by Teisha Mott
“Oh please!” Matt declared. “She is just a little girl. How bad can she be?”
Klao recalled asking herself that same question a few months earlier. She smiled to herself. Matt would figure out for himself in a little while just ‘how bad’ Caitlin Jada Malcolm could be. She turned to Caitlin. “I have to go out for a little bit, and Matt is going to stay with you. Is that okay?”
“Okie!” Caitlin agreed. “I will teach him how to paint.”
“Are you going to behave?”
“Don’t I always?”
“No, actually!” Klao told her honestly, but Caitlin just laughed.
“Oh Auntie Klao, you are so funny sometimes!”
Klao rolled her eyes again, and went to shower and change into a clean pair of jeans. She gathered her files in her office, and then paused to write a note for Matt, who was in the kitchen, making Caitlin a snack.
“Here are all the numbers you will need. These are Aunt Janise and Uncle Andrew’s numbers, and Grandma and Grandpa’s, and here is Bianca’s cell, and my parents’ numbers… What are you doing?”
“I am making Caitie a snack!” Matt said, stating the obvious. “And why are you giving me all those numbers?”
“For emergency! Why are you peeling celery?”
“Because it tastes good with peanut butter!”
“That’s Caitie’s snack?”
“Yup!”
“She isn’t going to eat it!”
Matt looked at her. “What you mean she isn’t going to eat it? Of course she is going to eat it.”
“Did you ask her if she is going to eat it?”
“No. Why would I ask a four year old if she is going to eat something? I am the adult in charge. She does what I say, and she eats what I give her. Celery is good for her.”
“Yes, but she is not going to eat it!” Klao pulled a bag of Cheeto puffs from the cupboard. Give her a bowl of this.”
“Cheetos?” Matt spat scornfully. “That is loaded with FD&C yellow number 6, and God only knows what else. Those things make children rambunctious. Now I know why you think Caitlin has ADHD. If she doesn’t have it, she is certainly heading there; and to type 2 diabetes and cancer…”
“I am not leaving Samantha’s child with you!” Klao re-decided. She grabbed the cordless phone and dialled Caitlin’s grandparents’ number.
Matt took the phone from her and cancelled the call. “Don’t be silly. She will eat the celery and she will not die!”
Klao did not look convinced.
“Tell you what,” Matt decided. “If I get her to eat the celery, you will go and don’t fuss yourself. If she doesn’t eat it, then you can take her to her grandparents and I will go home.”
“Fine!” Klao said. She did not want him to go home. She would love for him to be there when she got home from work, but she knew that Caitlin was not going to eat the celery, and she did not want to starve Samantha’s baby to death.
Matt took the plate of celery sticks spread with peanut butter to the living room where Caitlin was on the floor colouring. Klao shuddered when she saw how badly over the lines she had gone. The pictures were not even coordinated. All Caitlin had done was wreck a perfectly good colouring book.
“Look, Matt!” Caitlin proudly displayed her work.
“That’s a good job, Caitie!” Matt congratulated her. “Come and have a snack.
Caitlin looked at the plate Matt held out for her. She made a face.
“What is it?”
“It’s celery!”
“Why is it green? And why is there poop on it?”
“It’s green because that is the colour God gave it, and that’s not poop on it. That’s peanut butter!”
“I’m not eating it!” Caitlin decided, and Klao smiled triumphantly.
“Why not?” Matt asked patiently.
“Because it is dis-gussing!”
“But you haven’t tasted it! How do you know it’s disgusting?”
“Because I can look at it and tell!”
Matt set the plate on the coffee table. “Come here!” He said, picking up Caitlin. “Let you and me have a little chat in private.”
Klao watched as Matt took Caitie to the back patio. She wondered what he was out there telling her. Whatever it was, she was sure it would not convince Caitlin to eat the celery. She only hoped that her Aunt Janise and Uncle Andrew, or at the very least, Christopher was home, so one of them could keep Caitlin. She wondered whether she should renege and let Matt stay with her, even though he would lose their bet.
