SBC Fighter: Tails Of Love Part 11

Maybe there didn't have to be a rest of the time. Screw life. Maybe they could just stay in bed and handle the s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g that way. But . . . "I need you to help me fix a problem." He hated adding more to her already crazy life.

"Wel now, I don't know diddly about veterinarian stuff but I'd be tickled to give you a decent biscuit recipe. Yours are like . . . dog biscuits. Last time I tried one I think I chipped a tooth. But Maxwel loves them. Can't get enough and they do seem to make his coat nice and shiny." She wound her fingers into Rex's hair, giving him a loving look until her cel phone rang.

Not now, dammit, he thought. Not when he'd final y gotten up enough nerve to risk it al and tel her. With Jane Louise reaching across him to the nightstand he had just enough time to plant another kiss on the sweetest skin that belonged to the sweetest girl in al of Georgia.

"It's Mamma," Jane said, studying the little phone screen.

Her jaw clenched, then unclenched, then tightened again.

She eyed the clock on the nightstand. "And it's not going to be a good thing if she's cal ing me in the middle of General Hospital. What has Mamma gone and done now? When G.o.d was handing out common sense, f.a.n.n.y Lou was last in that particular line right behind Aunt Sadie, Uncle Wil , Cousin Hil y, and the rest of the Garrison clan."

"Maybe she thought you were working over at the Foxy Snoot today and when you weren't there, she wondered where you and Maxwel were? Maybe she just wants you to pick out a new purse or something."

Jane gave him a slit-eyed look.

"Right. General Hospital. What was I thinking?"

"It's not that I don't love Mamma and al my kin to pieces but I plucked out three more gray hairs this morning and at this rate of family agitation I'l be bald before thirty and that's only six months away."

Letting out a deep breath, Jane answered the phone, paused, rol ed her eyes, cracked her knuckles, then downed the two Tums that Rex handed her before she disconnected. "Okay, here it is in a nutshel . Mamma says it's a surprise for me, which means it's for her and one that is truly outlandish because she wouldn't tel me one clue over the phone. Something's up." Jane Louise nibbled her bottom lip. "I'd better go right now before things get worse."

Jane slid from the bed and snagged her dress off the lamp. It had been one of those can't-wait-to-get-you-in-bed moments. Her hips twitched and he knew it was for his benefit. Thoughtful girl.

"Now what was it you wanted me to help you with? Oh, yes, the biscuit recipe." Jane hopped on one foot then the other while pul ing on her heels and combing her hair with her other hand. How did she do things like that? Amazing creature. "You stop by the house a little later on after you have office hours and I'l give you Aunt Sadie's prize concoction." She blew Rex a kiss off the tips of her fingers and he could almost feel it land on his cheek. "You stay just the way you are, you hear. Rock-bottom normal."

"Boring."

"I like boring." She opened the door, snagged her purse in one hand and Maxwel in the other, then let herself out.

So much for spil ing his guts. He could have interrupted her but when a Mamma situation surfaced, Jane had enough ha.s.sle. And now he was going to add to it. He wanted to marry Jane Louise, make her life easier, help her deal with her family. Even have babies with her despite the questionable gene pool that scared the bejeebers out of him. Of course, Jane's love of family more than made up for that glitch.

But he didn't want a wife who saw him as a security blanket, a woman who loved him because he was the logical choice, because he was the easy choice. He didn't want a wife who only needed him. Rex glanced at the western sky. Tonight he'd find out if she real y loved him in spite of . . . everything. In seven hours they'd be together forever or they'd be history. And that possibility pained him to the depths of his soul.

Jane parked in front of the white Victorian that needed a paint job, roof job, gutter job, and had been the Garrison family home with random additions here and there for six generations. It was one of those places where the doork.n.o.bs stuck a little, the lights shorted out for no good reason and every stick of antique furniture, every bit of cut crystal carried over from Ireland, and every piece of sterling silver hidden in the cel ar away from those d.a.m.n Yankees during that unfortunate Northern occupation had a story al their own. Jane undid Maxwel 's puppy seat belt. She slid him into the navy stripe purse she rented from the Foxy Snoot, then headed for the front door painted half red and half green because Mamma couldn't make up her mind which. A car horn tooted, drawing Jane's attention to a . . .

"Oh, please." She groaned to Maxwel . "Don't let that be Mamma sitting behind the wheel of that pink Mustang convertible. Please let it be another fifty-five-year-old woman with Hol lywood sungla.s.ses, bouffant hair and a polka dot scarf sitting there."

