Doorstep daddy

by Cajio, Linda

  "I know that. He's never happy, but I'm late with a report. It's due in the state offices on Wednesday."

  "Doesn't he know you were taking care of a very sick man? Doesn't he have compassion?"

  Callie chuckled. "We're talking about my boss here."

  "Right. He's also complaining about some guy in the office who's complaining that he's dead when he isn't He's blaming you. Your boss is, not the guy."

  "Me?" She put her hand over her eyes. "I called some people to get that straightened out, and they all said they'd put him back into the system."

  "I guess he came right back out again."

  Callie made as if to get out of bed. Richard pressed his hand to her shoulder to push her back down.

  "Oh, no," he said. "You stay put."

  "I'll lose my job if I don't get that report to him," she said, eyes tearing. "It's in my laptop."

  "You work for me, remember? So you have a job if you need one." She'd taken care of his phone calls very efficiently while she'd taken care of him. Mail, too. He'd had a minimum to handle yesterday. But she wouldn't lose her job over one little thing. "Maybe a little diplomatic push will help," he said.

  "I don't know about this," she replied, dubious.

  "Relax. It can't hurt. Now, what's the file name of this report?"

  "I better get it." She started to rise again.

  And again he pushed her back. "I said I'll take it in for you. Before I do, you'll have your three sips of tea and you'll take a nap. Tommy said you were pretty ill last night."

  "Very. And you're getting very bossy." She tried to rise once more, then settled back against the pillows in defeat.

  Richard chuckled.

  "Okay, so a baby can knock me over with a feather," Callie admitted, sighing.

  "All the more reason to stay in bed and take care of yourself." He smiled. "And I'll take care of you, too."

  "Richard." Her look told him he was in for another no-relationship lecture.

  To forestall it, he added, "It's strictly between

  friends."

  She smiled wanly. "I'm too sick to fight you."

  "Good, because I'd probably lose." He reached over and took Mark. "Come on, kid. We'll go break Callie's computer now. You'll like that."

  "You're getting good with him," she said around a yawn.

  He grinned, pleased with the praise from her. "I had a good teacher. In a lot of things."

  He bent down and kissed her forehead. Mark's head klonked against hers.

  Callie groaned and rubbed the sore spot. "Gee, thanks. That was about the only place that didn't hurt."

  "Sorry about that."

  Richard went out and fiddled with her laptop, not having any problem finding the file and printing it on her home printer. She used the same software he did, although hers was an older version. As the finished sheets spit out one by one, he noted she did very nice work.

  He and Mark took it to the office. Callie's boss, an unpleasant man, couldn't grasp that she was too sick to come herself. People waited for help, including one stubborn old gentleman who'd accidently been declared dead. Richard couldn't help but like him. Everyone waiting wanted Callie. Richard could see she nurtured people here, too. They, at least, understood her illness and sympathized. Her boss didn't. Richard resisted the urge to punch the guy in the nose. He did pull diplomatic rank a little, and her boss backed down somewhat. Grudgingly, but he did. That he'd saved one thing for her pleased Richard.

  When he got back to her apartment, he stretched out across the foot of her bed. The trip had exhausted his still-weakened body.

  "I'd say I told you so, but I'm too sick," Callie murmured.

  "I think you got it in, anyway." Richard closed his eyes, needing to rest just a moment. Mark had crawled in next to Callie, so he was safe for a while from toddler disasters.

  "Haying two men in one's bed is supposed to be some women's fantasy. Somehow, I can't see it."

  "Mmm," Richard murmured without opening his eyes. "I never thought that my first time in your bed would include my youngest nephew. Freud would have a field day. Take a nap, Callie. You need it."

  "Somehow I don't think it's me who does..."

  Richard drifted off. Seconds later, it seemed, he was jolted to alertness when a foot nudged him in the chest. Kicked him was more like it. He sat up, disoriented.

  "The kids will be home from school in twenty minutes," Callie said, confirming he'd been out for more than twenty himself. Her eyes were still red-rimmed but amused. Mark lay next to her, sound asleep. Everyone had napped except the person who'd been ordered to do so.

