Chapter 12

Evie and Dave stood at the back door looking out at the driving rain. "Uh, Baby?"

Evie looked at him.

Dave nodded his head to the right. "There's an umbrella stand behind the door with a couple fucking dozen umbrellas in it. And... I knew the thing was there; I've seen it many times. I just didn't think about it."

Evie looked at it, thought about being pissed since they had gotten drenched to the bone while checking on the bear, but opted for a chuckle, instead.

"Well, we could have put our rain suits on before we left."

Dave looked at his wife and grinned, "But both of us were in such a hurry to see the bear, and it was only drizzling when we left — still," he drawled looking at the umbrella stand.

Laughing, they picked up a couple of umbrellas, walked out to Evie's truck and got two rain suits out of the tool box, then got into the Escalade. They shook the ubrellas off as best they could, then quickly closed the doors. Evie looked around. "Wow, this thing is nice," she said, then started the engine.

"Wait until you get into mine. It still smells new."

"It, should. It is new," she laughed.

"Well, you know what I mean," he said, mock glaring at her.

Evie drove around to the back of the garage, stopping by the steam cleaner. They struggled into their rain suits before getting out, then while Evie got the steamer going, Dave got Jeff's .45 off of the back floorboard and put it in the glove compartment.

Thirty minutes later, they had the seat as clean as it was going to get. They pulled around to the other side of the garage, where they found gun-cleaning supplies. After wiping the rifles down with an oily rag, Dave put a few drops of oil on a patch and did the same for the barrels. He dropped the magazine out of Jeff's .45, ejected the round from the chamber, then put the ejected round back into the magazine. He cleaned the blood off the Colt, ran an oily patch down the barrel, then wiped the weapon down with an oily rag.

As they finished putting the rifles back into their boxes, "Hon, let's go check on Jeff, then run home and get some more clothes," Dave told his wife. "You probably need to call the crew later today and tell them to come on in the morning, regardless of the weather. If it's still raining, you can start them with the demolition for the classrooms."

Evie grabbed her husband and kissed him. "And, we're going to bed early enough tonight for you to really take care of me."

"Well, I don't know, Baby. My back is beginning..."

Evie hit him lightly in the ribs. "You're not getting off that easy. You're getting plenty of rest today, so you've got some husbandly duties ahead of you. Now get up off your butt, and let's see how Jeff is doing," she finished giving him a good grope.

Putting the .45 in his belt, the magazine in his pocket, and carrying Diana's gun belt, Dave grinned and headed for the back door with her.

Inside, a few minutes later, they found Jeff sitting up a little and drinking a shake; although, Arlene was holding it for him. His face was gray, and there was a tremor in his hand as he tried to take the shake from Arlene. "No, Daddy. I'll hold it. You just lean back and rest. When you want a sip, it will be here."

Dave put Jeff's .45 and Diana's gunbelt with her pistol still in the holster on one of the tables, and stepped closer to Jeff.

When Jeff saw Dave and Evie, he said, "Hi guys. Thanks for all the help. Dave, Diana tells me you picked me up and brought me inside."

Dave forced a smile to his face. "No problem. Hey, you're looking better," he lied. Damn, he sounds like an old man. And he knows it, too.

"As they say, don't ever take up selling used cars, Dave. You'll starve to death," Jeff tried to chuckle.

As Dave started to respond, Jeff leaned farther back and closed his eyes, obviously near sleep. The healer was now setting on the top part of his shoulder covering the upper part of the wound.

Dave motioned, and Diana met them over near the door. "Diana," He quietly said, "if you don't need us right now, we're going to run home and get some clothes. I don't mean to be sexist, but I think that you need another man around while Jeff is down. So, if it's okay with you, we're going to stay here for a few days until Jeff is back to a hundred percent."

Diana hugged both of them, tears sparkling her eyes, though Evie and Dave pretended to not notice. "Ah, crap. I guess my nerves are all screwed up," she said, wiping her eyes. "Please forgive me, I seem to be crying at the drop of that infamous hat." Taking a deep breath, she continued. "We've already talked some about what I'm going to say, but now is a good time to expand a little more about it, I guess. We still have vacant apartments. Instead of the suite, why don't you just move enough of your things into one of the apartments? You're going to be here most of the time anyway for the next several years, because of all the construction that's going to be going on. It seems silly for you two to commute every day. That suite is nice, but you need something bigger to be comfortable, plus the apartments have super kitchens. Not that you can't eat with us. No, I need to state that another way. We tend to use meals to do a lot of our planning, and you two need to be in on that planning. So, please continue to eat with us for the foreseeable future."

