Chapter 2
Twenty minutes earlier...
Lainie rushed into the house through the door to the all-season porch and saw her mother beating a towel over the couch, thick smoke billowing up from the blue cushions.
"Jesus, Mother! What did you do?"
Genna looked up, a cigarette still dangling from her lips. "I fell asleep," she said sheepishly.
"With a cigarette in your mouth? Are you trying to kill all of us?"
"It slipped," she explained and squeaked with a burst of flame ignited the couch again. Lainie groaned and grabbed the fire extinguisher from under a nearby cabinet. Thank God, there was one in every room of the house. Otherwise, her mother was liable to burn down the house just by taking a nap!
She pulled the pin and pointed the nozzle at the base of the flame. White foam covered the once-blue upholstery. Then the phone rang. Her mother tucked her cigarette in the corner of her lips and answered it.
"Hello?...yes, this is Genna Moon...oh, sorry, it's just a small fire. It's been put out...oh, you don't have to do that...well, can you at least turn off the fire alarm. I'm getting a headache..."
A few seconds and the screeching alarm ceased its blaring. Her mother hung up the phone. "That was the security company. They're sending the firemen. You better go out front and head them off. I'm not dressed for company."
Lainie stared at her mother, gripping the extinguisher painfully to her chest. She seriously considered putting her mother out of her unfashionable misery by strangling her, but the back door creaked open.
"Mama?"
Lainie dropped the extinguisher and rushed to keep her children out of the smoked-filled room. "Hey, it's okay," she told Chloe. Chris stood down a few steps, worry creasing his little face. "Everything's fine. But you can't come inside until the smoke clears."
"Did Gramma burn down the house?" her daughter asked.
"No, honey," Lainie said, picking her up and cuddling her close. For her children's sake, she needed to find her own place soon. No one -- including their firebug grandmother -- will ever hurt her children again. She'd make sure of that. "We have a singed couch, but it was ugly anyway."
Chloe burrowed her face in Lainie's neck. "I'm tired, Mama. I want a nap." So, did Lainie. She didn't get the chance to answer because sirens echoed off the trees, and Lainie had to take care of the firemen. "Chris, will you take Chloe to the pool house and turn on cartoons? You can have anything inside the refrigerator."
Chris perked up, though his smile was held back by his stubbornness. She set Chloe down, and he took her small hand, leading her across the tailored lawn to the one-roomed pool house. Lainie went back inside the house, ushered her mother outside and took away her cigarettes and lighter.
"Go tend to your grandchildren," she commanded. "You've scared them half to death. The least you can do is watch them until I clear up this mess."
"But..."
"No, buts," Lainie nearly screamed, but she inhaled a calming, shaky breath, "and no smoking. Period."
Her mother scowled at her, but Lainie couldn't find the energy to care about how she hurt her mother's feelings. She raised a few windows before going out front to talk to the on-coming emergency crew.
The first to arrive was the paramedics, followed quickly by a firetruck, and the fire captain's white pick-up truck. The truck skidded across the driveway, nearly plowing into her mother's prized hydrangeas, but all Lainie could think about was, Serve's her right.
Questions were asked, answers were given, and all persons were fine and accounted for. She noticed the neighbors were snooping, cell phones were being whipped out to spread the news that Genna Moon's house was on fire.
Perfect.
Like her mother hadn't caused enough scandal in this small community.
Then she saw him. Aaron Dozier. Looking just as good as the day she tried to sever his femoral artery with a plastic utensil. His weird gray-green eyes, like sea foam on a dark night, drank her in, and she felt that stare down to the pads of her pinky toes. He always had that affect on her. Like she was the only person in the world, and he liked it that way.
Firemen entered the house behind her, and before Aaron could approach her, Chloe's body slammed into her legs. "Mama? There's monsters in the backyard."
"Monsters?" she laughed and bent to haul her sweet child to her hip. "What kind of monsters?"
"Red ones, with big boots," she said, wringing her blanket between her fingers.
"Oh, those monsters," Lainie said, seeing Chris' head poke around the corner of the house. Aaron saw him, too. In fact, when his foamy eyes glimpsed her children, he drew to a stop, as though he'd walked into an invisible brick wall. Good, he's uncomfortable. Serve's him right.
"Those monsters are here to help," she told her daughter. "See that big truck? You think it might transform into a giant red dragon?"
Chris inched closer. "Like in Transformers?" He eyed the firetruck with acute interest, hoping to see it morph right there in the middle of the street.
Aaron blinked for a moment, then put on a smile and came forward. He bent down to Chris' level and asked, "I love that movie. Who's your favorite transformer?"
"Opt'mus Prime," Chris said, raising his chin, but fisting a wad of Lainie's shirt for comfort and bravery.
Aaron nodded seriously. "Yeah, he's great, right? I'm torn between Ironhide and Bumblebee."
"Bumblebee's lame," Chris said, and Lainie gasped, "Chris! Where did you hear that word?"