Matt and Caitie returned inside.
“So what’s the verdict?” She asked Matt, feeling a bit sorry for him, and willing to settle.
“See for yourself, Counsellor…” Matt motioned to Caitlin, who was making a beeline for the plate of celery. She took the biggest piece from the plate, and bit into it.
Klao was in shock. She wanted to punch Matt’s smug grin down his throat.
“What … what… What did you say to her?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Matt said cryptically. He placed her Kate Spade tote over her shoulder. “Have a nice day at work. What time should I expect you home?”
“But…” Klao was still in shock. She looked at Caitlin. She was eating her celery as loudly as one could eat celery, and colouring away. “Munchkin…”
“Bye Auntie Klao!” Caitlin did not even look up.
“Did you threaten her?”
“Nope! It is not in my nature to threaten children!”
“So what did you say?”
“What I told Caitlin and my cornbread recipe both go with me to my grave!” He walked with her to the door. “See you later!”
***
Klao managed to sneak a quick glance at her watch while simultaneously navigating her CRV back between Matt’s Tiida that was once again over the white line and her neighbour Hanson’s F150. It was ten minutes before five. Klao, relieved that she’d managed to park without damaging her car, or that of Matt or Hanson, hopped out, reminding herself that she needed to teach Matt how to park in confined spaces. The only reason she was not going to go ballistic on him was because she had abandoned him all day with Caitie. Sometimes Mrs Reyes was just prime evil, Klao thought, as she slung her tote over her shoulder and hurried to the door. She could not believe that she had worked almost a full day, and on a Sunday! Mrs Reyes did not understand that she was in charge of her cousin’s child for the day and had left her with someone who was probably totally inept at babysitting a hyperactive four year old (albeit he could get her, by some secret means to eat celery and peanut butter). Klao had watched her BlackBerry all day, waiting for a distress call from Matt to come rescue him from Caitie. The call never came, and Klao could only assume that they were both dead.
“I’m home!” Klao called, pushing her front door open.
“Shh!” Matt hissed, greeting her at the door. Minx bounded over to rub against her legs. “Caitie is sleeping!”
“Did she traumatise you?” Klao asked, relieving herself of her tote, and going towards the guest bedroom where he had put Caitlin to sleep.
Matt took her bag and followed her. “She’s a handful, but not that bad. She said ‘no’ a lot, but once you are firm with her, she get’s the picture…”
Klao peeped into the bedroom. Sure enough, there was Caitlin fast asleep in the middle of her queen sized bed. For good measure, Matt had put two huge pillows on both her sides so she would not fall off. Asleep, Caitlin looked absolutely cherubic. Klao smiled, suddenly wishing that the precious little girl asleep in the bed was her baby – hers and Matt’s…
“The thing with children is that they have to know who is the adult in the house!” Matt continued. “If you don’t make that clear, they will take advantage of you.”
“How do you know so much about little children?” Klao whispered, closing the door of Caitlin’s room.
Matt shrugged. “I tell you all the time – I’m Matt Man! I’ve got it like that! Are you hung
ry? I cooked…”
Klao looked at him. “You did?”
“Yup!” Matt led her to the kitchen. “I already fed Caitie, but I was waiting on you…”
“What did you make?”
“Salmon, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables – the kind you like: broccoli, cauliflower and carrots... I also made macaroni and cheese, at Caitie’s request, and corn-on-the-cob….” Matt noticed that Klao’s eyes were filled with tears. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing!” Klao swiped at her eyes and turned away, embarrassed.
“You didn't want me to cook?”
