Playing for Keeps

by Hill, Jamie

  She smiled grimly to herself and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. It wasn't her usual style, but her head was pounding and she didn't care. She roused Sophie and was feeding her breakfast when Rob came in the kitchen. "Hi," she said softly.

  "Hey." He didn't look at her, but gave Sophie a kiss on the top of her head, and reached for his keys.

  "You should probably eat something," Maddie said hesitantly.

  "No way." He made a face.

  "Toast?"

  "I've got to go. They knew I'd probably be late, but I didn't realize I'd be this late."

  "Sorry," Maddie said, not sure why she was apologizing. He was old enough to set his own alarm clock.

  He waved a hand. "See you tonight, munchkin. It's going to be later, since I didn't get up on time." He looked at Maddie. "Could you bring her home with you? I need to get this mess cleaned up." He motioned to the backyard.

  "Sure. We have to run by my place though, and get my mail."

  "Whatever. See you guys tonight." He opened the door.

  Sophie hollered, "Bye daddy!"

  Rob cringed at the loud yell and answered quietly, "Bye, Soph." He shut the door and left.

  Maddie chuckled. Hope they don't hammer too loudly on the job site for him today.

  Sophie finished her cereal. "Think the pool will be warm enough to swim tonight, Maddie?"

  "Maybe. Remind me to get my suit when we stop at my place, later."

  "Yep." They finished breakfast and got to the center, right on time. Maddie muddled through the morning without thinking about anything much, but on her lunch break she couldn't resist pulling the calendar off the wall and figuring out her monthly cycle. Her period was due in a few days; she'd probably dodged that bullet. She needed to remember to get her diaphragm from her duplex, just in case, to keep at Rob's. Not that it would have helped last night.

  She let her mind drift back over the evening's highs and lows. Sophie was so great, and the child didn't even realize it. She had more tact in her little finger than her mother probably ever had in her entire body.

  Rob's mother hadn't spoken one word to Maddie. His father had been forced to, but at least he seemed somewhat civil, to her face, anyway.

  Dionne. Jesus. Dionne was a piece of work. Why did there always have to be something to keep a perfect relationship from working out? Maddie could deal with the parents, she'd managed to deal with hers all these years, but Dionne was a whole different breed of animal. She had no idea how she was going to deal with the woman.

  The afternoon dragged endlessly. Sophie was cranky that she had to wait while Maddie cleaned at the center. Maddie agreed they both needed some comfort food and a swim. She phoned Rob from her place and asked if he had dinner planned. He hadn't got that far yet, so Maddie offered to bring fast food.

  She and Sophie had their fries eaten before they got home, and both were in slightly better moods. They carried everything into the kitchen and dropped it on the table.

  "Hey munchkin," Rob gave Sophie a kiss and hug. "Jeez, you guys are late. I'm glad you brought dinner."

  Maddie looked at him. "I told you we had to stop by my place."

  Sophie added, "But first she had to clean every stupid thing in the classroom!"

  "Oh yeah?" Rob asked.

  "Every night." Maddie shrugged, and set out their food. "Let's eat, then we're going to swim."

  He sat down and helped Sophie organize her food. "Well, I'm sorry, Soph. I won't make you stay that late again. I just wanted to get the backyard cleaned up before you got home. It was a mess."

  Maddie rolled her eyes. He acted like she'd made Sophie do the cleaning instead of run around and play for an extra half hour. She sighed, and ate her food. After she cleaned up the dinner trash for all of them, she changed into her swimsuit. It was a purple bikini that made Rob smile at her appreciatively when she reappeared.

  "Holy cow," he remarked. "I like that." He reached out to grab her.

  "Thank you." She sidestepped his advance and called, "Need help Soph?"

  "Nope!" The child appeared in the little two piece suit they had gotten for her birthday.

  "Hey, that fits perfectly!" Maddie smiled at her. "Well come on. I'm cranky. I need to swim."

  "Are you swimming with us, Daddy?"

  "Not tonight, but I'll watch." He grabbed some towels and the plastic arm floaties they got for Sophie, and they went out to the pool. He unlocked the padlock and held the gate open for them. When Maddie passed by, he pinched her butt, but she didn't comment.

