She looked up to see straps of a backpack digging into his shoulders. What is going on? He brought his breakfast along? “Sorry. Good morning to you, too.” Although there’s not much good in it yet.
“You dyed your hair.”
“Yeah, well, I do that sometimes.”
He turned so she could see the child in the backpack, a little girl by the pink stocking hat. Had he been holding out on her? The child stared at her, one finger in her mouth, her cheek against Thane’s back.
“I’d like you to meet my niece, Amie. She’s three and not too happy at the moment.”
She looked like she’d been crying, eyes red, mouth drooping. “I see. Hi, Amie.”
The little girl sniffed and turned her face the other way.
Blythe felt like doing the same, but curiosity had a headlock on her now. Where is her mother? He said niece, so this was not his daughter. Relief lightened the weights on her cheeks and eyes. Questions rose like steam from a kettle.
“Shall we walk?”
Blythe nodded and fell in step beside him, going back the way she’d come. But before they could take three steps, she bent down to untangle the dog leashes. Taking a moment to gather her fragmented mind, she patted both dogs and sweet-talked them, receiving quick licks and delighted wiggles in return.
When she straightened back up, she caught him watching her. A smile that started with the right corner of his mouth, slowly spread to include his whole mouth and finally reached his eyes made her catch her breath. What was it shining in his eyes? Sure seemed like the look her father saved especially for her mother. Wasn’t there an old song about the “look of love”?
She swallowed and took in a shoulder-raising breath. That look had zinged straight to her heart and set it to kettle drumming. I’ve missed you. Why didn’t you call? “The dogs are sure happy.” Now.
“One of these days I’ll explain what all has happened.”
She glanced up to see his jaw set again. There must be some awful kind of trouble for him to have his niece. And he must have had her overnight since they were together this early in the morning. Her mind took off on all kinds of possibilities.
“I’m taking some time off work until things settle down. You have any experience with little girls?”
“Actually I have two nieces myself.” She knew her tone was guarded but discussions about children had never been her forte. She glanced up at the child in the backpack. She had fallen asleep, thumb and finger still in her mouth, eyelashes feathered on rounded cheeks.
“Amie is sound asleep.”
“I shouldn’t have thrown her into her clothes so fast but I wanted to meet you here.”
“Has she had breakfast?”
“A cereal bar. I need to go shopping. Will you come?”
“I’ve never had children.” And I’m not taking a life-threatening chance like that.
“I know—neither have I—but I thought perhaps together, we could, I mean, oh…” He paused and shook his head. “This poor little kid has been jerked around, her mom is gone and here she’s stuck with me. I haven’t seen her for six months and that’s a long time in a life this short.”
Amie woke with a jerk, whimpering, “Mommy? I want my Mommy.” Tears threatened again.
“See what I mean?”
Blythe heard the misery in the child’s voice and saw it on Thane’s face. A fast rundown of her list of to-do’s for the day made her groan inside. How could she find time to help out and yet make her deadlines? While her nieces adored her and she them, she hadn’t gotten close until they were older. Small children—huh-uh.
“My house is not set up for this, I have as much of her things as I could fit in my SUV, the bed went on top. We made quite a picture driving up from San Diego.”
“Unca Fane, I gotta go potty.” She wriggled and sighed.
“Can you wait a…oh, no.”
“What’s wrong?” Blythe stepped back. “Oh.” She could see a wet spot spreading on his back. The urge to giggle swept over her. She clapped a hand over her mouth to trap the rising laughter.
“I see no humor in this. I think we’ll go home now.” He picked up the pace, heading for the parked truck.
“Did you drive?” She turned and walked with him.
“Yes, the truck is in the parking lot by the pier.”
“Well, I guess we’ll see you later then.”
“I’m serious. I really need some help, you know any good day care places?’
“You mean now?”
“You wouldn’t ask if you saw my house.”
Blythe thought of her morning’s plan and gave up with a sigh. “I can manage a couple of hours. Why don’t you drop me at my house, I’ll put Harley in and follow you?”
