Corpsman and the Nerd (5 page)

When she and Ryan finally left,
fifteen minutes later than usual, Ryan had a huge bag of cookies to
share with his daycare class, which would make him instantly
popular. While she clutched a smaller bag to share with the
office.

Which would make her instantly
popular. Especially since with her deployment, everyone had already
realized their work load was about to increase dramatically.
Although it would strain everyone, they took a vote, and in a
nearly unanimous agreement, most everyone had voted to take on a
few of her responsibilities while she was away.

Those parts that couldn’t be added to
someone else’s load would just be put on hold until she returned.
Which KC hoped would truly be in eight months.

As she drove, she darted a few looks
at Ryan in the back seat, who sang softly to himself.

“
Hey, cutie, how are you?”
She needed to hear him say he was fine, for some reason.

“
I’m good, Mommy,” he said,
and rolled his eyes. Which looked funny on a
five-year-old.

“
Good. Did you like seeing
Granme this morning?”

A grin split his already too cute face
and he yelled, “Yeah! I liked having hew and Aunt Tessa, and Aunt
Millie, and Aunt Lily, and Aunt Heathew thewe.” How did he keep
them all straight?

“
Did you like breakfast?”
Already knowing
that
answer.

“
Can we have cin’mon wolls
evewy day, Mom?”

“
No, but they are good
sometimes, aren’t they?” She laughed. Thinking he might eat them
often while living with Max, come to think of it. She better sit
Max down and give him a stern talking to on the merits of Ryan’s
diet being healthful. Because otherwise it could be anarchy when
she returned.

Of course, Max did have lots of nieces
and nephews, so he should have a good idea of the affects of too
much sugar and caffeine on a child.

“
Mom?” Ryan asked from the
back seat.

“
Yes,
sweetheart?”

“
Why was Granme at ouw
house?”

And she swallowed, because then she
remembered that they would be moving in with Max all too soon. Why
hadn’t their impending move bothered her yesterday? Maybe because
today too many things were happening all at once. But Max was her
oasis in the midst of a hurricane, one of her best friends, and his
mother was at this minute packing up her possessions to move her
into his house. This shouldn’t be a problem.

“
Mom?” Ryan’s voice held
impatience.

“
Oh, sorry, Ryan. Granme’s
at our house because she’s packing us up so we can move into Uncle
Max’s house.”

“
You’we moving in with Max
and me?” Ryan demanded. They had already talked about this, but
repetition seemed to work best with five-year olds.

“
Yes. For a little while.
Just until I have to leave,” she assured him, realizing she was
encroaching on their male time. A female shouldn’t do that,
apparently.

“
Okay,” he said, and that
seemed to appease him.

Grinning at him, she ignored the ache
in her heart.

Chapter 5

KC took Ryan to his daycare and then
wound her way up the stairs to her office. Max nearly ran her over.
She stopped him by brandishing the cookie bag.

“
What have you got there?”
he asked with a lecherous look in his eyes. He wiggled his eyebrows
up and down.

KC laughed.

“
Cookies.” She fluttered her
eyelashes.

“
From the bakers?” He
suddenly looked very interested in her wares. Well, she was too,
since she could smell the yummy scent of frosting and
spices.

“
Oh, yes,” she said on a
sigh. She dug out another frosted sugar cookie, this one with blue
frosting and green stars, and bit into it. Max followed her
movements much like Spuds would.

His blue eyes turned liquid in
entreaty. “You are going to share those, right?” His voice had gone
all husky. Mmm, she liked that.

KC tilted her head to one side.
“Maybe,” she flirted.

He licked his lips. She giggled. Max
reached out an arm, snagged her around the neck, stole her cookie,
and gave her a noogie.

“
I guess the honeymoon’s
over.” She pouted.

Max grinned around his
–
her
– cookie. “I
guess so. I love the bakers,” he said and stole two more cookies in
an easy snag.

She shook her head sadly. “You do have
to share those, you know.” KC folded her arms under her
breasts.

“
I do not.” He sounded
remarkably like Ryan.

“
Yes, you do. Your mother
said so.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

“
Would you two stop,” Jean
directed as she swept past them down the hall. She turned suddenly
and helped herself to some cookies before continuing on her
way.

Max looked aghast. And apparently was
speechless, because he pointed and his mouth opened, but no sounds
came out.

KC laughed. Max looked pained, but
helped her down the hall, humming and eating cookies as he went.
One of the least moody people she knew, he recovered quickly. Give
the man sugar, and he was happy.

Max placed the treats by the coffee
maker and they turned toward their offices.

“
We’ve got that meeting with
Marketing at nine,” he reminded her and KC nodded before entering
her office. As she plunked into her chair, she thought again about
her wish for some excitement and of her subsequent deployment. Then
she thought about Max and Ryan together without her.
Oh, be careful what you wish
for
, she reminded herself.

*****

When KC dragged herself home later
that evening, Ryan bobbing beside her, she forgot all about the
women who had been in her home that day. So when she unlocked the
door and shoved it open for Ryan, the unfamiliar shapes stacked
neatly in places they shouldn’t be almost made her
scream.

“
Mom, what happened to ouw
house?” Ryan exclaimed as he ran from stack to stack of
boxes.

“
Looks like Granme and the
aunts were busy, doesn’t it?” She was amazed at the difference in
the place with none of their belongings displayed. The space looked
like an apartment now, not a home.

