Chapter 85: Nathan Arrives

Saturday was Nathan-is-arriving day. I made myself scarce, like I promised, heading over to my brother’s house after breakfast. “I mean it, Ang,” I said. “I’m staying away until you call me and tell me the coast is clear.”

“Alright, I’ll call you later,” she said, with barely contained excitement.

Shaking my head, I left for my brother’s house. When I pulled up, I tooted the horn to set the dogs to barking. They were beautiful Siberian huskies, and I love and spoil them to distraction. I parked in the driveway and went around to the front door, where my brother met me.

“Hey, Jen,” he said. “What’s up?”

“I told Sue I was hanging out here this morning; Ang’s boyfriend is coming in today.”

John rolled his eyes. “Does she treat him like she did me?” he said, rubbing his back.

“You big faker,” I said, and punched his arm. Ow. Baby bro’s been working out. “When did this happen?” I asked him, poking his arm.

He laughed. “When you announced you were marrying a rock star,” he said. “NO way am I gonna let a bunch of guys from JERSEY look better than me in a tux.” I laughed. “What?” he said, annoyed. “It’s a matter of pride.”

I shook my head at him and hip-checked him aside so I could get in. “Where are my babies?” I crooned, and the dogs came running. I knelt down on the floor, and let them sniff and lick my face and I hugged them. “Auntie’s here!” I said to them, and they backed up and sat down, butts wriggling with excitement.

I laughed and pulled some treats from my pocket. I held them up, and the dogs followed with their eyes. “Wait,” I said to them, and put them on the floor in front of the dogs. The pups looked at the treats, then at me, their eyes pleading. “Gentle,” I said to them, holding a hand up in front of their faces. Gingerly, the dogs bent their heads and took the treats in their mouths. “Eat,” I said to them, and they gobbled up the treats and did a little happy dance, then disappeared into the house.

John laughed. “Why don’t they do that for me?” he asked. “They just ignore me.”

“You live here, I don’t,” I said. “Besides, I have a way with kids and animals. Speaking of kids, where’s yours?”

“Sue took her to lunch; they’ll be back soon. I have to go to work; you gonna just hang out here?”

“That okay with you?”

“That’s fine.” He kissed my cheek. “See ya later, sis.”

“Later.” I’d tell him about meeting Coach later. Right now, I just wanted to chill.

Sue and Joanna came home some time later. ‘Auntie Jen?” I heard my little niece call.

“In here, Bean,” I called from the kitchen where I was making brownies. The dogs were sitting at my feet, just waiting for me to drop something. They were adorable.

Joanna came running in and flung her arms around my knees. “Hi, Auntie Jen! Where is Uncle David?”

I laughed. “He’s at his house in New Jersey,” I said. “He’ll be back on Monday.”

“Can I come over and see him?”

“Absolutely.” I greeted Sue with a hug. “We’ll be leaving on Friday or Saturday,” I said. “You guys can come over any night you want.”

“We will,” she said, giving me another hug. “I can’t believe you’re moving to New Jersey!” she exclaimed.

“Just be glad I’m in love with David and not Richie,” I quipped, making Sue choke on her water. “Then I’d be moving to LA.”

We burst out laughing, and laughed until we cried. “I’m going to miss you, my sister,” I said to her. In the ten years she and John had been together, we had gotten extremely close.

Enough of that, I thought to myself. “So, you guys have plans tonight?” Time to do some recon.

“No,” Sue said. “We’re hanging out here tonight, why? Something going on?”

“Nope,” I said innocently. “I’m just making conversation.”

Sue looked at me. “What are you plotting?” She knew me too well. I told her about what Ang and I were going to do tonight in payback for resetting my house alarm and having the cops come out to my house. She laughed. “Oh,” she said. “He is SO going to kill you.”

“Only if he knows it was me,” I said. “This is close enough to April Fool’s, that he won’t be sure if it’s me or one of the Brothers.”

