by Trina Solet
"I think I can handle that," Dan said.
"We'll see. You might find that taking care of two girls is a little different from taking care of your brother."
"I know. I already got some glitter on me," Dan showed him his arm.
"They branded you. It's all over for you now."
"You're scaring me, man."
"Good. That fear is what's going to keep you alive. Don't turn your back on them." Those were Owen's parting words of advice.
After breakfast, Owen went to work, and Dan felt like he could finally breathe. The sexual tension was going to kill him. To help pass the time, Dan decided he and the girls should walk to the drycleaners and to the store.
Owen's neighborhood was really nice. The houses were all different. Some were pretty cool. And the girls pointed out all sorts of things to him, from a mailbox in the shape of a cat to weird lawn ornaments and the house of their babysitter, Mrs. Luden. Then they saw a woman leading two big, white dogs. She was across the street and going in the opposite direction. The girls squealed and pulled on his arms like he was supposed to chase down the woman and kidnap her dogs. It turned out they just wanted to follow them.
"See the plastic bags that woman is carrying," Dan told them. "What do you think she's going to do with them? We don't want to see that."
The girls just looked confused. Dan took advantage of that and led them away.
The drycleaners was their first stop. With the girls hanging on his arms, Dan was barely able to hand over the ticket to the girl behind the counter. She had multiple piercings, and Maggie reassured Dan, "Don't worry. They don't hurt."
"He's our manny. We're going everywhere with him," Connie announced to the girl when she came back.
She looked at Dan with compassion. When he tried to reach for the dry-cleaning, Dan found both girls still hanging onto his hands.
"It's like you're handcuffed," the girl behind the counter told him.
"One of you needs to let go," Dan told the girls.
Neither one did.
"Connie, you let go this time."
As she let go reluctantly, Connie made a jealous face at Maggie.
"Good luck," the girl with the piercings told him as he left.
As he slung Owen's dry-cleaning over his shoulder, Dan didn't know how he was going to get out of the supermarket alive with these two. He texted Owen. "Going shopping. If I don't make it back, tell my mom I was heroic to the end."
"My brave soldier," Owen texted back.
Dan smiled, making too much of that first word. "I want to be your everything," Dan wanted to tell him. He was hopeless, ready to wallow in his infatuation, feed the flames with offhanded comments. The girls wouldn't allow that though. In front of the store, they each tried to grab their own carts after Dan already got one. Maggie almost ran over his foot with hers. Then they tried to convince him that flowers and helium balloons were on the shopping list and to buy cupcakes instead of bread. Of course they were constantly sneaking things into the cart. If he didn't stop obsessing about Owen and stay sharp, they were going to eat him alive.
*
Owen wondered how Dan was doing, but he found that he wasn't as worried as he thought he would be. That meant he trusted Dan. He wasn't sure he trusted the girls though. He still looked forward to going home to them. Unfortunately he was also looking forward to going home to be with Dan. Damn, this was such a deceptive arrangement. Already, it was too much like really living with someone and raising two kids together. It was a sweet trap, and Owen was falling headfirst into it.
Before he headed home, Owen made a quick stop at Eve's Accessories at the mall. Eve was a friend, but her merchandise hurt his eyes. The best way to describe the place would be to say that Connie and Maggie loved it. Eve's sold costume jewelry, hair accessories and assorted trinkets. Owen tried not to get any on him as he parked himself at her counter. All weekend he had avoided calling her or texting her with the news. Now he was delivering it in person.
"It turns out that before she ditched me, Mom hired a manny. She pretended I had final say, but it was a done deal by the time I knew anything about it."
"And?" Eve's pretty black eyes were expectant as she adjusted the single comb that held up her long, silky hair.
"That's not newsworthy enough for you?" Owen said.
"I'm waiting for a description," she told him as she gave a quick wave and a smile to a regular customer. She looked back at Owen.
Owen stared at her without saying one word about how young and hot Dan was.
"I see," Eve said like she was reading his mind.