“
Why awe all these boxes
hewe?” Ryan careened off one stack, jumped on the couch and off the
other side, to race across the room, Spuds on his heels.

“
Because our things are in
them.” She watched the boy and dog play together.

“
Why’s ouw stuff in ‘em?” he
asked, not stopping from his course of kid destruction.

“
Because we’re moving in
with Uncle Max, remember?” She hoped this made some sense to his
young brain.

“
Yeah, we’we going to Uncle
Max’s, but why awe we taking ouw stuff? Can’t we come back
hewe?”

“
No, sweetheart. Once I get
back we’ll look for another place to live. Maybe a house, would you
like that?” She looked around their apartment, one of four in an
old, converted Victorian house. It wasn’t huge, but spacious enough
for them, and KC had made it comfortable.

“
A house? Like
Max’s?”

“
Sure, maybe we can find one
like Max’s.”

“
Mommy, why don’t we just
stay with Max?”

KC turned and looked at her son. Life
was so easy for a child. “Don’t you think Max will be tired of us
by then?” She tickled him.

“
No, Max likes us,” he
answered, giggling, and squirmed away.

“
Right. Well, we’ll have to
see.” That’s all she could promise.

She flipped on more lights and stared
at the neat rows and stacks of boxes in her living room. More
filled the counter space of her kitchen. Even the bathroom harbored
them. The women left paper plates, and a few mugs, as well as some
bathroom essentials, but everything else was contained in the well
marked boxes lining her living spaces.

Each cardboard receptacle was well
inventoried, with a precise row of the contents labeled on the box
itself. Not even her bedroom was exempt from the packer’s efforts.
When she opened her dresser drawers, most of them were empty. There
were enough clothes hanging in her closet for the remainder of the
week, but not much more. All of her shoes were packed away, minus
the few pairs she would need. Her pictures and candles were gone.
Even the stack of magazines and books she kept on the nightstand
were missing. When she looked, however, that box stood open.
Someone had thoughtfully placed the items in the box, but left it
accessible.

Ryan’s room was much the same as hers.
His toys were in an unsealed box. But he only had enough clothes
for the remaining week, also. The linen closet was nearly empty as
was her tiny home office. A room barely larger than a closet, the
space was fine for her small desk and filing cabinet.

The place shone with cleanliness, as
well. They had not only packed everything, but also cleaned as they
went, apparently.

Shaking her head in wonder, KC trailed
back into the kitchen and noticed a note on one of the
counters.

Hello KC and
Ryan,

We finished up here and are
going home. This was a very easy job. You don’t have all that much
stuff. We left some of your things unpacked, thinking you might
need the things inside. (And we left some of the more personal
items in your drawers.)

We did take several boxes to Max’s house already,
and imagine he’ll be by later tonight for more. The boys will come
on Saturday to move the big stuff, which shouldn’t take
long.

We really enjoyed this!
Thank you for the opportunity.

With love,

The Packers


A lump formed in KC’s throat and she
swallowed to dislodge it. Her own mother wouldn’t have thought to
bring so much as a tea bag, much less come in and pack the entire
apartment. With breakfast treats and cleaning materials and big
smiles and hugs and laughter and fun. Now, all she had to do was
pack her and Ryan’s remaining things, and the job would be done.
She could easily finish on Friday evening.

The Packers left a roll of tape and
the box with her pots and pans open. They also left the box of dry
goods open. When she opened the refrigerator, she noticed they had
been in there too. The inside sparkled with cleanliness. They left
all the essentials, but took the rarely used items. KC figured
those probably took up space in Max’s fridge right now.

Something she wouldn’t have even
thought of. Like what to do with the contents of her freezer and
fridge. Opening the freezer, she saw most of those items were
missing too. They left her plenty of selection for the week, but
removed the excess. Max would need those things. It would be
helpful for him to have the ingredients on hand.

Which set KC to thinking. She tugged
out supper, already made – compliments of the packers – and kept
thinking about it. Her thoughts continued to roil while they ate
and cleaned up. Ryan wasn’t too interested in cooking, but he did
like loading the dishwasher, and was actually pretty good help that
way. He got upset if she wiped the table, so she always set him to
that task too.

She wondered if Max cooked. If not,
the time he spent with Ryan would be interesting. KC smiled,
thinking about the pair of them eating out every night. Whatever
worked for them, just as long as they ate somewhat healthfully. Max
would learn quickly enough that if Ryan frequented fast food places
too often, he got sick. She planned to make Max an in-depth list of
Ryan’s likes and dislikes in general as well as his allergies. Max
knew the basics, but this should help.

After supper, she watched Ryan play
and retreated to the couch with her laptop. There, she opened a
word processing document and started typing. Something that would
make Max’s life easier would be a cookbook containing all of Ryan’s
favorite recipes.

If she didn’t return from this
assignment, something she purposely didn’t think about, Ryan’s
favorites would be recorded. He would have a hard enough time
adjusting to the chaos of them moving.

She refused to think any more about
the prospect of her not returning home to him.

Chapter 6

Max, his three brothers, and his
brothers-in-law all showed up at her door at eight on Saturday
morning. His cousin Ben pulled up as the other men were filing into
her apartment.

Ben was a Morrison through and
through, she had long ago discovered. One could be fooled by his
African-American good looks, but after watching him with his family
for about ten seconds, one realized he was all Morrison. He, more
than any of the other children and grandchildren, resembled their
grandfather. They looked alike, walked alike, held themselves
exactly the same way, and Max had once mentioned they even thought
alike.