Dinner First, Me Later?

by Candy Halliday

  Jake said, “Only because you were trying to make me jealous!”

  “I was not trying to make you jealous!” she fumed. “You asked about dinner. I told you what happened.”

  Jake said, “And it never crossed your mind that you saying you’d just been on a date with a nice guy named Don who was going to call you next week might make me jealous?”

  “No,” she insisted. “That never crossed my mind.”

  “Well, it should have,” Jake said.

  “Well, it didn’t,” she said right back.

  “Why, Alicia?” Jake demanded. “Tell me the truth. Is the reason you didn’t think I might be jealous because all I’ll ever be to you is just some neighbor guy you like to talk to on the phone?”

  “No!” she yelled. “It never crossed my mind that you would be jealous because . . . Because . . .” She finally blurted out, “Because I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you! Okay? I could have dinner with a million nice guys and you would still be the only one I’ll ever want.”

  She looked as if she were going to cry.

  “Come here,” Jake said, reaching for her.

  “Don’t, Jake,” she said and pushed him away.

  Alicia clicked, the door unlocked.

  “I can’t talk to you right now,” she said. “Please get out of the car.”

  “Alicia,” Jake begged.

  “Get out of the car, Jake,” she repeated. She wouldn’t even look at him.

  “Fine!” Jake said, angry all over again. “You want me out of your car? I’ll get out of your damn car!”

  Jake got out of the car, and slammed the door behind him. He stood there on his front lawn frowning as Alicia burned rubber all the way up her driveway.

  Alicia drove the car into the garage, grabbed her purse, slammed the door, and headed for the back gate. She stopped walking when her cell phone rang. She fumbled through her purse and brought out the phone.

  She wasn’t surprised to see who was calling.

  But she was surprised when she put the phone to her ear and the first thing Jake said was, “Turn around.”

  Alicia turned around. Jake was standing at the edge of the driveway, his cell phone to his ear, looking straight at her.

  “It’s fantasy night,” he said as if the last five minutes never happened. “I want to tell you a fantasy bedtime story.”

  Cell phone still to her ear, Alicia said, “And it never crossed your mind that I’m not in the mood for a fantasy bedtime story after the big fight we just had?”

  “No,” he said into the phone. “Because someone told me once that making up after a big fight was always the best part.”

  He closed his phone and put it into his pocket.

  Alicia closed her phone and dropped it into her purse.

  He walked in her direction, but he stopped a few feet away. The sincere apologetic look on his face kept Alicia standing right where she was.

  “Once upon a time in a land far away,” Jake said, “there lived a sheik with a harem that was the envy of every man in the desert. The fact that every man in the desert envied his harem should have made the sheik happy. But the sheik cared absolutely nothing about those women. To him, the harem was just part of his life that came along with being the sheik.”

  “Really?” Alicia said.

  “Really,” Jake said.

  “But one day,” Jake said, “a new breed of woman came into his life. A smart, confident businesswoman. She was far more beautiful than any of the women in his harem, but the thing the sheik liked best about her was that she wasn’t impressed that he was a sheik at all.”

  “She wasn’t impressed at all?” Alicia asked.

  “Not one bit,” Jake said. “Even the thought of a sheik like him made her mad enough to spit.”

  Alicia smiled in spite of herself.

  He took several steps in her direction. They were standing so close now, Alicia could have reached out and touched him.

  “The beautiful businesswoman ignored him completely at first,” Jake said, “which only made the sheik want her that much more. After all, he was the freaking sheik. He was used to having beautiful women dance around him in circles, practically naked even, gyrating their sexy bodies in front of him and wearing shiny rings in their belly buttons.”

  Alicia sent him a quizzical look. “And who’s trying to make whom jealous?”

  Jake grinned. “And then one night when he’d given up all hope that the beautiful businesswoman would ever look in his direction, she marched right into his tent and offered him one night of passion.”

  He walked up so close their bodies were touching.

  “And what happened then?” Alicia whispered.

  “She stripped right in front of him,” Jake said, staring back at her so intently that Alicia could finally see the love he felt for her in his compelling gray eyes.

