The Fourteen Day Soul Detox (14 page)

“He’s on our side!”
Aiden yelled.

Sarah made a loud excited sound and
jumped on us, laughing.

A loud beeping sound came from the side
of the pool.

“What’s that?”
Cameron asked.

“My alarm! I set an alarm for
when the washer would be done!” I laughed and finally squirming
away from the group. I swam over to the side and pulled myself out of
the pool. Pulling out one of the towels Cameron brought, I dried off
my hands and turned off the alarm. Looking over at the gate, I chewed
on my lip.

A hollow feeling grew in my stomach.
Turning toward the group in the pool, I called, “Hey Cameron.”

He smiled over while swimming
breaststroke to the side of the pool. “Yeah, babe?” he
asked, when he was right in front of me.

I crouched down and said in a low
voice, “Would you mind going to transfer the laundry for me?”

“Of course not, everything okay?”

I exhaled heavily. “Sort of. One
of my neighbors was in there when I went to put my wash in and they
kind of creep me out.”

“Is someone bothering you?”
he asked, and even though his expression remained calm, there was an
edge of anger in his tone.

“It’s probably all in my
head. I’m just not a fan of… that person,” I said.

Cameron did a push up out of the pool,
water cascading off his body as he climbed out. Grabbing a towel, he
dried his hair and body before looking up at me. He gave me a
seemingly casual smile. “So, who is it?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not
telling you.”

He stepped in closer to me. “Why
not?”

“Because you’ll try to
handle it for me, and then I’ll either have to live near a
neighbor who has a huge vendetta against me, or I’ll be kicked
out of my apartment.”

“Would that really be so bad?”
he asked.

I glared at him. “You have to be
kidding me.”

“I have a three bedroom house and
a beautiful five acre piece of property,” he said.

Turning away from him, I said, “Yes
you do, it’s beautiful. Alright, I’m going to go swim
with the kids. Thank you for transferring my laundry. Please don’t
intimidate any of my neighbors.”

He said nothing as I walked away. An
invisible fist clenched its fingers around my stomach and lungs,
replacing the hollow feeling and making it hard to breathe.

I sat on the edge of the pool, my feet
splashing in the water.

“Aunt Jamie, we’re going to
race and you judge,” Aiden said as he and Sarah lined up on the
other side of the pool.

I cupped my hands like a megaphone.
“Ready! Set! Go!”

They swam toward me. Aiden was a
tornado of movement and splashing, water flying from him in all
directions. Sarah, instead, pushed off the wall, and then crossed the
pool in a fast and precise breaststroke.”

Sarah touched the side of the pool. “I
won!” she yelled.

A second later, Aiden caught up and
grabbed onto the side of the pool. “Aww.” He hung his
head. “She always wins.”

“I won!” Sarah yelled
again, smiling.

“Oh,” Aiden said, frowning
and folding his arms on the edge of the pool.

“Aiden, we should race again,”
Sarah said.

“I don’t want to,”
Aiden grumbled.

I ran my fingers over Aiden’s
braided hair. “Sweetheart, Sarah practices gymnastics
constantly and we go swimming here at least once a week. You just
don’t have as much experience. If you keep practicing, you’ll
be as good as her one day.”

“No, I won’t,” he
grumbled.

“I’m thinking it’s
time for a snack break,” I said to the pair.

Sarah swam to the stairs and climbed
out. She went straight to my bag, sopping wet.

“Angel, towel off first, my phone
is in there,” I called. After seeing that she did, I turned
back to Aiden. “Come on out, sweetheart. Get a snack.”

“I’m not hungry,” he
said, his fingers tracing the lines in the cement.

“Well, you still need to get out.
I want you two to get out of the sun and put on a little more
sunscreen. You can just watch us eat if you’re still not
hungry.”

“Fine,” he said with a
heavy, almost adult-sounding, sigh.

Cameron walked back in the gate just as
the two kids sat down with snacks all wrapped up in Cameron’s
towels.

“Are we getting out?”
Cameron asked.

“We’re taking a break,”
I said, smiling at him.

Cameron stepped up close to me. “So
this guy that’s been bothering you, does he live in your
building?”

“I never said it was a guy,”
I said.

