What She Wants

by Sheila Roberts

  “No nerd stuff,” Neil said firmly, making Jonathan frown.

  “What if he’s a she?” asked his wife.

  “Girls can play sports,” Neil said.

  “They can be smart and play chess, too,” Juliet pointed out.

  “And they can learn to cook,” her mother said. Then, as if realizing she might have stepped in it, she took a quick drink of her lemonade.

  “Actually, I’m learning to cook,” Juliet said.

  When? This was news to Jonathan.

  “I signed up for a class Olivia’s offering at the inn. It’s called Comfort Cooking and we’re going to make old classics with new twists.”

  “I can hardly wait to see how you twist those,” Neil said.

  Neil needed to read some romance novels.

  “Or you can just take over the cooking,” Juliet told him. “Because,” she added, “next time you insult my cooking, that’s what’s going to happen. I’m tired of it.”

  Her lower lip was trembling and her eyes were filling with tears. This was awkward. Jonathan got busy on his enchiladas and Mom took a sudden interest in something outside the restaurant window.

  “Hey, babe. I’m sorry,” Neil said, and covered her hand with his.

  “I know I should have been a better cook,” she continued. “And now that we’re starting a family, I’m going to learn. I want to set a good example for my daughter. Or son. And I want you to set a good example, too, so no more insults. My daddy never insulted my mom.”

  “Okay, got it,” Neil said, and he suddenly got busy with his enchiladas.

  “Have you thought about names?” Mom asked, moving them away from the awkward moment.

  Juliet smiled. “We still haven’t agreed on a girl’s name, but for a boy, we’re thinking Jonathan.”

  Jonathan nearly dropped his glass. “What?”

  Juliet beamed at him. “In honor of a good brother and a good man.”

  Naming their son after a nerd? What did Neil think about this? “Are you okay with it?” he asked Neil.

  “Yeah.” Neil pointed his fork at Jonathan. “But you still don’t get to teach him chess.”

  “Unless he wants to learn,” Juliet corrected.

  The possibility of having a namesake had him so choked up he could barely say thanks but he managed.

  “And don’t worry,” Juliet said to Mom. “He’ll have Daddy’s name, too.”

  “Jonathan Frederick. It has a nice ring to it,” Mom said.

  Jonathan figured the kid would rather be called Jon than Fred. Thank God his parents hadn’t named him Fred, Jr. He’d had enough to cope with in high school as it was.

  “Well,” Mom said, raising her glass, “here’s to our new family member.”

  “To the new member,” Jonathan echoed, and they all clinked glasses.

  For the rest of the meal, talk centered on the baby, and that was fine with Jonathan. His sister had waited a long time for this and he was happy for her.

  A nasty little gremlin hopped onto his shoulder and whispered in his ear, “This may be the closest you ever come to getting a kid. You’re a nerd and a loser.”

  You act like a hero, you’ll get the girl. Vance’s words came back to him and he used them like a sword, taking out the gremlin with one swift move. Damn it all, he was going to get the girl.

  * * *

  Of course, Chelsea wasn’t home when Adam pulled up. But Dennis the Menace was out, mowing his lawn. Was that all the man ever did?

  He waved at Adam and turned off the mower. “She’s not home.”

  He didn’t need old Dennis to tell him what he already knew. It was Father’s Day and she’d be in Seattle with her family. They’d always spent Father’s Day weekend over there. Right now he was sure she was at the Windjammer with her father and her two sisters and their families, enjoying a crab Louie. And telling everyone what a rat he was.

  But he was done with rathood. He was a new man. Hopefully, these presents would prove it.

  Here was Dennis again, intruding on his thoughts. “She’s in Seattle, visiting her family.”

  A nasty little jab. “I know,” Adam said through clenched teeth. “Father’s Day,” he added, getting in a jab of his own. “How come you’re not with your kids?”

  “Saw them yesterday,” Dennis said.