"His hotness is irrelevant," Owen lied.
"Sure it is. Can we trade moms? Yours gets you a hot manny. Mine won't even bake me cookies."
"I'll trade you. When can she come over to babysit?" Owen said to her. That was a total bluff. He wouldn't trade Dan for anyone.
"You could still send him packing?" Eve baited him.
"No, I can't. He would be homeless and jobless if I did. I'm boxed in."
"Are you saying he's a live-in?" Eve said, her eyes widening.
"Yes," Owen said, knowing she would make too much of that.
"So there is a hot guy living with you. Are you sure your mother didn't hire you a boyfriend?" Eve asked, squinting at him.
"I'm not that pathetic. Even if my mom does have more of a sex life than I do," Owen said with a sigh.
"Ninety year old nuns have more of a sex life than you do."
"Why do they have to be ninety years old? And I'm busy. Especially now that Mom left me in the lurch," Owen complained.
"You certainly do have your hands full with that manny to keep you busy day and night."
"I was looking for sympathy not innuendo," Owen told her.
"Telling me that there is a hot manny living with you is not a good way to get my sympathy. Lose a limb or something."
"Ouch," Owen said. Then he went to buy Dan a stuffed toy.
When Owen arrived home, Dan met him at the door but the girls didn't. Owen knew what that meant, but Dan was confused.
"Why are they hiding?" he whispered.
"They're going to jump out and scare me. They did it once around Halloween, and it was such a big hit now it's a recurring thing. Sometimes they run to hug me. Sometimes they jump out to scare me."
As he waited, Owen could clearly hear Connie and Maggie arguing behind the couch.
"They are terrible at this," he said to Dan. Then he addressed the girls loudly enough to be heard over their arguing. "You're supposed to jump out and scare me. Where are you?"
"We'll be right there!" Connie yelled.
"See what I mean," he said to Dan.
When they finally ran out from behind the couch yelling "Boo!" Owen acted surprised and scared. Maggie giggled, and Connie grinned with satisfaction at a job well done.
Once they were gone, Owen turned to Dan. "All this time and they still stink at it," Owen said.
"Their job is to be cute, not scary," Dan said.
"I just want to see some progress."
They headed into the kitchen where the girls were busy with some kind of art project at the kitchen table. As Owen sorted through the mail at the counter, Dan handed him receipts.
"The receipts and change. I hung up the dry-cleaning on your closet door."
"I assume your resignation is written on the back of one of these," Owen said as he held up the receipts.
"It wasn't that bad," Dan said with a lopsided grin.
"Now say it with a straight face," Owen challenged him.
Dan only laughed.
"Thanks for doing all this," Owen said. He barely glanced at the receipts before shoving them in a drawer with others and stuffing the change back in the cash box.
"I would have bet that you were the kind to check over the receipts and count the change. You're not worried that I'm ripping you off?" Dan said.
"That's not the nicest thing anyone ever said about me," Owen said, feeling a little insult
ed. "If I didn't trust you with a few bucks, I wouldn't let you near the girls."
"Good point."
Maggie came over to show Owen a drawing that was ninety percent glitter. The kitchen table was ninety percent glitter too.
"What did you guys do today?" Owen asked her.
"Everything!" Maggie said. She pointed to one particular part of her drawing and smiled expectantly at Owen.
He didn't have a clue what he was supposed to see there, but he nodded and said, "That's very good."
That satisfied her and she went to tell Connie that her drawing was a hit. Owen remembered what he had for Dan and got it out of his laptop bag.
"Catch," Owen said and threw it at him.
"Oh, my God. My stuffed dinosaur," Dan exclaimed looking from the green dinosaur to Owen.
Owen shrugged.
"Thanks," Dan said with a big grin. He showed it to Maggie and took it up so he could return Mr. Butterscotch Bear to her. She hugged the bear tightly like it had been kidnapped, not borrowed at her insistence. Both girls were happy to see that Dan had a stuffed toy of his own to keep him company.
