"Mm." Andi made a humming noise. As funny as she was finding it all, even without being able to hear the words, she
was starting to feel a bit bad for leaving Hector out to fend for himself. Not so much because he couldn't - mostly
because now he'd had to stop his rhythm and she knew how annoying that was when you were operating in a groove.
She stood up and looked over at the other woman. Flashed a sudden brilliantly free smile and a wink.
"I'm going in." She announced. "He'll never forgive me if I don't."
"Hey." Sheila shrugged. Suddenly very interested. Seeing how this moved now that the tall stranger was moving onto
the field would tell her more than sitting there asking questions ever would. "I'd wish you luck but..." she let it trail off
and Andi chuckled. Picking up the full glass of ice tea before she started casually down the stairs. Taking her time,
Sheila noticed.
Paige laughed. Pleased he was flirting back. So he didn't drink. That was - weird. But she couldn’t say it was a bad
thing compared to the way most of the boys her age were trying to pickle themselves. She shrugged it off and filed it
away as useful information. At least she'd made her point. That she was old enough to drink. Which meant she was
simply old enough for him too. The age difference was really the only thing he was holding back over and he really
needed to get over that.
"Then leave it for later." She suggested with a smile. "Sun's getting too high anyway. Take a break and I'll get you
something else to drink."
Which was just the point that the scarecrow decided to show up. She looked even thinner than normal with her hair
pulled back from her bony face. But Paige noticed her eyes were laughing and that put her hackles up.
"Here." Andi said it soft and her voice didn't carry over the sound of the lawn mower but her smile did as she handed
him the glass. Then she leaned in and kissed him. "Stop stalling." She teased him, voice near his ear. "It’s getting hot
out here and I want to see if I've got new freckles to count."
Paige, hearing none of it, scowled.
Sheila's jaw dropped a bit from the porch. With that one simple kiss, the foreigner had staked a claim on Hector right
there in his front yard.
But what made her cheeks flush a bit and made her squirm in her seat was the fact that Hector didn't look too overly
embarrassed by it. He didn't look the way he normally did with, for example, Paige. Seemingly paying attention but all
the while looking for a polite, graceful way to get out.
No, instead he slipped one of his bare arms around her tiny waist and smiled. She swore he was laughing, but she
couldn't rightly tell over the racket of the mower.
Paige glowered at the scarecrow as she watched the spectacle. What was he thinking? Out here in the open? With
her? Hello!! Paige was standing right there! And surely she'd be a whole lot more pleasant to hold than that bony
excuse for a woman, right?
Hector chuckled at Andi's comment in his ear. "Should be interesting to find them." He said back before drinking from
the offered glass. It was hot, and he did need it.
Andi laughed softly against him, content to feel the warmth of his body against her own. Reaching up absently to rest
the hand she'd been carrying the glass in, cool and damp from the condensation, against his chest while he drank.
The heat here was different. Heavy instead of dry. She glanced over at Paige. Gave her a smile of greeting but didn't
move away from Hector in the least. Paige couldn't help the glare she shot back. It might not be polite but this was
war. She only had to be sweet and sugary around Hector. Not this stranger who'd come in out of the blue to try to
take the man she'd already claimed away from her.
"Why don't you come sit with me and Sheila?" The scarecrow invited. Making it difficult to stand out here with Hector
chatting without looking childish. Still... as much as she didn't care for Sheila's attempts to capture another shot at
what she'd blown once before, she was pretty sure she and the older woman could agree. The foreigner didn't
belong here and needed to be taken back out of the picture. Hector belonged to them first.
"Sure." She agreed. Gave Hector a sweet smile that had dimples showing. "I came over with an invite anyway. You
need help with the rest of the lawn?" She asked him. Still more helpful than the woman that hadn't gotten off her bony
butt to offer him a drink until it had been to horn in on Paige's time.
"I'll be done in a bit." Hector said to Andi, and Paige, since she had offered to help. Not that Hector had ever seen her
operate a lawn mower before, but that was besides the point. "Then it will be time to get out of the sun." He agreed.
No one did work in heavy humidity in heat unless they had to. And, since he was on vacation and his grass wasn't
going anywhere, he didn't have to.
"Pass any invites over to Andi." He said, making his own subtle point. "It's her vacation too."
Oh, that was the last thing Paige wanted to hear. With any luck, the humidity would be too much for her and she'd
hide in the house, telling Hector he could go about his business with the neighborhood. She just needed one chance
to get him out of her skeletal clutches and save him from a life of misery.
"Don't worry." Andi pressed a kiss to the tip of his ear. "I can hold off the Mongol hordes a little while longer." She was
teasing him. Though she could. He only had a small section of grass to go and, personality-wise, Andi hadn't seen
him just letting that go. In the meantime, she'd entertain the 'guests'.
Hector was getting the easy job.
She gave Paige a smile and took the empty glass from Hector with a wink for him before turning and walking back to
the house. Paige, with little else to do, followed after giving Hector a cheerful smile of her own. It was easy to smile at
him. It wasn't his fault he'd gone off the deep end of some starvation victim. Though - for the life of her - she couldn't
figure out why. She gave Sheila the eye and received one of her own in return as she came up onto the porch. Andi
picked up the potato salad and gave the other woman a smile.
