A Kiss That Bites

After a simple breakfast of oatmeal, Angerona carefully got her grandmother in her favorite soft, brown leather recliner and tucked Agatha in for a nice nap.

Satisfied, she made her way back to the kitchen to clean up the toast disaster. As she was passing the stairs, she heard a light rapping on the front door. She made her way down the small foyer, and looked through the peep hole. Groaning lightly, she recognized Rupert Hunnington. She forgot today was grass cutting day. Slouching, Angerona opened the door to greet the young man when the phone in the kitchen started ringing.

"Hello, Miss Savalides. Did I catch you at a bad time?" Rupert asked, smiling politely at her. "Should I come back later?"

Before Angerona could give an answer, she heard Agatha answer the phone and she seemed to be having quite a fit. She was cursing up a storm and hollering about another of her tea sets. Rolling her eyes, she looked over her shoulder and then back at Rupert who was quietly awaiting an answer.

"Might as well come in, Rupert. Looks like I might need your help calming Agatha down. She seems quite upset that someone woke her up from her nap." Angerona smiled as she backed away from the door to allow Rupert to come into the house.

"Thank you very much Miss Savalides." Rupert nodded and stepped into the foyer as he watched Angerona head towards the kitchen. When the young woman disappeared, Rupert quietly shut the door behind him, and silently sniffed around. Deciding it was safe, he followed Angerona into the kitchen.

When he got there, Agatha was quite flustered and was giving Angerona a hard time. Smiling, he walked in Agatha's direction and spoke softly to the elderly woman.

"Why, Agatha, you look so lovely today! Have you done something different with your hair?" Rupert said gently as he gave her his best smile.

He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was, even if she was at least three times his age. Something about her just caught his attention and held it. Maybe it was the way she smiled at him or the way her scent would envelope him. The scent of roses and something spicy would gently waft up his nose each time he caught her scent. Whatever it was about her, he thought he was slowly falling in love with the elderly woman and that’s what confused him the most. What he was feeling for Agatha was what he should feel around his true mate. He would have to make it a point to ask his father about this. Until then, he gave his full attention to Agatha as she headed in his direction.

"What? Oh, Rupert, my dear! I didn't know you were here. And you noticed my hair?" Agatha said excitedly as she slightly shuffled over to Rupert while slightly fluffing her hair. She put one of her wrinkled hands in his, leaned up, and put a quick peck on Rupert's soft cheek. "Have you come for tea my dear? I am afraid we will have to use Angerona's rust bucket of a tea pot, seeing as I can never find any of my tea sets."

Agatha looked up at the young man and for a single lucid moment she caught her breath. She almost had forgotten how good looking Rupert was. How his eyes would sparkle and turn a light shade of green when he came near her. She had forgotten how her heart would sometimes flutter when he gave her one of his roguish grins and showed his perfectly straight white teeth. He was wearing his favorite long sleeved brown shirt and those well worn jeans, full of holes.

Rupert even smelled divine today. He was all earthy and spicy smelling at the same time. Then in a flash, the lucid moment was gone and Agatha barely registered her granddaughter answering the phone.

Rupert watched the older woman huff a little bit before he looked over at Angerona and winked her way. Angerona just shook her head and picked up the phone to see who was on the other line.

"Hello?" Angerona paused for a minute before violently pulling the phone away from her head.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGIE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" Both Alexis and Evahraine sang as loudly as they could in Angerona's ear.

She growled a little at the pain in her ear. "Try to be a little louder next time. I don’t think everyone in China could hear you.” Angerona snorted playfully as she grinned over the phone. She heard both of the girls laugh hysterically and then the phone clicked as the call was disconnected.

Puzzled, Angerona looked down at the phone and then heard a loud rapping at her front door. Swearing under her breath, Angerona hung up the phone and went to the front door for a second time, leaving Rupert and Agatha alone in the kitchen.

"This better be good. I am not a damn doorman." Angerona grumbled quietly as she went to the front door and saw it was the mailman, Kile. Irritated, she pulled the door open quickly, startling him.

"Forgive me Miss Savalides." Kile cleared his throat and nervously. “You have a package, or I wouldn’t have come to the door.” He handed her the mail and the box. “So, umm, have a good day, ma’am.”

Angerona watched as Kile turned on his heal and all but ran back to the mail truck. He pulled out quickly, sending gravel rocks and dust flying into the air, driving back down the long winding driveway. Puzzled by his behavior, she looked around at the wide, grass covered front yard, thinking that something might have spooked the skittish mailman. However, she didn’t see so much as a squirrel. Being so far out in the country, she couldn’t imagine that anything out of the ordinary would make its way there. They lived in the middle of a large wooded area that Lexie and Eva appropriately called “out in the sticks.” But they said that about anywhere that was slightly out of the way. The little house was surrounded on all sides by all kinds of trees. Wild Maples, Spruces, Poplars, and several other kinds that Angerona didn’t know the names of kept the house in a cool shadow. Blinking in the sun, she looked down at the package in her hands and turned the small, cubic box over. Not really thinking about the mail or the package, she turned around back into the house and set everything down on the glass topped coffee table in the middle of the living room.

When Angerona got back into the kitchen she was surprised at how lucid her grandmother was acting around Rupert and almost did a double take. They were both sitting down at the table and having tea in a pair of white, chipped coffee cups. . Slightly shocked, Angerona just stood leaning against the kitchen door way, watching the pair of them.

If she didn't know any better, she would have said that Agatha Savalides was flirting with the young man. But Agatha was so far gone mentally that Angerona didn't really pay much mind to it. She smiled slightly, thinking that she couldn’t blame her grandmother for thinking the young man was handsome.

Tall, with sandy-brown hair, Rupert had a gentle smile that could make his dark green eyes light up with joy and laughter. Even with his good looks, Angerona was not interested in him. He lacked several qualities she valued in a man; he was a push over, and that, to Angerona was not attractive.

While she was watching them, she began to wonder. How long had Rupert been talking to Agatha the past few months? Or visiting with her for that matter? She was obliviously speaking to Rupert as if she knew him quite well and that was confusing Angerona.

She knew the Hunningtons were old friends of the family, but she didn’t think Rupert came around like his father use to. Rupert started cutting their grass less than four months ago. Rupert's father had basically ordered the young man to get a job and naturally asked Angerona if it would be all right if Rupert started cutting their grass instead of him.

Of course, she agreed and so far Rupert had not missed a day of work when it came time to cut the grass. Curious about the whole situation, Angerona was just about to say something when someone else started pounding at the front door. This time, Angerona was pissed.