Working My Way Back to You

by Doreen Alsen

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Jeff watched his second string players run passing drills when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He checked the caller I.D. Nate Cavanaugh, his lawyer. He handed one of his assistants his clipboard. “Can you watch them for a minute? Make Brendan and Sully run that combination again. I’ve got to take this call.”

  “Of course.”

  Jeff nodded and stepped away. “Nate. What’s up?”

  “Good news this time. The family court judge ruled in favor of your petition to have Cookie visit you in Maine without Katie tagging along.”

  “Yes!” Jeff’s heart leapt. “That’s fantastic!”

  “There’s more. He also ruled that Katie has to split the travelling expenses with you.”

  Jeff shook his head to clear it. “Come again?”

  “Katie’s got to share the cost of getting Cookie to and from Lobster Cove.”

  “I bet she’s not too happy about that.”

  “Neither Katie nor her father liked the ruling. I’d prepare myself for a very angry phone call from your ex-wife if I were you.”

  “Thanks for the heads-up. I’m really grateful you pulled this off. I’ll have a crate of your favorite wine sent to you right away.”

  “I’ll look forward to that.”

  Jeff wanted to call Beth right away to let her know the good news, but he decided to wait until he took Danny home later on.

  Maybe he could wrangle an invitation to dinner and steal a couple of sweet, steamy kisses from the cook.

  He glanced back at the field and sighed. If only he could get Brendan and Sully to perfect the play he needed them to by Friday night.

  ****

  Beth smiled as Danny barreled his way into the kitchen dragging Jeff behind him. “Hi Mom! Dad can stay for dinner, okay?”

  She caught Jeff’s gaze and noted his sheepish grin. “Please?”

  “My astounding psychic abilities told me you would ask if Jeff would stay for dinner, so I made enough. Go ahead and put away your backpack, then clean up.” “Do you have a lot of homework?”

  “I gotta finish my book report and some math.” He grimaced.

  “Why don’t you get a head start on it while I finish making dinner and after you wash up.”

  “‘Kay.” He raced off.

  “Smells good in here. Can I help?” Jeff sauntered over to her, a sexy look simmering in his eyes.

  “I’ve got it under control.” She checked the elbow macaroni boiling on the stove.

  “Is this,” he sniffed and peeked over her shoulder, “American chop suey?”

  “Sure is.” She gave the tomato and beef mixture a stir. “With my secret ingredient.”

  “Man, I haven’t had American chop suey in forever. I mean, since I moved away from home to go to school.” He licked his chops. “My mother’s recipe is killer.”

  “Mine’s better.” She scooped a sample in a spoon and held it up for his inspection. “Taste. Be careful, though. It’s hot.”

  “Thanks for the warning.” He lightly blew over the top of it his eyes never leaving hers then slipped the spoon into his mouth and swallowed. “It’s very good.”

  “And better than your mother’s?”

  “Yes, but don’t tell her I said so. I’ll deny it to my last breath.”

  “Your secret’s safe with me. Now, shoo, out of my way. I’ll never get this food on the table with you standing so close to me.”

  “Really?” He drew the word out long. “I like the sound of that.” He leaned in like he was going to kiss her when his pocket buzzed.

  “I’ve got to take this call. Be right back.”

  He walked out to her back steps and put his phone to his ear. She watched him as he leaned against the wall, his shoulders looking so broad in the long-sleeved slate gray waffle weave Henley shirt he wore. His faded jeans clung to his amazingly round, hard butt.

  She swallowed as she turned her attention back to the boiling pasta and drained it in the sink. Glancing back Jeff’s way, she wondered when the call would be done and should she put dinner on hold.

  He came back into the kitchen just as she was mixing the elbow macaroni into the tomato and beef sauce. A huge smile stretched across his face. “This smells awesome.”

  “I take it your call was about good news?” She poured the contents of the pan into a huge blue serving bowl.

  “Oh, yeah. I’ll tell you later.” He bent and kissed the tip of her nose. “Want me to go get Danny?”

  “Sure. Thanks.” Curiosity nibbled at the edge of her brain.