“It’s a woman?” he
asked.

“It’s an
I’m-not-going-to-tell-you,” I said.

He leaned in and whispered into my ear,
“I have ways of making you talk.”

Giving him a small smile, I said, “I’ll
never tell.”

“We’ll see,” he said,
before walking backwards with a smug grin, then turning to take a
seat with the kids.

I set an alarm for when the dryer
should be done, then ate a banana and some chips with the kids. After
loading up on calories and rehydrating, we all reapplied sunscreen
and waited a few minutes before jumping back in the pool.

Cameron and I took a seat at the edge
of the pool while Aiden and Sarah again took to splashing each other
between attacks of giggles.

“I’m actually considering
moving out of here. Though I was thinking more along the lines of
buying a house,” I said.

“You have the money for that?”
he asked, his brow furrowing.

I closed my eyes, blowing out of my
nose. “I’m going to sell the coffee shop.” A hot
tear leaked out of my eye as I said it.

Cameron’s arm wrapped around me
and he pulled me into his body. He said nothing, just held me
securely.

“I talked to both Chris and Susan
about it, at length, and they convinced me it was time. I think I
need to find a property lawyer because even though I already have an
offer, the shop has a judgment lien on it and I’m pretty sure
that complicates things.”

“I know a guy, a customer and
friend. He could help you out,” Cameron said.

“Thanks, I’d rather go with
someone you trust. I don’t want to get screwed,” I said.

He whispered in my ear, “Don’t
you?”

“Ha!” I leaned back and
shoved him into the pool.

With a surprised look on his face,
Cameron toppled right into the pool. He came out, shaking the water
out of his hair. His gaze met mine. “Oh, you’re in
trouble now,” he said, amused.

I jumped to my feet and dodged away
just as Cameron grabbed for me. I ran away from the pool, laughing
hysterically.

“Hey, don’t run by the
pool, mom!” Sarah yelled.

“Sorry! Sorry,” I said and
walked very fast away from where Cameron was climbing out of the
pool, still grinning.

“Hey Sarah, is jogging okay?”
Cameron called.

“Yes!” Sarah and Aiden
called.

Cameron jogged toward me.

When I started jogging away, Aiden
yelled, “Aunt Jamie is running!”

I pointed at Aiden as I jogged away. “I
am not, I’m jogging—” I screamed as I was scooped
into Cameron’s arms.

“Hey baby,” he whispered,
before throwing me into the pool.

“No!” I screamed all the
way down until I hit the water. I surfaced glaring up at Cameron who
was casually standing there, grinning down at me. Pointing my finger
up at him, I said, “Just you wait.”

“Do your worst, baby,” he
said not sounding the least bit afraid. When my phone alarm went off
he said, “Looks like your time for revenge just ran out. I’ll
carry the stuff over to your apartment.”

“Thank you, Cameron. We’ll
meet you there in a couple minutes?”

“Sounds good to me,” he
said, giving me one more grin before walking over and putting on his
shirt.

It took me another twenty minutes to
herd the kids out of the pool and gather up our stuff. I wrapped them
up like caterpillars but still heard little teeth chattering as we
walked to my apartment. I paused when we got close; looking over into
Clarke’s yard, but it was completely empty this time.

The kids remained quiet as we walked up
to the house, as if the water had washed the energy from them. When
the doorknob turned without resistance, I opened it quietly and
closed it quickly behind us, again locking both the locks.

“Hey!” I called out.

“Hey,” Cameron called from
the back rooms. “I hope it’s okay, I already took the
first shower.”

“Of course… that’s
good. Aiden you go next but don’t take a long one okay?”

He nodded and hurried to the bathroom.

Sarah looked at me. “I want to
shower, Mom.”

“Aiden is the guest, Sarah,
angel. You can go next.”

Going into the back room, I pulled out
the clothes of Aiden’s I had set aside. As Aiden had yet to
close the bathroom, I set the clothes on the counter. “You have
some clean clothes here, sweetheart,” I said as I closed the
door.

I grabbed a throw from the couch,
wrapping it around Sarah, who was still clinging to her towel. I led
her to the kitchen table, where she followed without protest. “Here
you go, angel,” I said as I opened my laptop and pressed play
on the gymnastic Nationals.