  Alicia grabbed his hand, opened the gate of her privacy fence, and pushed Jake through the gate. As soon as there was no danger of anyone watching, she threw her purse down and kicked her shoes off.

  Reaching behind her back, Alicia unzipped her dress. She let the dress slide down to the concrete patio, and kicked it aside. She heard her bra make a splash in the pool. But she didn’t have a clue where her panties landed.

  Heart pounding, Alicia asked, “And then what happened?”

  Jake grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back against the privacy fence. Alicia gasped. Her fingers tangled in his dark hair when his hot mouth covered hers.

  Jake’s hands slid down, grabbing her hips. When he picked her up, Alicia locked her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. She held on tight as he carried her across the patio. When they reached her back patio door, however, Alicia looked at him and said, “The beautiful, smart, confident businesswoman hates to bring this up, but the sheik only has one condom left from his last visit. Should he go in search of his camel for a trip to a nearby market?”

  “The beautiful, smart, confident businesswoman need not worry,” Jake said, staring at her again with so much love Alicia almost swooned. “The sheik has a few tricks up the sleeve of his robe that she still doesn’t know about.”

  “Oh, the sheik does, does he?” Alicia said, leaning over and punching in the security code. She put her arms back around his neck and said, “Enough tricks to keep her satisfied all through the night?”

  “All through the night,” Jake promised and carried Alicia through the door and up to her bedroom.

  Chapter 26

  On Sunday afternoon while Jake and the guys played golf, Alicia invited the girls and the kids for a day at the pool. Dani also brought her new best friend Katie with her.

  Alicia sat poolside at the patio table with Zada, Jen, and Tish, Kiwi on her lap, watching while Dani and Katie played with Jen’s and Tish’s kids in the pool. Their shrieks of laughter sounded like music to Alicia’s ears—yes, her, the person who used to avoid kids and dogs completely.

  “Thank you for inviting us, Alicia,” Jen said, taking a sip from her glass of the freshly squeezed lemonade she’d brought over for everyone to enjoy. “You can’t imagine how much better this is than trying to fight for a place to sit at the clubhouse pool.”

  “Thank you double for me,” Zada said, bending over to look at Lizzie, who was propped up in her stroller, happily sucking her thumb. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in a bathing suit in public until I lose some of this baby weight, and there isn’t a shady spot at the clubhouse pool where it would be safe for Lizzie.” She pulled Lizzie’s thumb out of her mouth. Right back in Lizzie’s mouth went the thumb again.

  Alicia said, “You know, I was just sitting here wondering why we haven’t been doing this all along.”

  Tish said, “I can tell you why we never came to your pool before this summer. You didn’t have a kid in your life before this summer.”

  Alicia glanced across the pool at the kid Tish was talking about. Dani was patiently positioning Sonya’s arms out in front of her, sh
owing Sonya how to hold her hands for a dive off the diving board. At the other end of the pool, poor Katie was being teamed up on by Mark and Mike in a splashing contest.

  Tish sighed and said, “I think the twins are in love. They haven’t left Katie alone since she got here.”

  Tish looked back at Alicia and said, “And speaking of love, care to tell us about the little love spat between you and Jake last night?”

  “Dammit, Tish! Lower your voice,” Alicia said, nodding toward the pool at Dani.

  “Please,” Tish scoffed. “Let me clue you in on something, Alicia. When kids are playing in a swimming pool, they couldn’t give a crap about any conversation their mothers are having.”

  “I’m not Dani’s mother,” Alicia reminded Tish.

  “I guarantee you’re the closest thing the poor kid’s ever had to a mother,” Jen said. She lowered her voice and said, “Dani came over the other day, saying she wanted to look through some more of my recipe books, but I got the feeling she really just wanted to talk. I let her look through the books, and out of the blue, she just started talking about her mother. She said she never really spent much time with Carla, and she called her Carla the same way she calls Jake by his first name. She said Carla was always on a photo shoot or out with her friends. And then she made the strangest comment. Dani said Carla wasn’t strong enough to survive in the world she lived in, and that she was glad Carla was in a better place. It broke my heart.”

