Feed the Fire

The winter winds blew against the small house rattling the windows with its fierce New York State Snowbelt fury. As the winds howled outside, inside was the picture of cozy and homebodies. A woman was wrapped up underneath a fuzzy blanket stretched out on the couch watching soap operas, epitomizing the stereotype of a housewife; while not actually being a member of the said community.

The woman was laying on the couch in the same way that she had been since the first day she arrived at the house; near comatose and unable to give an accurate account of her last few hours. When Maia opened the door to find Beth standing there with a blank expression and smallish rolling suitcase; she was stunned and literally had to pull her cousin in from the cold.

The first night Beth went into the guest bedroom without a word and just slept for what seemed like days to Maia, but in actuality was only about 15 hours. It took Maia almost a day to finally extract the information of what happened to Beth to cause such gut wrenching behavior of being like a zombie. Beth opened up long enough to explain about the apartment before falling back into her own little world.

Maia grew concerned when she knew the tour was starting back up and Beth made no move to leave the couch and rejoin the band, instead preferring to watch soap operas all day while she was working. As the weeks stretched on though, Beth did start to come out of her self imposed shell a little by helping Maia out around the house. When Maia came home from work, Beth would have dinner made, the table set, and actually come around enough to make dinner conversation.

By the time February made itself known, Beth was almost back to normal with the exception of her new soap opera habit that she acquired during her stay with Maia. The weather had dumped a foot of snow on the ground the day before and the town was still digging it's way out, so that meant Maia took a personal day to just stay home and veg alongside of her cousin. The sky was already dark even though it only being a little bit before 5pm in the early evening.

Maia walked into the room carrying two mugs of hot cocoa that she had made when headlights splashed the wall across from the window illuminating the room quickly before shutting off and plunging the room back into semi darkness.

"You expecting anyone?" Beth muttered darkly wondering what would possess anyone to go out on a night like this.

Maia placed the mugs down on the end table and looked at Beth with a puzzled look upon her face, "No... maybe it's a turnaround or something."

Beth glanced to the mug and grimaced, "You forgot the marshmallows." She held the mug out to her cousin with a pleading look on her face.

Maia chuckled, "No you can get your ass up and get your own marshmallows."

Beth rolled her eyes but got up and went to take her mug into the kitchen on a hunt for the elusive little white puffy treat. "Fine, but I'm not bringing you any so there," she said as her pink tongue poked out and her face squished up as she directed her look to her cousin before leaving the room.

Maia laughed at Beth's antics but was interrupted by a knock at the front door. Looking puzzled she moved to the window and peeked out to the driveway only to see an unfamiliar blue SUV parked behind her car. She shook her head as she continued to the door and checked the peephole to find a somewhat familiar person standing on the other side trying his best not to freeze his nuts off in the harsh winter air. The woman opened the door and gestured the man into the foyer. She took an appreciative look up and down of the man before whistling slowly, "Well, hello tall drink of water. And how may I help you?"

The man stomped his feet to rid his thin boots of the layer of snow that they collected on his short walk from the truck to the door. He pulled out his hands and cupped them to his lips and blew a burst of hot air in some vain effort to warm them up. The coat he was wearing was not meant for New York winters and his thin shoulders trembled a little from the cold. After rubbing his hands together to further warm them up, he found his voice. "I'm Mike...we met before Thanksgiving."

"Oh, yea!" Maia grinned like a loon but without looking insane. "Yeah, hi... so, did you need something?" The woman mentally crossed her fingers at the reason why the man traveled from the warm coast to the cold coast.

"I'm looking for Beth. I heard through the grapevine she's been here for the last month."

"Beth?" Maia asked as Beth came back into the room successful in her hunt for marshmallows. The woman caught a glimpse of the man standing next to her cousin and let her displeasure show in the form of slamming her mug onto the end table. Maia winced then plastered a smile on her face as she moved her gaze back to the man standing next to her. "You mean that Beth? Yes, thank you for showing up. Please apologize for whatever you did and work your manly mojo on her so she's not breaking anymore of my coffee cups."

When Beth didn't make any movement toward Mike, Maia smiled as a wicked thought filled her head. She placed her hand upon the man's shoulder and leaned into his personal space, "You got any single friends that look like you?"

That spurred Beth into action, she crossed the room and into the foyer with purposeful strides. She grabbed Maia's other arm and jerked her body away form the offending man, "Get away from him...he's dirty." When Maia moved away Beth started at Mike with a disgusted look on her face. "I have nothing to say to him," then in the space of a nano second decided differently. "On second thought I have A LOT to say to him!!!"