  Danny and Jeff came into the kitchen. Danny sat immediately, but Jeff went and held Beth’s chair out for. “Hey champ. Back it up. Remember you don’t sit down until the lady in the room is seated.”

  Danny popped out of his chair. “Can you hurry it up? I’m really hungry.”

  “Thank you,” Beth murmured to Jeff. “It’s so nice to have a gentleman in the house.”

  “My pleasure,” Jeff said as Danny rolled his eyes.

  Beth looked around the table thrilled beyond belief that this was now her new life.

  ****

  “So, Danny’s gone and is working on his homework. Can you tell me the good news?” Beth poured boiling water into a teapot.

  Jeff grinned. He knew she’d been going crazy all through dinner wondering what was up. He leaned against the kitchen counter. “I got a call from Nate Cavanaugh today.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh, really? About the adoption?”

  “No, something else. The family court judge in Massachusetts ruled in favor of me being able to bring Cookie, without Katie, to Lobster Cove for visits.”

  Beth gave a little hop and clapped her hands. “Jeff, that’s wonderful!” She gave him a quick kiss on his mouth. “I’m so happy for you!”

  “It gets better. She has to pay for half of the travel expenses.”

  “Wow! That’s pretty generous of the judge.”

  “You ain’t kidding me.” He sat on a chair and pulled her into his lap. “We’ve scheduled a visit for the Harvest of the Sea Festival next weekend. We’re meeting halfway, in Portland, to hand her off.” He couldn’t help but smile. “I’m really jazzed about this, but I’ll need your help.”

  “Whatever you need.”

  Another reason, as if he needed one, to fall in love with Beth all over again. “I don’t think the décor in my spare bedroom is something a six-year-old girl will appreciate.”

  “You want me to decorate a room for a girl? Oh my God! I’ve dreamed of the room I’d put together for a girl.” She practically jumped up and down. “I’d be happy to! I love Danny with all my heart and soul but I’ve always wanted to have a girl so dolls could balance the plastic dinosaurs.”

  He nuzzled the top of her head. “You know what she likes; anything shiny, sparkly and pink. Throw a Barbie or two in there and she’ll be fine.”

  Beth’s eyes gleamed. “This is going to be so much fun! What’s my budget?”

  “Um, I hadn’t thought that far. My condo can’t compare with the house in Addington.” He realized he didn’t care about budget. And Beth probably wouldn’t throw caution to the wind and spend his money without caring about it anyway. She knew how hard it was to make a dollar. “Make it a room for a princess. I trust you to not break the bank.”

  “Of course I’ll mind the spending. Jenna’s got some adorable fabric that’ll make the room special. I can make everything there.”

  Whoa! “You’re going to make everything?”

  She laughed. “Why not? That way we’ll get exactly what we want. Oooh. Well, not everything. I don’t have that much time.” She nearly jumped up and down. “I have an idea. I have several ideas.”

  “Okay.” He remembered his mother mending but he had never seen her sewing anything for fun.

  “I’m going to take her to Happy Thoughts and let her pick out the material for her curtains and some stencils to paint as a border. We can sew and paint together!” She nodded. “Yo
u and Danny can help her paint the stencil border and I can teach her how to sew. A family project!” Her brows knit. “Unless she already knows how to sew.”

  Katie? Sew? “I’m pretty sure Cookie doesn’t know one end of a sewing machine from the other.”

  “Does that idea work for you? I mean it does give her a sense of ownership of her space here, so hopefully she’ll feel more comfortable.”

  “I think it’s a great idea.” He nipped at her earlobe. “How did you get so smart?”

  “I eat a lot of fish. It’s brain food, I’ve been told.”

  “God, you’re precious.” She was a miracle to him.

  Katie would never have even considered coming up with a plan to make Danny feel welcome.

  Case in point, that terrible weekend in Addington.

  Beth had grown up in a nightmare, yet she only wanted the best for everyone. Katie had grown up with every advantage, yet if you looked up entitled in the dictionary, Katie’s picture would be right there.

  Beth humbled him.

  She also turned him on beyond belief.

