“God, Cody...I miss you,” she whispered and felt the tears well up in her eyes. The house had been lonely, she realized. Hauntingly lonely.
It was then that Noel walked through the front door, his arms full of bun packages and boxes of soy burgers. He had seen Lori brushing the tears from her eyes as she turned away from the back door and he paused, silhouetted in the doorway.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
She nodded and pushed away from the wall. “Just having a moment,” she replied with a smile that kept sliding off her face. “I’ll be alright.”
She sniffed and walked towards him, arms out to help him take some of his load. “Thanks so much for bringing all this, Noel. You didn’t have to, you know – this was supposed to be a thank you for all you’ve done this past week.”
“I wanted to,” he asserted. “Besides, Lynta and Jeret have some special dietary restrictions and I didn’t want you to feel awkward about that.”
Lori looked past him, towards the driveway and saw his friends getting out of the car. “Is that them? What did you say their names were? Lynta and Jeret?”
Noel set his load down on the counter and came back to where Lori was standing by the front door. “Yes – that’s them.”
Lori was immediately struck by Lynta’s beauty. She was the most exotic, extraordinary woman she had ever seen. Standing well over 6’ tall and with skin so black it shimmered blue in the September sunshine, Lynta unfolded herself from a little Toyota Prius hybrid and adjusted an eye-catching maroon silk robe and vibrant yellow scarf that was wrapped around her head. She had an open, welcoming face with wide cheekbones, nose and mouth; her lips were painted with a deep maroon gloss that accentuated a smile that gathered people in; and her slightly-slanted eyes held a light that caused the deep warm brown of them to glow.
“Wow,” Lori breathed, forgetting for a moment Noel was there.
He chuckled behind her and she snapped out of it. “Rather noticeable, isn’t she?” he asked, coming up behind her.
“I’ll say. I’ll take it she’s not from around here?”
“Well, she lives in Toronto now, but she grew up in Senegal.”
“Wow,” Lori said again.
“And that’s Jeret, standing in her shadow back there – literally.”
Lori looked behind Lynta and saw a handsome man in his own right, but this was more of the boy-next-door variety of good looks. With spiky strawberry blonde hair, fair skin and blue eyes, Jeret’s Celtic heritage was easy to recognize. His arms were decorated in a variety of knotwork tattoos and studded piercings highlighted eyebrows and the entire arc of his small ears. While Lori had gone to school with many kids who looked like him, she wasn’t quite certain what the ultra-conservative group of people at the barbeque were going to make of all this. Leave it to Noel to have an eclectic mix of acquaintances.
Noel moved past her and opened the front door, calling to them and welcoming them inside. Lori shook hands with both and felt herself instantly liking the pair. Jeret had a deep bass voice and a wicked sense of humour; Lynta was shy and gentle, her voice low-pitched and kind. Luke and Leia immediately swarmed the quartet as they stood and talked, both kittens smelling Lynta’s garment with fascination and pawing at Jeret to be picked up.
“Sorry,” Lori apologized, trying to make a grab at Luke. “He can be such a nuisance at times.”
Jeret shot a secretive smile at Noel and grabbed the grey tabby himself. He picked the cat up and stroked it roughly around the chin, sending Luke into paroxysms of delight. “He’s not a nuisance, are you, buddy? You just need some attention.”
Leia had made her way under Lynta’s skirt and Lori saw nothing but a tip of tail and both front paws sticking out from the hem to indicate she was there. Lynta didn’t seem to mind and was laughing at Jeret and Luke’s rough-housing so Lori kept silent. Noel was asking Jeret about his new car and she remained on the outskirts of the conversation while the three of them caught up with each other’s news. Lynta eventually walked over to where Lori had begun preparing food in the kitchen, and struck up a conversation.
“This is a beautiful house, Lori,” she started timidly, her exotic accent heavy in her voice. “I’ve never been in a log home before.”