Maia stood back a little and watched her very own version of a soap opera play out in front of her in real time as Beth in front at the man shaking a finger at him.
"You son of a bitch, what... no WHO the hell do you think you are showing up here?" she fumed pacing back and forth in front of Mike. "I told you 'Don't call me, I'll call you.' Didn't that mean anything to you? You asshole... coming in here like some big fucking rock star, walking in like you own the place, you dick... " she sputtered.

When there was a lull in her rapid fire speech Mike interjected a comment, "We were worried about you when you didn't show up for the next concert date," he explained softly to the raging woman. "And when your cell phone wasn't working, we got even more concerned."

Beth stopped for a moment as his words sunk in a little. That kennel of doubt came up out of hiding in her brain as she mulled over what he said. "So maybe I didn't want to be found, did you think that?"

"Beth, all of us were worried. You dropped off the face of the earth and no one knew anything about what happened to you."

"How did you find me?"

"Sabrina called in a favor from John and he did some leg work. He actually stumbled upon information when one of your Mom's neighbors sat down at the next table and overheard him and Robbie talking about you. The woman took their number and gave it to your mom and about a week later she did call them and said that you might be here with Maia in Albany," Mike explained.

Hearing that people actually were worried and cared if she was okay, seemed to calm Beth down a little so that she wasn't pacing anymore. Mike took that as a good sign and continued on, "I was worried also Beth... "

Beth rolled her eyes are his declaration and pointed toward the door, "See ya later and don't let the door hit ya where the good lord spilt ya."

Mike bristled a little at her words, "Well, I'm not going anywhere till you come back to Sabrina's farm with me."

Maia perked up a bit, "Ooh, a farm."

After throwing a dirty look in Maia's general direction Beth muttered, "I'm not going."

Mike pulled himself up to his full height to stare back at the woman challenging him, "Then neither am I."

Maia looked between the two people uncertainly, "Guess I'm making up the third bedroom."

Beth shoved Mike, "No you're not, he is leaving."

Mike ignored Beth for a moment and turned his considerable charm to Maia, "How big is the bed? I'm pretty tall," he murmured to the now blushing woman.

"Yes," the woman cooed back, unable to resist the Dirnt charm, "You are."

"Maia!" Beth said rather loudly, interrupting the thoughts that Maia had running through her mind at that precise moment in time.

"What?" she asked, "I'm just agreeing with the man."

"You're supposed to be agreeing with me. I'm your blood kin, not him. Stopping thinking with your vagina... " Beth trailed off muttering.

Maia sighed as she turned back toward Mike "Fine, fine, fine... Looks like it's the Holiday Inn for you." As she showed him to the door, she added quickly to for his ears only, "I was serious about the single friends' thing, by the way."

The next week Mike spent trying to get back on Beth's good side. He visited her at Maia's house and attempted to take her out to dinner or the movies. Beth resisted at first but with Maia's insistence, Beth didn't have much choice but she was finding herself enjoying Mike's company as he was being a perfect gentleman.

Valentine's Day arrived with Mike having a game plan. He had an idea and with the help of Maia, he arranged things and readied a romantic date that would top all romantic dates before this one. Maia for her part made herself scarce and actually left the house for an planned overnight gambling trip, funded by Mike himself. Mike left word through Maia for Beth that a limo was coming to pick her up at 6pm sharp.

6 o'clock found Beth stalking the living room in a dress that hugged her curves yet flowed from the waist to wrap her up in its black silk glory. A pair of black high heels encased her feet as she waited for her ride to show up. A moment later a black limo pulled up to the house and the driver got out and walked up to the front door. When she opened the door to reveal the driver, a puzzled look came over her face, "Where's Mike?"

"Mr. Dirnt is already at the restaurant, will you please come with me?" The man held out his arm for Beth to take. Throwing on her coat she placed her hand on the man's proffered arm and was helped to the car and gently deposited inside. The limo sped off into downtown Albany where is finally stopped in front of a row of brownstones. The driver got out and opened Beth's door, again offering his arm as she climbed out. He led her to a quaint little place where a large plate glass window proclaimed the name, 'Stephanie's On the Park Restaurant'. The driver opened the front door and tipped his hat at Beth as she walked inside.

Once inside the intimate ambiance provided the perfect place for a Valentine's date. A nicely dressed woman came up alongside of Beth and guided her to a table in the back where Mike was seated and waiting. When he spied Beth he rose from his seat and smiled at the woman approaching him. Beth smiled as she down in the chair Mike had pulled out for her, again being the perfect gentleman.

