Please let me know what you think. A little feedback would let me know if you like the story. :)
Hope you enjoy these pictures taken when I lived in Utah!!
This is still one of the most beautiful pictures I ever took.
Chapter Thirteen
Jedidiah buried his free hand in Hairy’s fur. “I’m losing
it, big guy.”
Hairy turned is head, giving him the ‘I feel for you’
look.
“I’ve never been this distracted by a woman before. I
can’t let how I feel get in the way of keeping her safe. Her attacker is on his
way here.”
Hairy moved closer and laid his wet, furry face on
Jedidiah’s arm.
“Aww…I’m glad to see you still love me, even after you’ve
spent so much time in the car the last few days.”
Hairy whimpered and rubbed his face against Jedidiah’s
arm once more.
The flurry of activity along the street caught Jedidiah’s
attention. There were crews cutting trees, working on power lines, and some
were doing clean-up.
He pulled into Janna’s driveway and turned off the
engine. “Okay boy, let’s get Janna some clothes. We’re probably going to have
to make a secret escape as soon as that character gets into town.”
Jedidiah held the door open and Hairy jumped out, moving
stealthily up the semi-covered walk. Bushes had been strewn all over the area
and Hairy stopped to sniff in several different places. About two feet up the
walk he stiffened, sat up and gave his version of a grim look. If Jedidiah
hadn’t been so on edge he might’ve laughed because the drool dripping from the
right corner of his mouth detracted from the desired effect.
“What is it boy?” He walked up to peer into the bushes
where Hairy had been sniffing. This time, Jedidiah did laugh. A small white
kitten with huge blue eyes stared up at him. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a
little kitten, Buddy.”
At the tone of Jedidiah’s voice Hairy stood up and
cautiously walked over and sniffed at the kitten once more. It mewed and rubbed
against Hairy’s head. He jumped back like he’d been bitten and Jedidiah
chuckled in delight. He reached down, picked it up and snuggled it into the
pocket of his hoodie. It continued to meow for a moment, but then settled
against the hand he laid inside the pocket for its comfort.
Hairy looked up at him. “I know, I know. I’m just a big
ole softy. If you don’t tell anybody, I won’t either.” He laughed under his
breath and let himself into Janna’s house. He went straight to the bedroom and
chose some outfits, under things, and toiletries. He was going on the stuff at
the front of her dresser drawers and the items sitting out on her bathroom
counter being the stuff she normally used. He opened her closet, spied a pink
and black duffle bag and shoved everything inside and zipped it up.
Hairy came into the room whining in a low pitch.
“What’s wrong, Boy? Did you run across that monster cat?”
Hair nuzzled up against the pocket of his sweatshirt and
moaned.
Jedidiah laughed, patted his head and said, “Don’t worry.
You’ll always be my number one.”
Hairy barked, wagged his tail and disappeared out the
door.
Jedidiah shook his head. Crazy dog was jealous. He
grinned and stuck his hand inside his pocket to see if the kitten was still
sleeping. It was warm and fuzzy. He grinned, realized he was, and pulled his
lips tight. “I don’t even like cats, so why am I carrying this one around? I’ll
take it to the shelter.” But he knew he wouldn’t. He was already shaking his
head no in protest to his own statement. “Man, I gotta get outta here. This
woman is making me crazy.”
He stepped around the door, slinging the bag over his
shoulder at the same time. He barely saw the furious movement of white fur as
it barreled toward his chest. Before he had a chance to ward it off, claws and
teeth were biting a scratching him anywhere they landed. It was a good thing
he’d put on the sweatshirt. The kitten started crying and the demonic cat
stopped, fell to the floor and lay dazed for a moment before sitting up and
staring at Jedidiah with an accusing glare.
Jedidiah brushed at his arms, chest and shoulders. He
looked straight into the evil beast’s eyes and said, “You are a menace, you
know that?”
The cat sneered at him and growled.
“You might as well get used to me being around because I
ain’t going anywhere.” Jedidiah reached down and scratched the thing behind the
ears before it had time to move. “See there, I’m pretty quick, too.” He walked
away, leaving the cat to glare at him from behind.
