by Rebecca Day
Ah, well, she thought, just ignore it. She took her place next to him and began to sponge down the counters. He turned to her, a little surprised to see her. "You don't have to do that, you know," he said.
"I know," she said and moved onto the kitchen table.
"Don't you have reports to fill out or something," Wyatt pressed, his voice strained.
Janie looked at him questioningly. Was that sarcasm in his voice? Why? Why was he aggressive towards her? She decided to ignore it like she was ignoring so much of what he said, lately. "Not just, yet. How about that cup of coffee? I hope its decaf because I'm going to go to bed early. Although, caffeine would probably have no effect on me at this stage."
"It's decaffeinated," He said. "Take a seat, and I'll bring it to you."
"A little milk. No sugar," she reminded him.
"I know," he said.
They both sat, facing each other with a cup in hand. Wyatt had a piece of cherry pie on a little plate and cut into it with a fork. He took a bite and then looked at Janie. "Are you sure you don't want a piece? It's really good for store bought."
"I'm sure it's delicious, but the pizza covered my allotted fat grams for the next week."
"Are you one of those women who counts everything that goes into your mouth?"
"Unfortunately, yes. I let my defenses drop for a second," She snapped her fingers to illustrate her point. "And my hips double in size."
"I think I would shoot myself if I had to think about what I could and couldn't eat."
"To tell you the truth, I've thought about it," she joked. "But speaking about eating, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's luau. Will there be the pig on a spit with an apple in his mouth and everything?"
Wyatt sighed. "Yes, it's going to be the real thing, not a tourist luau. I'm sure you'll love it." He seemed resigned.
"You don't seem too happy about it."
"Oh, sure I'm happy. It will be fun."
"Uh, speaking of fun," Janie decided this was a good time to broach the subject. "Samantha and I would like to plan a little party for next weekend."
"What do you mean, a little party?"
"You know, Wyatt, Sam invites a few friends, they come over, play some music, eat some chips, have a good time."
"No, way," he said, curtly.
Janie took a sip of her coffee. Good, she thought, it was decaf. "I don't want to brag or anything, but I was party organizer for my high school." It was a little lie, but Janie felt she had to pull out all the stops to convince Wyatt. "Six major dance events per school year, and I didn't lose a single kid."
Wyatt thought a second, boring a hole through Janie's head with his eyes. Janie didn't dare look at him. She took another sip of her coffee, hoping for the best. "How many friends are we talking about?" he asked, finally breaking the painful silence.
"I can assure you a very peaceful party of about 10 kids next Saturday," she said. "No destruction. No mess. I'll watch the whole thing."
Janie looked at Wyatt then, and she could actually see him mentally battling with himself. But then his lips curled up in a lopsided grin. "Fine," he said. "But I'll probably live to regret it."
"I knew you were a nice dad," she said, tapping his hand. Wyatt looked down at her hand on his, and she quickly withdrew it.
A tense silence fell on them. Janie tried to fill it. "I did want to tell you, actually, that I think you are doing a wonderful job raising Samantha alone. I know it must be very hard."
"I've been doing it so long that it seems like second nature. When Sam's mother died, I was still in shock, but I seemed to instinctively know what to do with Samantha. I hope she's not too messed up because of me."
So, Sam's mother died. Janie never thought of that. She scrunched down a bit in her chair in shame and embarrassment for her thoughts earlier in the evening. She hoped he couldn't read her mind. "I'm sorry that she died," she said, honestly.
"Oh, it didn't happen recently, you know," he said. "She died while giving birth to Samantha."
Janie couldn't hide her shock.
"Yeah," said Wyatt, reading the look on her face. "You never think that women die in childbirth, anymore, right?" He looked away. "Not with modern medicine and all," He spat out. "Well, Tracy had handpicked her OB/GYN, but who knew that she would have to have an emergency C-section after 12 hours of labor and that the anesthesiologist, who was on call that night, was an incompetent bastard?"