  She stuck her foot in the water. "Hey, it's pretty warm." She climbed down the ladder and shoved off into the water. "This is nice." She finally looked at Rob. "You did good, daddy-o."

  "I want to get in!" Sophie jumped up and down.

  "Not without the floaties," Rob told her.

  Maddie looked at him. "Well, are you going to blow them up, or is that my job too?"

  He gave her a questioning look as he blew up the inflatable arm rings for Sophie to wear. "Here, munchkin." He got them wet and worked one onto each of her arms, then handed her to Maddie.

  "Yay!" Sophie splashed around, and they floated and played for an hour while Rob lay on a lounge chair on the deck and watched. Sophie finally said, "I have to potty." They helped her out and dried her off.

  "Want some help?" Maddie offered.

  "No thank you. I'll be right back." She scampered into the house.

  Rob looked at Maddie. "So what's the bug up your butt tonight?"

  She blinked at him incredulously. "Where do I begin?"

  "I know we need to talk about last night. I was hoping to wait until Sophie went to bed."

  "Fine with me."

  "So is that it? Or is there something else?"

  She shook her head. "Just feeling a bit like the hired help is all."

  "Well excuse me, princess," he scoffed. "I forgot you're supposed to sit up there on your throne and let the rest of us wait on you."

  "Fuck you, Cooper." She rose out of the pool and grabbed a towel. "Take care of your daughter the rest of the night by yourself, for a change, why don't you? I'm going to watch TV."

  "Maddie, get back here!" He yelled after her, but she kept walking.

  When she passed Sophie she said, "I have a headache, honey. You can go back out with daddy for a while, if you want. He's waiting for you."

  "Okay." Sophie returned to the pool.

  Maddie dried off and slipped into a nightgown and robe. She loosened her hair and brushed it roughly, taking her aggression out on her scalp.

  She turned on the TV and cursed Rob silently for not having cable. She had seventy channels to watch at her house, while he had two fuzzy networks and one nice and clear public broadcasting channel. She left it on PBS, because it didn't give her a headache, but she really wasn't interested in whatever was on.

  Eventually, Rob and Sophie returned to the house. He gave his daughter a bath and read her a story before bed. She approached Maddie for a hug, and Maddie smiled at her. "Goodnight, sweetie. I'll see you in the morning."

  "Goodnight, Maddie. I love you," Sophie said softly.

  Maddie blinked back tears. "I love you, too, Sophie Belle. Sleep tight." She watched them disappear into the other room, and went back to her TV show.

  When Sophie was asleep, Rob returned to Maddie. "Do you think we should talk?"

  "When my show is over," she replied to the TV.

  He looked with her. "What are you watching?"

  "I don't know," she admitted.

  He held a hand out to her, and she flicked off the TV and let him pull her up. They went to the back porch, and Rob positioned his chair so he could see if Sophie got up. "Maddie, I'm sorry about last night in so many ways. I know it was horrible for you."

  She looked at him. Once again she was torn. Tell him the truth about things and risk his anger, or remain quiet and keep her feelings bottled up? She decided to start with some of the truth, and see how it went. "You're sorry now. You didn't have
much to say when I was being put down, over and over, last night."

  "Was it really 'over and over'? Or could you be exaggerating the point?"

  "I can list the rude comments Dee made about me verbatim, if you'd like a refresher."

  He held up his hands. "No, thanks. I'm sorry about that. You have to realize, she was jealous that her daughter has taken to you so quickly. She was reacting to that."

  "And it would have killed you to say, 'back off, Dee'? She was rude and downright mean to me last night."

  "Okay." He held his hands up again. "We may have to agree to disagree on this issue. I'd like to tell you something that Emma said to me last night."

  "I like Emma," Maddie stated.

  "Emma likes you. She told me you probably dressed the way you did, without really realizing it, so when my parents didn't like you—and we knew they wouldn't—you had an out. We can say they didn't like you because of the way you dressed. If you had come out as yourself, and they didn't like you, it would have been much harder to take."

  "Fucking profound." Maddie stared at the sky, blinking back tears.