“Oh, thanks,” Lori responded, chopping the cabbage for her coleslaw. “I’m out with the horses so much I don’t really pay attention to it like I should, I suppose. But it’s a nice enough place to sleep in at night.”
She smiled up at Lynta and her feeble attempt at a joke was rewarded with a laugh like honey from the other woman.
“Noel tells me you’re from Senegal?”
“Yes – it’s quite a different environment from Canada.”
“Yeah, I would think so. I don’t imagine there are too many log cabins there.”
Both ladies laughed companionably and Lynta shook her head. “No, not too many.”
“Well, I hate to say this and I hope you won’t think I’m being rude or out of line, but I’ve never seen anyone quite like you. You’ll have to forgive my friends and family if they watch you a lot or ask ignorant questions. This will all be new for us.”
Lynta smiled shyly and bowed her head. “It’s alright, I suppose. I’m a very private person by nature but I am getting used to your Western ways, little by little. And I know that most of the time people mean no harm – they’re just curious.”
Lori smiled encouragingly at Lynta and nodded in silence.
Noel and Jeret joined them and Noel grabbed a piece of cabbage out of the bowl Lori was mixing.
“Hey – that’s good. What is it? What can we do to help?”
Lori shot Noel a look of mock anger. “It’s an Oriental cabbage salad and you can help by keeping your paws out of it until it’s served.”
All three of them laughed and Lori felt a ridiculous sense of community with them, as though they had been standing in this kitchen, teasing each other, many times before. She felt they were her friends already, too.
“Just let me finish this and then I’ll introduce you to the group out there, okay?”
**********
Noel could see an immense relief wash over Lori as the minutes wore on and he, Lynta and Jeret seemed to be welcomed into the fold. Her family and friends were reserved, polite and curious, but the tension started to lessen when Jeret grabbed a croquet mallet and began tearing around with the kids. Bless Jeret, Noel thought. Bless him and his extroverted, charming ways.
Noel himself chose to sit with Lori’s parents and talk to them about the cougar. He had to use a brass-tacks approach with Tom, he knew. Farmers wanted the cut-and-dry version, not the ethereal “I promises” he could give to Lori. Instead, he showed Tom the trap he had set out for the past four days and described the meat he had used for bait. He’d even sprayed a scent specially designed to attract predators on and around it and they’d seen no other hints of the cat.
Lori’s parents got pulled away after awhile to man the barbeque, and Noel stifled a grin as a few seconds later, Shannon plopped herself down in the lawn chair next to him. Here comes the inquisition, he thought, bracing himself.
She was blunt and to the point. “So you weren’t able to catch the mountain lion, eh Noel?”
He gave her a sideways glance and shook his head. “No, and I didn’t charge Lori for my time here, either.”
“Yeah, she mentioned that. That was good of you. Still, you got to stay at somebody’s place free of charge for awhile – that’s not bad.”
“No, it was very accommodating of Lori to let me stay in the barn. I appreciate the gesture.”
“So what happens when – oops, I mean if – the cat comes back next week?”
Noel smiled down at the ground and swirled the punch in his cup. “The cougar won’t be back. But if he does return, Lori only has to call me and I’ll come again.”
Shannon studied him, hard. He could feel her eyes on him, but he
refused to look at her full-on. “C’mon, Noel. Be honest. How well do you know that mountain lion?”
With that question, Noel decided to give her the full force of his presence. He turned slowly and gracefully in his chair so that he was looking directly into her eyes, his head lowered, and his brows drawn down in sincerity. “I’ve never seen that cougar before in my life, Shannon. I’ve been called on to help at many farms in the past few years and most of those calls have been for feral barn cats, the occasional bobcat visit – even a lynx or two. I’ve had brushes with three other wild mountain lions in my life, but not around here and certainly not one that looked like this one.”
Shannon blinked at his intensity, his soft voice clearly affecting her in some way. Yet he could see her protectiveness of Lori take hold again and she persevered. He commended her silently for it.