  "I was out that long?" he asked in disbelief.

  "Oh, yeah." Callie grinned at him as if she'd enjoyed his presence in her bed.

  Richard wished he'd been awake enough to enjoy it, too. Disgusted, he said, "I'm a fat lot of help, aren't I?"

  "You probably saved my job. That's enough for one day."

  "But I didn't get you aspirin or fluids every fifteen minutes. That's what I'm supposed to be doing."

  "Oh, I did that myself while you were out cold." She tapped a half-full glass on the nightstand. "So far, so good. Go home to the kids, Richard. I'll be fine."

  "That's what I said, remember?" He had to admit she looked a little better than he had on his first day. Then an idea hit him, a brilliant idea. "I won't go home unless you go with me."

  Her eyes blinked fully open. "What?"

  "Sure. You shouldn't be here alone while you're sick. Your brother the doctor wouldn't have called me if he thought you didn't need help. At my house, you'll have a bedroom all to yourself and three servants to wait on you. Me, Amanda and Jason. Mark will entertain you. If you don't come home with me, I'll have to bring Jay and Amanda here. How much rest will you get with all of us crammed in your apartment?"

  "I'd get more if you'd go home like you should." "No, you wouldn't, so that's not an option. I can't let you be here by yourself. I won 7."

  "Richard, you're very sweet I appreciate your caring. But I'm fine - "

  A coughing spasm suddenly overtook her. She sounded horrible and she couldn't stop herself. Richard grabbed the sickie bucket and hovered, just in case it turned into something worse.

  Callie waved him away. The spasm passed and she collapsed back against the pillows. "Oh, God, that hurt."

  "I didn't have coughing like that," Richard said, worried. "See? That's all the more reason to be sick at my house."

  She eyed him sourly. "You're going to bug me to death, aren't you?"

  "Yep." He grinned at her. "Where's your coat?"

  The move took both their energy reserves, but that Callie saw the sense in it without too much argument gratified Richard. Amanda was just arriving home from school when he pulled the car into the driveway. Jason was usually ten minutes behind her.

  She peered in the passenger window, then said as Richard emerged from the driver's side, "She looks bad, Uncle Richard."

  "She's got our family flu, lucky girl. Do me a favor and bring Mark into the house. I'll help Callie."

  Amanda nodded. Richard came around and opened the passenger-side door.

  "I heard her." Callie looked at him hopefully. "I don't look that bad, do I?"

  "You look beautiful to me," he said honestly. "Just don't toss your cookies in my car. No offense."

  She winced as she stood upright. He held her hand and put his arm around her waist. The wind, cold and brisk, blew harder. He hoped her coat and bathrobe would protect her against it.

  As he helped her toward the house, a car stopped at the curb. Joey got out and went to Amanda, helping her with Mark. Callie's sister, Gerri, stood on the driver's side, leaning on the car roof.

  "Callie. What's all this?"

  "She's got the flu," Richard replied for Callie, not stopping in his quest for the front door. "I brought her home so I could watch over her. She needs it. Your brother said."

  "Really?" Gerri pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head. "I'm not s
ure I like this."

  But she didn't add anything more and neither did she volunteer to care for Callie herself.

  "Amanda, come on," Richard urged. "You can talk to Joey later, okay? I need your help with Callie and Mark."

  "Okay," his niece replied, offering no argument, which surprised the heck out of Richard.

  He got Callie inside, Mark and Amanda bringing up the rear. He turned and waved to Callie's sister, but she was already in her car. Joey waved back. Nice kid, Richard thought.

  Callie muttered under her breath as the door shut behind them all.

  "I'm sorry, honey," Richard said, bending over her. "I didn't hear that"

  "It's about my sister and it's unrepeatable," Callie replied. She looked at the stairs and groaned. "I can't climb them. Not yet."

  Richard looked at the stairs, daunted by their length and height "I'll carry you."

  "The heck you will. You look as pale as I feel."

  He couldn't deny it. His body was already urging him to sit down before he fell down.

