Chris nodded his approval. “Very good.”
He sounded as if he meant it. The man was a find, she thought, pleased. Now, if she could only get him to agree to go out with Tommy’s mother, everything would be wonderful. She opened her mouth to continue with her pitch when Danny interrupted again.
Danny pointed to the long, flat carton, his brows drawn together in one blond, wiggly line as he studied it. “What’s that?”
Christ bent down to let Rocky lick his fingers, then scratched the dog behind the ears. “Rocky’s new home. So that your mother can get some work done in peace while you’re in school.”
Danny cocked his head, studying the drawing. “How does it work?”
“C’mon.” Chris picked the box up. “Let’s take it over to your house and I’ll set it up for you.” He raised the box and balanced it partially against his shoulder as he nodded toward the doorway. Danny scurried in front of him, opening the front door and holding it. He managed to grab Rocky just before she darted out.
Rosemary was careful to remain behind Chris and out of range. She closed his door, then caught up to him on her front step. Danny was ahead of them. He threw the door open for Chris a moment before he reached it. She winced as she heard the doorknob make contact with the wall. Plaster. She had to remember to pick up plaster.
“How much do I owe you for the cage?” She glanced at the wall as she closed the door. There was a faint halo of white forming where the doorknob had hit. Always something, she thought.
“Nothing.” He set the box down in the living room. “Consider it payment for the pleasure of playing with your dog.”
He certainly knew how to be charming, she thought. “You’re training my dog,” Rosemary corrected. “I should be paying you for that, too.”
“Okay.” He turned abruptly. When he looked at her, Rosemary suddenly felt her mouth grow dry. “How about dinner?”
“’Dinner’?” she echoed as if the word was completely foreign to her.
There were those signals again, he thought. She looked as if he had just proposed that she go bareback riding on a shark. For a second, when she had been in his yard, he had thought that they were finally on a different footing. But it looked as if he had misread her. Again.
Chris shrugged carelessly as he pulled the tabs apart on one side of the carton. “Just a thought—”
Dinner. He was talking about food, not a date. What was she thinking? He had those gorgeous women flitting in and out of his house. He certainly didn’t need to make a date with her if he wanted companionship.
“Sure, why not?”
He looked at her in surprise. She’d certainly changed her mind in a hurry.
“Tonight.” She stopped, trying to remember what was in her refrigerator. “I was planning on making pot roast—” It was Danny’s favorite and he had been begging her for it all week.
Chris leaned the box against the sofa and slowly pulled out four long pieces of metal and two shorter ones. They clanked as they settled on her light green carpet. “With small potatoes?”
For a second he looked just like a hungry little boy. Rosemary laughed, feeling infinitely more relaxed. “As small as you like.”
Carefully, he laid out the bottom piece and hooked first one side, then the other onto it. “You’re on.” Satisfied that the wire walls were secure, he reached for the top section. Danny scurried around him and got to it first. With a smile worthy of a toothpaste commercial, he handed the piece to Chris. “What time do you want me over?”
She did a quick calculation. If she put the roast into the oven within the next hour, that would give her enough time to clean the place up a little. “Six?”
He nodded. “Six it is.” Chris glanced over his shoulder at the instruction sheet. He didn’t like to read step-by-step directions, but studying a picture always seemed to do the trick for him. “All right, everything seems to be in order. Let’s slide in the bottom tray and have Rocky try out her new home.”
With the dog running circles around them, Chris and Danny secured the tray. It ran along the length and breadth of the bottom of the cage. At least the rug under it would stay clean, she thought.
Rosemary studied what Chris had just constructed. It looked like a cage, all right. Just like the ones in the pet shops where sad-eyed puppies laid around listlessly all day. Only much larger. She glanced at him uncertainly. This was her first dog and he had had many, so she guessed he knew what he was doing. Still, she had to ask, just for her own peace of mind.
“Um, isn’t that kind of cruel, keeping her in a cage like that?”
She was softhearted. He liked that. A lot of women he’d come across didn’t care about animals.
“No, they tend to treat it like a den.” He swung open the cage door. “All dogs are basically wild animals—”
The shiver came involuntarily as she crossed her arms across her chest. “Thanks, I needed to hear that. I’m already envisioning bared teeth sinking into my neck.”
“Mom-”
Chris tried not to notice how her cleavage deepened when she crossed her arms like that. With effort, he concentrated on what she was saying. “You’re afraid of dogs?”
She nodded.
He didn’t understand. What was she doing with a dog, especially one that appeared to be a German shepherd mix, if she was afraid of them.
“Then why-”
The answer was so simple, she didn’t understand what the confusion was.
“Because Danny wants one so much and right now she’s a puppy.” Rosemary glanced at the dog. Rocky seemed to be growing right before her eyes. “I was hoping to get used to her slowly so that by the time she’s a large dog, I won’t feel threatened.”
Somehow she had her doubts about that, but she could hope for the best.
“Interesting,” he murmured, rolling her theory over in his head. He could attach several applications to it, and one very pertinent one. “Very in-ter-esting.”
