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“By agreeing to let the wicked witch have all my brother’s worldly goods in exchange for her signing over custody of Dillon to me. I knew she hated the thought of opening her perfect home to an active eight-year-old kid. Number one, she doesn’t like boys. And number two, my brother and Doreen’s healthy bank account – the money they’d been saving for a down payment on a house – was all she really wanted.”
“What a horrible woman! No wonder you and Pretty Girl don’t like her. Neither do I. And I haven’t even had the misfortune of meeting her.”
“Let’s hope you never have to. Trust me, you’d want to strangle her in the first few minutes.”
“And yet, she’s a part of the family? On Dillon’s mother’s side I gather.”
“Yes. Doreen’s mom. Just so you know, Doreen is –wasnothing like her. According to what she always told us, she took after her father, and when he was still alive and in control, her mother hadn’t been so hard to take. She changed after his death, went through a few partners who were bad news, and she turned into a sour soul in the end. I believe it’s one of the reasons why Doreen liked to go out on jobs with Max. Get out of her clutches. That and because they had a great live-in nanny who Dillon adored.”
“What happened to her?”
“As soon as she could, the witch fired her and moved Dillon into her own house. No doubt to save that money. And because Sara Whitly, an older woman, was the type of grandmotherly figure kids dream of having, Margot shot sparks and swallowed green bile whenever they were together.”
Picturing his words made Jasmin giggle. “You really don’t like her, do you?”
“Want me to growl like Pretty Girl to show you just how much?”
Jasmin laughed. “Nope. I’m ready to head into the blizzard if you want to help me with opening your trunk.”
“I’m right behind you. First though, I’d better get Pretty outside so she can take care of business too.”
Jasmin’s nod let him know she agreed. Forcing open her car door became impossible, and so she lowered the window and threw herself out head first, landing in the deep snow.
Whipping around, she began clearing the way for Dex to get out of his door and then struggled to the back where they both cleared the door so it would open to let the dog loose.
Laboring to get to his own vehicle, Dex was finally able to open his trunk where he found not only a shovel, but a warm comforter, bottles of water, and other emergency gear he kept in his car over the winter.
Reaching inside, he also found the windshield brush and passed it to Jasmin. “You could use this to clear the windows you can reach.”
“Good idea. Thanks.” Between them both, they cleared a reasonable area between both vehicles and uncovered as much of both cars as possible, but the struggling took it’s toll. By the time they climbed into the front of Jasmin’s car, they were trembling with exhaustion and Jasmin noticed Dex wincing. “What’s wrong with your right foot?”
Taking off his mitts, he threw them on the dash, moved the driver’s seat back as far as it would go, and tried to take off his boot. “I twisted it when I was getting into my trunk. Stepped in a deep ditch I couldn’t see.”
“Why didn’t you say something, stop and take a rest?”
“Figured it wasn’t that bad, so I kept going. Now it’s throbbing like a son of a bit… biscuit. Only problem is, if I take off my boot, I might not get it back on.”
Jasmin leaned over from the passenger seat. “Right. They’re not the lace-up kind. I think you should take it off while you still can. Then we can pack snow around it to keep the swelling down. Hopefully, there’s a first aid kit in your emergency supplies with an elastic bandage that we can use. First, let’s get that boot off.”
By opening the door and leaning precariously backwards, he had the room to swivel around and get his foot on her knee. She was able to pull the now harmful item with enough strength, wriggling it this way and that, until it finally came off. All during this maneuver, Dex clenched his jaw, and no sounds came from him, just the whines from Pretty Girl who’d made her way closer so she could put her head over the seat and lick his face.
By the time Jasmin finally had his foot loose, she could see the sweat that had broken out on his face and the pale sheen on his skin. Feeling horrible for having caused the pain, she reached into her stash of goodies and handed him the bottle of goodbrandy her father favored. “I figure you deserve this, and I know my father would agree. He’d be happy to share his Christmas present with you.”
Closing himself back inside the car, Dex reached for the bottle and took a swig, letting the liquor burn it’s way to his belly, helping it to relax from the previous ordeal.
“Do you think it’s broken?” She prayed he’d say no.
“I don’t think we could have gotten the boot off if it was. I’m sure it’s just a wrench and will probably heal in no time.”
“Are you always this upbeat?” Jasmin felt the swelling and winced for him. “Can I take a look?”
“Sure. You can have your way with my foot as much as you want. I’m one of those weird dudes who actually likes foot massages.” He took another sip from the bottle, and then handed it to her.
“Just to warm me.” She held up the bottle and spoke before sipping and then making a face. “Yuck. I think I’ll stick with the wine.” After pushing the bottle back his way, she slowly peeled off his sock, and both saw the black and blue coloring around his swelling ankle. Rooting around in her purse, she found the large silky folding bag she carried everywhere to pack in groceries and opened it to reveal it’s size. I’m going to gather snow in here, and we need to put it on your foot.”
“Okay. Can you get out of the car on that side?”
“Not a chance, but I can reach through the window.” So saying, she lowered it, quickly sweeping away the falling flakes from melting inside before scooping up enough to fill the bag. Then she pushed the button to close the window again and after tying the bag handles together to keep the snow from escaping, she put it around his foot and grinned when he let out a sigh of relief.