“Noel, I won’t say anything – there’s been no harm done and I respect that you thought enough of Lori not to go through with it – but I want to know. You put up a sign with a picture of a cougar on it in town – that can’t just be coincidence. Is the mountain lion yours?”
Noel gave Shannon a twisted smile. “No, Shannon. The mountain lion isn’t mine. It’s Lori’s.”
Shannon’s mouth dropped open. “What? What do you mean?”
Noel leaned back and rested both elbows on the arms of his lawn chair, steepling his fingers in front of his mouth.
“Just what I said. The cat belongs to Lori – not in the conventional sense – but just the same, he came here for a reason. I know you love your friend and I understand why you feel you need to guard her. You don’t believe this yet, but I feel the same way. I wouldn’t harm Lori for the world and I wouldn’t take advantage of her in any form. Not by scamming her into hiring me to catch my own cat –” He shot Shannon a piercing look and she sat back, disconcerted, “ – and not by abusing her generosity.”
Shannon stayed silent, clearly doubting Noel’s words.
“Look,” he pointed out, “I’m leaving on Monday and Lori need never see me again if that’s what she chooses. I came here because of her invitation, I helped her in the way she needed – even if it’s invisible help to you, her, and everyone else here today – and soon I’ll be leaving, never to return if that’s her wish.”
He separated his fingertips and turned his palms up in the form of a question. “What more can I do to prove that I’m trustworthy? Wear a three-piece suit?”
Shannon barked out a surprised laugh and looked at him carefully, a smile still playing around her lips. “Well, I have to say, that would help.”
Noel nodded. “I know it would. But I find the big cats aren’t as impressed with the tie as humans are.”
He felt Shannon’s wall crack a fraction of an inch as her smile grew wider. “Cheeky thing,” she muttered. But she remained seated next to him.
**********
Lori was watching Noel and Shannon talking across the yard and didn’t realize Jesse was behind her until he rested a work-worn hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, Lori,” he said softly as he sat down next to her on the porch steps.
“Hey, Jesse,” she answered back, darting a quick glance around for Anne. Jesse’s wife was busy at the picnic table, dumping chips and pretzels into bowls and attempting to keep her children out of them at the same time; she didn’t notice the two of them speaking.
Lori turned to look at her brother-in-law and felt the breath catch in her throat as the resemblance to Cody came back with a flood of memories. Cody had a cowlick just like the one on Jesse’s scalp and their eyes were the exact same shade of sapphire.
“How’ve you been?” She forced the words out from underneath the lump in her throat.
“I’ve been good – busy with the farm, as always. Harvesting is going to start next week if this weather holds – you know how it is. We’ll be going morning, noon and night for the next couple of months.”
Lori nodded, remembering her days on her parents’ farm, when she didn’t see her dad the entire autumn as his schedule revolved around the plants and catching a few hours of sleep when the weather kept him from the fields.
“You been busy with the horses?” Jesse asked, looking over to where Piper and Ebony were grazing out in their pasture, the threat of mountain lion now gone.
“Yeah, it’s been pretty crazy with all this other stuff going on, but I think it’s going to settle down now. I’ve got two more horses coming in for training – their owners are bringing them next week – and I think I might try to get to another auction in October and pick up a couple of project horses for the winter.”
Lori looked over to where Jeret and Lynta were sitting near the barbeque, talking with her parents, Rita and Rick. All seemed well there, so she relaxed and focused more of her attention on Jesse.
“How’ve things been with you and Anne? Has she lightened up a bit?”
Jesse laughed – heartbreakingly like Cody – and ducked his head closer to his knees. “I wouldn’t exactly say that...but I think she appreciates the fact that I’ve behaved myself since you and I last spoke. She hasn’t said anymore about it, anyway.”
“Well, good, I guess. I just hope I haven’t ruined everything by inviting you guys here today...or by sitting here, talking to you.”
Jesse smiled, but looked over towards his wife to read her reaction. Anne was sitting at the picnic table, her back partially to the two of them, yet Lori knew her entire attention was riveted to what was going on here at the porch.