  He shrugged. "Made sense to me. And like she said, you probably weren't thinking all that last night. But maybe, deep down, you felt that way."

  Maddie was quiet.

  "I'm not really worried about my parents. In a few weeks, when the dust settles, you and I will go meet them again. They're going to like you, because you're a very likable person."

  She looked at him and chuckled. "Yeah."

  He smiled. "Everyone on the crew likes you. Fred wants to adopt you. He and Emma think you're good for me."

  She wiped her eyes and looked at him straight on. "And what do you think about that?"

  "I think you're probably good for me, too. Once we get through a few hoops."

  "Such as?"

  He crossed his arms. "Why did you get so pissed that I asked you to do a couple of things for Sophie today? Did you really think you were going to move in here and be waited on hand and foot? That's not how most relationships work, darlin', I hate to break it to you."

  She scoffed. "I didn't get pissed because I had to do things for Sophie. I love doing things for Sophie, because I love Sophie. But I got called 'the hired help' and 'the live-in nanny' last night, and you never corrected that witch either time. I don't think that's showing me the proper respect. Quite the opposite, in fact, a total and utter lack of respect."

  He shrugged. "I'm sorry, I guess I just let those comments roll off my back. I didn't realize you took them so seriously."

  Maddie decided to tell him some of what Dionne had said to her in the house. "Did you know Dionne followed me into the house? She told me not to get too comfortable, because I wouldn't be here long, and she'd see to that."

  "No." The look on his face told her he definitely had not realized that.

  "She told me she has a lot of control over you because of Sophie, and that you'd never get involved with someone like me. She said lots of other things, too, but I'll spare you the details. Except for one, she told me that you and she still sleep together, whenever you get the chance."

  He leaned forward and said sharply, "I have not slept with Dionne since you and I have been going out."

  She chuckled. "I didn't think you had, unless you're fucking Superman on Viagra. But I gather you have slept with her recently."

  "Before you," he admitted.

  "Okay." She nodded. "So explain to me why you kissed her last night."

  "What?" He looked surprised.

  "When she left, the two of you kissed."

  "It was just a quick kiss goodbye. We were together for nine years, Mad."

  "It was ten seconds. Granted, in the larger scheme of things, ten seconds doesn't seem very long. But for a kiss? Bear with me here, one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand…" She counted off the seconds.

  "Maddie, stop. It was a simple kiss for Christ's sake."

  "Seven one thousand, eight one thousand, nine one thousand, ten one thousand. Ten seconds. It seemed like an eternity, didn't it?"

  "Maddie, I was drunk. You have to remember that. Please don't make an issue where there is none."

  "Do you remember anything that happened after the party?"

  He stared at her, and shook his head. "Not really."

  "You got pretty cranky with me." She thought about their sexual encounter and how Rob called her 'Dee'. She wasn't ready to bring that up, yet.

  He raised his hands again. "Drunk, I'll admit it. And I'm sorry. I didn't handle their surprise visit well at all. If I could do it over again, would I do things differently? You bet." He reached for her hand and squeezed it. "I'm really sorry. Is there any way we can get past this?"

  "You were ashamed of me. That sucked, babe. It really hurt."

  He pulled on her hand and brought her into his lap. "I was never ashamed of you. I was on the spot and embarrassed, but never ashamed. Believe me?"

  She pouted. "I suppose. But the next time we're in a group of people, do you think you could treat me like your girlfriend, and not just Sophie's babysitter?"

  He grinned. "Is that what you are? My 'girlfriend'?"

  "You tell me." She looked into his eyes, and he kissed her gently.

  "I think that works."

  She slapped his chest. He grabbed her and tickled her ribs, then began kissing her again and didn't stop until they were in bed making love.

  He was extremely tender, but Maddie's tears still fell as she remembered his calling her 'Dee'. She knew it would be a long time before she forgot that horrible experience.

  "You okay?" he whispered.

  "Yeah," she replied softly, then remembered what Emma told her, 'Possession is nine tenths of the law'. Maddie wrapped her legs around Rob and possessed him with all her might.

  When she arrived home from work the next evening, Rob was cleaning out the closet in his bedroom.