"I'm sorry," was all Janie could think to say.
"Yeah, that's what he said, too."
Janie squirmed in her seat. "You must really miss your wife," she said.
"Well, I've never gotten over her death. We were high school sweethearts, you see. Everyone knew we would get married, and we didn't let them down. She was very supportive of my work," he added, looking askance at Janie. "And she was more than happy to live her life as a homemaker, wife, and mother."
"And you never remarried,"
"It never occurred to me, to be honest," he said. "Geez, I've never told this stuff to anybody." He ran his fingers through his hair.
"It will never get beyond this table," she promised him.
"I appreciate that. You know – and I really don't know why I'm telling you this – I think often about our marriage, and I'm not sure it would have survived. I've changed so much. I did love her. I did. But our dreams for the future were diverging even back then." Wyatt looked anguished.
"You never know," she said. "You might have grown together. For now, you can keep her in your memory as the mother of your wonderful daughter."
"Yes," he whispered. He looked down and noticed his watch. "Oh my, did you see the time? It's past midnight! We better get some rest."
They both got up and put their cups in the sink. They stopped and faced each other. "I'm really sorry I loaded all this on you," he said. "I don't usually talk so much."
"You didn't talk too much."
"Yes, well." He turned off the light and led the way up the stairs. They stopped outside Janie's bedroom. "Everything all right with your room? Do you need anything?"
"No, no," Janie replied, feeling awkward.
They stood there, facing each other for what seemed to Janie as an interminable length of time. She felt frozen in place, unable to make a move. She looked into Wyatt's eyes, trying to read his thoughts, but he seemed to be doing the same thing. Finally, she broke the silence.
“You’re face doesn’t look bad.”
“What?”
“Your chin.” Janie touched the scab that was forming. “I thought it would be worse. It looks like you have some chocolate cake there.”
Wyatt touched the spot where Janie’s finger left a moment before. It felt hot to the touch, as if she branded him, and the heat dissipated throughout his body.”
"Well, goodnight," She managed.
He looked at her with obvious regret on his face. “Yes, good night, then.”
Wyatt closed his bedroom door behind him and leaned against it. He congratulated himself on making it back to his room because that was not at all where he wanted to be. It took every ounce of his self-control to leave Janie outside of her room and not hold her against him and kiss her as she had never been kissed before.
Even now he could feel the electric current that ran between them as they stood facing each other at her door. He felt a tightening in his groin as he remembered. He had definitely never felt such a strong attraction to any woman. And this woman was out to destroy him, he thought bitterly.
Wyatt had to develop some plan to stay clear of her, he resolved. Tomorrow’s day at the beach would not help at all. He realized why Sam invited Janie. It wasn’t only because those two seemed to get along like a house on fire. No, Sam wanted to take advantage of the “romantic” luau. She figured that nature would take its course when the Hawaiian sunset began to work its magic, and Wyatt would have to ask Janie for just one dance. Sam definitely had her eye on Janie as a prospective stepmother.
Wyatt wondered how h
e could stop nature from taking its course. Perhaps Janie would stop it for him, he thought optimistically. He was sure that she shared the attraction at least on some level. Would she allow that attraction to go any further, knowing the job she had to do?
Meanwhile, it was time for Wyatt to take a cold shower and try to forget all about the woman who was sleeping on the other side of the wall.
Chapter 5
Janie woke up to busy sounds in the house. She looked at her watch and cursed herself. She had overslept. That was definitely not the way to make a good impression.
She had slept like a rock all night long. The previous day’s work, sun, and excitement had obviously taken their toll on her. Hadn’t she turned on her alarm clock, though? She reached for it, and realized that she hadn’t. Her mind must have been on other things, she thought happily. She did a long, cat stretch in her bed and allowed herself just a minute to think back to Wyatt and their talk. He had felt comfortable enough with her to disclose such personal things. Did that mean that he possibly had some feelings for her?
