Padme's Library: Sunday's Short Stack: Another Day with Jory by Mary Calmes

Sunday, December 27, 2020

Sunday's Short Stack: Another Day with Jory by Mary Calmes

Summary:
Jory holiday ficlet.

Re-Read Review December 2020:

This Christmas free short is just brilliant and gets more fun to read every year, quite possibly even more so this year because 2020 has been so crappy that we all need a little Jory and Sam in our lives to make everything better. Jory's knack for finding himself in unique situations makes great reading, or as Sam has been known to call him a "trouble magnet". One of the things I love about these guys is that despite the trouble Jory attracts and Sam is called in to get him out of, Jory often finds a way to wiggle himself out of it and when Sam isn't available, there's plenty of friends and family to aid the man with a heart of gold. Throw in the pairs' little people, Hannah and Kola, and you have a Christmas classic in the making and if you've never read Jory and Sam's adventures before this is a perfect free read to wet your whistle but be prepared to be busy for the next days as you'll want to go back and read the couple from their first meeting.

Original Review January 2017:
What a wonderful post holiday treat! Saw a post about it on Facebook and immediately went to read it. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Jory and Sam and the entire cast of characters from Mary Calmes' Matter of Time Universe. I think I love married and domesticated Sam & Jory as much if not a little more than them as flirty & fighting newbies. Just a wonderful addition to the series!!

RATING:

I was surprised when I got home and found the tank he drove already parked in our small two car garage. It was tiny, compared to most people’s, as the cars could fit in there but nothing much else besides the kids’ bikes. Sam had put up bike hooks on the far wall, so I was always careful pulling in so I didn’t crush them. They used to be on the sides, with mine, but after Kola and Hannah made a nighttime getaway, Sam had moved them just to be on the safe side. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them—they were both the kind of people anyone would be happy to claim—it was just that they were both superheroes at heart, so if duty called, they would ditch out to help a friend in need. At least now, they couldn’t get far without transportation.

Him being home was not super great for me—I’d hoped to have a little more time to prepare—but there was no way around it, and I wasn’t going to change my mind. Picking up the sleeping dog from the passenger seat, I tucked him under my arm and got out.

There were cans of wet food in a bag in the trunk, and I collected that, snapped the leash to the collar, and led the sweater-clad Chihuahua toward my home.

I thought he’d have trouble with the stairs, being as small as he was, but he went right up them to the back deck Sam had built, along with his brother and mine, this past summer. I opened the French door and stepped into the kitchen—the door was new also—and was greeted by my cat, Chilly, calling to me from the top of the refrigerator. Both me and Dobby—I’d already named him after the elf from Harry Potter because, hello, with those ears he could get Direct TV, I was sure—looked up at the cat.

“Don’t be an ass,” I ordered Chilly.

He stretched and yawned wide, making a show like he could have cared less, but I knew he was eaten up with excitement and interest as deliberate as he was moving.

There was a hop onto the counter and then another to the floor before he strutted over to me and the tan and black Chihuahua. Pushing out his nose, he was clearly horrified when the dog licked it—the disgust was evident—but he only “talked” to the puppy. There was no hissing. I was counting it as a win.

Taking off the leash, I watched a second as the dog sat and regarded the cat, and the cat did the exact same. Everything Siri had read to me on the way home in the car said that the process of introducing pets should be done slowly and in stages. I had no time for that, so I was glad it worked out. Not that I was all that worried. Chilly was no longer a freaky kitten but a true cat with all the disinterest in anything that wasn’t about food, being brushed, or sleeping in his spot in front of the fireplace. He might need to share that and one of the kids’ beds, but other than that, the dog was two pounds lighter than his eight, so it wasn’t like either of them was taking up a lot of room.

“Hello?” I called out now that the pet introductions were done.

Nothing.

And that was odd because how was I not worth a greeting from my husband?

Walking into the living room from the kitchen, I found the Chief Deputy of the Northern Division of Illinois Marshals Service lying on his back, spread eagle on the floor beside the Christmas tree.

I cleared my throat.

Heavy sigh in return.

Putting everything that I hadn’t left in the kitchen down on the sideboard that ran the length of the back of the couch—keys, phone, wallet, gloves, sunglasses—I then shed my peacoat, scarf and beanie before walking over to stand above the man I loved and adored.

His eyes were closed and I noticed that he had apparently walked straight in and just stretched out in the middle of our living room. The man was still dressed in his overcoat and suit, his scarf was still on, his badge clipped to his belt, and his gun was still in its holster.

“Uhm.”

His eyes opened slowly, and I noted the defeat as well as the furrowed brows.

“What’s the story here, marshal?”

He cleared his throat. “I was just with Hannah in the principal’s office at school.”

This was news. “Why?”

“They called me because your daughter refused to tell everyone on her different social media accounts that she and Melanie Dudley were friends.”

I squinted at him. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Well,” he sighed. “Apparently, at recess, she was on Snapchat telling everyone, hey I’m at school hanging with my buds, and she names some other kids.”

“She can do that there because it disappears, right?”

“You’re asking me?”

I snickered. “Okay, well, they all have code names, so I’m sure it was faces all clustered around a phone, and now it’s gone.”

“You’re right,” he agreed, “but that’s not the issue.”

“What’s the issue, then?”

“Apparently, this Melanie wanted to be in the picture too.”

“I have never heard of a Melanie only Dhara, Jing-Wei, Kaitlin and Red.”

“Red?”

“Red was Robyn last year but is now transitioning from female to male.”

“He’s the one who tutored Hannah in Algebra.”

“Yes.”

“It’s hard to keep up with all Hannah’s friends. Kola’s are easier.”

“That’s because there’s only Jake and Harper and the three of them are inseparable.”

He grunted.

“But since Melanie is new to me, I’m thinking they must not be friends.”

“Right, but Melanie wants to be trending on Snapchat like B is, so she wanted to be in the picture too.”

“And this has what to do with us?”

“Well, Melanie went for B’s phone, and B said no, and first they ran, and then Melanie grabbed B’s hair, and that’s when B put the move on her.”

“She’s a Blue Belt in Tae Kwon Do now Sam, there actually is a move. What do you expect her to do?”

“Use her power for good.”

“Did she hurt Melanie?”

“No, but when the teacher went over and told B to give her her phone––”

“Why would she need that?”

“To see if there was something offensive that B had written about her.”

“Why would the teacher think that B was writing about her?”

“Not the teacher, Melanie.”

“I thought you said the teacher took the phone.”

He groaned. Loudly. “The teacher went over to check B’s phone to see if B had posted anything offensive about Melanie.”

There was a lot of emphasis on B and Melanie there. “Oh.” I said.

“Yes.”

“That’s crap.”

“Well, when B refused, the teacher took it, and that’s when B yelled and the phone locked up and zapped Mrs. Fitzpatrick.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

Author Bio:
Mary Calmes lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband and two children and loves all the seasons except summer. She graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, with a bachelor's degree in English literature. Due to the fact that it is English lit and not English grammar, do not ask her to point out a clause for you, as it will so not happen. She loves writing, becoming immersed in the process, and falling into the work. She can even tell you what her characters smell like. She loves buying books and going to conventions to meet her fans.