Walking into my back bedroom, I found
Cameron folding my clothes.

“What are you doing?” I
asked, touching his back.

He turned, grinning and putting an arm
around me. “Not much, I just thought that this was just one
more thing you have to do.”

“You don’t need to do all
this, Cameron,” I whispered. “My dishes, laundry,
babysitting, I feel like you’re always giving and I’m
always taking.”

He shook his head. “It’s
just the laundry, baby. It’s not a big deal.”

“Okay, but don’t feel like
you have to do these things.”

He kissed me gently. “You don’t
get it; I’d fight tigers for you.”

Squeezing my eyes closed, I whispered,
“Cameron…”

He put his hands on my arms and
whispered, “I know I shouldn’t talk like that. And I’m
sorry about the house comment I made at the pool, too. You just acted
like it was nothing, but I shouldn’t have said it. Just know
there are no expectations from me, I’m not trying to change
things or push things forward.”

Opening my eyes, I met his gaze. A tear
slipped from the corner of my eye, slipping down my cheek.

“Aunt Jamie,” Aiden said
from the door.

Startling, I turned. “Yes,
sweetheart?”

“I’m really thirsty, can I
have some juice?”

“Of course, you don’t have
to ask. Do you know where the juice boxes are?”

“They’re not where they
usually are,” he said. He was fully dressed in the clothes I
laid out for him, jeans and a T-shirt.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot.
I’ll go get them,” I said, stepping away from Cameron.

Steam and the scent of kid-shampoo
wafted from the bathroom as I entered the hall. Hearing the shower
going, I closed the door to the bathroom.

I grabbed a package from the extra
stores of juice boxes and grabbed one out.

“Here you go, cutie. The rest are
going to be in the fridge, okay?”

“What are we watching?”
Cameron said as he joined us in the living room.

“Sarah’s stuff,”
Aiden said, shrugging. “You can watch it with me if you want
to.”

“I’m going to go grab Sarah
some clothes,” I said. Walking back into my bedroom, I examined
the bed covered in neat piles of clothing. Cameron had folded
everything, even my underwear. I crossed over to the pile, smiling to
myself at the sight of lacey little thongs being folded so gingerly.

My brow furrowed. I lifted the pile,
and then searched around the bed itself. “What the…?”
I whispered.

Walking into the living room, I asked,
“Hey Cameron, could anything have been left in the washer or
dryer?”

“I don’t think so, I
double-checked,” he said.

“Some things are missing,”
I said.

“What’s missing?” he
asked.

“Um, come over here,” I
said, motioning him to follow me.

When we stepped back into my room, I
told him, “My underwear is missing.”

His eyes gleamed with amusement. “No,
it’s right here,” he pointed to the pile of lacey thongs.

“No, my normal underwear is
missing, like, my boy short underwear and… just the regular
ones. Did you see any ones like that? Here, I’ll show you an
example…” I went into my underwear drawer then made an
annoyed sound. “I completely forgot that I only had my sexy
nonfunctional underwear left.”

He pointed to the bed. “These are
all the underwear I found. I can go check,” he said.

“Or I can, if you don’t
mind keeping an eye on the kids,” I said.

“No, Sarah’s just about to
get out of the shower and she might need your help. Also you have
some creepy neighbor, right?”

I nodded. “Thank you so much,
Cameron. Make sure to take the keys. And… would you mind
locking the front door on your way out?”

The shower turned off a second later.

“Oh, crap,” I mumbled. Then
I yelled, “Sorry, angel, I’m going to bring you some
clothes in one second.” I grabbed a purple outfit from the
newly laundered pile.

When I knocked on the bathroom door, I
got no response.

“Angel, I have your clothes,”
I said toward the crack in the door.

Sarah opened the door a little and
smiled through the crack. When I held up the clothes, she took it,
and then closed the door.

Going back into my bedroom, I checked
through all the piles of clothing, finding nothing else missing.

I heard the metallic sound of the key
turning in our front door and walked back into the hall to see
Cameron walk in the house empty-handed.

“No luck?” I called out to
him.

He crossed the living room to me.
“Nothing, I even checked the trashcans and nearby washers.”
His hand came up to rub my shoulder.