It was obvious that he was still in love with his wife, even after she had been gone for ten years. How could Janie compete with that kind of devotion? And did she want to? His love for her could never be as strong as it was with his wife. Wait a minute, she chastised herself. She was getting a little ahead of herself and the whole situation. Why was she thinking “love”? Why was she thinking anything romantic about Wyatt?
A relationship with Dr. Wyatt Templeton could never work out anyway, she reminded herself. His life was here, and hers was thousands of miles away. And it probably wasn’t even ethical, considering her position and all. Nevertheless, it was a lovely way to begin the morning.
Janie allowed herself another couple of minutes and listened to the goings-on in the house. They must be preparing for the big day, she thought, guiltily. She got out of bed and threw on some clothes and decided to help out.
"Don't argue with me young lady. You are not going to wear that to the luau, and that's FINAL." Wyatt's voice boomed through the house.
Sam was wearing a flouncy mini-dress that cut down low in front. She was twirling around in front of her father, showing off her latest purchase. Even though her pre-pubescent hips and legs and total absence of cleavage were hardly provocative, the total effect was startling to Wyatt. His little girl was not going to wear a thing like that. Never.
"What do you mean?" Sam stopped her twirling and faced her father. She was honestly surprised at his reaction to her dress, which was all the rage at school.
"I mean," he enunciated each word. "I will not have my ten-year-old daughter traipsing around every single person that I know, looking like, like, like,"
"Like what!"
"Like you look right now," His voice reached new decibel levels. "Now go change right now, or I will get really upset!"
"And what are you now," Sam dared. "You have probably woken up Janie, you know."
"Well, it's her fault if she's still sleeping at this hour. Now, don't sass me and get your swimsuit on and a proper dress or shorts for later at the luau."
Sam looked down and kicked the floor with one foot. She mumbled something that Wyatt couldn't hear and went off towards her room, looking defeated.
Wyatt fell back on a chair, deeply relieved that Sam still obeyed his wishes, but nervous about how long that would last. He ran his hand down his face and grimly thought about how much his nice, peaceful life had turned upside down lately.
His dolphins, his heart, his daughter. He was being attacked from all sides. He felt like his life was totally out of his control. He had no strategies to fix anything, but if he didn't get a grip, everything would be quickly gone. Was that too dramatic? He thought again. His dolphins did seem to be doomed, but he decided he could withstand the onslaught of Ms. Simmons' good looks. And, he thought even more optimistically, his daughter was only ten years old, after all, and he had some time before she started dating and he developed ulcers.
"Good morning. I'm sorry I overslept. I guess I'm not used to all the fresh air." Wyatt hadn't heard Janie walk into the room, and now she was standing over him. He felt his mouth turn dry, and he tried to swallow to no avail.
"No problem," he managed to get past his lips. "Let's grab some coffee." Wyatt was grateful for the hot liquid that seemed to help him regain the power of speech, but he was in no mood to use it, he discovered.
It was Janie who seemed to want to talk. "So, how can I help? What should I bring for the day? Are we going to do some work out at the lagoon before we go?"
"I've already done the morning's work at the lagoon," he said with an edge to his voice. "Just bring a swimsuit and something comfortable over it for the day. Other than that, we've already packed up the coolers. We're old pros at this."
"I'm sure you are."
"Is this better?!" Sam stomped into the kitchen wearing a t-shirt and shorts. She was obviously roaring mad at her father, which didn't bother him too much now that she was wearing something he considered decent.
"That's fine with me," he said.
Sam stomped off and Janie gave Wyatt a questioning look. "It's better you don't know," he said. "Let's get going."
Janie had to stop and stare when they arrived at Sunset Beach. She was in awe of the beach's beauty and in terror of the waves. She turned back to look at little Samantha and was gripped by panic. She grabbed Wyatt's arm and pulled him towards her. "She's not going to surf that, right? I mean, the waves are due to calm down or something, right?"
