The Summer of Bells: The Essences Saga - Book #2

Summer: Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

“Mae told me you have guests for dinner.  Your new neighbors,” Silas muttered over the phone.  Thanks to Mae answering the phone and handing it to me with an evil grin, I was now explaining why there were two strange men sitting at my dining room table eating chicken Tetrazzini.  Silas didn’t even say hi to me.  Straight away, he was asking about Nick and Seth.

“We do,” I told him, suppressing my temper.  Silas’ voice was sullen and the jealousy was coming through.  “Nick Adams and his nephew, Seth.”

“Just the two of them?’

“Well, if there was another person, I’m sure I would have noticed.”  Okay, maybe I wasn’t holding back my temper after all.  Blast you, Silas!  Why do you have to go back to being jealous?

Silas didn’t respond, but I could hear him breathing into the phone.  I took a deep breath of my own.  “Silas, there is no need for you to get all worked up about this—“

“Me?”

I continued as though he hadn’t interrupted me, “The girls have been fascinated with Seth all day, and if I didn’t invite them over, I probably wouldn’t survive the night.”

“How old is this Seth?”

“About eighteen, I guess.”

“Oh, well that figures,” he laughed.  “So, his uncle should be about fifty?”

I frowned.  “No, Nick is about your age actually.”

“Is he married?”  This question was asked in a quiet voice.  This was what Silas wanted to ask all along.  Whether Nick was single.

“I don’t know.  I didn’t ask him.”  And I hadn’t.  In fact, I barely took one bite of my dinner before the phone rang.  Chatter filtered into the kitchen.  The girls were asking them questions, but I didn’t know what they were.  And I didn’t know if the subject of a wife had been brought up. 

“Oh.”  Silas breathed heavily into the phone.

“You know what?  Let me ask him,” I practically spat fire through the receiver.  I had had enough of this.  I marched into the dining room with the phone in my hand.  Silas was saying, “Don’t do that,” but I ignored him.

“Nick, are you married?”

Eight faces glanced up at me.  I held my gaze steady, but my face was fiercely determined.  Silas groaned.  Six of those heads swiveled towards Nick, awaiting his answer.

“Um…no.  I have a girlfriend.  In Pawtucket.” 

I put the phone back to my ear, “Did you hear that?  He has a girlfriend.”

“Really, Min.  Was that necessary?”  Silas asked.

Yes, it was,” I confirmed.  I walked back to the kitchen, but I heard Amber ask Mae, “Who’s on the phone?”

“Silas,” Mae snickered.  The others giggled.

Back in the solitude of the kitchen, I asked Silas, “Are you happy now?’

He was quiet for a moment.  “Not really.  Why did you do that?”

            “Because you need to know that you can trust me.  You have to stop thinking that every man is a threat to you.  I love you, Silas.  But I hate it when you get jealous.”

            “Jealous?”

            “Yes, jealous,” I returned.  “I can see it on your face every time we go out together.  You glare at anyone who even looks twice at me.  Sometimes, even just once.   I try to bear it with good grace, but we’re not even in the same town, and you’re acting that way.”