She laughed at the way he drew out the word. “There was a comedian who used to say that on an old TV show-”
“Yes, I know.‘LaughIn.’”
She stared at him, stunned. “You watched ‘LaughIn’?”
He nodded. “My parents used to watch it. I’ve got an old video I found in this store that deals in hard-tofind tapes. It’s great stuff.”
Something else in common. With both her and Mary Smith. “Yeah, it was.” She watched as Rocky slowly investigated this newest addition to the living room. Several sniffs later, she wandered into the cage.
“Leave the door open for a while,” he told Danny, “until she gets used to it. You don’t want her to think she’s being punished. After a while, you can just close it. She’ll think of it as her home within a home.”
Rosemary didn’t know what to say. He seemed to be the answer to a prayer. “Chris, you’ve been really terrific about everything.”
He winked at her. “Terrific’s my middle name.”
No argument there, she thought. Well, now or never. “I was wondering if maybe you’d be up to doing me another favor.”
He sat cross-legged on the floor. Danny settled in beside him, attempting to mimic him.
“Oh, such as what?” He scratched Rocky on her belly. The dog raised both front paws in the air and looked as if she were in ecstasy.
“Well, I have this application form from that Mother’s Day contest.” She hesitated.
Chris stopped scratching Rocky and looked up, waiting. “Yes?”
Rosemary plunged ahead. “She sounds as if you and she like the same things.”
Chris studied her. What was she driving at? “I didn’t fill out an application,” he reminded her.
She wet her lips. “Yes, I know, but from what you’ve told me, it sounds as if the two of you have a lot in common.” He was looking at her so intently with those green eyes of his that she was losing her train of thought. “And I thought that perhaps you might consider…” Her voice trailed off, evaporating in a d
ry mouth.
“Going out with her?” he completed.
She nodded. Maybe if she made him think it was simply part of the publicity stunt, he might agree to it. Once they were on the date, things could work themselves out.
She tried again, summoning all her persuasive powers. “You know, you could perhaps even research the matter, dating in the nineties while playing music from the sixties, something like that.”
“You mean, date her for the show?”
He was going to say no, she thought. “Never mind, bad idea.” She turned to move away, sorry that she had even suggested it.
He caught her wrist. “No.” He’d said the word slowly, as if he were digesting it. Damn, but his eyes were mesmerizing. “It’s not really a bad idea at all.” He grinned. “Sure, why not. Match me up to your single mom. It might be fun at that.”
He totally disarmed her. “’You really are a very good sport, Chris.”
He rose to his feet. Danny and Rocky immediately jumped to theirs. “Hey, that’s my other middle name.”
Danny looked at him, puzzled. “How many middle names do you have?”
Chris ruffled his hair, then slid his hands into his front pockets. “We’ll go over them later.” He frowned slightly. Danny was trying to push Rocky into the cage. “No, not like that, Danny. You can’t make her stay. That’ll only frighten her. We don’t want to do that. Sometimes you’ll find that things have to be gently coaxed along.”
Chris glanced at Rosemary over his shoulder and then smiled.
4
“Happy Mother’s Day!”
The shouted greeting echoed in Rosemary’s head as she pried her eyes open. She managed to jerk her head off the pillow just as Rocky bounded on top of her bed. The puppy was immediately followed by Danny. She was bracketed between the two of them.
Blinking as her heart stopped pounding and slowly slid back down her throat, Rosemary focused on the digital clock next to her bed.
Seven a.m. So much for wild, frivolous thoughts of sleeping in.
But there were better things than sleep, she thought, like the warm, enthusiastic hug of a child. Rosemary sighed blissfully as Danny wrapped his arms around her and squeezed tight.
“Thank you, sweetheart.” Rocky, her tail thumping madly against the goose down comforter, was busy licking her arm. Rosemary looked over Danny’s head at the dog. “You too, Rocky.”
The dog barked several times in response to the sound of her name.
Rosemary laughed, gingerly wiping her arm. “Well, at least she knows who she is, which is more than I do at this hour on a Sunday.”
Danny looked puzzled, not knowing why the day of the week would have anything to do with knowing who you were. He slid off the bed, dragging a little of the comforter after him. Rosemary discreetly tugged it back up.
“I wanted to wake you up early so that you could get ready.”
Rosemary cast one last, longing glance at her pillow. The next moment Rocky plopped her muzzle down on it. Time for laundry, she thought.
Mustering an interested smile, Rosemary dragged her hand through her hair and looked at Danny. “Ready for what?”
He was so excited, he looked as if he was positively going to burst. “I’m going to take you out.”
Her little man. Did it get any better than this? We’ve got a great kid, Patrick.
She reached over and touched his cheek affectionately. Rocky yipped and jumped from the bed, hovering protectively around Danny. Rosemary gave the dog a stern look, the way Chris had instructed her to do when Rocky attempted to assert herself. He’d warned her that the puppy would try to up her position in the food chain by challenging her as well as Danny.
Tough, dog. He was mine first.
“Oh, honey, I don’t want you spending your allowance on me.”
Danny’s grin grew wider. “It’s okay, Mom. If I run out of money, you have some, right?”
