Second Chance (20 page)

“You’ll love it.”  He smiled
beguilingly.  “Trust me.”

She made a show of cutting her
toasted sandwich in half.  “Uh huh.”

Enjoying the ease between them, he
drawled, “By the way, remember the daks-yanking incident?”

“Not likely to forget.”

“Nor am I.  I owe you.”

Without missing a beat, she
replied, “You’ve already had my pants down.  We’re even.”

“Damn.”

~*~

One arm around Tam’s shoulder,
Grant knocked on the door of Kirk and Molly’s house.

Ryder opened the door, smiled at
Tam.  “Hi.”

“Hi,” she replied.

Ryder looked at Grant.  “What are
you doing standing out there, numb nuts?”

Grant looked blankly at him. 
“Waiting to be let in.”

“The door wasn’t locked.”

“It’s not my house.”

“I don’t knock on your door.”

“You have no manners.”  Grant ushered
Tam past him.

“Don’t tell my mother that.”  Ryder
followed them down the hallway.  “You’re already in her bad books for telling
her that her dog’s fat.”

“And you thought being a vet was
safe.”

Hearing voices from the kitchen,
Tam peeled off in that direction while Ryder grabbed Grant’s arm and pulled him
to a stand-still.  “So, you and Tam, huh?”

“What about it?”

“You and her are touchy-feely.”

“You noticed.”

“Kind of hard not to.  Your tongue
was hanging out.  You looked like one of those dogs you treat after an
anaesthetic.”

“Up yours.”

“Sweet, but you don’t rock my
boat.”

Scott chose that moment to walk out
of the kitchen holding a packet of paper plates and paper napkins.  He took one
look at Grant’s face and grinned.  “Hey.”

Grant nodded.  “Anything I need to
bring in?”

“Don’t worry your pretty little
head about it.”  Scott continued into the lounge room.

“By the way,” Ryder drawled
casually.  “What was that I hear about you kissing the living daylights out of
Tam in the middle of the road earlier today?”

“News travels fast.”

Right then a big body moved in
behind him and before he knew it he was propelled into the lounge to find Kirk,
Scott and Simon waiting.  Moz stepped out from behind Grant to drop a
staggering pile of pizza boxes onto the coffee table.  Ryder flopped onto the
sofa.

All five men looked at Grant.

“What?”  He blinked.

“You and Tam kissing in the
street.”  Simon arched an eyebrow.  “Man, it is all over town.”

Huh, well, he’d wanted to prove to
her that he wasn’t embarrassed at being seen kissing her.  Looked like he’d
made that statement.

“The buzz on the grapevine.”  Moz
stroked his chin.  “Interestingly, she hasn’t mentioned it to the girls.”

“Why would she?” Grant queried.

“Are you kidding me?” Ryder
demanded.  “Those girls stick together like glue.  I bet they’re in there right
now trying to pry it out of her.”

“Maybe the girls aren’t such nosey
parkers like you mob.”  Grant squinted.  “You’re like a bunch of old men
gossiping at the corner store.”

Kirk calmly leaned back against
the sofa.  “I hear you almost molested her out in the street.”

“That’d be your Aunt talking.” 
Ryder shook his head at Scott.

Totally unfazed, Scott nodded. 
“Yep.”  He tapped his temple.  “But she’s sharp as a tack.  She knows what she
saw.”

“Not to mention Eric was breaking
his arse to tell me when I had to call in at the hospital in the ambulance,”
Ryder added.  “Apparently he and Jill saw everything.”

Well, not everything.  They
certainly hadn’t seen what had come after.  Grant grinned a little.

Simon’s eyes widened.  “Did you
and Tam…?”

Hell yeah, and it had been
hot
. 
But he wasn’t the kind of bloke to kiss and tell.  “Like I’m going to stand
here spilling my guts to you lot.”  Crossing to the DVD player, Grant checked
out the DVD cover.   “Who the hell chose this?”

They all jerked a thumb at Scott.

“What?”  Scott looked back at them
a touch defiantly.  “It’s the new Jurassic World movie.”

“This is horror night,” Simon said. 
“Jurassic World is not horror.”

“Lily would think it is.”

“Lily,” Kirk pointed out, “is in
bed where a little kid should be.”

“Yeah,” said Ryder.  “Don’t use
her as an excuse.  That’s just pathetic.”

“Are you telling me you don’t want
to see Jurassic World?” Scott demanded.

“Of course I do,” Ryder retorted. 
“But tonight is horror night.  What part of that don’t you understand?”