  And, on that note, he needed to go before he did something he didn’t want Danny to witness.

  “I’ve got to go, darlin.’ I’ve got a ton of work to do.”

  “I understand. I have to put the hammer down and get Danny in bed.”

  She slid off his lap and he stood in front of her. “Thank you for him.”

  Her face flushed a pretty shade of pink. “I was confused until the first time I felt him move inside me. That’s when I fell totally in love with him. I did whatever I had to do to keep him.” She looked him right smack dab square in the eyes. “He’s my everything.”

  Jeff felt a little tinge of green at that. He wanted to be her everything.

  Jesus. He was jealous of his own son. Someone needed to give him a solid slap upside his head.

  He had to get out of there. “I’ll see you tomorrow when I bring Danny home.”

  “Are tacos okay for dinner tomorrow night?”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “Anything you make is light years beyond okay.”

  She gave him a half smile and shook her head. “Tacos it is.”

  Jeff stroked her cheek. “See you tomorrow.” He stepped into the living room. “Danny,” he bellowed. “I’m going.”

  “‘Kay!”

  “He’s a man of few words,” Beth told him as she handed him his jacket.

  “I can see that.” Jeff reached out and flipped the end of her ponytail. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  And, he realized, she would. He’d never have to wonder about where she was ever again.

  Totally made of win.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Jenna, I think it’s going to work out,” Beth rhapsodized when she floated into work the next day.

  “I hope for your sake that’s true. From what you’ve told me, Skankarella sounds like a piece of work.”

  Beth squeezed the skeins of yarn she held in each hand. “I honestly don’t know why she’s like she is. The girl I remember was a really good friend.”

  “Who knows what lies underneath?” Jenna put on her best Twilight Zone narrator impression.

  Beth shoved the yarn into a diamond shaped cubby holding its brethren. “I guess you’re right, Jenna, she was my best friend. She knew all my secrets.”

  “I hate to say this, but sometimes teen girls are like that. Honestly,” Jenna moved some red embroidery floss from the green bin to the red bin, “I think all we need to do to conquer Al Quaeda is to unleash twenty middle school popular girls on them.”

  Beth snorted. “They’d run into the hills and hide in the caves crying like babies. But here’s the thing.” She picked up a couple other skeins to re-file. “Katie wasn’t that popular. I mean if she was part of the inner circle, she never would have given me the time of day. But she was my best damn friend.”

  “Maybe she was threatened by your relationship with Jeff. If you got popular by dating him, she’d be left in the cold,” Jenna said.

  “I don’t know. I never could have dated Jeff out in the open anyway.” Beth grimaced. “Katie knew that.” She rearranged more of the yarn. “I remember being pregnant and sitting in my bedroom on the night of the prom. I fantasized about being there with Jeff, with my real body, not my fat pregnant one, dancing around in a beautiful princess gown with Jeff so handsome in his tux.”

  Jenna didn’t say anything for a long time. “Sorry kid. But look on the bright side. Things are finally going your way.” Jenna ran her hand through her blonde pixie-do.

  “I hope so,” Beth prayed. “I sure do hope so.”

  ****

  “We’re going to have so much fun, princess!” Jeff had just picked Cookie up in Portland to take her for the weekend in Lobster Cove. He’d left right after school on Friday to get her and to get back to Lobster Cove for the Sharks’ pre-game warm up.

  He smiled at her in the rearview mirror. She sat there all safely buckled in her booster seat brushing her Barbie’s pink and white hair. “The whole town is having a great big Harvest of the Sea Festival. I hear it’s lots of fun.”

  “Do they have things for girls?”

  “Of course they do. You know there are girls your age in Lobster Cove.”

  “Okay.” She frowned while tugging the tiny brush through some snarls in her doll’s tangled mess of hair.

  “And you’ll get to see my new team play tonight! Maybe you’ll be our good luck charm and help us win the game!”

  She made a raspberry. “Silly Daddy. I don’t play football.”

  “I know that princess, but you can sit with Beth and Danny and watch the game and cheer us on.”

  She glanced up. “Do they live at your house?”