  Instead of returning to his own lawn and his own business, he stood there, smiling a rival’s smile, eyeing the package in Adam’s hand. Had Chelsea mentioned to him that she was pregnant?

  Now he nodded at it. “Chelsea’s birthday?”

  “No,” Adam said. It was none of this slimy little predator’s business what the gift was for. Adam marched up to the porch and left his offering there. Then he marched back down the walk.

  “I’ll see she gets that,” Dennis called.

  Like he was her personal assistant? Or her boyfriend? It was all Adam could do not to walk over there and punch that superior expression off his face. “She’ll find it,” he said curtly.

  Dennis shrugged and started his mower back up.

  Adam imagined him running over his foot and smiled.

  But his smile didn’t last long. It was hard to smile standing on the edge of a ruined marriage.

  It’s not ruined, he told himself. At least it wasn’t yet. He could still make things right. By next Father’s Day he wanted to be a family, not a divorce statistic.

  Father’s Day. When he was little, it had been a day for backyard barbecues and a chance to play with his cousins. After his dad split, it had turned into a rare opportunity to hang out with his old man. Dad would take him and his older brother, Greg, to see the Mariners play or out to Wild Waves water park. Those times were fun but they couldn’t make up for his dad not being around much the rest of the year. Staying at Dad’s apartment every other weekend was a novelty that quickly wore off. The weekend was always over too soon. And then when Dad got a new wife who came with sons of her own... Adam frowned. He didn’t want his kid to have to compete with some stepbrother or -sister.

  He drove back to Jonathan’s, his home away from home, where he settled on the porch with the dog for company and put in a call to his dad. Maybe he’d have some sage advice. After all, he’d screwed up two marriages. He had to have learned something from that.

  The old man answered on the second ring.

  “Hey, Pops, I’m calling to wish you a happy Father’s Day,” Adam said. “How’s it going?”

  “Oh, all right.”

  “You doing anything today?”

  “Nah. Greg’s got things going on with his wife’s family.”

  And the old man hadn’t been included. That wasn’t surprising, considering the fact that his brother and father had grown apart.

  “And Joe and Mark both had plans.”

  The words came out sharp and bitter. But what did the old man expect? He wasn’t with their mom anymore. Stepsons didn’t owe loyalty to a man who’d divorced their mother.

  “So how’s it going over there?” his dad asked.

  Now was Adam’s chance to confess that he was in trouble and needed help.

  But before he could say anything, the old man was on to a new question, steering them into shallow conversational waters. “You still like small-town life?”

  “Oh, yeah, this is a great place. Good fishing.”

  His father had always promised to take him fishing but had never gotten around to it. Too busy. He’d promised to take Mom to Hawaii, too. That had never materialized, either. Dad had managed a trip to Reno with his tennis team, though.

  “Well,” Dad said, “one of these days I’m going to have to come up there and check out your place, see if the fishing is as good as you say.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Even as Adam said it, he knew that would never happen. His dad was semiretired now and he had the time, but he’d never make the effort. Just like he’d never made the effort to work at his marriages. And now he was alone on Father’s Day.

  Adam w
as going under for the third time but he realized his father was no lifesaver. He was his own personal shipwreck and he’d be no use to his son.

  Adam said goodbye and ended the call. Now he was more depressed. Had he just been looking at his future?

  He stopped by the house the next morning on his way to work and saw that yesterday’s present was no longer on the porch. Good. She’d gotten it. Or Dennis had filched it. Adam wouldn’t put it past him.

  Adam decided to think positive. Of course Chels had found the present. Had she read the note he’d included? It had been short and to the point. “I’m happy about the baby. I wanted you to know that.”

  Today’s offering was the blanket. The accompanying note read: “This blanket made me think of you. It’s soft and pretty. I can see the baby wrapped up in it. Wish I could wrap my arms around you like a blanket.” Had that been too mushy? Probably not. From what he’d read in those books, a man couldn’t get too mushy.