Her son's face blanched for a moment. "Gramma," he muttered. Lainie closed her eyes. Find the good side...
At least, he wasn't spewing curse words.
"What's wrong with saying 'lame'?" Aaron asked innocently and clearly confused as he rose to his feet.
Her eyes shot open, firing a heated glare so hot that if he'd spontaneously combusted, there was no way she ever point a fire extinguisher at him. "He's four years old, Mr. Dozier," she said icily. "And I don't appreciate being second-guessed in front of my children."
He noted the formal title she gave him...and the tone of her voice. "My apologies, Mrs....uh, Stephens? Was it?"
Lainie lifted her chin, and nearly smiled as she realized she resembled her son when he did that. "It's still Moon," she corrected. "Ms. Moon."
He tilted his head to study her. Chris, thankfully not sensing any of the tension, gathered his courage and tugged on Aaron's shirt. Aaron blinked him into focus and smiled again. "Yes?"
Chris glanced back at his mother, and then drew himself upright. "Can I see your truck?"
Lainie's heart softened for her son. It took a lot of muster to ask that of a stranger. Chloe, though shy, would ask anyone anything, but Chris, his sister's counterpart, hated to ask anything of anyone. Chloe piped up, "I want to, too!"
Aaron raised a sardonic eyebrow at Lainie. She wanted to smack him for the attitude, but that wouldn't be good for the children. "Well, Ms. Moon, do you mind?"
Lainie set Chloe down. "Not at all," she answered, but her expression said, One wrong move, and you're toast.
He nodded, understanding completely, and her twins raced off toward the firetruck.
*****
Aaron followed after the kids. It was like looking into a Lainie mirror, only split down the middle. In the boy, he saw Lainie's stubbornness and defiance and that barely-contained temper. The cute little girl was Lainie in appearance and sweetness. Frankly, he couldn't decide which half of her he was drawn to more...the tough side or the sweet side. He'd always liked them both.
Sean filled him in on the situation as the kids scampered over the truck like ants. So, Genna Moon caught her couch on fire from sleeping while still smoking? Things like that really tanned his hide. There were two kids in the house, for cripes sake! What was wrong with some people?
He slid a look in Lainie's direction. She smiled at her children, but a tension surrounded her eyes. He remembered hearing something about her marriage recently, but to be honest...anything concerning Lainie Moon married to another man earned a deaf ear. He just didn't want to hear about any of it.
"So...Ms. Moon, how have you been lately?" he asked politely. Lainie sighed heavily.
"Sorry about that, Aaron," she said with a small smile. "You can call me Lainie. I'm just a little wound up about my mother and..." She didn't finish her statement. A sheen entered her eyes.
Shit. Please don't cry now. Lainie's tears had always been his Achilles Heel. But she only sniffed and jerked her chin higher. Oh, yeah. Sweet and stubborn. All mixed up in a very tempting package.
His gaze traveled up and down that package. The years and motherhood agreed with her. As a teenager, she'd been on the skinny side, but now...
A small groan threatened to escape. Soft curves rounded out every inch of her. Now, she looked like a woman was supposed to look. His palms began to itch as he thought about how her flesh would feel in his hands. The plumpness of her full breasts...the roundness of her rear end...the quiver of her ticklish belly as he smoothed his fingers across it...
A burst of childish giggles broke his daydream, and a stain of blood pooled in his cheeks. Holy hell, he was a full grown man! Not a blushing fourteen-year-old looking at his first porn movie.
And he'd been ogling her in broad daylight...in front of her kids! Oh, he was going straight to hell. No passing Go. No paying the toll. Satan, himself, will pop up from his royal domain and personally escort Aaron Dozier to his fiery pit, right smack between Hitler and Jeffery Dahmer.
A rough hand landed on his shoulder, and he jumped out of his skin. "We're done here, Captain," Sean told him. "The police need to file a report for the security company, but we can head back whenever you're finished..." Playing with the hot momma and her kids, were the unspoken words, and Lainie heard them, loud and clear.
She gave Sean a smoldering look and clapped her hands. "Chris, Chloe, come on down. The firemen have to leave now."
"Ahhh...!" the twins' cries chorused, but they obeyed. Amazing. Aaron shook his head with disbelief. He spent a considerable amount of time with kids due to his community help programs, but he'd never known any to obey their parents quite so easily. Maybe he wasn't looking close enough.
Aaron crouched down at the two Mini-Lainies huddled by her legs. "I'll tell you what," he said, smiling. "You can come by the station anytime you want and see all the trucks."
Chloe smiled back at him, and Chris' eyes flickered with interest, but Lainie frowned. Now, what? He was trying to be nice. He didn't get the chance to ask. Lainie gathered up her children and turned her back to him.
No good-bye. No "It was nice to see you again." Nothing. She just shut him out of her life again. Hell, he shouldn't be surprised. It wasn't the first time it happened.