Chapter Nineteen
“Morning.” The man of the hour came walking in with coffee. I squealed in delight. Yeah, I squealed.
“Thank you!” I gripped the handle of the cup and smelled the delicious aroma. Heavenly.
“Thought you’d like to sleep in. I have to make a video today and thought you’d want to watch. After that, you can go get ready with your friend.” He looked fine on the outside but I could feel something stewing underneath.
“You okay?” I took a sip of my coffee. I moaned, it was so good.
“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
“Uh huh,” I mumbled into the cup. Something was up, but he wasn’t ready to talk about it. That’s fine. I had plenty of those moments lately. I trusted that soon he would tell me whatever was bothering him.
“Finish your cup, get dressed, then meet me outside.” He rubbed Binksie’s ears, then walked briskly out of the room. I did as he said and was ready in my cute jeans, boots, and a pretty, blue short-sleeved shirt. He had the ATV ready and I hopped on, arms around his waist.
We drove over to the bobcat area first, where a couple of interns were setting things up with a camera.
“Are you doing a show?”
“We do videos of everything that happens on the rescue and put them on YouTube. It helps educate the public, and keeps up interest in what we do. Today is box day.” He pulled up and stopped.
Autumn and Helen were there, waiting with thumbs up at Jake. They rolled their eyes when they saw me get off the ATV with him, but otherwise kept to themselves. Jake walked over to the enclosure and stood in front of it. I noticed two other rescue workers on the other side of the cage with their thumbs up.
“Okay, ready?” Autumn asked Jake and the person holding the camera. They all signaled that they were okay and I saw the little red light on the camera blink on.
“You know how house cats love boxes? Well, it turns out so do the big ones!” Jake beamed at the camera and then a bobcat was let loose from its eating nook, heading straight for the box. The camera person moved so they could get a good angle of the cat sniffing and scratching at the box. I laughed a little when the bobcat tried to crawl into the box just like I’d seen normal kitties do.
We went around to each of the cat enclosures, and watched as each of them investigated and played with their own box. It was really fun to watch, and cool that everyone who looked online could watch and have fun, too. When the fun was over, I kissed Jake goodbye and left to get all of my things from my house so I could go get ready with Rayne.
“Okay, all set.” I finished the last bit of blush on Rayne’s cheeks and took a step back. My little blossom was utterly beautiful and ready to wiggle into her cute purple dress. I did my makeup and hair while she took a nap; the only thing left for me was the dress and accessories, as well.
“Okay, no looking!” When I dolled her up, I never let her look in the mirror until she was a completely finished product. That way she saw herself in all her glamour, not piece by piece. I unzipped her garment bag and helped her get into the Grecian-style dress that flowed over her belly and wrapped over her left shoulder. My eyes started to glisten seeing her all pregnant and looking like a goddess. I hopped into my dress quickly, then went back to her.
“Rayne, babe, you are gorgeous.” I helped her get to the full-length mirror in her room and took a step back.
“Wow. Arson is not going to let me leave the house!” she giggled.
I would probably have to drag them both out the door. Moving in next to her, I looked over my own princess outfit. I was wearing a black floor length dress, but instead of the Grecian look, I went with something different. My shoulders and neck were exposed, thanks to the open neckline that wrapped around my quarter-length sleeves. The material was glittery, but soft. A four-inch ribbon started at the back seam from the zipper and came to a square bow in the front of my waist. The soft material flowed down from there. All I needed were some earrings to compliment my smoky black eye shadow and red lipstick. My red hair was pulled back into a low bun with little wisps around my face.
Rayne’s pretty green eyes stood out, thanks to the golden eye shadow that coated them. But it wasn’t her eye shadow that was standing out now—it was the look on her face.
“What?” What was her deal?
“You are so getting pregnant tonight. That wild man of yours is going to put a baby in you.” She laughed at me when I rolled my eyes.
“Those pregnancy hormones are affecting your brain. No babies will be planted tonight. I am on the pill, thank you very much. Not until it’s planned.” I put in some earrings and handed Rayne a pair as well.
“Uh huh.” I ignored her comment and as expected, wound up having to drag both of them out of the apartment by their toes.
“So I was telling Larry the other day that it was silly to buy a Porsche. So we bought a Range Rover instead. Very responsible of us. Now we will have room to fit the boy in the backseat.” The wife of a plastic surgeon was talking to me, rattling on about their new son, who the nanny took care of, and how they bought a Range Rover over a Porsche. I plastered a smile on my face.
“Excuse me one moment, I need to go to the restroom.” I walked away and headed off in a different direction. I glanced over at Arson and Rayne, they were working the room just like I was. We could be ourselves to a certain extent, but I was no millionaire. If someone happened to get pissy and complain to the right person, causing the closing of my salon for some reason, I would be screwed. All of my girls would be out of a job. I would be okay for a while, but I would have to get a job somewhere. Arson and Rayne were the same. They had money, but other people depended on them to play nice.
Wanting somewhere quiet I stepped into the little alcove to the shark tank. Fish swam by peacefully while being surrounded by a couple of sharks. Story of my life.
“Hanging with the good sharks. Smart, sweetheart.” I didn’t turn at his voice. I’d been at the Gala for an hour and a half and he hadn’t shown up. I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to come.
“These ones looked safer.” In truth, I bet people go in those tanks all the time. Cleaning it, moving things around. The sharks probably just went on with their shark lives. The rest of the sharks in this aquarium were on the lookout for blood in the water.