"Why aren't they worried that I'll get lonely?" Owen wondered, seeing them make a fuss over Dan.
"Are you saying...?" Dan started to imply something too personal for Owen's liking.
"I'm not saying anything," Owen interrupted him defensively.
"Want to borrow my dinosaur?" Dan offered.
"I think I'll have a beer," Owen said. When he opened the fridge Dan reached in too. "No beer for you," Owen said. The girls raised their heads since that was the kind of thing he usually said to them, though not about beer.
"I was reaching for a bottle of water," Dan claimed.
"Riiight."
"I don't need a beer, but I wouldn't mind seeing what you are like when you have a few and loosen up," Dan said as Owen got out the pork chops for dinner as well.
"One beer won't do that," Owen told him.
"What would work better, a six pack or a bottle of champagne?" Dan asked.
Owen turned to look at him, but after a quick smile, Dan looked away. He seemed kind of quiet as he helped with making dinner. Owen wondered what was on his mind, but he had a feeling that he shouldn't ask.
Whenever Dan said something flirty, Owen pulled away. His sense of self-preservation told him not to go there. Dan was so good-looking, it was indecent. Even worse, he had a personality that made Owen feel all warm inside. Spending time with him only made Dan look better in his eyes. Unfortunately, Owen knew he wasn't working the same kind of magic on Dan. They might get along and kid around, but Dan could never want him. Owen felt a stab of pain at the thought. Where did that come from? He couldn't be that far gone already.
Chapter 5
They established a routine that fit Dan's schedule like he had made it with this job in mind. Owen was glad about that and also that Dan didn't have any trouble fitting in his studying while helping with the girls.
Eve was the first of Owen's friends to meet Dan. She told Owen that she was out of sympathy for him forever. Justin congratulated Owen like he was about to get married. Jacinto called him a dirty, dirty dog. His other friends were similarly impressed though he tried to tell them nothing was going on.
Despite his claims, Owen did feel a few pangs of worry whenever Dan went out. Even though he was only going out with friends, Owen was afraid that Dan would hook up with someone, maybe even get serious. Owen shut down those stupid, jealous feelings as much as he could. And anyway, he saw no signs that Dan was involved with anyone. Owen pretended not to be incredibly relieved about that.
Everything was going smoothly except for one minor glitch. One day, Dan called from the college parking lot to say that his car had two flat tires and that he might not be home in time to pick up the girls. Owen told him not to worry and went to get them.
When he got home with the girls, Owen decided to call his mom. He let each of the girls talk to her then he got on the phone himself. First thing his mom wanted to know was how the girls were doing.
"They are missing you, but they're not letting it get them down. And Dan is a big help. He was a good choice, Mom. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"It's exactly what I wanted to hear," she said then she got more serious. "Oh, God, I miss them so much."
"But you are having a good time?"
"The best. Make sure to keep my orchid alive," she reminded him.
"I'm watering it every day."
"You'll kill it!"
"I'm kidding, Mom. You typed up detailed instructions. I'm following them to the letter," Owen assured her before he put her on speaker to say a few last things to the girls.
"You girls say hi to my orchid for me," she told them.
After she hung up, Maggie ran to the office, where Owen kept the orchid.
"Grandma says 'Hiiii!'" Maggie yelled at the poor, flowerless thing.
"Why so loud?" Owen asked. "Orchids aren't hard of hearing."
"But Grandma is really far away," Maggie said.
For the sake of his sanity, Owen decided to give up trying to make sense of that.
Dan got home with new tires on his car, and he looked troubled. He wouldn't say why until the girls were out of the room.
"Is it the new tires? I'll pay for them," Owen offered, thinking that maybe that was the reason he looked grim.
"No. I got it covered. But the guy who looked at my tires said they were punctured on the side. That it couldn't be an accident," Dan told him.
"Do you think it was random vandalism or...?"
"Probably. I haven't made any enemies at school."
"Be careful," Owen urged him.