Dave and Evie looked at each other. "Diana, are you sure about the apartment? That seems a little much," Evie said. "The suite is great, then we can stay at home on the weekend... and we will pay for our meals."

Diana, shaking her head, turned her hand palm outward a little signaling Evie to stop. "No, you're not going to pay for your meals. There's no way that's going to happen." Diana hesitated for a moment, then smiling, addressed Evie. "How many rooms does this place have?"

Evie, looked at her husband, who knew, but didn't answer for her. "Uh, I don't know."

"Neither do I," Diana laughed. "We've talked about counting them, but never spent the time to do it. Oh, there's a small plate by the door lock with the name of the suite or the room number, but even so, there isn't a way to know how many rooms there are without counting. However many there are, it's obvious that using a few of them for living quarters for you two won't make a bit of difference.

"We had our little swimsuit war, so you've seen us all nude. The girls will occasionally attack Jeff in the living room, or the pool, or the... ah, heck, just about anywhere, and obviously I'm not talking about swimsuits. But, I'll try to get them to be a little more discrete, since you'll be living here. I don't want you two to act like guests. If you're going to live here, then this is your home. When you get ready to go to the living room, or the hot tub area, or wherever, then go. I just don't want you to feel like you're imposing if you happen to walk in on us while our Alpha Male is... making love to us," she finished, blushing furiously.

"Alpha Male?" Evie said, looking first at Diana, then at her husband.

"That's a long story," Diana said. "And, we'll share it with you some time in the near future. But, I'd like for Laura, and maybe Doctor Boswell to be with us so they can help me explain. But, we all think he's an Alpha Male, and I think even Doctor Boswell is coming around to it, too. She, like us, hasn't been able to leave the room for more than a couple of minutes since you put Jeff in that recliner, Dave. And, I don't mean, just don't want to, I literally mean, can't. And, she's not one of his wives. Well..." she shrugged, and went on, "Now you guys go on and get your things. Later today we'll have a planning session, if we can manage to leave Jeff long enough. If not, we'll do it in the living room," she laughed.

"And, about eating with us, and the rest, just remember, we still haven't managed to spend even the returns on our investments. In addition to having someone investing for us that appears to be an absolute genius at it, Jeff invested heavily in one of the companies that he had done some work for. They had a new product, which Jeff helped to develop. Jeff said the company was going to really go, and it has. Their stock has split twice already, and Jeff put a lot of money in that company. For the first time in our life, we can spend a little on our friends when we want to. Now please don't spoil it for us. Just go get your things and get your butts back here."

The two women hugged each other, while Dave stood back and grinned, not really knowing what else to do. Then, catching him by surprise, Diana fiercely hugged him, then leaned her head back, looking up into his face. "Thanks for picking my husband up and bringing him into this house. It would have been terrible trying to treat him in the back of the Escalade all day, particularly in this pouring rain. And we could never have moved him ourselves."

Dave mumbled something, he supposed, but he was mentally trying to count backward from one hundred by threes. 100, 97, 94, 91... Don't get hard. 88, 85, 82... Don't get hard. But, damn, her breasts feel nice.

As Diana turned back toward her husband, and Dave breathed a silent sight of relief, she said over her shoulder, "If you need it, use our Escalade, too. Be sure to get enough of your things so you don't have to run home for something every couple of days."

Evie grinned at him as they started for the back, and he knew he was about to catch hell.

"Enjoyed that, did you?"

Dave started to stammer out a denial. Damn it, why do women get pissed when a man's dick responds to another woman. She knows I love her, and she knows I can't help my dick responding sometimes when my brain has better sense.

Astonishing him, Evie playfully elbowed him in the ribs, "You would have to be dead to not responds to boobs like hers. Heck, they even look good to me."

He did manage a "Thanks, Babe," but was afraid to say anything else.

Later, back at home, Dave carried boxes and suitcases to his Escalade. Evie had helped pack and box things up, then while her husband transported the boxes, she sat down at the table to pay a few bills. She dialed the bank, reconciling their checkbook. Dave made several more trips out to the SUV, got a coke, and sat down at the table with his wife.

Evie hung up the phone, an odd expression on her face. "Your paycheck has been deposited," she said.

"What paycheck? But... I agreed with the accountant to be paid twice a month. Heck, I've only been working for them for a couple of days. What gives? Did the accountant misunderstand? Has he paid me in advance or something?"

