Chapter 2
With checkout time at noon at the hotel, the couple slept in a bit after Zach took Lexie for a walk to get in her morning dump. They had enjoyed the pool the evening before and came back to their room to find Lexie soundly sleeping on their king size bed.
The area was still experiencing a heat wave so Zach and Caleigh quickly showered around ten, went to the Perkins down the road for brunch and then went back to check out of the hotel so Lexie could stay in their air conditioned room. She was sleeping on the bed again.
Zach looked at Caleigh. "That's not becoming a habit."
Caleigh looked at him. "When you're gone, she'll sleep downstairs at night on her bed. But after I let her out and she eats her breakfast, she sneaks up and sleeps with me if I'm still in bed."
"Cal, we talked about….."
"And Zach, I talked to Uncle Dave. Even Mudg does it with him." Zach just shook his head, grabbing their bag as Caleigh got Lexie into her shoulder harness and attached the lead. "Let's be like shepherds," she smiled.
"And get the flock out of here," Zach smiled. "I'm ready to get home."
Four and a half hours later, Zach pulled the truck into the driveway of Aaron and Beth's home and hit the garage door opener he still had on his overhead sun visor. Caleigh looked at him. He smiled at her. "Dad is a profiler remember?"
Caleigh smiled. "Or maybe he just knows his son."
He looked at the truck clock as he pulled in. "And we beat Jack home."
Caleigh rubbed his arm as Zach shut the truck off and lowered the door. "Don't be disappointed if he wants to spend more time with Lex than you."
Zach smiled at her. "And I'm a profiler's son. But he doesn't know we're staying here," he evilly grinned.
"Your dad and Beth never told him?"
"Nope," Zach smiled, opening his door.
Walking into the kitchen, they saw a huge note taped to the cupboard and two pounds of hamburger thawing in the sink. Underneath the cupboard was the basket Zach always put his truck keys in. Jack wants hamburgers on the grill for dinner. Check your bedroom it read. Zach, carrying two suitcases looked at Caleigh, tossing his keys into the basket like usual. She followed him down the steps to his liar, pulling a third one and Lexie's bed. Lexie followed them.
Zach's den looked the same. Caleigh put the bed down in there and looked at Lexie. "That's your spot." Lexie barked her approval with a tail wag. They headed into the bedroom and looked in to see a bed and a dresser, with Zach's old nightstand at one side of the bed. It held a new alarm clock.
Caleigh smiled and rubbed his arm. "I think they want us here."
Zach smiled. "Or an extra bedroom for Sean and Kim with Merrill and Sela coming for the wedding."
"Merrill and Sela are staying with Uncle Dave," Caleigh smiled. Zach looked at her. "Sela and I talk on Facebook."
Zach shook his head and looked at the clock. Caleigh looked at him. Zach nodded at the clock. "Jack gets home around three twenty." The clock read three nineteen.
With Jack now in sixth grade, Aaron and Beth had expanded his responsibility around the home. Getting off the bus with his own key, he walked into an empty home. Beth didn't get home until around five. And Jack knew the number one rule – homework first. Beth even trusted him enough to put a dish she had made the night before for dinner in the oven, teaching Jack how to set the oven.
A minute later, Zach heard Jack put the key in the door. Caleigh had Lexie shut down. Jack entered, and shut down the alarm while shutting the door. Zach listened closely as Jack re-bolted the door and turned the alarm back on. Zach smiled at Caleigh who held Lexie by her collar. He winked. "Let her loose," he whispered.
"Go girl," Caleigh whispered, letting her go.
Lexie deeply barked at the perceived intruder and bolted up the steps. "Lexie!" Caleigh and Zach smiled at each other and followed Lexie's path. They walked upstairs to Jack lying on the entryway floor, giggling hysterically with the kisses he was getting from Lex. Caleigh pulled out her cell and videoed it.
Jack looked up. "Zach! You're home!" He bolted off the floor into Zach's arms. Zach pulled him up and held him close. Caleigh swung her phone to that reunion.
"Missed you bro," Zach said, hugging him.
"I missed you too," Jack said with his arms tightly wrapped around Zach's neck. Lexie happily barked at the reunion of the brothers with Caleigh rubbing her head with a large smile.
Zach put Jack on his feet and nodded towards Caleigh. "Zach, you don't have to tell me that."'
Caleigh looked at him. "Hang on a sec Jack." She hit a button on her phone and smiled at him. "Reunion video sent to dad, Beth and Uncle Dave. Now," she smiled. Jack powered into her for a hug. Zach rubbed his head as he hugged Caleigh.
He pulled back and looked at the two of them. "Can I play with Lexie outside?"
Zach looked at him. "What's the get home from school rule around here?"
"Welcome home bro," Jack sarcastically said.
"Yeah bro, dad, Beth and I compare notes. Do you want to do it now or Sunday afternoon and not watch football?"
Jack frowned. "Yeah, you three really do."
Zach smiled. "But Lex needs to run a bit. You get her in her shoulder harness while I get the yard tether planted."
"Zach?"
Caleigh smiled. "She's a lab and likes to chase birds and squirrels. Remember what we heard when we got her? She'll try to still bolt on me sometimes."
"OK Cal," Jack smiled.
Ten minutes later, Zach was getting the Weber out from the back door of the garage. Lexie was tethered to the ground post Zach had put in just off the patio concrete. It had a fifty foot lead that allowed her to chase her tennis ball that Jack softly threw around. Zach smiled at them as he got the charcoal ready.
Zach went into the house and went up to the kitchen. Caleigh was looking at a text, moving to the potato bin Beth had in the kitchen. Zach smiled. "Let me guess." Caleigh looked at him. "They'll be six of us for dinner."
Caleigh smiled. "I'll chase in the squirt; you go over and get Mudg. They're all on their way home. I'll make the picnic fries. You can make the burger patties when you get home. Beth is stopping to pick up a large can of baked beans."
"What about your family?"
"Its football night," she said.
"I think we need to go to a football game tonight," he smiled.
Caleigh kissed him. "Thank you."
-00CM00-
A week later, Will looked out he and JJ's bedroom window, pulling off his t-shirt. He smiled at JJ, already in bed. "I think the kids are settled in," he drawled.
"Will," JJ asked.
"The lights just went out in their home," he smiled.
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A/N: I know; I know! I warned you. Please give me a chance. "Focus on the journey; not the destination. Joy is not found in finishing an activity but doing it." Greg Anderson
Yeah right – like that's going to help. *shrugs* :D :D
Thank you for all of the alerts and reviews! Or for just reading! :D
