by Mara Jacobs
Things were gathered and put in respective vehicles. Alison offered the use of the camp for Annie anytime to strengthen her legs. Finn explained that he’d be taking Annie and Stevie to Ann Arbor this week.
Alison got a devilish look in her eyes. “Lizzie, why don’t you go with Finn? You could go to the office, check in, get the fundraiser stuff rolling. Your condo is only a half hour from Ann Arbor, I’m sure it’d be much more comfortable than some hotel room.”
“Cheaper too…every penny you know,” Katie added, taking Alison’s lead.
“Plus, you could help Finn with the driving. Unless your grandmother’s going with you?” Alison directed the last part to Finn.
“Uh, no, she’s watching the farm, dealing with the pickers, while I’m gone.”
There was a moment of silence while Lizzie shot daggers with her eyes to her two best friends. “I’m sure Finn wouldn’t want another person along.”
“Actually, Liz, it would be really helpful to have a female along. Someone to help with Annie at the rest stops, stuff like that. Someone Stevie could hang out with the day we’re at the hospital.” There was a request in his voice, one she couldn’t deny. She’d never been able to deny him anything.
Well, her virginity. Okay, one thing. And even that had been a close call. If he hadn’t dumped her when he did, she was sure she wouldn’t have been a virgin when she’d arrived at Michigan State.
And that had not been part of the plan.
“When are you going?”
“Day after tomorrow. Driving down Tuesday. Wednesday at the hospital. Drive back the next day. Three days total.”
She mentally weighed spending more time with him against spending the same amount of time with Annie. Finn won out. “If you’d like company, I’d like to go along. We can stay at my place. The day you’re at the hospital with Annie I can take Stevie to the office with me.”
A look of relief washed across his face, “Thanks, that would be great. I’m swamped tomorrow with getting the farm ready, how about if I pick you up at your parents at eight on Tuesday?”
“That’ll work.”
As Finn went inside to gather up Annie in his arms and tear Stevie away from the television, Lizzie blasted her friends. “What was that all about?”
Alison and Katie looked at each other, a sure sign to her that they’d been discussing her behind her back. “We think this thing you’re doing could go bad if you aren’t careful, Lizard. That you could get really hurt. We want you to think of Finn as more than just a lab experiment. Spend some time with him. See him as more than a way to ‘get your groove back’. Not just something to check off in one of those tablets of yours. If you can still have non-emotional sex with him and walk away after that, we’ll stand by you and shut up.”
She looked over her friends. “Hah! That’ll be the day when the two of you will ever shut up about what I do.” But she smiled as she said it.
“That’s why you love us, Lizard,” Katie said.
Lizzie laughed and put on her thick Yooper accent, “Yah, that’s why I love yous guys, eh?”
Chapter Eleven
√ Call Tigers front office about clubhouse pass
√ Call Sybil, James and Petey
√ See list of things to do at office
She hated making the long drive to Detroit alone, but right now Lizzie would have gladly driven there and back - twice - if she could just have five minutes of peace and quiet.
It wasn’t quite as bad as “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” but it was darn close. She could tell Annie was nervous about the upcoming consultation, and she sympathized, but the kid was being particularly snotty today. Stevie chattered too, but stopped when he saw Lizzie rubbing her temples. Smart kid, Stevie. She shot him a smile of gratitude and he looked away, embarrassed. She guessed that pretty much everything embarrassed fourteen-year-old boys.
Finn seemed oblivious to it all, either very deep in thought as he drove, or so used to the non-stop bickering between his offspring that he easily tuned them out.
They were nearing Lizzie’s condo in Novi. She’d called Robin, her cleaning lady, and asked her to come in to tidy up the place and air it out. She also asked her to sweep the place for anything of a personal nature. When Robin needed more specifics, Lizzie hemmed and hawed then finally blurted, “Find any photos of me when I was fat that may be out, and hide them.”
She’d spent the last ten hours - besides trying to ignore Annie – mulling over the ideas she had for Annie Aid. It would have to be big. It would have to be spectacular. They didn’t have much time. And she would have to have help. Lots of help. She’d need to call in all her markers, even promise some favors out. But it was doable.
When they arrived the condo looked great. Robin had once again outdone herself. Fresh flowers were in the living room and kitchen and she’d even stocked the refrigerator with bread, milk and juice.
They spent the evening in, they ordered take out from her favorite Chinese place. It felt odd to have to look up the number in the yellow pages, for years she had known it by heart - at one time she’d even had it on speed dial.
It always amazed her that something as inactive as sitting in a car or flying in an airplane could completely wipe you out, but it did. Annie and Stevie shared the guest bedroom and were both asleep immediately after Finn got them settled.
After tucking in his kids, Finn found Liz in her office, putting sheets on the day bed, where he assumed he’d be sleeping. She had her computer on, and something was chugging out of the printer. The sound allowed him to enter the room unheard, where he admired her from behind.
He watched her bend over to fasten the elastic of the fitted sheet around the end of the mattress. His eyes narrowed as the denim of her jeans tightened across her ass, her hips full and tempting. God, how he wanted her. To topple her onto that day bed and strip her tee shirt and jeans right off her ripe body. To free those spectacular breasts from her bra, feel them tighten, watch her nipples pucker. He got hard just thinking about it. Thinking about her.
