Categotry Archives: Suzie’s House
Suzie’s House 158: Hairy Considerations
The day before a meet always made Drew nervous. Up until a couple of years ago, the cases he handled involved sexual predators. He would pretend to be a sweet, teenage girl, set up a meet, then turn up as the clean cut FBI agent he really was. This was different. He stood in front of his bathroom mirror and rubbed the stubble on his chin, then fingered the four inches of hair hanging down over his forehead. Would it […]
Suzie’s House 157: A Beautiful Spanish Hussy
Maria Sanchez lay in wait for him in the hall. As Drew came out of the Special Agent in Charge’s office after an upbraiding, Maria fell in step beside him. “He was completely unreasonable, right? I told you he wouldn’t have anything good to say.” Drew refrained from agreeing. It didn’t matter if the SAC was reasonable or not, only that he complete the current assignment and get back to Suzie as quickly as he could. Hopefully long before Suzie […]
Suzie’s House 156: Drew in New Mexico
This meeting could go either way. Drew stared out the window of the local FBI headquarters. Local for New Mexico, that is. The skies in Albuquerque were a darker blue than those in Wisconsin, and the heat waves something he wouldn’t expect there. Not to mention all the earth tone buildings – sandy beige, rust, and gunpowder blue done in stucco or adobe, the wilting cactus and white chip gravel in place of Wisconsin’s emerald green lawns, the lilt of […]
Suzie’s House 155: Throwing Lightning Bolts
It was the beginning of July when Ben caught up with me the first time. By then I’d already forgotten my agreement to read something he’d written. No doubt this was a good thing, as I’m sure I would have flinched when I saw him coming if I’d remembered. Not that I’m unwilling to do critiques, mind you. I have no problem at all doing critiques for my critique partners. These are seasoned veterans of writing – people I know […]
Suzie’s House 154: Ben’s Story
Ben thought about writing about Drew and about Mom and everything, but it wasn’t like that time with Mrs. D and Gene’s dad. Things weren’t so clear to him this time. He wrote a few words, and didn’t much like them, or maybe just didn’t like the way they made him look to himself. Didn’t matter. He ripped out the page in his notebook and threw the words away. So maybe that wasn’t it. Maybe what he ought to be […]
Suzie’s House 153: Good Bye, Drew
“Mom! You’re home! Where’s Drew?” Ben leaned to the left and then to the right, trying to see around the hug fest between Mom and Diane and Miranda. Seemed like one minute the house was empty, the next everyone came home at once. Except Ben couldn’t see Drew. He tried slipping around everybody in the hall to look out the front door, even though Drew wasn’t the type to hang out on the porch, and besides, Vin was inside, so […]
Suzie’s House 152: Have a Little Faith in my Love
“Humph!” Suzie twisted out from under Drew’s hands. She looked as adorable is an angry kitten, sitting there in the bed of the Door County’s Best Bed and Breakfast, her bare shoulders rising above the line of the frilly covers. (The remainder of this episode is on the newsletter.)
Suzie’s House 151: As the Crow Flies
“Caw! Caw, caw!” Hot, sticky, and entirely too satiated, Suzie cracked one eye open right as the sun spiked a beam through the window into the bedroom of the B&B where she and Drew were staying. A blue sheen off of a barrel shape in Drew’s hands caught her attention even faster than the angular shape of his oh-so-sexy and oh-so-naked rear. “What?” She lifted he head. “Shhhhhh!” Drew spoke without making a move. He hunched into the window, one […]
Suzie’s House 150: Games People Play
“You’re kidding, right? You don’t really expect me to play that, do you?” Gene’s upper lip curled in derision. “Sure. Why not?” Diane set the Monopoly board in the middle of the kitchen table. “I’ll be the bank.” Who says Monopoly is a kids game? It was a great way to keep the boys occupied until it got late enough that she could send them to bed. What time were twelve year olds supposed to go to bed, anyway? Wait, […]
Suzie’s House 149: Ms Super Babysitter
“You really are like a housewife want-to-be.” Gene leaned back in his chair and tried to stare the babysitter down. “I am not!” Diane tossed a narrow-eyed look his way, with her hands still in the fridge. Teasing her was way harder now. She wasn’t afraid of him anymore. He kind of liked that, and he kind of didn’t. “Sure you are. You got the whole apron, skirt, cooking thing going like one of those ancient TV shows. Like from […]
Suzie’s House 148: A Quality Mom
“I am so sorry.” It was probably the worst thing Diane could have said. If she’d stopped to think, she would have kept it to herself. Of course Gene would resent her sympathy. What teenage boy wouldn’t? “Humph.” He shoved past her, bumping her shoulder with his with all the finesse of a bulldog. Well, it was already too late. She might as well own up to her soft heart.
Suzie’s House 147: Nervous
“Gene, cut it out.” Ben took the ice cube from Gene’s hand. “She doesn’t like it.” “So what? I do like it.” Gene tried to take the ice cube back, but Ben kept just out of reach. Not that Gene was really trying anyway. It wasn’t like he cared all that much. He grabbed for it again anyway. “I said cut it out!” Ben actually looked serious. “What are you two talking about?” Diane glanced nervously at them right before […]
Suzie’s House 146: Introductions
“Vin!” Miranda took the remote control out of his hand and levered him to his feet. “Diane’s here. You haven’t meet Diane yet, have you? Come on. I’ll introduce you.” “Diane?” “Yeah. She’s a good friend of Suzie and me. She used to baby sit Ben when he was little. That’s why she’s here. She’s going to take care of Ben and Gene while the rest of us are gone.” “No wild parties, huh? What if she likes wild parties?” […]
Suzie’s House 145 : Diane Makes Herself at Home
About half an hour early, Diane walked up the steps to the porch of Suzie’s house with her over night case in hand. She paused in front of the door, trying to decide if she should knock or simply walk in. Before all those people moved in with Suzie, Diane wouldn’t have thought twice. She would simply have gone around back and walked into the kitchen, since that was where Suzie tended to spend her time. That was months ago. […]
Suzie’s House 144: Sharing the News
“Mom! I did it! I talked to Mrs. Audrey.” Ben whipped into the house about five times as fast as he was supposed to. He ran down the hall to the kitchen. “And she said yes!” Intstead of finding Mom there, he found Miranda, who was packing one of Mom’s travel boxes. The travel boxes looked like toy boxes about the size of a picnic basket. They were great for holding the food on camping trips and stuff.