  "Put me on that little couch in your office," Callie ordered. "I'll be fine there for a while."

  That he could handle.

  Callie practically fell onto the couch when he got her there, her face white as a sheet from the exertion. Richard wanted to collapse with her, but resisted. He was supposed to be the healthy one...well, the healthier one, at any rate.

  Amanda, wise child, came in with an afghan. Mark followed, dragging a throw pillow behind him. They got Callie settled with both.

  "I feel awful," Amanda said, momentarily scaring Richard until she added, "If I hadn't called you to come over when Uncle Richard got sick, you wouldn't have gotten sick, either."

  "Neither of us would have been sick if we'd had our flu shots," Richard said, stroking Amanda's hair.

  Callie reached out and patted Amanda's hand. "You did absolutely the right thing. Don't ever think otherwise."

  "Callie would have gotten sick, anyway, whether you called or not," Richard added. "So would I. The flu's going around, and like Callie said, we're vulnerable, iHopefully you three won't get it at all."

  "So far, so good," Callie commented. She shivered.

  Unfortunately the look she gave Richard said what he was-thinking. The kids were bound to get the flu. Oh, maybe not yet and maybe they'd get light doses, but they had to get it. Even Dr. Tommy expected them to.

  "I'll find another blanket for you," Amanda volunteered when she saw Callie's shivering bout. She went off in search of one.

  "Spray that antibacterial stuff everywhere" Callie said. She coughed, but didn't have a spasm. "You ought to take me right over to that ridiculous sister of mine and dump me on her doorstep. I can't believe she didn't say a word."

  "Actually she did," Richard replied, sitting down on the arm of the sofa. He needed support for his body. "She said she didn't think she approved of my help."

  "Who is she to approve or not?" Callie griped. Her words would have packed more punch if her voice didn't sound as though it could be coming from the back end of a wind tunnel.

  "Never mind." Richard took her hand and held it. "You're in the best place you can be. With me."

  "Mmm." She looked sick, but pleased. "Don't forget to wash your hands with the antibacterial soap after touching me."

  Here she was yet again.

  Callie drifted in and out of sleep, her dozes interrupted by heat waves and shivers as the flu did its worst. Every time she roused from unconsciousness, she thought of how she had walked out of Richard's door two days ago only to be dragged back in again.

  It was like being caught in a spider's web. Oh, she could struggle and even walk a pace or two away, but she could never escape. Still, what a sweet web it was. What a sweet man. How could she resist a guy barely out of his own sickbed who insisted on helping her in hers.

  She couldn't resist. She truly couldn't.

  Callie sighed. She'd kill her brother Tommy for calling in Richard's help. She could have managed by herself; she'd been sick before. Gerri was going down, too, for not taking her big sister in, which would have kept Callie out of Richard's reach.

  Gerri's lack of help didn't surprise Callie. Gerri had always put herself first. Maybe she was selfish now because she'd had to share everything with siblings for years. Who knew? But that didn't excuse Gerri's behavior.

  Richard's office phone rang. Thinking that if she could reach it she could go home, Callie struggled to sit up. She barely lifted her head before it was spinning. Heat boiled through her body at the movement. She lay back down on the sofa and closed her eyes, panting for breath . Her mouth felt dry and strange, too.

  'Til get it," Richard said as he strode into the room. Clearly he had seen her attempt to rise.

  "Good, 'cause I can't," Callie muttered without looking at him.

  She heard little feet toddle over to her. A body thumped against the side of the sofa. It leaned into her, small elbows digging brutally into her arm. The odor of milk, chicken and a miss in the bathroom wafted through her senses, nearly gagging her.

  Callie stretched away and opened one eye.

  Mark grinned at her around his thumb. Dark curls brushed his collar and framed his devil-may-care expression. He pulled his thumb from his mouth and announced, "I go, Callie."

  "I never would have guessed."

  "You sick," was his next statement. He managed to put the s on the beginning of the word this time.

  "Never would have guessed that, either," she said, adding, "I bet you're next, the way you're hanging all over me. But I'm too tired to put you at a proper distance. Promise me that when you're sick with this, you'll make your uncle Richard crazy and toss your cookies all over my brother the doctor. There's money in it if you do."

