The Meridians(49)

"Why?" she asked with the slightest grin. "You got a moving company in your car?"

He grinned back at her. "Don't need one. Not in Meridian."

And before she could say another word he was gone, moving across her yard to the neighbor's house. The house beside hers was dark, only a porch light on in the gloom, but the man marched up to the front door as though he owned the place, then knocked on it hard. He knocked on it again a moment later, and then stood back as the door swung open.

"Coach Cowley?" said a voice, laced with equal parts sleepiness and surprise.

"Hey, Gil," said Scott. "Sorry to bother you so late at night, but there's a lady moving in next door to you and she doesn't have a single person to help her."

The door slammed shut without another word coming from the mysterious "Gil," but Scott came back with a satisfied expression on his face.

"What was that all about?" asked Lynette.

"That was me getting you that moving company you were talking about," answered Scott.

"One guy who slams the door in your face?"

"First of all, he only slammed the door because he was in a hurry. Second of all, he was in a hurry because he was in his boxers and not much else, so as soon as he realized that there was a woman in the area he probably wanted to get some clothes on. Third and lastly, I'm betting he's calling some people right now, and you ought to have half a dozen men over here inside of fifteen minutes to help you with your things."

"But I -" she began. Assuming that Scott was correct, she didn't really want six or seven strangers traipsing through her house and opening up her things.

Scott again held up a hand, but this time the gesture was not meant to placate her, but to silence her. "Shush, now," he said. "I know you probably don't want a bunch of big sweaty men clomping around in your house in the middle of the night, but trust me when I say that they'll be discrete, polite, and will probably have you unpacked inside of an hour. They won't open any of your moving boxes unless you ask them to, but they probably will insist on helping you set up your bedrooms at least enough that you and..." and he paused again, as though the name he was about to utter had some special significance to him, "...Kevin can get to sleep and rest for a while. Plus, if you play your cards right you'll be awoken to the sounds of knocking at your door when their wives come over with breakfast, lunch, and dinner supplies for you."

Lynette was reeling. Was this guy for real? But before she could say anything about how unlikely that whole scenario sounded, he was moving to the back of the truck, asking over his shoulder, "Is the back locked, or just closed?" When she didn't answer, he repeated, "Do I need a key or anything to get in?" and then without waiting for a response he unlatched the back of the truck and slid the door upwards.

He whistled. "You are the most anal-retentive packer I ever did see."

Again, Lynette bristled. She hustled around to the back of the truck, where Scott was looking at all of her boxes. It was true, all of them had labels stating what was in them and where they belonged in the new house, and maybe it was also true that they had been packed according to size and weight, but she hardly thought that counted as "anal-retentive."

Again, though, she had no chance to say anything before Scott was on the move. He grabbed two boxes marked "L's bedroom," and hopped out of the back of the truck with them.

He stood motionless then, as though waiting for her to do something.

"What?" said Lynette.

"Well, you going to show me which room these belong in?" he asked with a smile. "Or do I have to just go in and figure it out for myself?"

Lynette led him inside without another word, only stopping to check that Kevin was still asleep and not likely to wake up and find himself alone. She took him into the master bedroom, and he gently set the boxes on the floor.

Before they had even left the house, a large man, built like a sleepy oak tree but with a kind and open face, was already inside, holding two more boxes from the back of Lynette's van.

"I'm Gil, ma'am," he said, and nodded as though he would have preferred to tip his hat at her only his hands were full and plus he didn't have a hat to tip. "Your neighbor." He looked at the boxes in his hands. "Hope you don't mind that I helped myself to a few of your things; figured I'd get started while waiting for the others to arrive."

"Others?" said Lynette, her voice a surprised whisper.

"Sure," said Gil. "You don't think I'm going to move you in all by myself do you?" He winked at her to show that he was joking, then moved on past her into the living room, to put his boxes down.

Lynette swiveled to face Scott, who was watching her with an amused smile on his face.

"How did you know that everyone would just jump out of bed and rush on over to help?" she asked.

Scott grinned even more widely. "Because that's pretty much what happened when I moved here myself," he said.

Then he walked past her out into the night. Lynette followed and watched as he handed Gil two more boxes, then took two more for himself before hurrying past her into the house. She started to follow, but Gil swiveled and stood in her way, blocking her entrance. "Why don't you just go ahead and sit down with that boy of yours and watch over him?" said the big man.