Page 20 of Mav

“Yeah, she stayed back from them, so none of the pollen got on her. But she went for the meal and in the restaurant, a woman at a nearby table kept speaking to Vincenzo. The idiot, instead of ignoring her or telling her to go away, kept responding. Now, you all know Nell, she saw that as disrespectful from the woman and her date.

“Nell excused herself to go to the restroom, and she climbed out the window, sprinted down to the nearest park and found herself a quiet area where she called Richie, Tank and myself to come and fetch her home.”

“Oh. My. God. The idiot, what sort of date talks to another woman while you are at the table with your date? What happened?” Mia has forgotten all about the house across from us, as she is now fully focused on the tale Graham is telling.

“Vincenzo must realize after a while that Nell isn’t coming back from the restroom, and goes to see where she is. He can’t find her, so has his men start the search. They find her before we can get to her, but she’s hopping mad. She throws every insult she can at him, and everything at hand, which happens to be rocks and earth. Vitale’s men are inching nearer and that’s when Nell inches her skirt up and grabs her Glock from the holster she has strapped to her thigh,” Graham is grinning as he is telling us the story.

“No…Oh, good for Nell. I need to go visit. I’ve not been over since I had Summer.”

“She’d love that, Mia. She doesn’t have enough friends. As you all know, she tends to stay on the property with the three of us, but we are not always great company.” Graham leans against the wall of the house we are hiding beside and gives the house across the road a sharp look. “What do you think they are up to? It’s boring being on your recon.”

“We’ll go over in a minute. Just finish your story.”

I grin because Mia is not interested in what is happening right now across at the house. She is interested in what happened with Nell and Vitale.

“Oh, she shot one of his men in the shoulder, one in his thigh and pointed the gun at Vitale, snarling that if he takes one step nearer she’d blow his dick off. That he had his one chance and blew it, and why didn’t he go back and play with his new piece at the restaurant. She wouldn’t let him get a word in, and when we arrived he was about ready to grab her, but she jumped on the back of Richie’s bike as he was the nearest to her and we all drove away. She’s ignored every contact he has made since then.” Graham is grinning so seeing it happen had to be highly amusing.

“I’m going over to see Nell next week while the twins are at kindergarten. I need to hear all the details, and then I’m going to enroll Nell into the girl gang. I don’t care she’s not an Ol’ Lady of the club. She’s my friend and she’s going to be enrolled.”

The door on the house opens and the Three Stooges followed by Meat leave, and they all look smug. I side-eye Mia as I notice she’s giving them all a look that says they best have left something for her to deal with. Graham is looking from one to another, and I innocently ask. “How come you’ve got a hog? And why have the other two got hogs as well?”

Graham smirks, “Well, we have all that property and we were fed up of dragging out the truck all the time, so we got ourselves a bike. We love them, we can check out the property on them easily, and we love riding them. Nell loves them but isn’t keen on having one of her own, but I reckon I could persuade her to have a trike like yours, Mia.”

“Well, if she is part of the girl gang, then she will need her own bike, or trike, don’t matter, she just needs whatever she’s happy with. I’ll talk to her next week.” Mia scoots over the fence, dodging the yapping dog and both myself and Graham clamberafter her, but why she couldn’t just walk up the sidewalk I don’t know!

Back at the clubhouse and in the kitchen once more, I listen to Bitty, who fills Mia, myself and Graham in on what happened at the house. “We pushed our way inside, and oh my, it was disgusting. There was trash everywhere, the kitchen was disgusting, and every room will need to be fumigated in my opinion. Our boy Meat had that asshole pinned to the wall, and made sure he paid full attention. Amelia and Sybil checked every room, and Yax, along with her son Franklin, were not home. We told that piece of shit he had two weeks to find somewhere else to live, taking his woman and kid with him. Also, they best not mess with Blake again because come two weeks the cleaners will be in, and the house up on the market for sale.

“I let him know that the DNA was false, that the debts were paid and him, along with his piece of shit woman, best get out of town. Amelia whacked his shins for him with her cane, and that made him pay attention.

“Now, I have to speak with Specs, who is doing something magical, and then we can tell Heather about this cleanup job. I don’t care if they are out of the house because I’m taking my boys if they are not to just throw them out. I have friends who can make sure Franklin is safe and has a place to live with people that actually care.”

Mia is grinning so widely her eyes are nearly closed. She’s enjoying every minute of this, and I know she’s had some of that postparty whatever it is after having Summer, so she deserves a little fun.

“Momma…!” We all turn when we hear one of the twins shouting to Mia, but what we didn’t expect was the ribbon in his hair, andthe fake tattoos on his arms and chest. He’s got shorts on and his sneakers, and that’s it…what happened to his other clothes I’m not asking. Ribbons, tattoos, whatever next?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

-:- BLAKE -:-

This has been a busy week now that I’m working at the coffee place. I like it and it’s only been my third day. Wednesday has come around fast and I start my cleaning job tonight.

Arriving home from the day job as I think of it, I quickly make a drink and change into an old pair of black pants, and a tee which I won’t mind getting cleaning fluids on if I have any accidents.

I’ve not seen Bitty or the other ladies since we had the kitchen experience, as I like to label it. My mind sees it as some kind of event because I’ve had nothing like that happen to me previously, and it was fascinating watching the three of them. They are more like sisters than friends, and you can see the love they have for each other, although they pretend they don’t.

Alf has been with me for my first three clients this evening, and they were easy, as they are still mobile and doing most of the housekeeping themselves. I cleaned up the kitchen, bathroom, and wet mopped the utility rooms if required, but apart from that it was just nice to speak with them. It’s more than obvious they are all lonely.

Now, Ed! What can I say about him that probably hasn’t been said before. He’s my fourth client, and Alf left me to deal with him alone. Ed’s a widower, losing his wife a few years back. He has a walker, but he’s not using it at the moment, the dust on the thing tells me that, and the fact he walked toward me in greeting with a huge smile on his face tells me he isn’t reliant on it either.

It is now ninety minutes since I started, and Ed has followed me around talking a mile a minute. It’s more than obvious to me that the four clients I’ve been given need someone to do more for them than the half an hour to an hour of cleaning. I’m going to have to think about this.

“Have you finished for the night, Blake? It’s getting very late and you should have finished here nearly an hour ago.”

Turning, I give Ed a smile. “Hey, you trying to get rid of me? I wanted to make sure you had a clean bed and everything was as it should be. Now I’m putting you a meal in the crockpot. I’ll put it in the fridge and in the morning take it out and pop it on the low setting and it’ll be cooked for you, giving you a nice hot meal later.”

“Oh, that’s good of you. I’ve been eating the meals that Alf told us all about. They are decent, but it’s not like home cooking.” I close the fridge door. “You know it’s nearly ten-thirty and you should be home.” Ed gives me a good looking over, and I’m not sure what he’s actually looking for, but it must be okay as he gives a satisfied nod to himself. Honestly, these elderly people are strange and I hope it doesn’t rub off! I can imagine myself as a Bitty, Sybil or Amelia in my old age, if it does.

“I don’t have anyone at home to worry about, so don’t you go fretting about that. I have the vehicle that Alf gave me, so I won’t be walking the sidewalks either. You don’t have to worry Ed, I’ll be careful. Now, tomorrow make sure all your laundry is ready for me when I get here and I’ll get it in the washing machine. It can be forgotten about until I’ve done the other chores I want to get done.” I grab my purse and van keys and quickly make my way to the front door. “Lock up after me, Ed, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

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