The Woman In The Shadows

Part Five - Family Time

     Jim pulled up the driveway, bringing the car to the front of the house. From inside, he took a moment to take in the home's beauty. With a touch of paint and a good power washer, Jim knew he could really make it shine.

     Besides, after the rest of the boxes were unpacked he'd need a new form of procrastination – a legitimate excuse to give his agent for not being finished his overdo project.

     Reaching over the center console, he opened the glove box and retrieved the small electric vaporizer his doctor had recommended he buy. With a history of depression and anxiety, Jim had tried all sorts of pharmaceutical cocktails and exercise regiments – special diets and natural supplements designed to target glutathione production – in an attempt to combat the issue.

     SSRI's – antidepressants, they come with a long list of side effects, , ironically enough depression appearing at the top of the list, suicidal tendencies coming in at a close second.

     So his doctor, in a last ditch effort prescribed him with good 'ol fashioned weed and Jim hasn't looked back since. He always found it strange that a plant with no recorded history of death or serious side effect was ever made illegal but, then again, Jim wasn't an old, out of touch politician socialized in archaic practices trying to win the hearts and minds of ignorant parents, either.

     Jim chalked up what he had thought he saw in the kitchen to an anxiety-induced hallucination and, as for the woman he thought he saw in the back of his family's station wagon, he deduced it was nothing more than a combination of a trick of light and exhaustion.

     After a long pull of his vaporizer, Jim returned the pen-looking object to the glove box of the car and rested his head on the headrest of the driver's seat, his heart rate steadying as he became relaxed. Jim kept the pen in the glove box so that his meddling children wouldn't come across it – he never drove under the influence.

     Pizza had never smelled so good as it did at that very moment, his anxiety dissipating as the medicinal herb took hold.

     Jim retrieved the pies from the back seat – veggies for his wanna-be hipster vegetarian kids and meat lovers for him and his awesome wife. With the boxes in hand, Jim shut the door with a swift kick and headed towards the rickety steps that led to the wrap around deck – a perfect place to entertain. It was one of the features of the home that sold Sheila as she flipped through the documents sent by their realtor. Jim wasn't one for entertaining – social interaction wasn't exactly his favourite thing, save for with his family – but seeing how excited and satisfied it left his wife, he could hardly protest when she wanted to have company.

     "Eh – it's a pizza delivery, hot 'n fresh" a stereotypically Italian accent escorting the words as they left his mouth and entered through the opened window above the kitchen sink.

     "Girls!" he yelled after several moments of waiting. "Open the damn door."

     "Well, hello there" Sheila said through a flirtatious smile. "I had no idea they'd send such a strapping young delivery boy." She continued, playfully.

     Jim chuckled and entered the kitchen. "Something tells me the meat lovers is for you" he quipped, oblivious to his two children sitting at the table.

     "Ew" Meadow said, twisting her face in disgust.

     "Gross, dad." Sandra added, rolling her eyes."

     "Jim!" Sheila said, shaking her head, her cheeks flush as she shoved her husband "not in front of the girls."

     Jim put the pizza down on the table and crossed his arms, leaning against the counter as he looked at his daughters with a mischievous smile. "What, you two think a stork dropped you off?" he laughed, "If that were the case, I would've sent you both back long ago." He jabbed, jokingly.

     "Jim!" Sheila scolded.

     "Not funny, dad." Meadow retorted, a fake quiver of her lower lip as she looked at her father through misty eyes.

     "You're right - " Jim said, nodding his head in agreement as he walked towards his children. " - we probably would've kept Sandra."

     "Dad!" Meadow persisted in a whiny voice.

     "Ha-ha, I'm the favourite." Sandra teased.

     Though he'd never admit it, Jim held a special place in his heart for Sandra. They shared the same interests, from music to books to movies, the two shared far more in common ground than he and his youngest.

     "Now, now - don't brag Sandra. I raised you better than that." Jim added, smiling at his daughters. "Seriously, I love the both of you kids, even if you are prudes when it comes to me doing your mom."

     "JIM!" Sheila yelled, shocked at her husband's rowdiness.

     "Sorry, mom." Jim joked, rolling his eyes with Sandra like he always did whenever he got Sheila all riled up.

     "Okay, let's eat before I starve to death. I mean, just look at me" Jim mused, lifting his shirt, his small potbelly hanging over his belt as he pointed to each of his ribs, "I look like I'm dying." The girls, Sheila included, laughed at Jim's antics as they opened the boxes of pizza, each retrieving a slice as they sat at the table.

     Even Adrian and Aidan,standing in the corner, the woman from the shadows behind them, foundthemselves giggling at the man that would soon join their family; the man thatwould stay with them forever.