“Blythe, I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am.” The look on his face confirmed his statement.
Amie whimpered as he swung his backpack off his shoulders. “Mommy coming?”
“No, baby, Mommy isn’t coming. We’ll get you home and…”
“I want Mommy.”
The plea tore at Blythe’s heart. Did the mother die or—or what?
“Did you bring any other clothes?”
“Not here.” He flipped up the bar on the kiddie seat. “Here you go.”
“I wet.” She wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
“I’ll fix that when we get home. Get in the car seat, please.”
Matty leaped up on the seat. Amie shrieked and stumbled backwards, her cries echoing in the vehicle. “No, no, doggy bad. No!”
Do I take the dog or the child? Fearing to make the child worse, Blythe took hold of Matty’s leash. “Come, Matty, there’s a good girl.”
“She’s afraid of dogs, too. Right now, she’s afraid of everything.” Thane glanced over his shoulder to make sure Blythe heard him as he held the little girl close. “Easy, Amie, it’s all right. Blythe has Matty and all you need to do is get in your chair so we can go home and clean you up.”
Still sniffing, she finally did as asked, rubbing her eyes. “Mommy.”
The whimper burrowed into Blythe’s soul. Danger! Danger! This little one wanted her mommy and it wasn’t her. She planned never to sign on to mommyhood. How long would Thane have the child and what happened to her mother? And while off to a rocky start, this relationship had been a possibility…a now dimming possibility.
Thane put Matty up in the back, behind a screen. “Now you stay, hear me?” Matty thumped her tail.
Telling Harley to stay is like telling Christmas not to come. Blythe reached down and stroked his head.
“Here, can you two share the front seat?”
“Of course.” She motioned Harley to jump up to the floor, which he did just fine. Except he then scrambled up on the seat before she could climb in. He grinned at her, tail thwacking the console. “Down, Harley.” She pointed to the floor. He looked down and then away, as if to say, you can’t mean for me to sit down there. “I do mean it.” She tugged on his leash. “Moving him is like shifting a concrete block.”
“Get him out and I’ll hold him until you get in, then he’ll have to stay on the floor.”
Blythe nodded. They could have been halfway home by now. She tugged on the leash. Harley planted his feet. “Harley, come.” He wagged his tail and doggy-grinned.
Thane stepped around Blythe, scooped up the dog and set him on the ground. “Hand me the leash.”
Blythe did so, climbed up in the SUV, leaning her knees toward the middle so Harley had room on the floor. Once inside, he looked at her like she’d betrayed him. Good thing it’s a short trip home. He’s not going to like being left, either, but what can I do?
Once he was home and engrossed in destroying a new chew bone, she returned to the truck, to hear Amie crying again. Matty whimpered from the back but before they made it to Alhambra, the dog broke into a howl. Amie looked over her shoulder, her cries cut off like someone threw a switch.
“Matty, that’s enough.”
Blythe
watched Thane’s jawline turn white.
The dog howl wound down to a whimper. The child sniffed and muttered, “Bad doggy.”
“This scene would win funniest home videos.”
“Thank you very much. I’m glad you don’t own a camera.”
“We could go back so I could get it, but you could never stage it to work again.”
“You’re not funny.”
“Come on, Thane. This is one of those ‘if you don’t laugh, you’re going to have to cry’ times. It’ll get better.”
“Wait until you see my house.”
He was right. Blythe stood in the doorway of what must have been a well-decorated bachelor pad, once. Black leather furniture and glass tables—strictly modern and utilitarian. Not a trace of family or color. Other than the painting over the fireplace. What might be three tulips against a background of layered oil paints that looked sculpted with a trowel, hung in solitary splendor. If one liked that kind of art.
Stuffed bears, dolls and a giraffe spilled out of boxes, a pink Big Wheel-style trike, jammies, pink overalls, shirts and a robe trailed from other boxes, hair bows and barrettes littered the smoked glass coffee table, a pink fleece blanket on the leather recliner, a juice glass on the counter.