The dinner progressed with everything going nicely. Beth was being on her best behavior while Mike was trying his best not to smother the woman. When he flirted, she responded; when she smiled, he beamed. They moved their way through the dinner like a choreographed dance that only they knew the steps but yet have never performed before. After the bottle of wine lay emptied and the last bit of dessert consumed did the two run out of things to say.

Beth almost couldn't believe herself when she uttered "Want to go back to Maia's place and maybe watch some movies or something?"

The man nodded his agreement and stood up and offered his arm to Beth. They walked through the tiny restaurant arm in arm with Beth leaning into Mike as if she was super-glued to his shoulder. She smiled as he helped her put her coat on and watched as he slipped his own jacket on before once again taking her hand and opening the door leading her to the awaiting limo.

When they arrived back at Maia's house, Mike walked Beth to the door and waited until she opened the front door, pushing it open so they could escape the cold weather. They quickly removed their winter jackets and flipped off their shoes as they made their way into the living room. Beth flipped on the TV while Mike went off in search of some more wine. Within moments he returned with a bottle and two glasses and soon the red liquid was being poured into the glass with each person taking theirs and settling into the couch. Beth pulled the blanket from behind them and spread it out on their laps as they settled in to watch some nameless movie.

Hours later, Beth awoke with a start as she realized that they had fallen asleep on the couch together. She glanced at the man who was peacefully resting beside her and she couldn't resist in touching his face, caressing his cheek with feather light fingertips. Somehow her touch must have awoken him as suddenly he stirred and turned his head toward her, opening his eyes and looking at her. His intent gaze unsettled Beth as she ducked her head and brushed off the feeling, "What do I have drool on my face?"

He smiled benignly, "No, I was just thinking how much I enjoy waking up to your face." He moved his hand to the back of her neck and let it rest there. She trembled at his touch but still leaned forward to meet his lips with her own. She gave herself up to his touch and allowed his to deepen the kiss when he heard a little mewl from her. He smiled into the kiss as he pulled her into him and gently guided her to the couch where she rested underneath him. Her eyes seemed to melt into his as he gazed as her drinking in her beauty. He kissed her again and they began to rediscover each other's bodies again and again.

The next night Beth yawned as Mike guided Sabrina's Equinox down the New York State Thruway to head to the Farm. They had been driving for almost 2 hours and were just about 30 miles from the exit they had to get off at. She gazed out the window watching the scenery go by in the twilight of the dying day; that time of night when it was still a combination of both light and dark and it was hard to really see anything.

The SUV was cozy warm and Mike had the stereo playing the XM radio and was chuckling along to the comedians performing on the channel he had picked. Beth glanced over to the man beside her and let her thought wander to the events of the last week or so when Mike came after her. She smiled as she thought about things that had happened as she glanced out the driver's side window at the wildlife preserve that they were driving past. Something drew her attention to the dashboard and after a quick look at the speedometer reading 68mph she turned her attention back out the front windshield. Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and as she turned her head to look, it was too late.

The deer which had been standing by the side of the road suddenly spooked and ran out onto the thruway and directly in the path of the Equinox. Mike slammed on the brakes as the deer came into his line of sight but it was not enough to ward off what was about to happen. The SUV's antilock brakes did their job but the icy winter driving conditions worked against the SUV as the wheels tried to grip the road as the deer struck the hood. The angle of the impact sent the deer under the wheels which then changed the SUV's course of forward motion.

The SUV seemed to jump sideways as the airbags went off blinding the occupants temporally. When the wheels finally connected with the pavement again the SUV was now facing the center median, stretching sideways across the lanes of traffic. The centrifugal force then toppled the SUV and sent it tumbling in a sickening sideways roll down the center of the thruway. Before the vehicle came to rest, the semi truck that was traveling behind them clipped the back end of the SUV and pushed it around in the opposite direction before it finally came to rest on its passenger side in the middle of the grassy median.

Mike roused himself and tried to push the now deflated airbag out of his way without hurting himself any more then he was. He was strapped in to his seat but his upper body was leaning toward his right as he realized how the SUV came to a stop. "Beth..." he said with a croaked voice. With a clearing of his throat he tried again, "Beth?"

There was no answer from the woman before he then began to hear the voices of people coming up to the shattered wreck that was once a fully functioning vehicle. "Hey mister, don't move."

"I'm okay... help my... girlfriend..." he cried out before he then gave into the blackness that had been threatening his consciousness.