“No… It’s just that…” Klao could not bring herself to tell Matt why she was suddenly moved to tears. This was so perfect. This was her fantasy – coming home from a hard day at work, to a man that had made her favourite meal… Was this what ‘happily ever after’ felt like? Klao could not help herself. She stepped into his arms and gave him a huge hug. “Thank you, Matt! For everything…”
“It was my pleasure, Klao!” Matt said, not sure what he was being thanked for, but pleased that he got a hug out of it. He held her for a moment longer than necessary, and she buried her face into his chest. Matt liked the way she felt. This girl was the perfect fit. He stroked her soft black hair and wondered whether God would mind if he kissed her. Nothing big… Just a little one…
Klao pulled back and looked at him. “Matt…”
His heart fell to his feet. It was time to stop thinking about it, Matt decided, and just do it. He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, and lowered his mouth towards hers slowly, leaving her room to turn away if she wanted to. But he prayed to God who he loved with all his heart that she wouldn’t. By the time he reached her lips, Matt thought he would die with wanting. He had never felt such a pull of attraction to any girl before. Matt recalled having a grand total of two girlfriends in his twenty-seven years of existence. One was when he was fifteen and the other in his junior year at La Sierra, where it was the fashionable thing for Pre-Seminary students to date English majors. But nothing, no one, had ever made him feel the way he did when he was with Klao.
Finally, his lips met hers. He kissed her briefly, barely nipping her bottom lip with his teeth. She parted her lips and raised her face to grant him more intimate contact and he took her face in both his hands and deepened the kiss. She tasted sweet, like some kind of fruit or candy. He suspected it was one of those lip glosses that she always had in her purse and applied forty times per day. She leaned into him, her breasts pressing into his chest, and her heart pounding against his, and Matt knew it was time to stop… but he just could not. He did not want to, and judging from the death grip Klao had him in, it was obvious she did not want to stop either. He had been pretty much a saint since that Sunday night in 1991 when he and Mary were baptised during a crusade in Manchester. Was this Sunday evening, he thought, as his hands made their way beneath Klao’s shirt and caressed the small of her back, the one when he would finally break and embarrass God in front of his unfallen worlds?
The sharp ring of his cell phone jerked them both back to reality.
“Answer it!” Klao ordered, pulling away.
Matt was still confused. “What?”
“Your phone. Answer it!”
Matt was not even sure where the phone was. It had already rung three times, and would go to voicemail after two more. But he was not concerned about that. He had a more pressing problem at hand – the one that was caused by the girl who had just stepped out of his arms and into her kitchen. Finally, he found the phone and clicked the talk button.
“Hi Lo!”
“Whatever you are doing, stop it!” Mary greeted him.
“What? I’m not doing anything!” Now he had added lying to his list of sins for the day. Lusting and lying in ten minutes, he thought. Way to go, Pastor St. James!
“Then why do you sound guilty?”
“I don’t sound guilty!” Matt said, glancing over at Klao. She was peeping into the pots on the stove.
“Oh yes you do!” Mary insisted.
“What you calling me for, Mary?”
“Just to check on you and to prevent you from getting yourself into trouble! Where’s Klao?”
“She’s right here, and we are going to have dinner now, so goodbye…”
“Matthew…”
Matt rolled his eyes. Mary only called him ‘Matthew’ when she was going into big sister mode. “What?”
“I know you are a man and you have physical needs. But just remember you are a man of God, and you are expected to remain circumspect no matter how much you like the girl…”
“Oh good grief, Mary, what you think is going on here?” Matt hissed into the phone, glad she could not see him blush. Although he and Mary were fraternal twins, she still had the whole twin telepathy thing down – a skill he never had.
“Nothing that exceeds a G Rating, I hope! And make sure it stays that way. Remember – WWJD – ‘what would Jesus do’! Tell KoKo I said hello.”
“Goodbye, Mary!” Matt hung up before Mary could say anything further. He stuck the phone into his pocket and joined Klao in the kitchen. She was reheating their dinner. “Mary says hi…”
“Did she?” Klao did not – could not look at him. “What is she up to?”
“Dunno,” Matt shrugged.
“What did she call about?”
