Page 4 of Demitrius

“Can I have some carrots?” Mandy told Martin she thought there was a bag full of them on the counter. “Thanks. I’m going to eat them real careful at the table. I don’t want to mess things up, in case they come back and get the stuff they gave us.”

“Oh, honey, they won’t do that. You can be as messy as you want. Though I’m going to make you clean it up when you’re done.” She tousled his hair and told him that she loved him. “See if your brother wants anything. I thought for our first night here we’d order pizza and see how long it takes for us to get it. Deal?”

The house looked like they’d lived there for decades instead of about five hours. After the family left, having set up the furniture as well as the beds, including one for herself, she was ready to call it a day. But there were groceries still on the counter that had been left, as well as a few things that she said she’d get put together, like the vacuum cleaner and the coffee table. It was all lovely furniture, but she was still wondering how she was going to be paying them all back. They spent several thousand dollars on her home, and she wasn’t even related to them. And there were things that she still needed to get, like a coffee maker.

None of them drank coffee, so they’d not thought of getting her one. She had told them that she only had a cup a couple of times a week, so she thought it was a waste of money. But right now, she’d give anything for a nice hot cup of the stuff just to calm her down. She felt as if she’d been running all day long. And she had.

At a quarter to seven, they were having pizza when the doorbell rang. Mandy was ready to tell anyone at the door they were all right, the neighbors had been coming over to meet them, but when she looked into the peephole, she couldn’t believe it was Demi. She spoke to him without opening the door.

“What do you want?” He laughed and told her that he wanted to apologize to her. “I accept and now go away. I’m having a meal with the boys.”

“Please let me in. My family is going to be checking in with me to see how it went over, and I don’t want to have any more trouble with them.” She opened the door quickly, hoping to knock his head around when she did. Instead, he smiled at her. “Is that a Creno’s pizza? Christ, I’ve not had one of them in years.”

As he went by her, she was handed another pizza box, this one from Adornetto’s Pizza. She’d heard of them, of course, but hadn’t been to the larger town to get one. There was a bag sitting atop the box, and she took it to the table with the other pizza to ask him what he was doing.

“He’s gonna eat with us. I invited him.” She wanted to ask when that happened, but she only sat down to have her own slice eaten. “He’s my friend.”

“All right, but next time, ask first. In the event there isn’t enough for all of us.” Glaring at Demi when he scarfed down two slices of pizza, she wondered if there was going to be enough now. “Are you taking the other box home?”

“No, it was my peace offering. Go ahead, have some of it.” He chewed the hot slice up and smiled again. “There are salads, too. They make the best salads if you ask me. There are four of them in the bag. The dressing is on the side.”

Her mouth watered for one of the salads as soon as she saw it. Lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes were on it, and she opened one up for the boys when they said they wanted to share. Demi had told herthe dressing was homemade. It was the best she’d ever eaten, too. After eating hers, she noticed that the boys had as well, and Demi was putting his pizza on the table when she realized that the one that they’d gotten was gone. Christ, it had been nearly a whole pizza when she’d gone to the door. She was glad that she’d been able to snag a couple of pieces of the hot one.

The four of them managed to eat nearly three-quarters of the second pizza. It was mainly Demi, he explained how he’d been working out today and had forgotten to eat, but there was one salad left that she was going to take to work tomorrow for lunch if Demi didn’t take it with him. The boys went off to their rooms, they were moving things around the way they wanted them, and she got up to clean up the table.

“I’m so sorry for the way that I treated you today. It was uncalled for and rude.” She turned to look at him, and he grinned. “You’re not going to accept it, are you?”

“I told you that I would, but that doesn’t mean that I like you any better than before. You were rude and hurtful when I didn’t do anything wrong.” He said that he knew that, too. “Good. Now you can go.”

She was ready to toss him out of the house when Martin came into the room to ask for his help. His bed was in the wrong place, and since he was going to help, then they should be able to move it where he wanted. It just so happened that she’d tried moving the bed earlier when Teddy had wanted help, and it was just too heavy for her to do.

