Water In My Lungs

Grogach

Dempsey had arrived a quarter til 8 in the evening, sun still high in the sky, with jumper cables in hand and a slow shake of his head.

"We didn't have anyone else to call. We're sorry." Estelle bumbled about in the kitchen, trying to make the three day old pastries from work somehow edible for the young man. She tripped her way onto the porch.

"Did you bring your wife?" Connor eyed his green vehicle, her interest piqued. She could see the outlines of a pretty brunette through the ray of sun reflecting on the passenger window.

Dempsey sighed. "'Course I brought my wife. Figured she could teach you a thing or two about being a woman in this town. Three hundred men who haven't fucked nothin' but their palm in the past six months, " he rolled his eyes, popping the hood of their car, "leavin' the damn door wide open... Men can be the scariest creatures ya come across." He mumbled on about their idiocy as he connected the metal teeth. "Now your car doesn't even fuckin' start."

A chuckle resounded from behind Connor, "He's a bit of a pest. He only married me because I'm the only woman who doesn't want to cry every time he opens his yap. Don't mind him." The woman's voice was soft and playful. She reached both her hands out, one for each girl. They expected a mere handshake, but Connor and Estelle were surprised to be pulled to her shoulders in a slight hug instead.

"You're from the coffee shop." Estelle grinned, remembering their first stop on the way into Shannon. The woman in front of them was tall and lean, soft tan skin and almond brown eyes. Beauty marks flecked her neck. She was a plain sort of pretty; the only flashy item she possessed was the wedding band draped across her finger.

"Yes, I'm Vevela. Just call me Vivi," she laughed, "you two frightened me that day. Happy you decided to comb your hair." Her voice still took on an air of light-heartedness. It was a tone much different than that of her husband's. Estelle and Connor's cheeks tinted at the recollection of their horrendouse outfits that day. They laughed in embarassment.

Their engine revved to life, bring their attention back to Dempsey, who'd come to their rescue at the late hours of the day.

"There ya' go." The sandy-haired man motioned towards the car, crow's feet forming near his eyes as he smiled triumphantly. "Waste of a trip unless food's involved. How 'bout it?" He eyed them with no real intention of letting them refuse.

"Well, uh..." Connor shrugged over at Estelle, smirking. "We don't normally reject food. Especially with the state our refridgerator is in." Dempsey nodded, hand sliding around Vivi's slender waist. She tucked into his side affectionatly, ignoring the dirt that covered his jacket.

"Come over for a late dinner? I turned the crock pot on at twelve this morning."

"Oh, are you sure? It's pretty late." Estelle checked her cell-phone for the time.

8:46

"I won't be up for too long, I have to work early but we'd still love to have you," Vivi offered, a large smirk suggesting that she believed herself to be quite the cook. "Could do you both some good to get out of this house for a few hours." Something lay beneath the surface of her words.

"Yeah, yeah. It really would," Estelle responded quickly enough to recieve an odd look from the brunette. "Every time we try to leave, we get stuck here by some awful luck." Her stare intensified, shifting between the blonde and her husband.

"She means we haven't met anyone here yet." Estelle watched Connor fold into herself as she spoke and bit her lip, guilt slipping onto her shoulder. We met Killian.

"Well," Vivi gave Dempsey a suspicious look as she slid out of his embrace. "You'd better follow us then. We'll drive as slow as we can with my husband driving."