Two of a Kind part 2
Auntie Pasta
All Disclaimers apply.
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Gary found her asleep on the couch, her cellular phone in one hand. He touched her face and gently said her name, waking her.
"What?" she said. "Is it the paper?"
Gary shook his head. "I love you."
Shelby smiled. "Say it again."
"I... love... you," Gary repeated slowly.
Shelby leaned forward and kissed him. "I love you, too."
Gary kissed her back.
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Shelby woke to someone tracing the pattern of the scar on her naked shoulder. For once, she suddenly wanted to talk about where she had gotten it with someone. She had never told anyone what had happened. Not even Kayla.
"Gary?"
The gentle touch stopped. "What?" Gary asked softly.
"Have you ever lost anyone?" Shelby asked. "I mean... been trying to rescue them and something happened and you lost them anyway?"
Gary was silent for a minute. "His name was Jeremiah."
Shelby rolled over to face him. "Tell me."
Gary told her about the fire and the homeless man and how he had fallen off the ladder going from one building to another. "There were so many things that I could have done differently," Gary said. "But I can't turn back the clock."
"Did you get over it?"
"Not really," Gary replied. "But it has made me stronger." Then he told her about how he had almost died in an abandoned carpet store two days later.
"I know how you feel," Shelby whispered after a few minutes.
"It has to do with the scar on your shoulder, doesn't it?"
Shelby nodded. "Kayla knows about the injury, but I've never told her the whole story."
"What happened?"
"Her name was Tammy," Shelby said. "The story said that her husband was going to stab her several times in a jealous rage. I tried to get her to come with me and finally convinced her to come, but he got home before we could leave. He was so drunk." She paused when Gary wiped a tear away. She kissed his fingertips before she went on, his hand clasped tightly in hers. "He tried to stop her from leaving, but I was protecting her. When I turned to walk out after her, he took a knife from the kitchen drawer and stabbed me in the shoulder." She paused again to take a breath and receive a gentle kiss from Gary. He urged her on.
"He pulled the knife out and I just stood there in shock as he grabbed Tammy by the hair and dragged her back in. He began stabbing her and..." she stopped, unable to go on. Gary pulled her close and she cried a few minutes before pulling away.
"You don't have to go on," he said.
"Yes, I do," Shelby replied. "I need to talk about it. It's been four years."
"OK," Gary said as he stroked the tears away from her eyes. "Go on when you're ready."
Shelby swallowed and took a breath before going on. "I grabbed something heavy from the counter—I don't even remember what it was—and hit him over the head with it. He was out cold. I crawled to her side to find that it was too late. She said it was OK." Shelby sobbed. "Then she died and I passed out. The next thing I remember, the EMT's were there and getting me ready to take to the hospital. And the coroner was zipping the body bag with Tammy's body in it. I couldn't even look at the paper for weeks. I'd just ball it up and throw it in the garbage."
"How did you start reading it again?"
"One day, the headline on the front page was something about a fire at a travel agency. That was before I started the bookstore. Kayla was supposed to be killed in the blaze so I knew I had to go or risk losing the only family I had," Shelby told him.
"But you were never able to stop thinking about Tammy," Gary said.
"Any more than you can stop thinking about Jeremiah," Shelby replied.
Gary smiled and pulled her close, kissing her. Shelby returned his kiss, wrapping her arms around him to run her hands up the bare skin on his back. She felt his hands on her shoulders, one hand again tracing the pattern of the scar on her shoulder.
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Gary woke at 6:30 to his alarm clock and found Shelby gone. He searched to room for a second before hearing the shower start. He debated on joining her but was interrupted by a thump, meow at the door. Seconds later, he heard another thump, meow and silently prayed that it meant there were two copies of the Chicago paper on his doorstep and not one Denver Post. He pulled himself out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts. The cat meowed a bit more urgently, and he rushed to the door, sans his shirt to find out what was going on. He opened the door to find his parents, Lois and Bernie Hobson, standing there. Lois held the two copies of the Chicago paper in her hands.
"Why two this morning?" she asked before noticing her son's state of undress. "Are we interrupting?"
"No," Gary said as he snatched the papers away and took a good look at them. He sighed with relief to find that they were indeed both Chicago papers.
"Gary. You want to explain what's going on?" Bernie asked.
"Long story," Gary murmured as he perused the paper.
Shelby chose that moment to come out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, her wet hair slicked back. "Gary, is that the...," she stopped. "Oh, sorry. Didn't know you had company."
Gary closed his eyes and waited for his parents reaction. "Oh boy," he mumbled.
"Who's she?" Bernie asked as Lois just gaped in shock.
Gary opened his eyes and looked up. "Mom, Dad, this is Shelby Weston."
Shelby adjusted her towel so it would stay without her holding it and stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Hobson," she said as she shook Bernie's hand. She turned to Lois. "Mrs. Hobson." Lois didn't respond, just continued to gape. "Mrs. Hobson?"
"Lois," Bernie said as he jabbed his wife with his elbow.
Lois jumped and shook Shelby's hand. "Nice to meet you."
Shelby looked at Gary and gestured to the bathroom. "I'll just go get dressed." She smiled thinly and turned to the bathroom. When she was gone, Gary's parents went into interrogation mode.
"How long have you known her?" Lois asked.
"Where'd you meet her?" Bernie asked.