But he knew it’d be another night of frustration. There was no way he was going to sleep with her with his kids in the next room. The kids were exhausted and he didn’t think they’d wake up for anything, but he wanted to make Liz scream his name when buried himself deep inside her, so he’d wait. Again.
To divert his attention, and hopefully ease his hard-on, he focused on the printer. “What’s that?”
She jerked away from the bed, obviously startled by his presence. She followed his gaze to the paper coming from her printer. “Oh. That’s a rough outline of things I want to look into tomorrow for the fundraiser. And a map and directions for you from here to the hospital.” She pointed to another stack of papers sitting to the other side of the desk. “And that’s a list of outstanding issues at work I’d like to resolve tomorrow.”
“Wow, are you always this organized?”
She laughed. “Always. It’s both a blessing and a curse.”
On the shelf next to the desk were two stacks of tablets. They were the same size as the two she’d pulled out of her tote bag at Alison’s. One stack of tablets was clearly new, the pages lying flat, with no marks of any kind. The other stack must have been the “used” bunch. The pages on the bottom of the tablets were curled, some of the covers were bent, causing the whole pile to have an unbalanced look. He could only see the cover of the tablet at the top of the pile. In bold blue marker it read “spring clean up”.
Yep. A blessing and a curse.
He walked to the desk and turned the big leather chair around to face her as she continued to prepare the bed. He eyed the papers she’d printed out. “That’s a pretty thick stack. You sure you have time for this fundraiser?”
She didn’t look back at him. “Yep.”
“I could take Stevie to the hospital with me if you’d rather. That was the original plan, anyway. I don’t want him getting in the way.”
She finished with the bedding a
nd sat down, facing him. “No, I’ll take him. We’ve got a pretty nice lounge, complete with a bunch of DVDs and video games. He’ll be fine there.”
He nodded. “Okay. He’ll love that, he’s been wanting a Wii forever…” He didn’t finish the sentence, they both knew how it ended. Finn couldn’t afford to buy special gifts for Stevie.
Liz shrugged. “It’ll be nice to see it be used by a kid for once. Usually it’s our athlete clients who come in to the office for something and end up playing it all day. What time do you think you’ll be done at the hospital?”
“The appointment’s early, but there will be a lot of tests. I would think we’d be back here around five, five thirty, why?”
The printer silenced and Liz rose to retrieve the pile from the output tray. Her breasts brushed across his arm as she reached past him and they both jumped as though they’d been shocked. She flushed and took the last sheet of paper from the pile and perused it as she answered him.
“The Tigers are at home tomorrow night. I thought it might be fun to take the kids, if you and Annie were done in time.”
It took him a moment to focus on what she was saying, his body still reacting from the graze of her breasts. “Would we be able to get Annie in okay?”
“Yes. Comerica Park has great wheelchair accessibility. Plus, I have a client who’s on the team, he can probably get you and Stevie into the clubhouse after the game.”
Stevie would love that. And Annie would love going to the game once she got over the idea of being stared at. He looked hard at Liz. “Why are you doing all this?”
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. She knew what he was really asking. She removed one piece of paper from her pile and placed the rest back on the desk, then she crouched down to rest on her haunches in front of him. She placed her hands on his knees, in essence to balance herself. Or maybe just to touch.
“Really, there’s no ulterior motive, here. I’m not trying to get to you through your kids. I’m not looking for anything more than what we talked about that first night. A few laughs, a few good times, a fun, summer fling. That’s it. Besides, this fundraiser is not all about helping you and Annie. I’ll be getting as many of my clients to attend as possible, and I’ll have lots of news and sports media outlets made aware of it, too. I’ll be playing up the altruism of my clients. This is a win-win situation.”
“There’ll be media coverage of it?” He hadn’t thought about that. He was able to put his pride on the back burner for Annie in front of the Copper Country, but wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do it front of the whole country.
“Of course, as much as we can drum up. I’ll have Katie write something up for the Ingot, and I’ll make some calls to the people I know at the AP and hopefully they’ll pick it up. See, it will even be good for Katie’s career. Don’t worry, the focus will be on helping Annie, not on...”
How he couldn’t provide for his own daughter? He kept the thought to himself. “Promise me there’ll be nothing about Dana and giving her the money I’d saved.”
She seemed shocked that he’d even suggest such a thing. “Of course not. How many people know about that anyway? We can just make sure those people aren’t contacted for comment.”
“Only you and Gran. And Dana, of course.”
She squeezed his knee. “Thank you for telling me the whole story.” She slid the piece of paper she held to his hands then rose up and stepped away from him. “I’m going to hit the sack. That’s an outline of the fundraiser done on Hampton PR letterhead. It explains the expected revenue. Take it into your meeting with the financial people tomorrow, maybe it will help. If they have any questions about it, my office number is at the top.”
She left the room before he could say thanks. Again.