“Just checking in…” Matt noticed that Klao had yet to meet his gaze. She was obviously as freaked out as he was. “Look, KoKo, about what just happened…”
She finally looked at him. “No, Matt. Don’t… Please…”
“But…”
“It’s okay. Let’s not talk about it.” Klao pleaded. “Let’s just eat…”
Matt felt bruised. Was he that amateurish at kissing that she had been totally turned off? Was that why she did not want to talk about it? She seemed to have enjoyed kissing him as much as he enjoyed kissing her. Perhaps he thought wrong. He knew about the number of boys Klao had kissed in her lifetime, and he had even listened emphatically as she narrated her sad experience with Vishal Chadeesingh – an experience, he noted, that still made Klao cry even though it had happened seven years before. Obviously he was not in the same league with those guys. He watched Klao as she removed two plates and two glasses from the cupboard. She did not want to talk about their kiss. Fine. He wouldn’t. It was his fault for pushing her so far anyway…
“Okay…” He said, helping her to serve the dinner. “We won’t talk about it. We’ll just eat.”
***
“Auntie Klao, I think I am clean now!”
Klao snapped to attention. “What?”
“You have been bathing me forever. Are you trying to wash my skin off?”
Klao looked at Caitlin in the bathtub, covered from neck to toes in soapsuds. She even had suds on her face.
“Sorry munchkin,” she apologised. She adjusted the hand-held shower head and began to rinse Caitlin off.
Klao had been distracted all evening. She had been unable to think straight ever since Matt had finally, finally kissed her. The guy who said ‘the longer the wait, the greater the gratification’ knew just what he was talking about. Being in Matt’s arms, having him kiss her so fully and so thoroughly, was probably the best moment of her entire life. And Matt did not have a scrawny bird chest after all. She had felt some remarkably firm abs beneath his shirt, and could not imagine that he was so strong and fit. She was initially a little disappointed, but eventually relieved that Mary had called, because only God knew what would have happened if she hadn’t.
But then he wanted to apologise. He wanted to tell her that kissing her had been a mistake. She would have died if he had said that. Klao could not abide Matt ruining the moment with an apology. He had seemed upset for the remainder of the evening, and after dinner, had insisted on helping her with the dishes, but she told him he had done enough for the day, then he had suggested that maybe it was time for him to leave. Klao did not want him to leave, but she was
not about to beg him to stay either, especially since he was sorry he had kissed her. She allowed him to go, pretending it did not matter. And for the first time in three months, he did not give her a hug at the door. He just left.
Caitlin had still been asleep, so Klao had nothing to do but sit and stare blankly at the TV and replay the kiss over and over in her head, with Minx curled up under her arm. One minute she was on the verge of tears because this sweet, sensitive man had baby-sat her ‘niece’ and made her dinner, and the next moment, he was kissing her – tongue included, and his hands were creeping up her shirt! Bianca and Andie were right on the money. There was a special infusion of grace somewhere in that six foot frame. She could tell from the way he kissed. She wanted him to kiss her again, and again and again…
Klao sighed and turned off the shower. She patted the water from Caitlin’s skin with a wash rag before wrapping her into the huge blue Ralph Lauren towel and lifting her from the bathtub.
“Are you all set for school tomorrow?” She asked Caitlin.
“Uh-huh!” She paused as Klao rubbed the water from her hair. “Are you all set for court?”
“As set as I am going to get!”
Caitlin giggled. “You made a rhyme!”
Klao smiled. “So, did you have a nice day with Matt?”
“Yes. He wouldn’t let me paint because he said I would mess up your floor, so we just coloured. Then we talked, and I got to help him cook!”
“What did you talk about?” Klao picked her up, still wrapped in the towel, and took her to the bedroom.
“School,” Caitlin said, holding out her arm for the Johnson’s Baby Lotion. “I told him about Auntie Claudine and Auntie Marie, and Shelley and Tobias…”
“So Shelley and Tobias are still your friends?”
“Absolutely!”
Klao wondered how Caitlin knew the word ‘absolutely’. She remembered her ‘so far so good’ phase when she was three. “What else did you talk about?”
Caitlin waited until the piglet pyjamas were over her head before responding. “He asked if I wanted a baby brother or a sister, and I told him yes, but my mommy had said I had to wait until I turned five… and he told me he had a twin sister! Do you know that Matt has a twin sister, Auntie Klao?”