"Yoo hoo, Jane Louise, honey. Over here. Looky what I have." Mamma gave Maxwel a pat, then took off her gla.s.ses, her big blue eyes flashing. Jane found a Tums in her skirt pocket. That it was lint-coated and a little mushy didn't matter.

"Mamma where did you get . . . why did you get . . . how are we going to pay . . . take it back!" Jane ate the Tums.

"Now before you go getting yourself al out of kilter, hear me through. I got this deal from Jeremiah over in Garden City . . . which is nothing at al like a garden I might add and I'm never going to get used to that. It's just a jumble of concrete and weeds and I don't know why on Earth they don't fix the place up. Anyway, someone over there turned in this little beauty with only a few teensy weensy thousand miles on it so I got Henrietta here for a steal. Isn't she precious!"

"Steal is the only way we can afford Henrietta."

"And don't the two of us appear right smart together?"

Mamma fluffed her hair and looked sublime. "Like you and Maxwel , we're a team."

"Maxwel 's from the shelter, eats a thimble ful of food and doesn't get ten miles to a gal on of gas."

"Wel , your Aunt Sadie and Uncle Wil wil think Henrietta is a fine idea."

"They think their chicken taxidermy business is a fine idea."

"Roosters are a prize possession in these parts, you know that."

Jane wanted to add so are horses but thought it best to keep that piece of information to herself. Mamma tossed her long scarf over her shoulder, the silk polka dots floating off in the autumn breeze just like Jane's protests. "I need to be off now and show the garden club ladies my new ride.

That's what the young man at the car dealership said. Lady, that is some sweet ride you have there. "

"I thought T-Bone and the guys were fixing up the Suburban for you. The Suburban's a fine car and it's paid for."

"T-Bone's a good mechanic and a fine man, and I'm sure that there car is just peachy for someone. But for me to pick a blue '88 Chevy over a new pink car! Mercy!" Mamma giggled, looked more thirty than fifty-something, and purred off down Julian Street pretty as you please without a care in the world. She could do that because she and the whole rest of the Garrison clan left al the caring up to Jane Louise. It was her duty to take care of them al and that was fine. Aren't we lucky as a bouquet of shamrocks to have Jane Lousie in the family to get us through. How many times had she heard that? A bazil ion. To the point where she often wondered if she was adopted. 'Course she wasn't. She was the spitting image of Big Daddy . . . minus manly hair patches, a hundred and fifty pounds, catastrophic cholesterol, and the ability to drink anyone under the table . . . G.o.d rest his soul.

"Jane," came Rex's voice behind her. "Did I just see Mamma in a pink convertible? Sweet ride."

"No ride. She should walk. Take the bus. Skip. A unicycle would work, though Mamma on a uni is a bit over the top.

But that we could afford." Jane snagged Rex's arm, dragged him behind the row of blooming magnolia trees in the front yard, put Maxwel down and threw her arms around Rex and kissed him. She added a good deal of tongue to help forget the Mustang and get her brain infused with more pleasant thoughts. Rex was a very pleasant thought indeed with his black hair, gray eyes, fine build, incredible lovemaking skil s, and abundant sanity. His strong protective arms slid easily around her, making her feel warm and secure just like he always did. His hands cradled her bottom, bringing her close to his glorious arousal. "I can always count on you to be here and make things right."

She felt him stiffen al over and when they were in this type of situation there was usual y only one stiff part of Rex's anatomy. "Are you okay, sugar?"

"Fine as can be." He grinned but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Now what? "This is a nice welcome," he added before she could ask him what was going on. "Mamma needs to buy cars more often."

"Don't you dare even think such things, Rex Barkley. My family's loopier than ever today. Mamma and the car. My aunt and uncle out recording rooster crows for a CD they're putting together to go with their business. It must be a ful moon tonight or the stars are lining up in the heavens or something." Her lips drew his bottom one slowly into her mouth, her insides doing a slow Savannah meltdown over him.

"Now that you mention heavenly bodies . . ."

"Are you talking about little ol' me?" She administered little love bites to his chin and did a suggestive wiggle in his arms.

"Yes." He panted. "Definitely you and that planet thing doesn't come along as often as you think. Some combinations just happen every five years, in fact. Transits of Venus is one. It's where the Earth and Venus line up with the sun and did you know that Venus is the G.o.ddess of love and that's a very powerful G.o.ddess and-"

"And what about the G.o.ddess you have right in your arms, Rex Barkley?" She stopped biting and thumped his chest with the flat of her hand. "I'm kissing you like crazy here in case you didn't get the point. This is cal ed making out and if you're lucky, mister, maybe I'l even let you get to second base." She winked. "I so do like you getting to second base, Rex."

