When that next class, which was a disaster, finished, I called Don with the bad news.
"Dad and Nat are moving into my place."
"What?"
"The landlady died, and her kids are selling the house" I explained with a groan.
"I'm so sorry buddy!" he told me.
"What am I gonna do?" From Don's experience, I knew that living with Nat wasn't going to be fun.
"Just hang in there, buddy. You can stay at my place anytime you want" He assured me.
Just before the month was up, Dad and Natalie had moved in with the pets and all their stuff. Don and I had to help. We had to get another storage unit for Natalie's furniture.
"Moving stinks!" I groaned, as I loaded a boxed marked 'dishes-don't drop' onto Don's SUV.
"Tell me about it!" Don commiserated as he grunted and loaded another box.
Finally, after two days of work, we finished emptying the house, and moving stuff to either the storage unit, or my place.
"Thanks again Charlie!" Natalie said.
"No problem."
As Nat went to her car, Dad warned me "Be careful with leaving the doors and windows opened. The cat could escape and Nat loves her like a daughter."
"Okay" I inwardly rolled my eyes.
A day or two after Nat and Dad moved in, the phone rang, and I answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hi! Who is this?" a woman's voice asked. "I'm Nat's mother."
"Charlie, one of Alan's sons" I said.
"The mathematician!"
"Yeah."
"How are you? Can I speak to Nat?"
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Charlie called me from the living room to let me know that my mother was on the phone.
"Thanks!" I told him, as I picked it up. "Hey mom!"
"How are you sweetie?" she asked. "How are the new living arrangements?"
"fine. They're only temporary" I said.
"I heard prices over there are getting astronomical" she told me. "That'll definitely affect rents"
"Alan and I will manage" I assured her, but worried.
"That's good to hear" she said.
After I finished talking with my mother, I heard Charlie yell.
"Damn it! Shoo!"
Quickly, I ran to the living room.
"Your cat peed on the rug!" Charlie groaned. I sighed. Cats tended to urinate out of their litter boxes when presented with new environments. I had tried to get her adjusted by bringing her for little whiles over the last month.
"What's wrong baby?" I asked the cat. "Why aren't you using the litter box?"
"What do I do about the stain?" Charlie asked.
"Put baking soda on the affected area to neutralize it."
"Baking soda?"
"Cat urine is made mostly of ammonia" I said, then added "Sorry about that. The change of environment is hard on her.
Charlie followed my advice, and I comforted the cat. Poor thing! I kinda missed the place too.
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I came home to find Charlie, Larry and Amita working on something in the living room one day the next week. There were two large chalkboards, and lots of paper.
"Hey guys! What are you up to?" I greeted them.
"Something for Don" Charlie said, as Alan came over to give me a hello kiss.
"I see."
After a while, Alan went to his book club, and I read, in the living room.
"Have you guys found a place?" Charlie asked.
"We looked for at a few places last weekend, but nothing worth considering.
"Oh..."
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I had looked warily at the cat when Natalie let out her out of Don's room. The cat had run down the stairs. Now it was inspecting Larry and Amita.
"Hello there!" Larry greeted it.
"How's the kitty!" Amita cooed.
Soon, Natalie was playing with her pet, using one of those annoying toys that made noise when you moved it. Rocko tried to chase the little fake rat, too, but the cat hissed at him for trying to get a piece of her action.
"Layla! No!" Natalie said firmly.
"I've got a wireless connection on my laptop" I told her. "In case you needed to check your email or something." Truthfully, I wanted her to get the idea and look at house listings.
"I already checked my email and online listings at my office." she informed me.
"Okay..." I put on my best smile and continued to work.
The next day, I begged my brother "Please go on that weekend getaway with Dad, Natalie, and Jane! I need the house to myself so I can work!" We were at his desk.
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"What are you saying?" I asked my brother in annoyance. "I gotta work too!"
"Her pets are a pain in the ass!" Charlie complained. "And so is she. She expects Dad to make the coffee, and I had to see her wearing one of his shirts!"
"This is only temporary, Charlie!"
"Like the relationship was supposed to be!" he snorted. "I thought that living together would break them up!"
"That's gonna take time buddy. Eventually Dad will realize that he's better off with someone his age" I reassured him.
"I hope so!" he pouted.
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Living in Charlie's house wasn't easy for me to get used to. I had to worry about him accidentally letting the cat out. Then, he was kind of nosy. Some days after moving in, I had bought this stuff called Honey dust from an adult store after hearing Vera, Ms. Too much information, talk about it. Discreetly, I had gift wrapped, put it in a target bag, and left it on the couch, when the phone rang right after I got home. I talked on the phone in the kitchen, and walked back to the living room only to find that Charlie was puzzling over the gift wrapped box of honey dust, even shaking it. What the hell? Who does he think he is, looking through my stuff?