"If he did, he misunderstood twice," she answered.

"What do you mean 'twice?'" Dave said, looking more puzzled by the moment.

"Well, I have a feeling," Evie said, taking a sip of her husband's coke, "Remember when they did their little eye thing, then welcomed me?"

"Well, yeah, I guess."

Evie grinned in spite of herself. "Well, I think I got hired too. Come to think about it, there was a note on the kitchen counter for me to call the accountant. I wondered about it, but with everything going on, I just forgot to ask why he would need to talk to me. I think he just made out your payday, then duplicated it for me. I'll bet he wants to get my information so he can do the deductions."

"But..." Dave said.

Evie's eyes filled. "Remember what Diana said about being able to spend a 'little money' on their friends now? Well, I think she was talking about more than a free meal here and there. I've just finished paying our monthly bills, and we've still got more money, by far, in our personal checking account than we've ever had. Hah... now there's an understatement. Look," she said, spinning the ledger around so he could read it.

Dave looked, then just stared at his wife. "Shit," he said, with his usual eloquence.

"Yeah," Evie echoed, tears misting her eyes, "that about sums it up."

They parked on the north end of the building, but had to walk around to the back door to get in. As they walked into the living room late in the day, everything was pretty much the way it was when they left. All eyes, except Jeff's, locked onto the stack of pizza boxes that Dave and Evie carried.

Upon seeing the reaction, Evie laughed. "I'll get some plates and something to drink." She opened one of the boxes, and said, "On second thought, just carry them on into the kitchen, Baby. I think we need to warm them up a little."

As Evie and Dave started for the kitchen, Doctor Boswell got up and followed. In the kitchen, both women loaded drinks, ice, glasses, plates, silverware, and a roll of paper towels on a serving cart, while Dave cycled the pizza through the microwaves.

"Red pepper?" Doctor Boswell said.

"Already ahead of you, Doctor. We got a number of packets from Pizza Hut when we picked up the pizza. They're already on the cart."

"Helen," Boswell said.

"Okay, Helen," Evie answered as they walked over to Dave to help him put the pizza back into the boxes as they came out of the microwave.

"There's enough here for twenty people," Boswell laughed. "You two went overboard."

"Well," Dave answered, putting another pizza into a microwave and setting the timer, "We didn't know what everyone liked, so we just got an assortment. We can always freeze what we don't eat, and have it some other time."

"Yes," Boswell said as she carried pizza boxes to the serving cart, "We sure don't get delivery service out here. This should go over really well."

Boswell seemed to be apprehensive for some reason, glancing at the kitchen door frequently, obviously impatient with the delay as the pizzas warmed. Dave, standing behind Doctor Boswell, glanced at his wife and shrugged. "We've only got two more. You two go on, and I'll bring them in a minute."

Boswell seemed relieved, and hurriedly pushed the serving cart out of the kitchen without comment, while Evie held the door for her.

In the living room, Boswell and Evie cleared the game table already sitting near the window and spread out the pizzas, still in their opened boxes. Arlene and Melissa were both sitting on the floor next to Jeff's recliner. Diana and Jeanie put pizza on a plate for each, and brought it and a drink over to them, then came back to get their own food and join everyone else.

Just as Dave took his first big bite of pizza, Diana suddenly bowed her head and gave a quiet thanks for the food, and for allowing her husband to live.

Dave started chewing again and looked around the room. He glanced at Evie, then the two girls sitting snuggled up to Jeff as best they could while he lay in the recliner, sleeping. According to Diana's previous comments, they were all reluctant to leave the living room. What had Diana said? Something about they just couldn't force themselves to leave Jeff for more than a few minutes at a time. I could understand this in the beginning, when we first brought Jeff inside, but everyone thinks he's well on his way to recovery, yet they haven't even gone to the kitchen to get something to eat all day. At least that's what it seems like.

Looking around the room as they women tore into the pizza, he thought he was probably right. I still don't understand how they knew Jeff was hurt this morning. Diana left here like she was intent on burning all the rubber off the Escalade's tires. When did Jeff start carrying a radio with him? I know he didn't have one the morning I met him in the back, and he went on out to the range with me. He didn't have one on when I brought him in either, and I didn't see one on the road.

Dave took a sip of his drink, looked at Diana and sighed, "A mysterious machine that's 'better than any trauma center on Earth;' you and Arlene burning out of here before daylight; someone saying on the PA that Jeff was hurt..."