  He wanted more than anything to ring the doorbell and wait for her to open the door so he could give her the blanket in person, but something told him this wasn’t the time. He needed to simply leave her every present, like Santa Claus. Then, maybe, by Saturday she’d be ready to see him.

  If she was, he had to make sure he played it right. Deep down he knew this was his last chance. If he blew it there wouldn’t be another. No three-strike rule in this game. He’d be out in two.

  But he wasn’t going to strike out. Chels still loved him and he loved her. What was it Vance had said to Jonathan on Friday night? Oh, yeah. Love always wins in the end. He hoped Vance knew what he was talking about.

  * * *

  Mindy not speaking to Kyle had been bad enough. Mindy speaking to other men, that was torture.

  And she wasn’t just speaking. She was flirting. She flirted with Willie the accountant, which was kind of sick if you asked Kyle, considering how old Willie was. She flirted with Harold, one of the claims analysts. And when Kyle followed her down to Filly’s, he found her parked at a table flirting with Dave, the kid from the mail room.

  She glanced up and saw Kyle, and instead of the warm look she used to give him, her expression hardened. Then she returned her attention to Dave and flashed the kid a hundred-watt smile.

  Fine. If that was how she wanted it, fine. Kyle ordered a sandwich to take back to the office. He sat down at his desk and ground his sandwich to smithereens with his teeth.

  He knew when Mindy had returned to the office. He could hear her laughing as she came in. What had Dave said that was so funny?

  Other people were returning from lunch, too, smiling and happy. Everyone was smiling and happy but him.

  “I guess you had a good time at lunch,” he said sourly as she sat down at her desk.

  “Actually, I did.”

  It was the first time she’d talked to him since that disastrous Saturday, but it didn’t improve his mood. “Did Dave ask you out?”

  “You know, I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

  That shut him up. But it didn’t stop him from seething. He didn’t want Mindy flirting with other guys. He wanted her flirting with him. What was he going to do?

  He had no idea, but he’d better get one soon. Mindy was moving on at the speed of light, and pretty soon she’d be completely out of reach.

  Once home from work, he picked up his reading device and sank onto the couch, prepared to spend a few hours in the nineteenth century with a hero who was just about as dumb as he was. Oh, man, and now Alan Tremaine had really blown it. Kyle went to the next page and read on.

  Opal hurried to take refuge in her favorite spot, the little stone bench at the heart of the garden maze. How symbolic that she should come here, after all she’d been through. What a fool she’d been. But no more. She could live without Alan Tremaine. She could find another man and be perfectly happy.

  “Don’t do it,” Kyle groaned. “Give him another chance.”

  She arrived at the quiet spot to see a single rose lying on the bench. She hurried to pick it up.

  “I can’t pass by a blooming rosebush without thinking of you, Opal,” said a soft voice at her back.

  She turned and saw Alan standing there. A flush of embarrassment heated her cheeks as she remembered that humiliating scene the night before. “It’s cruel of you to mock me,” she said, and moved to rush past him.

  He blocked her way. “I’m not mocking you, truly. I’m hoping with this rose we can grow something new. I’ve been blind a long time, but you’ve opened my eyes to what true love is.”

  She looked at him in disbelief. “And what, pray, is it?”

  “It’s shared laughter and challenges faced together. It’s standing beside a man even when he’s acted the fool. It’s so much more than I thought it was when I pursued a woman with a head as empty as your father’s pockets.”

  At the mention of her family’s straitened circumstances, Opal bowed her head in shame.

  A gentle hand raised her chin. “I don’t need a fat dowry. What I need is you. What I need is a second chance, if you’ll give it to me.”

  How could she not? “Oh, Alan,” she cried, throwing her arms around him.

  “Ah, my girl,” he said, and kissed her. “We were always meant to be together. I can’t believe now that I didn’t see it.”

  She dimpled up at him. “Nor can I. But I’m glad you’ve found your sight at last.”

  “Me, too,” Kyle said.