“I put her bed up in my office. Now I have to move all the office equipment into my bedroom. We need a chest of drawers, all this put away and the closet is full of my business suits. I have nothing in the cupboards for a little girl to eat, and not much for me since I rarely eat at home. You begin to get a small piece of this puzzle?”
Amie ran for her blankie and, tucking it under her chin, climbed up on the sleek sofa.
Thane picked her up. “Let’s get you dry before you sit there.”
The wet spot made the leather look even darker.
Blythe headed for the kitchen, wet a paper towel and wiped down the leather. Surely the little girl hadn’t sat there long enough to make the leather smell. What did one clean leather with? She found the trash in the pantry, tossed the towel and stared around. Where to start?
Thane walked back into the room, Amie walking beside him, hanging on to one of his fingers. Her blankie trailed behind.
“Perhaps we should go shopping. First a chest of drawers and a toy box, then a house.” He shrugged at her shocked look. “Perhaps tomorrow for the house.”
What kind of man is this? Blythe ignored his smile, hard as that was, and surveyed the mess. “We could stack these boxes against a wall for now.”
“They were stacked, until I needed to find clothes for her and she insisted on a bear to sleep with. The blanket wasn’t sufficient.” He leaned over to pat his dog. “Oh, and did I tell you? I hate clutter.”
“Far as I know, clutter comes with kids, part of the package. Let’s move this stuff to the other room, the bike could go out on your deck. We’ll go buy the furniture and then begin the shuffle.”
“Who’ll watch Amie while we shop?”
“We take her with us.”
The look of shock made him appear more like other earthly men.
Amie dug in one box and pulled out a well-loved doll, missing one arm. She started toward the sofa. Matty trotted over and grabbed a corner of the blanket hanging off the sofa. Tail wagging, she headed for her bed in the corner, the pink square dragging behind.
Amie let out a shriek, threw the doll down and ran for her blankie. Matty charged under the dining table, hanging on to her prize, tail up, declaring this a wonderful new game.
“Drop it, Matty.” Thane’s order might as well have been smoke.
Amie dove under the table, Matty charged down the hall, blankie in full flight.
“You get the kid, I’ll get the dog.”
“Not on your life. You get the child, I’ll get the dog.” Blythe charged down the hall after Matty, into a bedroom the size of her living room with a bed big enough for four. No dog. “Matty, where are you?” The walk-in closet was the size of most bathrooms, with everything hanging or folded neatly in its place, but had no dog. He has more clothes than Imelda Marcos has shoes. She backed out and shut the door. No dog in the royal bathroom, either. “Matty, where are you?”
Blythe got down on her knees and peered under the bed. Matty wagged her tail. “Come on, girl. Let the little one have her blankie.” She could hear screaming coming from the living room. Thank you, God, that I only have to worry about the dog. She reached for the corner of the blanket nearest her and Matty growled. Not a warning growl, but a “let’s play some more” growl.
Blythe collapsed on her stomach, giggling into her arms.
The screams died to whimpers and the whimpers sounded close. Blythe turned to look. Thane and child stood in the doorway.
“She won’t come out.”
“Matty, bones.”
The dog charged out from under the bed, her tail whipping Blythe across the face.
“You just have to know the right words.”
She spit dog hair out of her mouth, half crawled under the bed to reach the blanket and crawled back out. No one needs a bed that big anyway.
Back in the living room she handed Amie the blankie and received a glare in return as if she’d been the one hiding the treasure all the time. So much for good deeds.
Within an hour and a half they were back at the condo, where Thane called the manager to ask for help getting the new furniture up into his home. Besides the chest of drawers and a toy box, they had a bookshelf and a play table with two small chairs, all painted white.
While the men moved the office furniture, Blythe made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for herself and Amie, then emptied the boxes into their proper places. She set the toddler to putting together a puzzle on the table, making sure that Matty didn’t get into the act again, and put the living room and kitchen back to rights.