  "Hey." She walked in and looked around.

  "Hi!" He gave her a quick kiss. "You can have half of the drawers, and I don't have as many hanging things as you do, so you can have most of the closet."

  "What are you doing?" Maddie smiled.

  "I figured you might be getting tired of living out of your suitcase, shoved under the bed every day. So I made you closet space! I haven't attempted to tackle the bathroom, though. You may have to do that. Just shove my stuff aside. Make plenty of room for yourself."

  She slipped her arms around his neck. "Well aren't you suddenly, Mr. Nice Guy?"

  He grinned and kissed her again. Then he reached for something on the dresser, and turned back to face her. "I got you these. First, a change of address card. You might as well have your mail forwarded here."

  Maddie blinked, surprised.

  Rob went on. "Here's a house key. You should have had one long before now."

  "Wow!" She looked over the things he handed her. "Moving right ahead here all of a sudden."

  "I thought that's what you wanted."

  "It's great. Thank you." She gave him a kiss.

  "You can give the Peabody's notice, and quit paying rent."

  She looked at him. "I just signed a year lease."

  "Oh. What the hell, break it."

  "I couldn't do that to Mr. and Mrs. Peabody. They've been way too nice to me for that. I'll wait a bit, see if I can find someone to sublease it."

  He shrugged. "Up to you. I'm just trying to make you feel at home."

  "And you have." She hugged him and they kissed, until Sophie ran into the room.

  "I'm hungry! What's for dinner?" She tugged their legs.

  Rob smiled at Maddie and brushed a wisp of hair off her face. He looked at his daughter. "I'm grilling pork chops."

  Sophie made a 'yucky' face.

  Rob added, "With a box of macaroni and cheese on the side."

  "Yesss!" The little girl pumped her fist, and they all laughed and went to the kitchen.

  Over dinner, Rob suggested a division of duties to Maddie. She cou
ld make breakfast and he'd make dinner. She agreed to clean up, if he agreed not to use every pan in the house. They had a nice dinner and were getting along well when he finally tucked Sophie into bed and turned a baby monitor on in her room.

  "What are you doing with that?" Maddie asked.

  Rob brought the receiver end out with him. "This is going to allow us to go for a dip in the pool. If Soph wakes up, we'll hear her."

  "A dip in the pool, you say?" She smiled.

  "A skinny dip, more specifically." He peeled her out of her clothes and shed his own. He grabbed robes for each of them; they slipped them on and made their way outside.

  "It is a beautiful evening," Maddie said as Rob unlocked the gate and they strolled in.

  "You are beautiful." He kissed her. They dropped their robes and climbed into the water.

  She swam a few strokes to the other end, and he followed her. "Trying to get away from me?"

  "Of course not. Stretching my legs."

  "Stretch them over here, around me." He reached for her, and pulled her into his arms. The water was warm and it splashed soothingly against them as they moved.

  Maddie wrapped her legs around Rob and he held her firmly. "See how nice this is? I knew we'd enjoy this pool."

  "I agree." She kissed his neck and rubbed against him. "Making love in a pool is very erotic." She reached down and massaged his erection. "Ooh, you think so, too. Well hell, what are you waiting for?"

  He chuckled. "Hang on there, beautiful. I've got to get a rubber. Don't want my boys to swim upstream." He guided them to the edge of the pool, and stepped out for a moment to get a condom from his robe pocket. He put it on and rejoined her in the water. "Now show me those moves."

  Later, as they were lying in bed but not quite asleep, she whispered, "Would it really be so bad?"

  "What?"

  "If 'your boys' swam upstream. Would it really be so bad?"

  Rob laughed and ran his hand over her face. "Hey, I've given you closet space and a key. I think that's about as much commitment as I can handle for one day."

  Maddie chuckled and snuggled up to him. I hope my period starts soon.

  * * * *

  They settled into a comfortable routine. The long, hot days of July dragged, with temperatures in the nineties and low hundreds. They spent their evenings relaxing in the cool air conditioning or splashing around in the pool. Sophie was pleasant and almost always in a good mood. Maddie was as happy as she could ever remember being, lying in Rob's arms, night after night.