  Opal and Alan went on to enjoy a lavish wedding and a wedding night that sent Kyle to a cold shower.

  In this latest Vanessa Valentine (make that Vance Fish) novel, it was almost as if Vance had taken Kyle’s situation with Mindy and given it an historical setting. Like him, Alan Tremaine had been a shortsighted idiot who couldn’t see that the right woman for him was standing under his very nose. And like Kyle, Alan Tremaine had blown it big-time. But he’d redeemed himself with a chick-friendly peace offering and a humble request for a second chance.

  Of course, he’d been able to redeem himself because Opal Carew, the heroine, had loved him since they were kids and was willing to give him that chance. Mindy had known Kyle for a year and even he wasn’t so naive as to think she was in love with him. She was interested, that was all. And the disastrous nondate at her place had done a lot to kill her interest. He wasn’t sure any kind of romantic gesture could resurrect it.

  But it was worth a try. He’d tried hard enough to get a woman who only cared about the size of a man’s bank account. Mindy had appreciated him for who he was, didn’t care if he was short or tall, rich or poor. She’d simply liked him. Wasn’t she worth at least as much effort as he’d put into chasing Jillian?

  Absolutely. And if it was too late, well, that was no more than he deserved.

  The next day he hurried into Safeway before going to work and picked up a bag of Hershey’s Kisses.

  Mindy was already at her desk when he got to the office, typing away on her keyboard, too busy to say hi.

  Kyle pretended they were still pals and said, “Good morning.”

  The only response he got was the tap-tap of her keyboard.

  He opened the bag of chocolates. “You still playing poker?” he asked, and tossed a Hershey’s Kiss over the cubicle wall. He heard it land on her desk.

  The tapping stopped a moment, then resumed.

  “I’m betting I can get you to laugh before the day is over,” he said, and tossed a second chocolate.

  The tapping picked up speed.

  He tossed a third one. “I’ll see that chocolate kiss and raise you another.”

  The tapping stopped and he smiled.

  Until she scooted her chair back, leaned over and grabbed the bag. “Some of us are trying to work,” she snapped, then disappeared behind the cubicle wall.

  So much for that idea.

  A moment later a chocolate kiss sailed onto his desk. All right. “Are we friends again?” he asked.

  Another chocolate came over to visit. �
��I’ll think about it.”

  Thinking was good. Thinking let him hope he had a winning hand. Now it was time to bet all his chips.

  On his way home from work he went to Gingerbread Haus and ordered a gingerbread girl and a gingerbread boy. Cass Wilkes was on duty and at his request she happily wrote his name on the boy and Mindy’s on the girl.

  “That is really sweet,” she said. “And clever.”

  “You think my friend will like it?” You think she’ll want to be more than a friend?

  Cass handed over the box with the cookies. “Of course she will. What’s not to like about a man doing something so thoughtful?”

  He’d paved the way with chocolate. He sure hoped this gingerbread couple wouldn’t encounter any roadblocks.

  The following morning he got to the office ten minutes early and set the gingerbread couple on Mindy’s desk. Then he sat down at his computer and started going through the motions of work. He pretended not to notice when she walked past him and tried to ignore the sudden increase in his heart rate. She set down her purse. He felt sweat beading on his forehead.

  “What’s this?”

  He peered around the cubicle wall and saw she’d opened the box. “That’s you and me going to the grand reopening of Zelda’s restaurant in Icicle Falls. I hope.”

  She stared straight ahead at her computer. “What, Jillian wasn’t available?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care.” What had Alex Tremaine said to Opal Carew? Kyle couldn’t remember a single word. Crap. He was on his own. “Look, I was dumb. I don’t want someone like Jillian. I want someone who’s got heart, someone I can laugh with.” This was coming out all wrong. He tried again. “I had a chance for dinner with a really cool woman and I blew it, plain and simple. I’d like to try again if you’d let me.”

  She still wouldn’t look at him, but she was nibbling her lip, a sure sign she was considering his offer.