"I will," Dan promised.
The girls came in, looking annoyed at Dan.
"Why are you here?" Connie asked Dan. "Come play with us."
"Can't I talk to Dan for even one minute?" Owen asked.
"No," Connie said. "Dan doesn't have anything to do with you. He's our manny, not yours."
"Dan is our manny," Maggie echoed.
"I pay him," Owen told them.
"Give us money, and we'll pay him," Connie said.
"Give us lots of money. Write a big check," Maggie said.
"Come on. I'm taking my book bag up anyway," Dan told the girls. "You can make sure I do my homework."
*
Having to deal with the tires had taken up a big chunk of his time so Dan tried to get some stuff done for his classes. He let the girls hang out in his room while he studied. They poked around but didn't disturb him too much. When he was done and putting things away, Connie spotted the Batman and Robin PEZ dispensers on the armoire shelf where he kept his books.
"You have PEZ!" she exclaimed. "Give us PEZ."
"Give us PEZ, give us PEZ!" Maggie echoed. "Give it."
"They're empty," he told them and showed them.
They both whined with disappointment.
"I'll refill them," he promised them.
Turning to Connie, Maggie asked, "Are grown-ups allowed to have PEZ?"
"Dan is not a grown-up," Connie told her.
"I'm a grown-up," Dan told them both.
"Is he?" Maggie asked Connie, who shook her head.
"Why are you asking her?" Dan asked Maggie. "Who do you think is in charge? Connie?"
"Yes," Maggie said with no hesitation. "She's the big sister."
"Your big sister, not my big sister," Dan pointed out to her.
Maggie looked at Connie for the final decision.
"Dan is not a grown-up. He's a kid like us," Connie told Maggie.
"Stop brainwashing her. I am not a kid. I'm an adult," Dan said.
Connie looked up at him. "You have PEZ, and you play video games, and you have a book-bag, and you go to school, and you have homework just like us."
"I go to college. College isn't school," Dan claimed.
"You have a stuffed toy," Maggie piped up.
"You made me get it!"
"You're not all
owed to drink and drive," Maggie said.
"No one is allowed to drink and drive."
"No beer for you!" Maggie repeated.
That's when Dan saw Owen laughing at him from the doorway. Dan just hoped that Owen didn't see him the same way the girls did. Since Owen was there to call the girls to dinner, they all went downstairs.
"College isn't school?" Owen said as they walked down.
"I have to defend myself by any means necessary. Facts be damned. This is about survival," Dan said.
Owen looked at him with approval for his no holds barred approach.
*
After the girls were in bed, Owen found Dan standing in the living room. He was looking out the bay window where the two of them sat and talked when he first came to the house. Owen came over and sat down on the window seat. He had his laptop with him, but he put it aside, unopened. He looked up at Dan expecting him to say something.
"I think this house is growing on me," Dan said and sat next to him, not too close. The laptop was between them.
"Why does it need to grow on you? It's a great house," Owen said defensively.
"At first I couldn't picture myself living here. But it seemed perfect for the girls."
"That's why Mom and I got it. Mom had an awesome apartment, but it wasn't kid-friendly or big enough especially once I moved in."
"It was good of you to move in with them."
"Actually I moved in for my own sanity," Owen told him.
"You moved in with your mom and the girls for your sanity?" Dan said in disbelief.
"I know. It was a different kind of crazy that drove me to it." Owen got serious. "After Mike and Laura died, I couldn't sleep at night. I was worrying about the girls and having nightmares. I would come by in the middle of the night to have a look at them to make sure they were OK. Then I would sleep over. I did that so much, Mom told me to just move in already. But I didn't just come over to look at them because I got scared and worried. I needed to look at the part of Mike and Laura that survived. Two of my favorite people came together and created these two amazing little girls. Connie and Maggie were so precious to me. That's why I was so afraid of losing them like I did their parents." Owen just stared for a moment. "I never imagined I could lose them both. If it wasn't for the girls..." he trailed off.