Page 23 of Guy (House of Frazier #4)

“I’ll take you if it gets really bad. I close up the clinic when the weather is at its worst. The people don’t want to risk their pets coming all the way in for just a checkup.

” He laughed a little and told her about the dog he’d had today.

“I’ve been dealing with him because of Debbie, but her mom has her so stressed out about the mutt that she hates it.

I can see that too. Her mom is something else. ”

By the time Guy made it home, it had started to snow again.

They were predicting that they could get as much as six more inches on the stuff they had already.

She was making plans to not have to go into town tomorrow by the time they sat down to dinner.

Ivan had already closed up the clinic due to the bad weather.

Dinner was fantastic. Just the right kind of food for a cold night. He loved chili and cornbread together and thought that the cook had made it perfectly sweet, too. As he was eating the last bite of his cherry crunch, Guy showed him the covers that he was working with.

“I don’t like either of them.” He picked them both up and put them on the wall with some tape.

“I don’t like them even when they’re far away.

Your editor or whoever must really like that font.

It’s the same one from before that you got complaints about, isn’t it?

” Guy said that he thought it was now that he pointed it out to him.

“I’d just tell him to back off from it. It doesn’t work. ”

“I will when I tell him about these. I was hoping for more in line with the other books I’ve written, but he said it would mess up the genre.

I don’t know, I’ve written books before that weren’t murder mysteries.

” He laughed a little. “I might need to have my publisher find me someone else to edit. I don’t even know why he’s making my covers.

For all I know, he could be just taking this on himself. ”

“I’d bet that’s what’s going on. I’m glad you trust my opinion, too.” They sat in the living room, and the fireplace was roaring out the heat. “I think I could take a nap for about two days right now. My belly is full, and it’s warm in here. Perfect night for it too.”

“You should spend the night. Even though I told you that the bedrooms aren’t finished, one of them is.

It has a beautiful view of the yard out back, and I love that there’s a gas fireplace in there, too.

That one is going to be popular when the kids come to sleep over.

” Guy agreed with Amber about his spending the night.

“I’ll feel safer about you not driving home in this if you just stay here.

You don’t have any plans for tomorrow anyway, and you can hang out with me. ”

“I’d love that if you’re sure you don’t mind.

” He was concerned about the roads and was happy for the invite.

As all his brothers did, he had an extra set of clothing in his car and ran out to get it before the snow started piling up.

Coming back into the house, he told them that if the weather doesn’t change soon, he might be spending the week here.

“The snow is hard, too, not that fluffy white stuff we had before.”

Since he was staying the night, he didn’t bother them and went up to bed at about nine-thirty.

His room was very nice, and after getting the fireplace going, it turned into a nice toasty room for himself too.

Getting into bed because he really was feeling the effects of the food and warmth, Ivan picked up one of Guy’s books he’d given him and started reading.

He knew it was a mistake to start on it when it was nearly two in the morning, before he could put it down.

His brother could really write like a master.

After getting a shower the next morning, he was glad again that he had spent the night.

The snow was coming down harder today than last night, and his car was covered.

The driveway looked impassible, and he was glad that Guy had walked into town rather than driving.

It wasn’t that cold, about thirty degrees, but the snow was wet now and stuck to you like glue when you were out in it.

He was happy that his brother had a snow blower when he asked if he could plow the driveway for them.

It was more fun than he thought it should have been plowing the driveway.

The snow was being tossed about ten feet into the air, and it landed just outside the driveway.

While he was at it, he even did the sidewalks and in front of the mailbox.

He was going to have to get himself one of these things, he thought, and was happy that he’d been able to test drive Guy’s.

Coming into the house, Amber had made sure that he had plenty of towels and hot cocoa.

He didn’t care for marshmallows in it, but he didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

She’d gone to a lot of trouble having him spend the night, and now this.

He really liked his newest sister-in-law and thought that she and Guy made about the most perfect couple.

His brother sure was different since he’d met her and wondered, not for the first time, what kind of changes would happen to him when he finally met his mate.

Ivan wasn’t opposed to meeting his mate.

In fact, he thought it was the most exciting thing to have happened to him.

He’d been so happy that his other brothers had met theirs that he’d been taking mental notes on what to do and not to do when she came along.

Ivan wasn’t even worried about his house being right for her.

All the other women were just fine with whatever had been done to the houses when they moved in. He could expect no less from his mate.

Now that he had his clinic to work at, he was excited to see what she might be adding to the family. And the other women had added more to the family even if it was their personalities. And each one of them had their own kind of personality to add to any gathering, too.

By two in the afternoon, the snow had stopped and the roads were cleared.

He took his time driving home and was glad when he got there.

The roads were kind of slick in places, and he was thankful when he was able to pull into his own garage for the rest of the day.

He wasn’t even going out for milk if he didn’t have any.

~*~

“Sen, you have a phone call. What have I told you about getting phone calls at work?” She said nothing because she’d never gotten one before. “Oh well, don’t do it again. It takes up too much of my time to try to find you.”

“I’m right here in the office next to yours, Ben.

Just chill.” She was working on a project that would get more feet in the mall, which would mean a healthy way to impact the little town she lived in.

Turning the now-defunct mall into something better had been a project that she’d been given six weeks ago, and she was having fun with it.

“This is Serenity Bash. How can I help you?”

“Sen? Is that you?” Her mother. Just what she didn’t need right now. “They’ve taken your uncle off life support, and he died.” She made it sound as if it had been a big inconvenience for her to have been the one to tell her that her only uncle had passed away.

“When was he in the hospital?” Mom told her not to be dragging shit up that she didn’t have any answers to. “Mom. He’s obviously been in the hospital for some time now. When did you know that he was that sick? And why didn’t you call me?”

“It happened about two weeks ago. They said that he had a stroke and that he might not make it. I got tired of being in here with him every day, so I asked them to take life support off him, and they finally did it today. He didn’t last any longer than the machine being stopped before he stopped breathing. What’s the big deal?”

“I’m surprised that you even bothered to call me since it’s not a big deal.

He was my only uncle and your only brother, so you should have called me when he had the stroke.

” She could almost see her mom waving her off like she was asking too much of her.

“Where’s Aunt Cindy? Shouldn’t she have been a part of the life support questions? ”

“She died too.” Sen would have hung up on her mother if she weren’t worried that she’d never get any information other than what she had now.

“The car accident that he caused by having a stroke killed her, too. She didn’t even make it to the hospital.

They’re waiting on the thing with your uncle before I have to make funeral arrangements for both of them.

I wish now that I’d have called you. I’m going to have to do this on my own, I think.

Unless you want to do it. I’d be happy to turn it all over to you if you will do it right. ”

“I’m pretty sure that they’re arrangements have been made.

Uncle Robert was good about getting things settled before it was time to use them.

I don’t suppose you’ve done anything about your prearrangement, have you?

” She said she had plenty of time. “Sure, and I’m sure that Uncle Robert thought that, too, but he’s prepared.

Tell me where they are and I’ll make arrangements to go there in the morning and talk to the funeral director. ”

After getting the information from her mom, she sat down at the desk in Ben’s office and mourned the loss of her favorite two people in the world.

Her mother wouldn’t understand that, as she didn’t like anyone but herself, and usually that was debatable.

She decided to find the newspaper that was usually around and see what she could find out about the accident.

Surely there would be something more than what she’d gotten from her mother about it.