getting ready to sip the excess off of the top when a huge crash knocked down her back gate. The large wooden door fell haphazardly onto her mismatched potted plants that edge the walkway into the backyard.
The noise had startled her so much that the overfilled glass jerked in her hand, sloshing over half of the red wine out of the glass and down the front of her white robe.
“Mother—” Louise yelped as she tried to figure out what was going on.
Firefighters streamed into her yard, tumbling through the now broken and knocked down wooden gate that separated her from the front yard. Hauling gear that she had no idea the purpose of, they stopped and stared at her as she sat next to her cozy little fire pit.
“What the he—” One of the firefighters scratched his chin under his helmet as he looked around the backyard.
Louise stood up, somewhat unsteadily, clutching her wet robe closed. “What’s going on? Why did you break down my gate? Can you turn off that siren?”
Louise rapid-fired her questions at the group of men still standing staring at her. Snapping her fingers to get their attention, she raised her voice when no answers were given.
“What’s going on?” Louise held out the hand still holding her glass and pointed at the gate. “I sure as hell hope you guys plan on fixing that!”
“Ma’am.” One of the men that had been leading the charge on her poor and defenseless gate, stepped forward and pointed at her fire. “We received a call from this residence saying there was a fire at the back of the house.”
Louise gestured to the pit as if she were explaining it to a person hard of hearing. “Of course there is, I have a fire pit.”
“We can see that—” He stopped speaking and moved closer to her. “Is that blood? Are you injured?”
Not waiting for her to answer, the man walked right up to her and opened the front of her robe. A robe that was covering her pajamas. Pajamas that consisted of a thin tight tank top and some booty shorts that had seen better days.
Whipping open the front of her robe, he looked for a reason why the entire front of her body would be covered in red. Using large but gentle hands, the mystery man probed her chest, his hands sweeping over her now hard nipples.
“You’re not hurt.” His voice husky, the firefighter pulled her robe closed, making sure not to let the men behind him see what he had uncovered.
“Wait, did you say that you received a call from this residence?” Louise asked in a hushed whisper, holding her robe closed with one hand.
“Yes, ma’am.” The man nodded before taking off his helmet and sending her a crooked smile.
Louise felt her mouth go dry at the sight of the gorgeous man in front of her. Damn. Firefighters were apparently the stuff that calendars were made of if this guy were anything to go by. The sight of his dark wavy hair and twinkling eyes were almost enough to distract her from what he had said.
Almost, but not enough.
“Jr.,” Louise said quickly, before rushing up the stairs and into the back door of the house.
After walking into the living room, she noticed that the cordless phone she usually kept on the center table was missing. Moving into the hallway, she stopped at the doorway to her guest room, now Jr.’s bedroom and listened at the door.
“I think they are here now. I hear sirens.” Jr’s voice was clear as he reported what he thought was a fire. “No, my dad isn’t home. He’s sick.”
Louise put her hand over her mouth to stop from crying at her nephew’s statement. His dad was sick, that much was true. What Jr. didn’t understand was that his dad was an alcoholic and had come really close to losing custody of his only son because he had let his drinking get out of control.
“My Aunt LouLou is watching me.” Jr. softly explained to the operator that he was staying in her guest room and even though it had flowers on the blankets he was still able to sleep.
Louise opened his door softly, not wanting to startle him. “Hand me the phone, sweetie.”
Louise ruffled his hair and spoke into the receiver, “I’m so sorry. I was having a small fire in the firepit in my backyard and I guess he thought there was an actual fire. Instead of finding me, he called 911.”
After assuring the operator that the crew had arrived and knocked down her gate, but nobody was hurt or injured, Louise hung up the phone.
“Am I in trouble?” Jr. rubbed his eyes, looking on the verge of crying.
“No sweetie, I should have explained that I was taking a break in the backyard. The fire you saw was under control and not dangerous. There was no need to call for help.” Louise sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the blanket over his legs to tuck him in. “Why were you up?”
“I had to go to the bathroom. Then I was thirsty. I saw the fire on the back windows when I went to the kitchen.” Jr. twisted his fingers in the blanket. “Are they mad?”
Louise smoothed her hands through her wavy shoulder-length hair and sighed. “I don’t think so. Let me go and tell them everything is fine. You go back to sleep and no more calling 911. Deal?”
When Jr. gave her a high five, Louise left the bedroom, making sure to take the phone that he had snuck into his temporary room.
Moving quickly to the back of the house, she jogged down the stairs of the deck where the men were still lingering next to her chairs.
“Sorry, guys. I explained what happened to the lady on the phone,” Louise said quickly, noticing that none of the men seemed to be in a hurry to move out of her yard.
“Things like this happen all the time, we recently had a fire safety day at the local schools…we have gotten quite a few false calls lately from the kids we spoke to.” The explanation came from the man that had checked her out earlier.
“Now that you say that, I remember Jr. coming home with a sticker and little red fire hat. That was you guys?” Louise snapped her fingers, remembering it was earlier this week that he had come home with a detailed explanation of the stop, drop and roll procedure.
“That was us, I’m assuming your son thought he was being a hero tonight?” he asked, a couple of the guys smiling behind him.
“Nephew,” Louise corrected. “He’s my nephew, and yes, he thought he was saving lives. We’re not in trouble, are we?”
“Nah,” one of the other men offered up. “But, we did bust your gate down. Sorry about that, ma’am.”
Louise turned and looked at her gate with sad eyes. “Yeah, my poor gate.”
A hand touched her shoulder causing her to turn her attention back to the man that had practically undressed her earlier. “I can fix that.”