“So next time it’s action night,
we’ll watch a horror.  Geez.”

“I don’t like my routine upset.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I still don’t like my routine
upset.”

“I’m not taking this back,
drongo.”

“Numb nuts.”

“Good grief,” Simon complained. 
“It’s like watching little boys squabbling.”

Kirk eyed Scott and Ryder.  “Do I
have to count to three?”

“But Daaaad,” Ryder whined.

“Don’t make me get the naughty
chair.”

“Hasn’t Molly worn that out yet?”

Kirk grinned.

“What?”  Molly walked into the
room carrying a tray of drinks.  “What was that?”

“Nothing, kitten.”  Kirk kissed
her cheek and started handing the drinks around.  “Just sorting the boys from
the men.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.”

“Hey,” Ryder said indignantly. 
“I’m all man.  Ask Dee.”

“That’s not what she said about
you in the kitchen.”

Del walked in, Dee and Ash behind
her.

“Hey.”  Ryder gestured to Dee.  “What did you tell everyone about me?”

“What?”  She looked at him.

“In the kitchen.”

“What are you on about?”

“Molly said-”

“Hells bells, you listen to her? 
What kind of a dumb arse are you?”

“Your dumb arse.  And don’t change
the subject.”

Shaking her head, Dee sat down on the sofa.  “And people wonder why I don’t have kids.  Cripes, it’s bad
enough with you and the cats.”

“Why did you marry me again?”

“Because you asked.”

“Actually, you asked me first.”

“Oh yeah.”  She tapped her
temple.  “Wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“I always wondered,” said Moz.

Tam walked in holding two glasses
of iced coffee which she handed to Scott and Kirk.

Everyone sat down in their usual
pattern - most of the men sat on the floor at their wives’ or fiancée’s feet,
while Elissa slid into her preferred spot on the floor between Simon’s legs. 
Leaning back, she smiled up at him.  Propping his forearms on her shoulders, he
leaned down to drop a kiss on her lips.

“Gag,” Moz complained.  “My
sister, remember?  Keep your tongue in your mouth, Simon.”

Simon wagged his tongue at his
brother-in-law.  “Jealous?   Want a kiss, too?”

“Don’t make me hurt you.”

“Ohh, I’m so scared.”

Moz cracked his knuckles.

“Lis, do something.”

“Boys,” she drawled, “behave yourselves.”

“Geez,” Del muttered.  “Like
that’ll do it.”

Ignoring the by-play, Grant grinned
to himself when he saw there was only one spot left on the end of the sofa.

Looking around, Tam began, “I’ll
get a kitchen chair-”

“No need,” Molly interrupted. 
“You take the sofa, Grant’ll sit on the floor.”

“There’s no need-”

“It’s how we always sit.”  Molly’s
expression was completely innocent.  “It doesn’t bother you, does it?”

Grant almost laughed out loud at
the way Kirk turned his head to look up at his wife.  His face was stoic, but
there was a definite quirk at the corner of the cop’s mouth.

Molly smiled brightly at Tam while
giving Kirk’s head a pat.  “It’s how we always sit on movie night, isn’t it,
Goldie?”

Before he could reply, Del drawled, “Unless you have a problem with it, Tam?”

Moz looked at Del in
astonishment.  She shrugged in silent reply.

“No problem.”  Tam exchanged a wry
look with Grant.  “You got a problem with it?”

“I’m happy to sit at your feet.”

Ryder made a gagging noise while
Molly smirked.

Tam sat on the sofa and wriggled
back, making herself comfortable.  “By the way, remind me to see you after,
Molly.”

“Why?”

Grant dropped lazily at Tam’s
feet, positioning himself beside her legs and leaning back comfortably against
the sofa.

“I think you know.” Tam pointed at
Molly.

“You are so busted.”  Del shrugged again when Molly looked accusingly at her.  “Hey, you started this, not me.”

“You’re my back-up!”

“Is that in writing?”

“It’s a friend code.  You know
that.”

Amusement dancing in his eyes, Kirk
glanced at Grant and shook his head a little.

“Is this going to get messy?”
Ryder queried.  “Because if so, let me remind you all that I’m off the clock.”

“That’s a little harsh,” Grant
commented.  “I thought an ambo was always on the clock.”

“You’d think,” Kirk murmured.

“Are you going to pay me for
patching up your girlfriend and wife?” Ryder shook his head.  “You two need to
take control of your women.  I can give you tips on that if you need it.”

