Kat was herding the girls towards the bathroom and Claudette was battling to keep the sweets out of Percy’s reach. “I’ll get it,” Jess said.
As she rounded the kitchen entrance and headed toward the front door she did a double take. OMG it’s Brawny Ultra, is this JC?
Standing at the front door was Brawny meets Tom Seleck and then roll in some Schwarzenegger muscle and killer blue eyes. Of course Jessie came to that conclusion based only on the strong arms and the nose and eyes visible above the boxes he was carrying.
“Catch the door for me,” came a pleasant if frustrated voice “Got something here for the lady of the house.”
It was then that Jessie realized she was just staring through the screen door. She jolted and pushed it open as she leaned away to make room for his entrance. Buck trotted in behind sniffing suspiciously at his jeans.
Percy met the new guest in the living room, “JC, good to see ya, let me take one of those off your hands.”
Buck trotted back to Jessie and she realized she still had the screen door open. As Buck sat down with a huff through his nose Jessie made sure the screen door didn’t slap shut.
“Is that another mouth for lunch?” Claudette called from the kitchen.
“Yup!” Percy hollered back, “and he’s come to help set the table.”
At that odd remark Claudette made her way into the front room at the same time Kaylie and Kris came tearing in from the washroom. “I’m a good table helper too!” Kaylie said.
“Hi there sugar pie,” Claudette said as she leaned in and gave JC a quick hug, “what are you two boys up to?” she asked as she eyed the two large boxes set on her sofa.
JC stepped back shyly, which was odd to see given his muscular size, and nodded toward Percy.
Jessie couldn’t help but grin at Percy’s giddy state. She’d never seen him like this. Buck made some grumbling noises as JC edge slightly closer to them to obviously move out of Claudette’s way.
“Go ahead,” Percy nodded at the boxes and said to Claudette, “Open ‘em up.”
Claudette eyed Percy out of the corner of her eye and set a dishtowel down on the end table. As she opened the first box she pulled out a sheet of bubble wrap and started to squeal. She proceeded to pull out the most beautiful ocean blue plate with subtle gilded edges with a slightly worn look. The plate was followed by hand crafted mug, followed by bowl and saucer. “Oh Lordy sweetheart they’re gorgeous!” she said as she wrapped her arms with a plate and mug in her hands around Percy’s neck. “My own dishes,” she sang.
“Oh JC!” she squealed again, “These are gorgeous; I can’t believe how talented you are, I mean, they’re just fantastic sugar!”
JC quietly thanked her as Claudette squeezed him into a bear hug of Texas-size proportions.
There is just no way that man is smelling anything but White Rain for the next 12 hours, Jessie thought.