“Well,” Jesse answered with a smirk, “no doubt I’ll have to give her a play-by-play of our conversation, but that’s okay. I wanted to talk to you about something.”
Lori tipped up an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Yeah...you might think I’m being really weird here, so take it with a grain of salt, but I just thought it was really odd when I heard that you had a mountain lion hanging around the place.” Jesse gave her an awkward smile. “I mean...what are the odds of that?”
Lori nodded. “I know what you mean – it just seems to be one more thing that’s been a challenge in this year of challenges.”
“Well, yeah...that, too. But I meant more with the fact that there’ve never been any reports of mountain lions around here and then right after Cody dies, one shows up.”
Lori pulled back slightly to look at Jesse, her brows drawn down in confusion. “What do you mean? I don’t see the connection.”
Jesse gave her the confused look back. “You don’t? You mean Cody never told you the dreams he used to have about a cougar hanging out with him?”
Lori went cold. “No. Never. He had d-dreams about them?” Her lips felt numb and the hair on her arms prickled with energy.
“Gosh, yeah. All the time. It was like a recurring theme with him. I think the first time he had one was when he was about four – he woke the entire house up, screaming, because he thought one had jumped into bed with him.”
Jesse scooted over a bit, swinging his knees towards Lori so he could see her better. “After that, he was obsessed with them – he used to buy posters of them and put them in his room, he had mom and dad enrol him in the World Wildlife Fund so he could ‘adopt’ one...he even did reports on them in school.”
Lori’s mind was racing with the news; she let out a deep breath, trying to settle down. What was that Noel had said about messages? Suddenly, she felt like one was finally coming through loud and clear.
“D-did he ever stop dreaming about them, Jesse?”
Her brother-in-law shrugged. “I’m not sure – he was still having them shortly before he married you because he told me about one he’d had where he dreamt he was going to look at a horse for you and instead, when he got there, it turned out to be a cougar and he had to saddle it and ride it and stuff. We had a good laugh about that one, actually.”
Jesse smiled with melancholy etching lines in his face, staring off into some comforting place
in the past. After a moment, he shook himself. “Anyway, if he didn’t tell you about them then maybe he had stopped having them. I guess we’ll never know now.”
Lori looked over at Noel and was startled to see he was looking fixedly at her, as though he knew exactly what she and Jesse were saying. “No,” Lori mumbled. “I guess we won’t.”
**********
Noel could see that Lori was desperate to speak to him; something had clearly happened while she was speaking with Cody’s brother. He removed himself from the conversation going on between Shannon and Mark and walked to the barbeque, a few feet away from where Lori and Jesse were talking. He waited, biding his time until they could talk, but just as Jesse was going to join Anne at the picnic table, Lynta came to him and asked if there were a private place she could go to say prayers.
“Of course, Lynta,” he said, setting down his punch. “My apologies. Follow me – I’ll take you to the stables. Nobody will bother you around there today.”
He shrugged with regret as Lori watched them walk away, beseeching him to stay with her stunning grey-green eyes. I’ll be back, he mouthed as he led the tall Senegalese woman away.
Unfortunately, by the time he returned the entire party had gathered around the picnic table and scattered TV trays to begin eating and one focused conversation was going on. Apparently someone had asked Jesse’s oldest boy what his favourite animals were at the zoo they had visited in the summer and all three children were now proceeding to describe in detail every animal known to mankind. Noel smiled at their enthusiastic descriptions and gave an impatient Lori a reassuring wink.
“I liked the gorillas,” Jesse’s oldest boy said. “Their heads were like, as big as my whole body!”
Jesse’s daughter wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out. “Eww, no! They stunk! I liked the zebras best – one of them had a baby with her and she was so cute!”
Jesse’s younger son was hopping up and down in the excitement of having his turn; he pulled at his father’s jeans, trying to call attention downwards. “No! No! No!” he interjected. “The best part was the rhinos. Or the bats. Oh! And the tigers – they were really cool!”