  Tish frowned at Jen and said, “Well, thank you so much for sharing, Miss Let’s-Bring-Everyone-Down.”

  “Oh, you don’t fool me,” Jen said, her nose in the air. “You just want to get back to butting your nose into Jake and Alicia’s business.”

  “Yes, back to the love spat,” Tish said, never missing a beat. “See if this will jog your memory, Alicia. Someone slamming your car door. Your tires squealing up your driveway. Someone stomping across the street and up your driveway.” She grinned and added, “Someone not coming back down your driveway until seven this morning.”

  “Don’t you ever sleep, Tish?” Alicia complained, shaking her head.

  “I was asleep!” Tish exclaimed. “Until all of the door slamming and tire squealing started.”

  “You were not asleep,” Zada said and laughed. “We were all still at your house for family night when Alicia and Jake had their little spat.”

  “It wasn’t a little spat,” Alicia said. “It was a big one.”

  “No, that was a little spat,” Zada said. She pointed a finger at her chest. “You are looking at the Queen of Spats here. Big spats last at least six months and almost get you divorced.”

  “Okay, it was a little spat,” Alicia said. “But the makeup sex was sin-credible.”

  Tish said, “You mean the sin-credible sex you aren’t having because you aren’t in love with Jake and you’re trying to distance yourself from him?”

  “Oh, shut up,” Alicia said.

  Tish didn’t. “It sounds like love to me.”

  “Okay,” Alicia said. “I admit it. I’m helplessly in love with Jake. Satisfied?”

  Zada asked, “What made you change your mind?”

  Alicia told them about Jake’s sheik analogy.

  “I am so jealous,” Tish said, frowning. “Princesses, knights, and now sheiks? If I asked Joe to come up with a fantasy, it would be the bar maid and the Bud Light lover fantasy. Only Joe’s fantasy would be me keeping the beer coming and my mouth shut while he watched Monday night football.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Not Charlie,” Jen bragged. “Even after ten years of marriage, he’s still very inventive. The other night after Sonya was in bed, I was still cleaning up the kitchen. Charlie grabbed me by the hand, pulled me into the pantry, and shut the door. It was absolutely pitch-black. I couldn’t even see him. You can’t imagine how intensified all of your senses become when you can’t see anything.”

  As an afterthought, Jen said, “Of course, when Sonya gets older, we’ll have to be more careful. You can’t take chances like that with a teenager in the house. They know too much.”

  “Jen!” Tish scolded and nodded toward Alicia. “Alicia just admitted she’s in love with Jake. Are you purposely trying to put more doubts in her head?”

  “Oh,” Jen said, her hand covering her mouth for a second. “I’m so sorry, Alicia. I didn’t even think about Dani already being a teenager.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Jen,” Alicia told her. “Jake and I are well aware of the challenges we’ll be facing where Dani is concerned. The main challenge will be easing her into the idea that we’re seeing each other.”

  “Any ideas on how you plan to do that?” Jen asked.

  “One thing I hope will help Dani see me as more than just the neighbor across the street,” Alicia said, “is that Dani and Kiwi are going to stay with me next week while Jake is out of town. He leaves on Tuesday, and on Tuesday and Wednesday, he’ll begin his publicity tour for his new antidrug campaign. I’m taking off those two days and I hope that will give me some quality time with Dani.”

  Tish said, “Taking off from that business you’re so desperately trying to get off the ground, you mean?”

  “Oh, shut up,” Alicia said again. “That’s what cell phones and fax machines are for.”

  Zada laughed. “Spoken like a veteran mom already. Listen to yourself, Alicia, you’re already figuring out how you can multitask and juggle your schedule around Dani.”

  “I know. No one is more shocked than I am over how quickly I’ve become the nurturing mother type where Dani is concerned. I’ve never seen myself as a mother. And before all of you look at me like I’m some alien from another planet, I’m going to go ahead and admit that I’ve never been interested in having children of my own. But,” Alicia added, “being Dani’s substitute mother is different. In fact, nothing pleases me more.”