These were the nineties, all right. It was a toss-up these days who paid for the “date.” Danny was going to have an easy time of it when it was his turn to date.
“Right.” She laughed and rested her chin on her raised knees. “So, where are you taking me, or is it a surprise?”
Danny’s face seemed to brighten even more, if that were possible. It was as if she had just solved a problem for him, she mused.
“It’s a surprise.”
She pretended to go along and look perplexed. “Then how will we get there? Can we walk?”
He shook his head. “No, but I’ll give you directions when we’re in the car.”
This should be very interesting, Rosemary thought. As a pathfinder, Danny was a great baseball player. His sense of direction was rivaled only by hers. She’d long since ceased being embarrassed by the fact that she always seemed to get lost whenever she ventured someplace new. At this point in her life, it was a given, and she simply allotted more time when she had to travel to a new destination.
He was taking this so seriously, it was all she could do to keep from hugging him again. “Is there any special time that we have to leave?”
“Eleven.” The puppy jumped at him and he gave her a sign that meant she should sit. He repeated it three times before she obeyed. “No, maybe we’d better go at ten-thirty so we can get there in time.”
The time struck a chord. Eleven o’clock was when Chris was supposed to meet Tommy Smith’s mother. Teri had handled the arrangements. Rosemary wasn’t aware that she was smiling as she thought of the dinner she’d shared with Chris last week. Danny had been there with them, so it couldn’t be construed as a date, but it had been nice, very nice….
No, there was no point in thinking about that now. She’d done her part. She had set the date up and now she would just have to forget about it, unless there were disastrous consequences to deal with.
Still, if she were being completely honest with herself, there was a tiny part of her that felt just the teensiest bit…jealous, she supposed.
About what, Rosemary? If he actually asked you out, you’d be the first one running for the hills.
She pushed all thoughts of Chris and his date out of her mind and concentrated on her own “date.” “This is all very mysterious, Danny.”
He grinned from ear to ear, pleased at her comment. “Yeah.”
Well, he was obviously enjoying all this, and that was her real gift, she thought. Seeing Danny happy. Even if it meant driving to some unknown destination or spending her days putting up with an overly energetic dog that thought of her house as one great big chew toy.
Rosemary looked at Rocky as she scooted her off the bed, where she had managed to scramble up again. Basically, she had to admit that Chris had done a wonderful job with the animal so far. Rocky responded to her name, did a handful of amusing tricks and had actually hit upon the fact that the house was not just one great big bathroom waiting for her deposit.
And the cage he’d brought them was nothing short of a godsend. She could actually leave the dog in the house and know that she wouldn’t find shredded drapes when she returned.
Rosemary swung her legs out of the bed and narrowly avoided having her toes nipped. Danny pulled back his pet. Nipping was something Chris had yet to work out for her.
This wasn’t right, she upbraided herself. She had to handle this by herself. She wasn’t supposed to be depending on Chris for help. But she had to admit that it did make matters a lot easier for her…
Rosemary crossed to her closet and slid the mirrored door back. “Anything special that you’d like me to wear to this mysterious place you’re taking me to, oh, young sir?”
Danny pursed his lips together in a manner that said “Oh, Mom,” but he refrained from saying it out loud. He actually appeared to be giving her question serious thought.
Rosemary suppressed a smile. She didn’t want him to think she was laughing at him. But he did look adorable. He was getting to be so grown up, she mused, feeling the bittersweet sting that seemed to naturally accompany that sor
t of realization.
She bit her tongue to keep from saying something to that effect. He hated it when she did that. Just as she had hated it when her own parents had done it to her, she remembered. The picture was very different from the other side of the frame.
Sorry, Mom and Dad. I never knew that you felt this way.
Danny came to stand next to her and peered into her closet. “How about your blue one?”
She looked at him, stunned. “My blue one?”
She had only one blue dress and it was hardly what she would have picked to wear when going out with her son. It was a cocktail dress, cut rather low in the front and scooped out down to her waist in the back. She’d worn it exactly once, a year ago, to a friend’s wedding, and then had retired it to the side of her closet. The dress was far too form-fitting and revealing for an afternoon outing with her son.
“Yeah.” Danny looked at the dress, pushing the other dresses away from it. “You look sexy in it.” Danny gave the impression that he was forcing the word out of his mouth.
And just who had taught him about that? Hiding her surprise, she looked at him suspiciously. “What do you know about sexy?”
He drew himself up, squaring his shoulders. “Guys think it’s a good thing on a girl.”
She knew Danny was growing up, but not this fast. Rosemary took his chin in her hand and looked him in the eye, hiding her amusement.
“Well, this guy is going to have to not think about that for a few more years, okay?”
“Okay,” he sighed.
She felt a smidgen better. She’d had the necessary talk with him about sex over a year ago. He had looked a little repulsed and hadn’t asked too many questions thereafter. Danny needed a man to fill in the gaps, she realized now. Maybe Teri’s husband could—
No, Jim was heavy-handed about almost everything. He’d probably either find a way to scare Danny to death, or take him for a visit with a strolling lady of the evening. She was going to have to think of someone else….
Let's Get Mommy Married Page 5