"Don't worry. She'll do fine." Wyatt continued walking, carrying a huge cooler full of drinks and food for later. Janie carried bags of towels, blankets, and assorted other things for their day, and Sam concentrated on her surfboard. Janie looked again at Samantha, but she didn't seem the least bit fazed by the awesome power of the ocean. Was Janie the only one to think that this was just plain crazy?
Wyatt found a spot in the middle of a throng of people, who all seemed to know him and Samantha. They looked at Janie with curious interest. "Who's the beautiful haole," many of them asked Wyatt within earshot. Wyatt playfully pushed them away.
"Hey, don't you see that I'm trying to set up, here?"
That brought laughter from the group. "Leave it to a haole to spend an hour to set up a blanket on the beach," One of them joked, using the Hawaiian word for white person a second time. All of Wyatt's acquaintances seemed to be Hawaiian, and Janie reminded herself that she was in for a treat tonight with an authentic luau.
"See ya," Sam said and was off in a shot with her surfboard. Janie watched her run off and was still greatly concerned for her safety. Wyatt didn't seem at all concerned, which didn't make Janie too happy. Perhaps she was wrong about Wyatt's parenting skills.
When Wyatt finally had the large picnic blanket down on the sand with objects placed on it in strategic places so that the wind wouldn't blow it away, his friends started coming over in earnest. Janie was delighted by how open and friendly they were. Wyatt introduced Janie to them as a friend from out of town, and she decided not to blow the cover, even though she was confused by the subterfuge.
She finally sat down with a diet soda in her hand, and Wyatt handed her a big, floppy hat. "For the sun," he said pointing up. "It can be a killer here."
Janie was delighted that he remembered his promise to loan her a hat and delighted that he cared. The hat wasn't too bad, either. "Thanks," she said and tried to concentrate on her drink, but she was interrupted.
"You are such a sweet little thing!" Janie looked up from under her hat to see Keiko. She sat down with a boom next to Janie, making her muumuu float up for an instant. Keiko’s voice reminded Janie of security blankets, kindly grandmothers, and macaroni and cheese – everything that made her feel secure and comfortable.
"You remember me? Keiko? I’m so glad we have a chance to chat a little. It's just wonderful that you are staying with my sweethearts: Wyatt and Samantha. How they need a woman in that big house of theirs! And I
just know that you and I will become fast friends. Tonight, you will be my personal guest." Janie managed to get out a 'thank you' while Keiko paused for a breath. "You know, this luau is my luau, I am the big mamma of all these wonderful people.” she opened her arms and spun around to encompass the 75 or so people that surrounded them. "You are very honored to be a part of this family, and you are a part of this family, you know," she wagged her finger in front of Janie's face. "as long as you are in Wyatt's and Sam's family."
"But,"
"Now, I'm not a stupid woman, you know. I realize that there are lots of 'buts'. Trust me, honey. They will work out. Now, give me one of those sodas of yours and let's watch little Samantha beat all those good for nothings."
Janie glanced over at Wyatt in order to gage his expression, but he wasn't giving anything away, and his eyes were glued to the ocean where the competition was set to begin at any moment.
She didn't understand the rules; so, Janie concentrated on the obvious skills of the surfers. Keiko explained that Sam would be competing in the second group, and before she knew it, everybody around her was shouting encouragement to Sam. Janie looked out and sure enough, there was little Sam riding the crest of a giant wave and doing it magnificently. The excitement was contagious and Janie surprised herself and everyone around her by standing up and shouting, "Go, Sam. Go!" Sam rode out the wave and then dropped into the ocean. "That was wonderful!" Janie turned to Wyatt. "That was wonderful, right?" she asked him.
"Yep," he said, trying to hide his pride. "You can't get much better than that."
"So, does she win?”
“Hold on. She has two more runs to go.”
Sam completed her two other runs beautifully, but the group had to wait until the entire competition was finished before knowing the outcome. Meanwhile, Sam reluctantly parted from a group of her friends to rejoin the adults, who complimented her endlessly.