  Jen said, “Maybe the reason you do so well with Dani is because she’s already older, Alicia. And you have nothing to apologize for because you don’t want children of your own. Some women do want children. Some women don’t.”

  “And some women wonder why they had children at all,” Tish said, jumping up from her chair. “Boys! If you splash Katie in the face one more time, I’m taking you home and you’re going to try on each and every item of those new school clothes I just bought you. Twice!” she added to get her point across.

  Alicia looked over at Jen and said, “Speaking of school clothes, I’m taking Dani shopping for school clothes on Tuesday, Jen. Why don’t you and Sonya come with us?”

  Tish frowned at them and said, “I can see right now having all these girls in the cul-de-sac means I’m going to be completely left out of the loop.”

  Zada said, “Lizzie is a long way from school clothes yet, Tish.”

  “Don’t kid yourself,” Tish said. “You blink, and they’re grown.”

  Zada frowned and said, “Now who’s being Miss Let’s-Bring-Everyone-Down?”

  To appease her Alicia said, “You and the boys can come, too, Tish.”

  Tish laughed. “Says the naïve one in the group who’s never been shopping with the twins.”

  “Trust me,” Jen said, looking over at Alicia. “I have been shopping with Tish and the twins. Not your best idea.”

  Jake stood above the golf ball, feet together, hands gripping his putter. He looked from the ball to the cup, lining up the shot. Jake drew the putter back just far enough to tap the ball into the cup the short distance away. He made the swing, and . . .

  “Did anyone else hear tires squealing through the cul-de-sac last night?”

  Jake missed the putt.

  “Dammit, Joe,” Jake said, frowning at him. “You did that on purpose.”

  “Of course he did,” Charlie said. “If you’d made that putt you would have been ahead of Joe on this hole.”

  “Sorry, Jake,” Joe said and grinned. “I didn’t mean to make you nervous, buddy.”

  Laughing, Joe walked off. Charlie fo
llowed him, heading toward Joe’s golf cart. Rick walked along beside Jake, in the direction of Jake’s cart. When they all headed for the next tee, Rick looked over at him.

  “Don’t let Joe get under your skin, Jake,” Rick said. “If Joe knows he’s getting to you, it’s the same as waving a red flag in front of a bull. He’ll keep charging the rest of the day.”

  Jake laughed. “Don’t worry about me, Rick, I’m not that sensitive. Ribbing each other is a given in baseball. I learned to develop a thick skin a long time ago.”

  Rick said, “Joe cheats at cards, too, so you’ll have to watch him when we go back to playing poker on Saturday nights.” He looked back over at Jake. “And I do hope you’ll join us, Jake. When Zada gets over what she’s calling her family phase, we’ll go back to playing poker regularly every Saturday night.”

  “Sounds great,” Jake said. “But don’t count on me every weekend. I’ll only get to play on the Saturday nights when Danielle has plans of her own.”

  Rick said, “Kids really change everything, don’t they?” He added quickly, “Not that I’m complaining. I’ve never been known as a sentimental guy, but I swear, every time I look at Lizzie, my heart fills with so much love”—he tapped his chest with his fist—“it hurts me right here.”

  “Little girls have a way of pulling on their father’s heartstrings,” Jake said and smiled.

  “Big girls have a way of pulling on a man’s heartstrings, too,” Rick said and laughed.

  “Amen to that, brother,” Jake told him.

  They rode along in silence for a few seconds before Rick said, “You can tell me it’s none of my business, Jake, but I want to ask you a question. This thing with you and Alicia. Are you serious about her? Or are you just passing time?”

  Jake looked over at him. “I’m dead serious, Rick. I’m in love with Alicia. And if she can stick it out with me until I can get this custody battle settled, I intend to prove it to her.”

  “Good,” Rick said, nodding in approval. “Zada and I consider Alicia a good friend. She deserves someone who loves her. We wouldn’t want to see her hurt again.”