  “No.” Though he’d been thinking along those lines for a while now. Maybe he should check with Jessica Martin, a local realtor, to see what kind of houses she had listed. “Danny and Beth live in their own house.”

  She nodded. “That’s good. I don’t like boys. They’re too noisy and rough.”

  “Not always.” He hit his blinker and moved into the passing lane. “But don’t worry. You’ve got your own room and Beth is going to help you pick out cloth to make your own curtains.”

  “I don’t know how to sew.”

  “That’s why she’s going to teach you. You’ll see. It’ll all be fun!”

  Or at least that was the plan.

  ****

  Jeff looked up into the bleachers to see where Beth, Danny and Cookie were. Tonight’s game was a make or break game for the Sharks. Win this one and they would place second in the league.

  And he wanted to win it for Cookie.

  Danny stood up and waved. Jeff laughed and waved back. The three of them looked great up there, bundled up in their Sharks hoodies.

  They looked like a family.

  His family.

  He couldn’t help but grin like an idiot.

  He and Beth hadn’t talked marriage, but he wanted to marry her.

  But first he had a football game to win.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Way to go, Dad! You clobbered ’em!” Danny danced in circles around Jeff when he got to Lobster Lanes to join Beth, Cookie and Danny for some ice cream.

  Jeff grinned. “The team did a good job.”

  “Are you kidding? Max and Simon totally nailed that new pass play!” Danny bounced from one foot to the other.

  Jeff grinned and enjoyed his son. Six weeks ago the kid had never even been to a football game. Now he lived for it.

  Jeff slid behind the hard plastic booth. Danny followed him. “Hey, princess!” Jeff turned his attention to his daughter. “What did you think of the game?”

  Cookie slid a glance to the ever-exuberant Danny then looked at Jeff. “I liked the cheerleaders.”

  “Maybe we can find you a cheerleader camp this summer. You’re a great dancer. You would make an awesome cheerleader.”
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  Cookie beamed. “I’ve got a solo in the next dance concert.”

  “You do? I’m so proud of you! When is it?” Jeff realized he needed to check-in with Cookie’s schedule more. Now that he could bring her to Lobster Cove to visit he’d fix that.

  “I can’t remember. Mommy knows.”

  “Remind her to tell me.”

  Beth stood. “Who wants ice cream?” She put her hand on Jeff’s shoulder. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

  Danny didn’t hesitate. “Chocolate in a cup with rainbow jimmies.”

  “Of course. I never would have ever guessed.” Beth winked at Danny. “What about you, Cookie? What do you want?”

  “Just vanilla in a cup.”

  “You don’t want jimmies or strawberries or anything?” Beth coaxed.

  “Maybe rainbow jimmies.”

  “You got ’em.” Beth turned warm eyes to Jeff. “What about you, Coach? Want some ice cream?”

  Jeff’s stomach growled. “Actually, I was thinking of begging Sal for a couple of slices with pepperoni, extra cheese, and olives.”

  “I can take care of that.” Beth said. “You just sit here with the kids and bask in the well-deserved glory of beating the other team.”

  “First year here, second in the league, baby.” He sat back and clasped his hands behind his head. “I am the man.”

  Danny hooted. “Who da man?”

  “Me da man!” Jeff and Danny fist bumped.

  Beth stood. “Let me go get you some food.” Beth looked at Cookie, her eyes filled with worry.

  What was that about?

  ****

  Beth had noticed Cookie didn’t seem very happy about Danny grabbing Jeff’s attention again. “Danny. I need you to help me with the ice cream.”

  “Just get a tray from Sal.”

  “Danny.” Jeff gave the kid a nudge out of the booth. “Help your mother.”

  “‘Kay.” Danny sighed then stood.

  Beth smiled her thanks to Jeff over Danny’s head. Jeff’s smile was warm, maybe overly warm, in return. Maybe hot, in return. Inappropriately hot because there were children there.

  She had trouble swallowing. “Danny, you go get the ice cream. She pulled her wallet out of her purse, liberated a twenty-dollar bill from it and gave it to Danny. “I’ll go talk to Sal about your dad’s pizza.”