"Is she someone you rescued?"
"Is the second paper hers?"
"Did she spend the night?"
"How well do you know her?"
"Did you sleep with her?"
Bernie stopped and looked at his wife. "That's a ridiculous question," he said. "Of course he slept with her. Look at the way they..." he glanced at Gary who gave him a stern look. "Uh, look at each other."
Gary rolled his eyes. "Two days, a jewelry store that was being held up, yes, she spent the night which answers your last question too, I suppose."
"How well do you know her?" Lois repeated.
"Better than you might think," Shelby answered for him as she exited the bathroom fully dressed. She turned to Gary. "Why don't you go catch a shower. I'm sure your parents are eager to grill me."
Gary eyed his parents. "You sure?"
Shelby glanced at them. "I think I can handle it."
Gary kissed her and headed to the bathroom, grabbing some clothes from his dresser on the way.
Shelby turned back to Bernie and Lois. Lois eyed her suspiciously as Bernie grinned knowingly. "Well, go ahead," she said. "I'm waiting."
"So," Bernie began. "You know about the paper."
"Yes," Shelby replied. "I get it too. Only in Denver."
"What brings you here?" Bernie asked.
"I found a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times on my doorstep the other day," she explained. "So my sister, she's a travel agent, got me on a flight out that morning."
"Travel agent, huh," Bernie said thoughtfully. "I don't suppose she could get us, oof!" Bernie was interrupted by his wife's elbow in his rib.
Shelby bit her lip and tried not to smile.
"Gary said that you met at a holdup in a jewelry store," Lois prompted.
Shelby nodded. "I was looking at the paper on my way to a jewelry story robbery. The headline said something like, 'one killed in holdup.' I looked away for a few minutes and when I looked back, it had changed to 'two people die in holdup.' I realized that Gary was in trouble and had to stop it. So I did."
"How?" Bernie asked only to receive another jab from Lois.
"How isn't important," Lois said, her face softening into a smile. "What's important is that she saved Gary." She opened her arms and gave Shelby a hug, unknowingly jostling her sore arm.
"Ow, ow, ow," Shelby said as she gently pushed Lois away. "Sore arm." She put her hand over the sore spot.
"Sorry," Lois apologized.
"That's all right," she said and took the paper from the sofa where Gary had tossed the two copies.
"So do you have to go back?" Bernie asked.
"I don't know yet," Shelby said as she absently leafed through the paper, taking note of the headlines they could take care of.
"What exactly does that mean?" Lois said.
"Well," Shelby said looking up from the paper. "One morning we may find two cats and a Denver Post on the doorstep instead of two Chicago Sun-Times."
"Are you sure of that?" Bernie asked.
Shelby looked at him. "No," she said simply as her cellular rang. She dug it out of the couch cushions and pushed the button, turning it on. "Hello, Kayla," she answered.
"How'd you know it was me?" Kayla joked.
"Who else could it be?" she replied then whispered to Gary's parents, "My sister."
Lois nodded in understanding and took off her coat. Bernie followed suit and followed Lois in the kitchen where they began making breakfast.
"So how's it going?" Kayla asked.
"Fine," Shelby said. "As if it's any of your business."
"That bad, huh?" Kayla said dejectedly.
"Not at all," Shelby replied as she watched Gary come out of the bathroom. He kissed her and joined his parents in the kitchen. "No eggs," she called to them. "I'm allergic."
"Got it," Bernie said with a thumbs up.
Shelby shook her head and turned back to the phone.
"Who was that you were talking to?" Kayla asked.
"Gary and his parents," Shelby replied.
"Did you have sex with him?" Kayla said. Shelby began coughing.
"Are you OK?" Lois asked with concern. Shelby nodded as she coughed and dug in her purse for an inhaler. She took a puff and turned back to her phone.
"What are you trying to do? Kill me?"
"Hey, I just asked a simple question," Kayla asked. "I take it the answer is yes?"
Shelby rolled her eyes.
"What did you say to her?" Gary asked when Shelby quit coughing.
"Nothing more than you would expect," Lois replied. "Did you know she was allergic to eggs? Or asthmatic for that matter?"
"No," Gary replied. "But I know what the scar on her shoulder is and I promised I wouldn't say anything about it."
"Good to hear," Bernie replied. "If she can't have eggs then what does she eat for breakfast?"
"Sausage," Gary suggested. "Fruit, cereal."
"Well, there goes the French toast I had planned," Lois said as she put the eggs back in the refrigerator.
"What are you going to do about the paper?" Bernie asked.
"What we did yesterday," Gary replied. "Pick out the stories we can do something about, split up and keep in touch by cellular in case one of us needs help."
"Great," Lois said. "I'll go with Shelby this morning and your dad can help you. At one we can meet for lunch and switch."
"That's not necessary," Gary said as Shelby finished on her phone and joined them.
"What's not necessary?" Shelby asked.
"Our help," Lois said cheerfully.
"I wouldn't mind their help," Shelby said then at the look Gary gave her said, "What! I like your parents. I wouldn't mind getting to know them a bit better."
Gary sighed and shook his head. "OK. Dad will come with me this morning and mom with you."
"We can meet at that cute little restaurant down the street at one for lunch," Lois said.
"Sounds like a plan," Shelby said and opened up the paper that was still in her hand. "Gary why don't you start...."
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