In the morning, as she and Stevie waited for James to pick them up on his way into the office, Lizzie looked around her condo. When she’d bought it six years ago it had been her pride and joy. A symbol of her success. At least in her professional life. As she looked around now, she realized her feelings had changed. She was still happy with it, but realized it missed something. Mess. It missed the messiness that living brought to a household. Granted, she’d been away nearly a month, but this was pretty much what it looked like all the time.
Her parents’ house had a warmth and comfort that seemed lacking here. And Finn’s house. Well, his place had a history and a clutter that screamed family. Generation after generation. It was something she hadn’t even realized she lacked in her sleek and stylish condo. Yet, as she compared the two, the condo definitely came up short.
She certainly hadn’t missed the city traffic while she’d been away, either. Being only five minutes away from anything was a definite advantage of small town living. And the water. Only a short time away from the Copper Country and she already missed seeing water at every turn. She sighed and called to Stevie as she heard James pull into her driveway.
Annie’s consultation with the doctors had surpassed Finn’s highest hopes. Her bone growth had progressed to the levels needed to perform the surgery. His meeting with the financial people had been successful too, thanks to Liz’s statement of expected revenue. It was much easier to show them than the stack he’d brought of bank notices and mortgage payments due. The surgery was scheduled for October. The doctors wanted Annie to spend the time until then strengthening her arms and legs for the long road of physical therapy ahead.
He and Annie had beaten Stevie and Liz back to her condo, and when she and Stevie entered, he whisked her in his arms and buried his head in her neck. Stevie, sensing his fragile emotional state, went to find Annie in the bedroom.
He pulled her close, not trusting himself to look at her as he spoke. “It’s going to happen. They’re going to do the operation. And they figure a seventy-five to eighty percent chance of success. She could walk, Liz. My baby might walk.” His voice was hoarse and quavered with emotion.
Lizzie realized that Finn had never really given the whole thing much chance of happening. They had totally different mindsets. As soon as she’d heard of the situation, she began planning how it could work.
To be fair, she hadn’t had years of disappointments like he had. And of course she wasn’t emotionally involved like he was. It surprised her to find she couldn’t speak quite yet, and she clung to Finn with a fierceness that contradicted her supposed lack of attachment.
He pulled away and looked at her with a gratitude and longing that made her wish for the years they’d never had together. His hard face softened and his eyes shone with want and need. He started to say something but the squeak of Annie’s wheelchair interrupted him.
“Daddy, Stevie said we’re going to a baseball game tonight. Are we?”
Finn looked at her for the answer.
“We can if you’d like to Annie. I’ve got pretty good tickets and the guys are invited to the clubhouse after the game,” she answered.
The little girl seemed torn. Lizzie could tell she desperately wanted to go to the game, but that would mean accepting a gesture from Lizzie, something Annie was loath to do. She had as much willful pride as her father.
“Will I…do they…” Annie’s blue eyes searched her father’s face, then turned to her.
Reading her mind, Lizzie said, “The ball park has great wheelchair access. We’ll be able to park real close, too. Besides, I could really go for a hot dog.”
At the game, as the kids gorged themselves on hot dogs, Crackerjacks and Mountain Dew - a usual no-no - Lizzie recapped her and Stevie’s day at her office for Finn.
The highlight was when Petey Ryan had stopped by unexpectedly. Stevie could hardly believe he was meeting his idol, that Lizzie even knew Pete Ryan, let alone that he was there in the flesh.
She could have kissed Petey when he offered to take Stevie with him for the afternoon as he went to Joe Louis Arena to clear out his locker. Stevie came back to the office with autographs from a couple of the players as well as five rolls of half-used tape, a broken
stick and numerous other mementos that players were pitching. Proving the theory that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Her staff once again proved their worth and took her plans for the fundraiser and ran with them. Phone calls to clients took up most of the day, with only one saying no to the fundraiser and only because his wife was due to have their first child on the same date.
She relayed the promising outlook to Finn, but she didn’t tell him about everything that had happened at her office that day.
She’d had a very long meeting with her top account executives. Not surprised that things had been handled so well in her absence, she none-the-less gave them the praise they deserved. As if sensing her good mood, James, the obvious designated ringleader, pushed a folder across the wide conference table to her.
It was a presentation that the account executives had put together proposing a formed partnership in Hampton Public Relations. At Lizzie’s shocked look, James said, “We love it here, Lizzie, we all want to stay, but we want to make sure there’s room for us to grow. As partners, we’d have an investment in the future of Hampton PR. Read it when you have time. We don’t have to talk about it now, there’s no time table attached to it. It can wait until you come back.”
She’d leafed through the proposal while she waited for Petey to come back with Stevie. It was well-written, very sound, and could make her very wealthy down the road. Of course she’d have to give up complete control. Was she capable of that?
In some ways, she’d been like a reverse anorexic. Anorexics often times feels they have no control in their life, so at least they can control their eating. It was just the opposite for Lizzie. She was such a control freak in her professional life that the one thing she allowed to get completely out of control was her eating.
Damn, now she’d have this partnership proposal dangling over her head while she was in the U.P. trying to seduce Finn. Though she knew that wouldn’t take much effort if the way Finn’s eyes followed her movements were any indication.