Demons at the Door

Belly up.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you like him. Really like him." Avery says down the phone to me. 

I pause looking at myself in the car visor mirror, hopelessly trying to smooth down my hair and look a little better. Realising I am actually making an effort for a guy who called me an angry penguin, I stop. "I really want to punch you in the tit for that."

"I'm saying it as I see it." 

"Well you are seeing it wrong. I'm just saying that he managed to ruin a really good afternoon by plotting the whole entire time. I got to admit, he played a blinder.." I answer with a slight sigh.

"Maybe it's all an act? You said he gave you back the rosary.."

"Which I am taking back today. I think I've crossed a line with him and him with me. Perhaps it's time I got another cleaning gig?"

"Do you really want that?" Avery asks making me glance up Zak's drive and to his house. 

Did I want that? For the majority of last night I had convinced myself that moving on to another client and allowing a colleague to take over Zak's home, is the best solution. But now faced with the home and the possibility of it, a part of me isn't ready to let go.

"I don't know Ave. I just think that things have got murky. I'm suppose to be his cleaner, but now it feels... It feels like something else." I tell her.

"Could it be a friendship or an interest?"

We discuss it a little more before I wrap up the call with a promise to call her later. I hear both of the twins shouting bye as Avery hangs up. 

Looking over to the passenger seat of the van, I see their pictures and spend a few minutes looking at the heavy scribbles and thin lines. Each showing a different picture and moment but there is always three little girls in the pictures. The twins both said it was their friend Lizzy.
As I stare at the photo a little more, I have the idea of asking Avery if we should set up a play-date with Lizzy's mom, perhaps some playtime out of school will settle the girls some more? Especially with the house move.

Glancing at Zak's house once more, I sigh and set down the pictures, preparing myself for another fun filled day.

***

When I open the door to Zak's home, I am met with silence, there's not a peep from Gracie who usually runs to meet me at the door and from that moment, I suspect that I am alone and head to the kitchen.

Setting the caddy down, I pull out the black box containing the rosary and take one last look at it before putting it down on the kitchen island. Deciding that it is done, I turn and head off towards the utility room to start the laundry.

You sort the lights from the darks, the towels from the clothes, the delicates from the denim and the beddi-...

My mind pauses as I see Gracie in the garden, soaking wet looking into the pool. Her eyes are trained on something in the water but I can't see what it is until she jumps and re-emerges with it in her mouth.

A tennis ball. 

She then swims to the edge before getting back out. Her white coat is like snow, reflecting the sun as she shakes the water, making her ears flap side to side before she stops and walks to the other side of the pool, drops her ball in, waits and jumps again. All while her tail is wagging back and forth with enjoyment. It's only then, after watching her, that I realise Zak must be home if she is in the garden, with the Vegas sun threatening to reach 120 degrees, there is no way he would have left her outside and gone to work. Would he?