But instead of taking her up on her offer, he held her hand and led her over to the front steps. "You'd better sit down, Jane Louise."

"What on Earth is wrong with you?" He set her on the top step and pul ed the bottle of Tums from his pocket. "You forgot these at my place and you're going to need them."

Jane jumped up, the something's wrong feeling back in ful force. "Are you breaking up with me? That must be why you're acting like . . . like you're from my family." She threw her hands in the air and walked in little circles around Maxwel to try and get calm. "How could you do this and on such a pitiful y rotten day when-"

"I'm not breaking up with you, Jane." He fol owed behind her. "I just have this problem. I'm not exactly what I appear to be."

She stopped and faced him. "You're going to go and tel me you're gay? That's what Jimmy Harris told Ida Jones when he wanted to break up with her. 'Course it was a big fat lie and she went after him with that derringer her daddy keeps in his desk drawer and-"

"We just made incredible love an hour ago. I think the gay issue is off the table."

"Right. Off the table." Jane pul ed in a deep breath feeling a bit better. "Wel , you're acting al weird and no one knows weird better than me."

"I'm . . . Oh, boy."

"You've already established that, give me something else to go on."

"I mean I'm . . . I'm . . . I'm a werewolf. There, I said it, it's out in the open and it's true and I'm going to try and fix it . . .

with your help so we don't have to worry about this any longer and we can get on with our lives."

She stared at the most handsome man G.o.d saw fit to put in the great state of Georgia and tried to imagine him as a .

. . "How dare you, Rex Barkley. You think I'm a blooming idiot because I'm a Garrison. If you want to break up with me just say so, you don't have to fabricate some idiotic-"

"You think I'd make this up? Good G.o.d! Would anyone make this up? And why would I?"

"A werewolf? Even if this is Savannah and for sure some mighty strange things happen around here al the time, a werewolf is completely . . . nutty. And here I thought the gay excuse was pitiful and I have no idea where Big Daddy's derringer is these days and what do I say to everyone who wonders what happened to us being together? That I broke up with Rex because he's a . . . wolf ?" She stomped up the stairs. "I doubt if any man ever wanted to break up with a woman as much as you do to dream up a story like this."

He took the steps two at a time and pul ed her into his strong arms that weren't very pawlike at al . "I love you."

"Are you going to howl at the moon for me? And how does someone get to be a werewolf? Eat those dog biscuits of yours?"

"See, that's the very point. Think about it. Why would I like those unless I was what I said I was? Why do you think I have the biggest vet practice in Savannah; why I wrote that book on how to train your dog that everyone swears by; why I opened the shelter where you got Maxwel ; why I know where to find the strays al over Savannah? I have unusual communication skil s and I get around. We al do."

"We?" Jane felt her eyes bulge to cover her face. "Al ?"

Her voice shrank to a squeak and her head started to spin.

"There are . . ." She couldn't get the word out.

"Five."

"Holy mother in heaven." She blessed herself and plopped down in the wicker settee. "Five werewolves in Savannah. You must think I'm the most gul ible female east of the Mississippi."

"Not exactly werewolves so much as . . . dogs. Minerva's powers aren't as strong as they used to be, thank heavens for that much. Ever see that 'Dogs Playing Poker' picture."

Rex shrugged. "That's us. We took a picture during one of our poker games and a friend of T-Bone did the painting.

The dog that found the missing girl in Forsythe Park last week, that was T-Bone. We al sort of crossed Minerva in one way or another over the years. Never ever tel Minerva that her scones aren't as good as the ones at the Pink House, or refuse to accompany Minerva's b.i.t.c.hy niece to the spring cotil ion or take Minerva's parking s.p.a.ce at the Piggly Wiggly. If you do any of those things the next time there's a ful moon you are in for one hel of a surprise and it just keeps happening every ful moon from there on out."

"Let me guess, you're going to live forever."

"It's just a dog and moon thing and d.a.m.n inconvenient to say the least and I'm tired of giving myself rabies shots and if you'd ever had a case of fleas you'd remember it."

"Wel , thank G.o.d you weren't neutered."