“Thanks, John.” Thane waved the moving helper out the door and took a deep breath. “Thank you, it looks like I have my home back again. Are you a genius or what?”
Blythe finished a last swipe of the kitchen counter. “You’re welcome. Now I need to get home and get to work.”
“And leave me alone with—with them?”
“Them?”
“Matty, Amie, you know.”
“Sorry, but I’ve got work to do. You said you were taking time off.”
“I am. I’ve got to find some kind of day care. You wouldn’t…”
“Nope, but you can call my sister. She knows about things like that.” Blythe rattled off the phone number. How come a man who can run a company of his own and save all these companies’ computer systems panics with something as simple as this? And yet, he’d never looked more endearing. Blythe blew him a kiss as she left.
CHAPTER TEN
Call her now, she needs a break.
Thane almost hated to destroy the hard-earned peace and quiet by speaking aloud. Amie had finally fallen asleep, Matty’s snores at his feet didn’t count as noise, only one more piece of the peace and quiet. He stared at the Gary Larson calendar on his desk, a gift from his sister. She’d always tried to get him to lighten up, take time to smell the marigolds. He never had liked the fragrance of marigolds.
Call her. When his inside voice became so insistent, he usually heeded it. Red hair. Why had she dyed her hair red? What was wrong with blond? But then, what was her natural color? And did it matter?
He shook his head and punched the keys. Ten-thirty, surely she wasn’t asleep yet. Not with all the work she’d had to do, and she’d taken out several valuable hours to help him. He well understood deadlines and fighting to keep one’s head above water when building a company of your own.
“Come on, answer, don’t let it go to the answering machine.” Screening her calls, was she? Surely no clients called her at this time of night. “Pick up.”
“Blythe’s Graphics, I am away from the phone right now…” He listened to her message, fingers drumming a tattoo on his leather desk pad.
“Hey, Blythe, sorry to not catch you, just
wanted…”
“Don’t hang up. I’ll turn the machine off.”
Even the sound of her voice made him smile. She sounded breathless.
“Sorry about that. I had my head in the oven.”
“Blythe, surely you’re not…I mean, is it a gas range?” I knew she was feeling overwhelmed, but surely she isn’t depressed to that point.
Her chuckle warmed him clear to his toes. And relaxed his shoulders.
“It’s electric and self-cleaning, but I was wiping out the ashes from running the clean cycle. Did you think I…?” Her laugh trilled.
“Just being cautious. And now that I’ve given you your laugh for the evening—I wanted to thank you for all your help today.”
“You did look on the verge of panic. Be right back, Harley wants in.”
He closed his eyes while he waited, the better to picture her. She wasn’t the type he usually dated, as if there’d been any “usually” for more than the last year.
“Sorry for the interruption.”
“Dogs don’t wait. Nor do little girls.” He sighed.
“Hard day?”
“You were here, but let me tell you, it is easier with two people.”
“I can guess.”
“I think I owe you an apology.” He cleared his throat. “You know when we met in the park?”
“Yes.”
“You were pretty frosty at first. I got to thinking later that perhaps you were upset that I disappeared for four days without calling.”
“Five.”
“Ah, yeah. Well, I got caught in a hurricane named LynnEllen. She’s my sister and ever since Mom and Dad died, has been either drunk or high most of the time. Fortunately she’d been clean and sober for several months before she conceived Amie, so we don’t have a fetal alcohol baby on top of the rest. She called last week to invite me down to San Diego for Christmas, said the last rehab was working and she wanted Amie to know that she does have a family.” He leaned back and propped his feet up on the desk. “Then last Sunday night I got a call from her again. She’d been picked up, violated her parole and was back in the slammer. Could I come down and get Amie? LynnEllen swears the crack found in her car wasn’t hers, but she’s been a liar for so long, I can’t believe her. She’ll be in for life due to the three strikes law if she is convicted. So I hired a moving van to take her things to storage for now, packed up Amie and brought her here. You know the story from there.”
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