He checked the cat’s food and water supply and checked on
the ice. All looked good so he walked to the door, opening his mouth to yell
for Hairy. He didn’t get the chance. The big dog jumped from his perch on the
couch and followed right on his heels.
Jedidiah scratched his ears. “Don’t worry, Hairy. You
could never be replaced. Yeah, it’s a cute kitten but nothing beats you, Boy.”
Hairy barked and it echoed so loud Jedidiah jumped. The
kitten mewed again and he stuck a hand in to comfort it. He had to admit the
feel of its warm fur was already growing on him. “I’ll just take it home and
feed and water it before I take it to the shelter.” But he knew it wasn’t going
any further than…”I don’t have a house anymore.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Oh
well, I’ll just take it to whatever hotel I rent.”
He whistled as they got back in the car and headed to the
hospital.
He looked over at his dog. “I’ll take Snow White to meet
Janna before I get a room.”
Hairy turned his head away and Jedidiah smiled. He liked
that his dog was jealous. Maybe it would keep him in line.
He pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and got
out of the car. He walked around to the passenger side and scratched Hairy’s
neck. “I’ll be back in a while. If you’re good I’ll bring you back some pizza.
“Aarrf.”
“Good, I knew you’d agree with me.”
***
Janna’s sat in bed tapping her fingers on the steaming
hot box of pizza beneath her arms. Jedidiah should’ve been back by now. The
niggling of worry in her mind irritated her. She barely knew the guy. Besides,
he was an ex-marine. He could take care of himself. “Face it. You’re mad
because you had to pay for the pizza. It’s a good thing you had that fifty
dollars in the back pocket of your jeans.”
“Do you always talk to yourself?”
Janna jumped, almost pushing the pizza off the slick
table. “Lord a mercy you scared me half to death.”
He laughed. “You would’ve heard me come in if you hadn’t
been talking to yourself.”
“I wouldn’t have been talking to myself if you would’ve
hurried back.” She gave him a look strangely reminiscent of that beast cat of
hers.
“I’m sorry. Traffic was backed-up because they’re cutting
trees out of the way. How much was the pizza?”
“It was eighteen dollars.”
He pulled out his wallet and handed her a twenty dollar
bill. “Here. I really am sorry I wasn’t here. I wasn’t trying to saddle you
with the bill, honest.”
“It’s fine, I had the money. You keep it.” She reached
out and pushed his hand away.
“No, I said I was buying pizza and I am.” He laid the
money on the table and began to gently pull the pizza box.
“No, I already paid for it.” She jerked the box and it
slammed into her gut. She jumped and moved her arm, screeching in pain.
Jedidiah backed away. “I’m not sure why you’re making
such an issue out of this but I’m not going to argue.”
She sat up straight. “Did we just have our first
argument?”
Jedidiah’s eyes turned smoky and she inhaled a deep
breath.
“I didn’t know there was a ‘we’ to have an argument.” His
words sounded almost hopeful.
She pushed the lid to the box up and detached a slice of
pizza and bit into it, keeping his gaze trapped in hers. Her heart was beating
a hundred miles an hour. She chewed the bite of pizza, almost choking in her
haste to get rid of it. “Oh, I’m pretty sure there is a we.”
Jedidiah held her gaze. He grabbed a piece of pizza, took
a bite, chewed it and swallowed. “Well now. If that’s true, what are ‘we’ gonna
do about it?”
She pushed the giddiness down and said, “I guess we’ll
explore that ‘we’ and see what’s up with it.”
They were both breathing heavy and Janna was sure she
could’ve cut the tension with a knife as they continued to stare at each other.
“Can I have a piece?” A small, scratchy voice asked from
the other side of the room.
Two adult heads swung in the direction of that voice and
smiled in surprise.
Together they said, “Yes.”
Dear Father, thank you for that interruption. You are my
Rock. Janna scooted up and bit into her pizza again while Jedidiah pulled off a
small piece and handed it to Jessie.