He crossed his legs and looked pained. She stood and felt his head. "You're sick, that must be it. You have one of those raging fevers where you go delusional and your brain turns to Jel -O. I had that happen once when I ate some of Cousin Hil y's barbecue sauce. Fried my brain for a week, couldn't remember my own phone number. You have a fried brain."

"You can break the spel for me. For us. We were cursed by the same spel , we get uncursed by the same spel .

Least that's what it says in the curse book."

"There's a book?"

"Lots of books. Old, dusty, smel y books. You can get them on eBay."

She buried her face in her hands. "You are so ful of c.r.a.p, Rex Barkley."

"And let me tel you that can be a real problem when there's a ful moon. Do you know how many fireplugs there are in Savannah?" He winked. "A little werewolf humor."

"d.a.m.n you, Rex. I've known T-Bone and his cronies for years and Mamma is right fond of him and I have hopes they'l get together one day."

"With this curse he'l fit right into the Garrison clan when he and f.a.n.n.y Lou do get together."

"It's al a lie because you want to break up with me."

"Once a month, sometimes twice I stay at home, right?

When the moon is ful ."

"Can't remember about the moon part but you stay home to catch up on paperwork, write your book, on cal at the clinic." Rex arched his brow as if to ask, Are you sure? She gasped, "I do not believe-"

"Yes, you do and the only way for me to break this spel is with your help. Tonight, one hour before midnight because that's the hour for doing good." He pressed a paper into her palm. "This is how to do it, Jane. Explicit directions on what you need to do to help me, to help the others. It has to be done with one true love and that's you." He kissed her hard.

"Total y and completely you. With a ful moon the Transits of Venus and you and me together."

"But-"

"Rescue me, Jane." His eyes were dark as midnight and sincere. How could this be sincere? He held her tight as if he might never hold her again. She felt sad, desperate, and confused. "I love you, Jane. Love me, too."

"I can't do this." She took a step back, straightened her spine and organized the brain that had served her wel al her life. "My entire family is eccentric-I think that's the understatement of the century-and I'm the sane one, the logical one, the one who doesn't need a shrink and this is shrink territory big time. You just want to dump me and know this wil do the trick because I hate this kind of behavior. It's the easy way out. I won't say anything because everyone knows my family's reputation is loopy enough already and I don't want to add to it by putting myself in that category, too."

She crumpled the paper in her palm and threw it across the porch, the white bal bouncing over the edge and into the bushes. "Wel , it worked. You and I are official y done, Rex Barkley. You got what you came for, now you can leave."

His eyes met hers for a second making her want to jump into his arms and say she'd put on a witch hat and dance naked on the rooftop if that's what it took to keep Rex with her. But she couldn't. She was the reasonable one and she intended to stay that way. Someone in the family had to!

"Remember I love you, Jane. Always wil , til the end of time. I'm sorry you don't feel the same." Rex walked down the steps and headed for the sidewalk. Maxwel hopped out of her purse and trotted after Rex, his bouncy fur and curled tail fluffing in the breeze til Jane scooped him up and tucked him under her arm. "Traitor."

He barked at Rex's retreating figure and suddenly looked . . . sad. Yes, that was it al right. One sad little dog. Droopy puppy eyes, no tail wagging, and pathetic whiney sounds Jane had never heard before. "Now I have a psycho dog to go with my psycho family and boyfriend."

But that was just it. Rex wasn't her boyfriend anymore and it was al his fault. Werewolf? This was a breakup, pure and simple . . . though a werewolf story sort of took it out of the simple category.

She sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her hand.

Mamma would have a hissy at such behavior, except right now Jane didn't care about Mamma and Southern manners that one fol owed to the grave no matter what the circ.u.mstances. Al Jane cared about was Rex and that he was gone; and as much as she wanted to say good riddance, she didn't feel one bit good about anything.

"Wel , what happened now?" T-Bone Boon glanced up from the raised hood of a Suburban as Rex entered the deserted garage. A red neon sign that read CAR ER flickered in the window, il uminating the evening dusk outside. "You look like something the cat dragged in, Bubba, meaning it's gotta be woman troubles and with you that's Ms. Jane Louise. Not a nicer girl in al Savannah if you're asking me. You're lucky to have her. So, what did you go and do to mess things up?"

Lingering exhaust and gas fumes hung in the air, engine belts, hoses, and vintage Georgia license plates decorated the wal s along with an autographed picture of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and "Dogs Playing Poker." Rex sat down on a case of Valvoline feeling tired clear through.

"Did you ask her to marry you and she turned you down flat? I can't imagine such a thing. The girl's crazy about you.