Dee smacked him lightly up the
back of the head.

“Ow!  Jesus!”

“Maybe you should wait until
you’ve sorted out your own woman,” Moz smirked, only to stop when Del gave his short ponytail a tug.  “So…um…are we ready to start the movie?”

Scott snorted a laugh.  “Whipped!”

Leaning down to where he sat at
her feet, Ash kissed his cheek.

“Aw,” he almost purred.  “Honey,
I’d never presume to control you.”

“And that,” she told the room at
large, “is how you keep your man in check.”

Scott gaped at her.

Moz made a whip cracking sound.

Scott looked up at Ash, trying so
hard to be stern when his eyes were dancing with laughter.  “We’ll talk later,
missy.”

She dimpled down at him.  “Just
talk?”

“Now I’m getting all hot and
bothered.”

“Oh, please.”  Ryder reached for a
paper plate.  “Right, lets get down to business of food and the
non-horror
movie that numb nuts chose.”

Scott flipped him the bird before
opening the boxes.  “If you don’t stop whinging we won’t be finished before
midnight.  Mum’s babysitting Kurt.  I’d hate to have to tell her what a
complainer you were and it’s your fault we’re late.”

“Your Mum loves me.”

“No, she puts up with you.”

“Jealous much?”

This time Scott flipped him the
double bird.

“Oh, I am so impressed,” Ryder
deadpanned.

 The blokes started taking paper
plates and placing slices of pizza on them, handing them up to the women.

Resting his elbow on the sofa,
Grant looked up at Tam.  “It’s customary for the ones on the floor to serve the
ones on the sofa, it saves anyone tripping over each other and falling.  Okay
with you?”

She grinned.  “I like the idea of
you serving me.  It’s that sense of power.”

“Is this the naughty librarian
surfacing?”

“Just shelve that under ‘L’.”

“‘L’ for lust?”

“‘L’ for later.”

Sliding several pieces of pizza on
a paper plate, he handed it up to her with a waggle of his eyebrows.  “Is that
a promise?’

“I think your sugar is low.”

“I did have a bit of a workout
just before lunch.”

“Really?” she asked placidly. 
“That hour in the clinic just did you in, huh?  Poor baby.”

“You’ll keep, you know that,
right?”

She winked.

Feeling very contented, Grant
leaned back against the sofa balancing his paper plate of pizza on his lap.

“Shit,” Simon said.  “You let the
rat loose?”

“Sparkles needs exercise.”  Kirk
stroked the white rat that had just stuck her head out from under his shirt.

“It’s unhygienic.”

“She’s cleaner than you.”

“Hey, I don’t shit on my floor.”

“I’d rub your nose in it if you
did,” Elissa said.

He gave her an injured look. 
“Everyone knows you don’t rub an animal’s nose in its doo-doo.”

“We’re talking about you, sweetie.” 
She patted his head.

“I think I’m a little shattered.”

Grant watched Sparkles run up onto
Kirk’s shoulder.  The rat was old but still in good health, and it was obvious
that the cop and his wife loved the little rodent.  Kirk steadied her on his
shoulder with one hand while Molly cooed over her and rubbed her tiny head. 
Sparkles sat up on her hind feet, looking around and sniffing.

As they all watched, Sparkles made
her way down Kirk’s shirt, still with his steadying hand helping her.  Once on
the floor, she scurried over and around the different sets of legs stretched
out before finally coming to Simon.  Sitting up on her haunches, she sniffed
the air.

“This is disgusting,” Simon said,
while unashamedly slipping her a piece of pizza crust which she snaffled and
took under the sofa.  “You shouldn’t encourage her.”

“Yeah,” Kirk dryly agreed. “We
shouldn’t encourage her.”

Simon placed some more bits of
pizza crust beside his leg for her and leaned back against the sofa.  “The
things I put up with.”

“You’re a big man.”

“You got it.”

It wasn’t long and the movie was
on, everyone eating, drinking, commenting and relaxing, while Sparkles
investigated everything, sat on Simon’s lap and was gently stroked by his
finger before she finally scuttled back to Kirk and settled in the gap between
his shoulder and the sofa.

Grant enjoyed these times when
everyone was together.  His friends were good people.  And with Tam sitting
near him, it felt right.  Complete. 

Right now, he was a very contented
man.

~*~

His eyes were ready to cross.

“Morganna’s pink and silver collar
was stolen.”  Yvonne wasn’t happy.  “It was on the veranda but when I went to
get it this morning, it was gone!”