Did you know that Kyle Anderson from The Bird Day Battalion  and The V-Day Aversion is briefly mentioned at the end of First, I Love You and shows up again at the end of Second of All?

Yep! Poor, long-suffering Officer Anderson–oh alright, cheeky, laid-back Officer Anderson–has been helping his old friend and former partner Detective Tommy Gates while he was away from the Omaha Police Department.

And as you know, Kyle’s mom Bridgette mentions that Kate once went on a date with Tommy in Bird Day, which is set just a few months before Tommy heads to Chicago for the human trafficking joint task force.

What you may not know is Claire Underwood from First, I Love You–Agent Jack Underwood’s wife and Mary Gates’ best friend–is an Anderson by birth. Her brother, Tom Anderson, is Kyle and Katelyn Anderson’s father. So, if you’ve read the Tommy Flashback, when Kyle Anderson refers to his Aunt Claire she is literally his Aunt, versus the fictive use of the moniker by Tommy. Despite their instant rapport, Tommy and Kyle only rarely saw each other growing up but quickly re-connected when they discovered they would be in the same training class at the Police Academy.

Whew!

All that aside, the reason I drug you all in here is to give you a sneak peek at the next Dom & Kate short story! This is partly the same teaser I put up on Facebook a week or so ago…only with a little more meat and potatoes added, as we say here in Nebraska.

🙂

(Remember the final version will be subject to editing and proofreading and editing, etc etc, of course!)

 —–

“Kate?”

“Mmmn.”

“Kaaaatelyn.”

“Mmmn.”

“Yo, Skate!”

Katelyn set her pencil down on the spreadsheet she was double checking—old school style—and took a deep breath.

“Yo?” she replied and finally raised her head. What part of ‘I’m working’ was he not grasping? “Are you Rocky now, Dom? Is this another role play thing?”

Dominic grabbed the back of her chair and rolled it away from the desk.

“Hey! I can’t—I’m almost done—at least let me save my work.”

“It’ll keep.”

“No, it won’t! What if the power goes out or something? I’ll lose all the stratigraphy data I just input.”

Dom reached up and scratched his head, scrunching his eyebrows.

“Are the dead things still going to be dead? Yes. Still buried in dirt? Yes. Are we going to be dead and buried in dirt if we don’t leave now for the engagement party my mother is throwing? Yes.”

Dom grabbed her hands and yanked her out of the chair. Katelyn glared at him.

“I don’t excavate ‘dead things’. Pottery is made of clay, sometimes—”

“Let’s goooo,” Dom drawled. When she started to pull him back towards the computer he looped an arm around her middle and hitched her over his shoulder.

“Oh. Em. Gee. You did not seriously just do that!” She pummeled his butt while he laughed and carried her down the hall.

“Oh, em, gee, I can’t believe a twenty-eight year old woman just said ‘Oh. Em. Gee.’ And please, babe, I’ve known you since infancy. You’ve backed that file up in at least three places and obsessively after each entry.”

She blew the hair out of her face and glared at him after he set her down by the front door. He grinned unrepentantly and handed her purse to her.

“Besides,” he continued, only slightly breathless. “Speaking of role playing… Didn’t you just say the other night you like the ‘caveman thing’?”

Katelyn flushed magenta. “Not when the caveman’s dragging me next door to his mother’s. I usually like to ignore the fact she lives next to me.”

“Well, I usually like to ignore the fact my fiancée lives a town away instead of moving in with me like she promised,” he replied as they walked across the freshly cut lawn.

“A suburb away, technically speaking,” Kate muttered.

“What’s that? Something about a Swingline stapler, Milton?” Dom asked, turning around and walking backwards. He smirked and waggled his eyebrows.

He’s damn lucky he’s so sexy, Kate thought.

“If you trip over a hose and land on your ass, don’t expect sympathy from me,” she said playfully. “Don’t worry, we all know your mommy will kiss it and make it all better.”

“Oh, burn!” Kandace shouted, leaning off the rail on Ramona’s porch. Her husband Steve chuckled and pulled her towards the door.

The smug smirk disappeared from Dom’s face and he froze mid-gait, wrinkling his nose. Katelyn grinned and smacked him on his firm rear as she walked past him. Her sense of victory was short lived, though, because not only was every member of both their families crammed into Ramona’s tiny living room—and looking quite sour about it—but judging from the mischievous gleam in Dom’s eyes as he sat down, he’d be paying her back… intimately… and soon.

