Free Celia's Puppies by Claudia Hall Christian

scared.”
    Jacob nodded. Katy turned her wet face to
him.
    “ I’d eat some French
Fries, Daddy.”
    “ With Ketchup?” Jacob
asked.
    “ And a
balloon?”
    “ Of course. Green?” Jacob
smiled.
    “ Can we go to the zoo?”
Katy asked.
    “ I have to work some more,
but I had a call from your friend Paddie. He’s hoping he could come
over this afternoon. You can stay with us or...”
    “ Paddie? Mommy, can I see
Paddie?”
    “ After French Fries?” Jill
asked.
    “ Ok,” Katy said. “Will you
stay with me, Mommy?”
    “ Blane can meet us for
lunch then take me to the remaining sites.”
    “ Are you sure?”
    Jacob winked at her. She helped Katy back
into her car seat. Getting out of the car, Jacob held her.
    “ It’s going to be fine,”
he whispered.
    “ I hope so.”
    ~~~~~~~~
    Wednesday afternoon — 1:30 P.M.
     
    It had been a long, long time since Jill had
laughed so hard. Katy and Paddie were a comedy team. If they
weren’t chasing each other around, they were pretending to be
someone they knew. Right now, Katy was pretending to be her Uncle
Mike.
    “ That’s just how it is.”
Katy lowered her voice, puffed up her chest and put her hands on
her hips.
    “ No, he’s more like,”
Paddie puffed up his chest. “Where’s the cereal?”
    Paddie and Katy squealed with laughter. Mike
picked one up under each arm. They both giggled and squealed. He
set them down near Alex Hargreaves. Dressed in a tank top, shorts,
and her huge smile, she looked more like someone on vacation than a
military guard.
    “ Let’s play a new game,”
Mike said. “Aunt Alex will show you how to play.”
    Katy ran forward to Aunt Alex. Alex bent
down to hug the tiny girl.
    “ You’re going to help me
like you help Uncle Mike,” Katy said.
    “ I hope so,” Alex said.
“See this guy?”
    She pointed to a tall, thin man with dark
curly hair.
    “ TROY!!”
    Paddie threw himself at the man. He picked
him up and twirled the little boy around. Excited, Katy jumped up
and down in front of him. A tall man, he knelt down to shake Katy’s
hand.
    “ Troy is going to be your
‘I-can-do-anything-to-you-guy’”
    “ Oh wait,” Jill said.
“What if they hurt him? I don’t want...”
    “ He’s tough. Plus he
volunteered,” Alex said. Leaning into Jill, she said, “We’re bored
out of our minds babysitting your brother. You’ve got to help us
out here.”
    Jill nodded.
    “ Ok, let’s start with
something easy,” Alex said. “Show me how you punch.”
    Katy and Paddie tapped at Troy.
    “ Ah come on. You can hit
harder than that! Give him a good whack.”
    ~~~~~~~~
    Wednesday afternoon — 3:25 P.M.
     
    “ This was a very good
idea,” Valerie said.
    She lay naked on a mattress in his artist’s
studio. The studio’s evaporative cooler worked over time but the
small space was still hot. Mike was drawing flowers with ice cubes
on her sweating body.
    “ Every actress needs her
beauty nap,” Mike said.
    Valerie giggled.
    “ You’ve been very good for
me,” Valerie said. Rolling over onto her side, she said, “I was
wondering...”
    “ I’m going back to LA with
you on Sunday,” he said.
    Valerie’s hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes
filled with tears.
    “ If the house is too
small, we’ll have to get another. I’ll check out the garage to see
if I can work there,” he continued. “It’s time.”
    “ What about Wes? What
about…?”
    “ I don’t give a shit about
Wes, Valerie. I’ve only ever, always cared about you.”
    “ What about
hockey?”
    “ Now that’s a problem. We
talked about it as a team. We used to only play Saturdays at
midnight. We moved to Wednesday because the teams are better. But
Colin thinks the better teams will move to...”
    Valerie kissed him. One pulling kiss led to
another. Valerie drew him on top of her. Taking her hands, he
stretched her arms above her head while his mouth worked its way
from her ear down her neck. She shifted, inviting their union, when
he pulled