"Get comfortable." She suggested to Paige. "I'll go get something for you to drink and a refill for you." She offered
Sheila. With an easy smile, as if everything was right in her world and she didn't have two rivals sitting on the porch,
she let herself into the house as if she owned it. The screen door shut behind her and, still standing, Paige gave
Sheila an annoyed look. She'd had her chance already and blown it. Why she was trying now, against someone like
Paige, well - some people just didn't know when they were out of their league. Hector didn't need used goods.
Sheila looked back at her. Paige crossed her arms over her chest and leaned on the railing. Sheila sat, relaxed and
easy in the chair. Paige scowled.
"She doesn't belong here." Paige finally stated flatly.
Sheila raised an eyebrow. "Wow. It's so good to see your parents' money was well spent on that college education of
yours." Sheila said flatly. "Such a master of the obvious...why, I wouldn't have known what to do without you to light
my way."
Paige glared at Sheila. "She's got him under some sort of spell."
"Excuse me?" Sheila asked.
"Come on, you remember history class, everyone knows voodoo has its roots in Africa. Obviously she's done
something to him. I mean...please...." Paige looked back over at Hector who had his headphones back on and was
finishing the front yard. "Why would he be with her otherwise? It makes sense if you think about it carefully. She's in a
dead end humanitarian job in the middle of Africa, surrounded by all that disease and war. She wanted out. In comes
Hector and his guys, wow. Good looking soldier, American citizen.....you see where I'm going with this?"
"You are such a child." Sheila said with a roll of her eyes, though deep inside her heart of jealousy, it did make
sense. Why else would Hector bring her here?
"She'll probably tie herself to him to get that citizenship, and the easy life...after all....military pays for everything,
doesn't it?" Paige said, shaking her head. "God, poor Hector."
Sheila had to stop herself from nodding in agreement. Paige was being ridiculous, right? Right? Then again....
Paige, warming to her subject, went on.
"I mean - look at her." She protested, leaning back on the railing on her hands. "Have you seen how skinny she is?
That's not normal. And she looks sick too, all pale with those big eyes. She hasn't got a curve on her. Hector wouldn't
go for a woman like that. She's got to poke him whenever he even hugs her. Much less anything else." She glared at
the screen door then looked back at Sheila. "Seriously, we all know men like women with padding. You and I, and
almost every woman in this town, has a bigger chest size than she does. He's not with her because of her looks."
Sheila had to admit Paige had a point. Okay, maybe not about the voodoo - though - she was Louisiana born and
bred.... you didn't entirely discount things like that. But still... the English woman wasn't at all attractive. All arms and
legs sure but - not a looker by any means. And, as much as he was a guy, she couldn't see Hector just falling for a
strange accent. And - she'd hardly be the first woman to hitch a ride with a guy to better her position. Women traded
on that kind of thing all the time.
Sheila knew *she* wouldn't want to be stuck in some dirt hole in the middle of Africa.
"You're imagining things." She stated, shifting in her chair. But Paige had fastened onto it and Sheila's halfhearted
dismissal wasn't slowing her down.
"He's goofy over her in less than a year? Where's that coming from? He's been living here all his life and he never
even dates the girls he's known for years. She's done something to him."
"She hasn't got a Hector doll somewhere." Sheila stated. Figuring - right?
"Fine." Paige hadn't given up her voodoo theory but Sheila wanted something else? She'd give it to her. "Fine." She
repeated. "She's a doctor, you know." She stated. And saw Sheila hadn't. "What if she's got him on some kind of drug
he doesn't know about? What about that? Something to make him susceptible to her influence. So he's cloudy and
not thinking straight when he's on it. What if she did that to him?"
"You can't just go around making those kinds of accusations." Sheila said. "But...there is something up. He's
completely different....psychohypnotics could do the trick....tell you what." She leaned forward to talk softly to Paige.
"Get me some hair, with a follicle, blood or urine, and I'll run a test."
Just like Andi hadn't volunteered that she was a doctor, Sheila hadn't volunteered she worked in the lab at the
hospital.
That, and it would give Paige something to do.
Paige nodded. "Something has to be done." She said. "Come on, tell me you're not concerned? I know I am. And it
goes beyond the fact that he's obviously not with the right person."
Sheila sighed. "No proof. We can't do shit. And I don't see him coming for a drug test. Never mind the military drug
tests him regularly I'm sure."
"And some are untraceable. Haven't you ever watched CSI or House?"
Andi heard the excited murmurs even if she didn't hear what they were about as she came back out. Saw the way
both women leaned back and her lips pressed together. Which, barely, served to keep the edges of them from
twitching upward. Whatever they were talking about, she wasn't concerned for herself. But women plotting could only
mean trouble for Hector.
If she'd had less faith in him, she might have worried.
As is, she simply set down a pitcher of sweet tea and filled glasses for everyone. Paige was looking at her with a
triumphant gleam in her eye and Andi just gave her a smile as she finished pouring the drink.
"It really was very nice of you to bring something to eat." She told Sheila. "I saw what Hector considers 'real' food
when I got here and I'm sure he would have starved, or died of sugar shock, if that's the way he lived before."
"Oh, I don't mind." Sheila answered. Looking at the skinny woman in front of her in a whole new light. "He likes my
potato salad."
Paige laughed.
"He likes anything that's not still moving." She clarified. Not about to let it go simply because they were semi-allies.
Sheila shot her a look.
"As opposed to your cookies?" She asked dryly.