It took them nearly three hours to get the beds in the right place. Teddy had had an idea that he wanted his bed across the room from the two windows in his room, but it took up space in front of the closet. Demi never pointed out the mistakes that they were making, but moved them like they wanted. Even though she had her own room, her bed hadn’t been put together, and he did that too. It was handy to have him around when he wasn’t insulting her, she supposed.

At nearly three in the morning, she was ready to go to bed. She still had to work tomorrow, too. The boys were going to be staying with Locke’s wife, Alex, as she had chores for them to do, and they were excited about that. Mandy was going to be dead on her feet tomorrow; she just knew it.

Demi left them after her bed was together and told the boys that he’d go by Alex’s home to see them. Mandy didn’t know who was more excited about the meet-up: the boys or Demi. As soon as she locked the doors and checked on the boys, she went to her own bedroom and plopped onto the bed. She was out before she realized, too late, that she’d forgotten to change her clothing.

She was up before her alarm went off. Having woken up in her shoes and clothing, she decided to get an early start on the day. Almost as soon as she found the box of Jiffy to make pancakes, someone was at her door. It was Demi again. And he looked fresh as a daisy and ready to work again.

“I’d not realized that you’d have to work today when I got home. So I picked up some coffee for you and some donuts for the kids. They’re going to need the sugar when they get to Locke’s home. Alex is going to be working in the yard blowing up things for the holidays. I think she has about a dozen of them just for Halloween.”

The boys were up and dressed as she was finishing up her coffee. On the way home, she was going to pick up a coffee machine so she’d be able to indulge when she needed it. She wasn’t a coffee expert, but she did enjoy a good cup of it when she was really stressed or tired. Like she was right now.

The donuts were a huge hit. She even had herself a muffin that was in the box to go with her brew. As the boys were telling Demi how they slept, she was about half-listening. Today was going to be a long one if she had to work without another cup of coffee. She looked at Demi when he said her name.

“Are you all right with me taking them to Alex’s home? I promise you I’ll drive carefully.” She asked him what he was doing. That she’d forgiven him. “I like the kids. We don’t have to like one another, but I do love the kids.”

“All right, but I have no desire to date anyone, especially you. No offence but like you, I have enough going on right now that I don’t have any time for myself, much less stroking an ego as large as yours seems to be.” If she’d not been looking at him, she might have missed the flare of anger. It wasthere and gone quickly. “I don’t want to fight with you here either. This is our home, even though you own it, and I want peace and quiet here, not just for me but for the boys, too. They’ve had enough stress in their lives without you being all pissed off all the time.”

“It’s no excuse, but I was working too hard. My brother made me close up my restaurant for a week so that I could get some rest. Last night, after leaving here, I slept better than I have in over a month, even though it was only for a few hours. I’m sorry, and I’ll keep telling you that until you believe me. I never should have taken my temper out on you.” She told him that no, he shouldn’t have. His laughter made her own temper flare up. “I’m sorry, but I love the fact that you’re not allowing me off the hook so quickly. Thank you for that.”

After the boys were ready to go, Demi said he’d drop her off at the new offices too. She didn’t want to be depending on someone, but she really was exhausted and needed something to perk her up. Getting to work on time was something that she strived for forever.

Getting the office open, she was surprised to see both Shipley and Jack come into the place. It was their offices and she only worked for them, but to see them in town at eight-thirty when they didn’t need to be surprised her. She knew that they didn’t laze around, even with all the money she’d heard they had, but it was nice to see them.

It took her nearly four hours to get the program running that they were going to use for the elderly when they opened up for classes. The ordering app for stores meant that anyone could order their groceries or other things in town and have them delivered directly to their home for a small fee. Or they could order and pick it up when it was ready. So far, she noticed that most of the users were using the pick-up part, and she thought that was wonderful.

The classes would be small. Only about four to the class. It would have been hard on her to have to teach more than that, as it was going to be hands-on for a while. The people who were coming in had to pay a small fee to the foundation for the classes, but it would also get them a discount on delivery from the stores. She loved that idea, too.

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