"That's for your father" I said diplomatically.
"Oh..I uh..."
"Don't worry about it" I took it from him. Good thing I had used neutral gift wrap.
"His birthday isn't for a while" He said. "And so is Valentine's Day."
"Part of being in a relationship is giving a gift, just because" I said, and then asked in my most even voice "Why did you look through the bag?"
"It's just that uh...Dad usually does the shopping" he said.
"Did you think I had gay porn in the bag or something?" I joked.
"No!" He gave me a what the hell look.
"Please don't look through my stuff." I told him, and then went to the kitchen to seethe. I decided not to tell Alan because I didn't' want father and son to fight on my account. We really needed to find another place!
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"Last night, I found out that Natalie was giving Dad a gift." Charlie told me.
"What kinda gift?" I asked.
"It was gift wrapped, and it didn't make sense. His birthday and Valentine's day is not for a while" Charlie was puzzled.
"Maybe it was a 'just because' gift" I shrugged. I had given Kim a few of those.
"Or..it could have been an I'm sorry gift'" Charlie raised an eyebrow.
"How did you find this gift?" I asked him with crossed arms, realizing that maybe he had been going through Natalie' stuff.
"I found it in a target bag" he admitted.
"What is with you man! Dad would have hit the roof if Natalie told him." I scolded my brother.
"I know..but what could be in that box?"
"Maybe we don't wanna know what's in the box?" I told, him. it could be something kinky. If so, ignorance would be most welcome.
"What?"
"She could have bought something from an adult store" I explained with an eye roll.
"Ugh!"
"Still wanna dwell on it buddy?"
"Uh..no"
"I thought so."
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Another week went by, and still no luck with finding a place.
After a terrible tiring day, which included putting not one, but two cats to sleep, I was surprised to see Pam, an old friend of mine from college. She was a premed so we both had a lot of the same classes and had kept in touch all these years. Now she was a plastic surgeon in New York.
"Hey!" I said and we hugged. "What's up?"
"Taking a vacation" she said "Thought we could have a girl's night out?"
"Sure!" I was sure that Alan wouldn't mind. Besides, I needed a break from Don and Charlie. "I'll just let my boyfriend know, and we can be on our way."
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"Set only three places at the table" I told Charlie from the kitchen.
"Nat's not coming for Dinner?" Don asked as he got himself a beer. "It's not one of her late days."
"A friend from college came to visit, and they're going to catch up over dinner" I explained.
"Okay"
"Put some napkins on the table.
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"I worked with the most irritating architect today!" I told the boys as we ate. "He talked all about himself, and had this annoying nasal voice."
They both laughed.
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We had dinner at this Mexican restaurant called Arco Iris.
"How are things with Alan?" she dipped a chip in salsa. We kept in contact through letters and email.
"Great! Though we had to move in with his younger son"
"What?"
"My landlady died, and her kids decided to sell all of her properties. So, my lease wasn't renewed." I explained.
"And your one of your boyfriend's sons has a house?"
"Yeah." He bought it from his dad.
"He bought his childhood home?" she asked.
"Yep" I replied.
"He's the one who doesn't like you right?"
"The one who shows it more at least. I don't know how the older one feels" I shrugged. "He's an FBI agent, so he doesn't exactly wear his feelings on his sleeve."
Pam nodded.
"How's your practice?" I asked her. "Still going strong?"
"We just hired a new doctor, fresh from Harvard!" she beamed and drank more of her Margarita.
"That's great!" I said.
"How's your clinic?" she sipped some water.
"Wonderful! We don't plan on hiring another vet until one of us retires before the rest." I commented, after ordering a drink. "Anyway, how things with your boyfriend?"
"We broke up, but I really don't want to talk about it." She lamented.
"Okay..." I respected people's need for privacy.
After dinner, at her request, we went to a bar.
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It was eleven. Dad had gone up to bed, and Don was still with me, talking about this and that, as well as watching TV.
Suddenly, we heard the doorknob rattling.
"Someone's trying to get in!" Don quickly got his gun and put it in position.
"Get down!" he ordered me and went to one side of the door.
"Anybody home?" a familiar voice asked. Don breathed a sigh of relief, and opened the door.
Natalie asked with a slur. "Don't you have your own apartment?"
"You okay?" Don asked, and escorted her to the nearest couch.
"Pam and I went to this bar, where the drinks were divine! We had a little too many, so we both took cabs. She was nice enough to pay my fare." she explained. "Good thing it's Friday"
"Yeah" Don agreed and looked at me.
"I couldn't put the key in the keyhole" she said while awkwardly getting up. "Well, I gotta get to bed. It's late."
"Let me help you" Don offered.
"I'm fine." she insisted, and started on her way.
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I woke up on Saturday morning with a hangover, the size of a planet.
TBC