Sue laughed. “You are evil.”

“Nope, just a Goddess scorned.” Sue rolled her eyes at me. But I knew she wouldn’t tell.

Joanna brought me my purse. “Auntie Jen, your bag is singing.” I took out my cell. “London Calling” was playing. “That’s my friend Angel,” I told her, pulling out the ‘Berry. “Hey Ang,” I said, looking at my watch. “Holy Hell, woman, is he dead?”

“Fuck you,” Ang said laughing. “No, he’s fine. Better than fine, actually, and it’s safe to come home now.”

“Are you sure? I mean, it’s only been five hours.” I was razzing her, and she’d probably kill me later, but for now, I was having fun.

“Yeah, I’m bloody well sure,” she said.

“Alright,” I said, laughing. “I’ll be home soon. What’s for dinner?”

“Fried stuff,” Ang said. “We’re heading out to the store. If you beat us home, start the oil.”

“Will do,” I said, and clicked off.

Sue and I chatted for a bit while the brownies baked, then I got ready to go. “Now, don’t say anything to John,” I said to her.

“No way,” she said. “This goes into the Vault.” We laughed, shared another hug, and I left.

When I got home, the place was empty. I went out back and fired up the fryer, then went inside to change out of my jeans and into lounging clothes. I was just coming downstairs when the front door opened, and Ang and Nathan piled inside. “Hey you two,” I said, going to help them with bags. “What the hell is all this?”

Nathan gave my cheek a kiss. “This, my dear Goddess, is supper. I’m gonna fry up a mess of catfish we found at the store, and you and my Angel are going to make some onion rings and cut some spuds.”

I raised an eyebrow. “We are, are we?”

Nathan just nodded. “You sure as shit are.”

We sure as shit did. And everything was delicious. I hadn’t had fried fish in forever, and had forgotten how damned good it was. After we cleaned up, we hung around for a bit, just chatting. It was nice. When 9:00 rolled around, Ang and I stood up and stretched.

“Time to get going,” I said, and headed upstairs.

“Where are ya’ll going?” Nathan asked.

“We are going to play a prank on my dear, sweet brother,” I said, winking. “You want in?”

Nathan looked at us suspiciously. “What do I have to do?”

“You just have to be the lookout,” Ang said. “ Just let us know if anyone is coming our way.”

“Will we get busted?” He was thinking of how to explain to his boss just what it the hell he was doing if they got caught.

“Not if you do your job right,” I said, and flounced up the rest of the stairs.

Ang and I met up a few minutes later, dressed head to toe in black. Nathan laughed at us. “Now, if THAT isn’t suspicious, I don’t know what is.”

“Put a cork in it, Natalie,” Ang said, and gave him a smacking kiss. “Are you in or not?”

“Hell, I’m in,” he said. “Let’s go.”

We drove over to my brother’s neighborhood, and parked a block away, then snuck over to his house. My brother drives a brand-new quad-cab, full-bed, testosterone-driven gleaming black Ford, and he loves that truck. Ang helped me fill it with foam peanuts from Mailboxes, etc. It took four ginormous bags, and every last ounce of self-preservation not to burst out laughing! When we had the truck full, we eased the door shut and took rolls of bubble wrap and wrapped the whole truck, and taped it together. It's a wonder we didn't get nailed.

Nathan did a piss-poor job of being our lookout! Ha ha. Love ya, Nathan. The neighbor from next-door just walked right up to us and asked us what in the hell we were doing. When we told him, he helped! Anyway, when we got back to the car, I set off the alarm on his truck remotely and when my brother came out, the neighbor took a picture of his face.

This has “MasterCard commercial” written all over it…

Foam peanuts....$75 on MasterCard
Bubble wrap...$175 on MasterCard
Packing tape...$15 on MasterCard

Seeing your brother rant and rave like a lunatic because you bubble-wrapped his truck?

Priceless.