“I would just like to start the festivities by getting the most important thing out of the way,” Kandace said as soon as everyone had sat down. Ramona looked affronted. It was rather sassy to upstage the hostess, Katelyn thought.

“And that is to say…” Kandace continued, pivoting in her seat to look Katelyn in the eyes. “I told you so. And you’re welcome. No really, there’s no need to name your first child after me. Just knowing I am his or her distinctly cooler Aunt will be enough payment.” She leaned back against Steve’s chest, crossed her legs on the coffee table, and smirked. Steve grimaced and checked his watch. Three-fourths of the room sent their eyes to the ceiling.

Dom nodded at her with a faux-smile and a falsetto ‘aww’. He flicked a baby carrot at her.

“Stay classy, Kandy.”

Kandace raised her middle finger.

“Quit it, you two!” Ramona and Bridgette said in unison. There was a beat of silence then both Kandace and Dom laughed.

Katelyn leaned forward in her chair and pushed Kandace’s feet off the table.

“Mrs. Valentini—Ramona—I appreciate you having us, but obviously, we’ve all known each other for many years so there’s no need for the ritualized meeting of the families prior to nuptials—”

“What she means to say, Mom, is we’re glad to be here, thanks.”

Ramona’s confused and glazed expression cleared up and she beamed adoringly at her only son.

“Wonderful!” Ramona clapped her hands together once. “I thought we could discuss how each of us can have a part in the wedding. Everyone here is delighted you two kids have finally decided to tie the knot.”

Katelyn looked around the room and ‘delighted’ wasn’t the adjective she’d use to describe the occupants. ‘Bored’ and ‘indifferent’ were more accurate descriptors with a heaping scoop of ‘smug’ from Kandace.

“Mom, actually we—” Dom began to say but Kellie interrupted.

“I’m quite certain I’ve faxed over the information on the venue to you. I’ve managed to reserve Dundee Bar and Grill for the rehearsal supper—”

“Oh, nonsense, it’s so small and such a run-down area,” Ramona said.

“Actually, no, it’s not. And it’s quite a trendy area for weddings these days,” Kellie argued.

“You know, we don’t need—” Dom began again.

“And easier for the out of town guests to see the sights of Omaha,” she continued over him.

“That may be, but it’s nowhere near where any of us live!” Ramona waved a piece of celery at Kellie.

“The point being, it’s close to the park where Kate and Dom will have the ceremony,” Kellie gritted out while glaring at the drooping celery stalk. Kellie’s voice was beginning to get that brittle and pert tone that everyone in the Anderson family knew signaled her digging in her heels.

“Kellie, while I appreciate you—” Katelyn started to placate but Ramona plowed over her.

“I see no reason why they can’t get married at Mahoney Park. It’s much closer. No need to hassle with downtown traffic. Am I right, Bridgette? Right?” Ramona asked Kate’s mother in an equally brittle, slightly hysterical tone.

Bridgette merely puckered her lips while slathering peanut butter in an agitated manner on the poor, battered celery.

“Pick your evil, I guess. Deal with tourists or deal with the Dundee DINKs,” Kandace drawled, placing her feet back on the coffee table.

“Watch your language, Kandace Marie!” Bridgette said and pushed Kandace’s feet back off.

Kyle snorted. “It means dual-income, no kids, Mom,” he said without looking up from his phone. “And can we wrap this up please?” He was still in his Police uniform and unsubtly standing right next to the front door.

Dominic’s sister Demetria laughed softly and somehow it captured everyone’s attention. Katelyn could never figure out how she did it. It was a sort of breathy, tinkling ‘ha-ha-ha’ that resonated on a different existential plane. Like the dog-whistle of laughs. She was perched in a zen-like position on an ottoman at the edge of the dining room, forcing most of the occupants of the living room to crane their necks to look at her.

“Forgive my interruption,” Demi breathed—because she never spoke like a normal person—she imparted wisdom…breathlessly. “Has anyone enquired what Dominic and Katelyn would like to do?”

—

Copyright 2013, Genevieve Dewey, All Rights Reserved