  "Money," Mark said in a dreamy voice, and began to play with the little chenille nubs on her robe.

  "Big money," Callie said, almost smiling at the thought.

  "Callie, did you bring Go-Karts 2000 with you?"

  Jason's voice sounded hopeful. Callie glanced over at the boy. He must have come home from school while she'd been in la-la land.

  "Somehow I don't think I'm up for games."

  He shrugged. "I thought maybe you'd bring it for me to use."

  He looked as if he expected her to get off the sofa and go home for the game.

  "I was too busy being as sick as your uncle."

  "No one's as sick as him," Jay scoffed.

  "Now, there's a recommendation," Richard said, after hanging up the phone and catching the last of the conversation. "Okay, guys, out of here. Dinner in fifteen minutes. Let Callie rest."

  Richard helped Mark toward the door, while Jason dragged his feet sulkily. Clearly he thought the Go-Karts 2000 question was still unsettled.

  When the kids were gone, Richard said, "That boy is going to hear about his attitude."

  Callie tried to smile again, but it hurt. "He'll look past himself eventually. All kids do."

  Except her sister.

  "I'm sorry about the phone."

  "That's okay. I was lying here awake, thinking about

  going home."

  Richard was silent for a long moment. "I hope you didn't think too hard, because it was a dumb thought. To quote a wise woman - you look like something the cat dragged in and coughed up on the carpet."

  "I must be looking better than I feel, then." Callie flushed from more than the fever. She pushed some stray ends of hair behind her ears in a futile attempt to tidy herself. 4 'I seem to remember you saying I looked beau-| tiful."

  "You always look beautiful. Objectively speaking, | however, you're more on a par with hell freezing over." "Be still my heart."

  "You think you can handle being moved to a nice bed upstairs?"

  Callie couldn't stretch out properly on the small couch she currently occupied. Her neck ached from being on the armrest's permanent tilt, and the leather covering felt cold against her overly sensitive skin. "I don't think I can handle moving my pinky fi
nger, let alone my body all the way upstairs. I'll stay here."

  "But my phone's got to be bothering you."

  "Not nearly enough to make me want to move. Am I keeping you from your work in here? Believe me, not much penetrates the flu fog."

  "I can take my laptop out if I need to. I'm concerned for you."

  "I'm concerned for you." She'd move if she absolutely had to, although she would die afterward.

  He grinned and came to her. His fingers stroked her hair from her cheek. "You must be really sick."

  "Probably."

  Callie closed her eyes as his hand pushed back her hair. He caressed her with a feather-light touch that soothed her and yet filled her with emotion. She allowed herself to be lulled by him. It just felt so good. She was almost asleep when his voice penetrated.

  "Why are you always so tough, Callie?"

  She almost answered, but let it go. What could she say that hadn't been said already? Besides, she didn't want to argue now. The moment was too sweet for her. She loved the pampering he was giving her. Never had a man stroked her so gently nor been this concerned with her health. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time anyone had done this for her.

  A suspicious lump grew in her throat. She pushed back the unshed tears, deciding she was becoming maudlin only because she was sick. Reserves went down and emotions went up. Still, it was nice. So nice...

  She awoke sometime later to the sound of yelling.

  "I did not break the plate."

  "Yes, you did, dweeb."

  "You stink!"

  "You stink worse!"

  "Hey! Callie's sick in the next room and I just put your brother to bed."

  "She broke the plate, Uncle Richard." "Liar! I did not!"

  There was the sound of pounding feet, as if someone was being chased. Then came a loud crash, which had to be a chair falling to the floor. Richard shouted ineffectively as the chase resumed.

  Callie pulled herself off the sofa and managed to stumble across the room. She felt light-headed but not as bad as she had earlier.

  "Hey!" Richard bellowed just as she opened the office door.

  Everyone froze and stared at her.

  "Hey," she returned calmly. "You want to keep it down to Civil War volume? I'm trying to be sick in here."