Doorstep daddy (22 page)

_{"Is that Mark?" Callie chuckled, then said, "You only want me because you need a mother for the children."}

_{"What!" Progress shot out the window like Superman racing a speeding bullet. "Where did that nonsense come from?"}

_{"It's obvious. Never-been-married-before male becomes guardian to three young children and immediately starts telling women they mean something more to him than a sex partner."}

_{Richard's jaw dropped. Her pronouncement of his motives astonished him. "You make me sound like some calculating male who wants to offload his responsibilities. How can you even think that?"}

_{"I don't think that! How can
you
even think I would think that?"}

_{Her voice sounded as angry as he felt. "Because you just said that."}

_{"I said your urge to settle down is based on your desire to find a mother for the kids. You'd have this reaction to any female without a criminal record. Someone decent and nice who likes children will do for you. It's the wrong reason for us to get involved."}

_{"You're taking a psychology course, aren't you?" he demanded to know. "You have to be to come up with such crazy ulterior motives for me wanting you. It's simple, Callie. I like you. I'm attracted to you. I think we have a foundation to pursue a relationship between
us.
Just us. That you've been helpful with the kids is incidental."}

_{"It could be," Callie conceded. "But I don't think}

_so.

_{"Okay, let's analyze you, because I'll be damned if I'm on that couch by myself." He gripped the receiver tightly. "You're a woman who's looking for kids to mother and a man in her bed and none of the responsibilities that go with either. You use your career goals like a shield to keep a man away and then huff and puff about
him
crossing the line while you're reaching over and yanking him in with both hands."}

_{"That's nonsense!" Callie yelped indignantly.}

_{"It's the same nonsense you spouted about me^ but from the opposite direction, Callie."}

_{"Callie!" Mark's head snapped up from his blocks.}

_{He got up and raced over, flopping against Richard's legs. "Callie! Callie!"}

_{Richard grimaced as Mark reached for the phone. "No, you can't talk to Callie now."}

_{"Want Callie!"}

_{Richard knew how his nephew felt. "Put him on," Callie said.}

_{Great, he thought. Little Mark would get the sweet Callie while he got the... Never mind what he got, he decided. Reluctantly he put the receiver against Mark's ear. He could hear Callie saying, "Hello, Mark," several times but the boy only grinned. Richard fumed. Damn, but she could tick him off good when she wanted.}

_{He tried to take the receiver back, but Mark dodged him for a few critical moments. Finally he got the instrument away from the toddler and put it to his own ear.}

_"Callie?"

_{She didn't answer. The line was dead.}

_{"Callie go bye-bye," Mark said, racing around the room with his arms out. The little twerp was thrilled that Callie had said bye-bye to him.}

_{Richard knew she had taken advantage of Mark's interruption to get off the line. "Stinker."}

_{He glanced at Mark. "Not you."}

_{Mark ran happily toward the couch. Richard sighed and hung up the phone.}

_{She had been
a coward.}

_{Callie
groaned as she carried her sister's dress up the driveway
to Gerri'
s front door, wishing she'd faced up
to her confusion
about Richard with Richard.}

_{Instead, she'd
spouted psychobabble - and had it
thrown
back
in
her face very adeptly. Even Mark hadn't
talked to her. She'd hung up the telephone after a few minutes of awkwardly trying to coax a word out of the boy. In truth, she'd made sure she'd hung up before Richard got back on the line.}

_{She needed to sort this out herself first. Or else she was a coward. She leaned toward the latter. It made more sense.}

_{"Hi, Aunt Callie," Joey said with a welcoming grin when he answered the door.}

_{She bussed his cheek. "Hi, kid. How's school?" "Good. But we lost the soccer playoffs. One and out." Joey made a face. "Amanda's school is going into the semifinals for South Jersey."}

_{Callie smiled. "Talk to your mom and dad." Joey looked heavenward. "Dad does whatever Mom says. I'll never get on a good team."}

_{"There are other things than soccer teams," Gerri said, having overheard the gist of the conversation while coming out of the kitchen.}

_{"There's college-scholarship money in soccer, Gerri," Callie said. "If Joey's on a good team, maybe he can get recognized for his talent."}

_{"He's in a very good school," Gerri countered, looking like she'd swallowed lemons. "That will count for more in the type of college Joey can go to. He needs Harvard or Yale."}

_{"I do?" Joey asked, wide-eyed. "Yes, you do," Gerri said firmly. "Your aunt Callie would know that if she ever stopped playing mother hen and had children of her own."}

_{"Well, I've been properly spanked," Callie quipped, ready to do the same to her superior-minded sister. But she set the annoyance with Gerri aside. Gerri would never learn, anyway.}

_{Joey, obviously knowing when a good retreat was needed, waved goodbye to Callie and disappeared upstairs.}

_{Callie smiled at Gerri, to show she wasn't too annoyed with her. She held out the garment she carried. "I brought back your dress. I had it dry-cleaned - "}

_{Gerri snatched it out of Callie's hands. "Oh, no!"}

_{" - at a one-hour service," Callie finished lamely. "Why? What's wrong?"}

_{"A cheap dry cleaner could ruin the dress," Gerri said, flipping up the filmy plastic bag. She examined the dress closely. "Thank God! It's okay,"}

_{"Oh, too bad," Callie muttered under her breath. If she were to be hung for a lamb, she might as well have ruined the dress and be hung for a lion. More loudly she said,}
⁴
_{'Thanks for baby-sitting the other night for Richard."}

_{"What choice did I have?" Gerri asked. "I couldn't very well refuse him. He's a diplomat and shouldn't be offended. But I know you put him up to it, Callie, even if he didn't."}

_{"Me!" Callie gasped.}

_{"Oh, don't act the innocent," Gerri said, looking vexed.}
⁴
_{'You've been shameless with Richard. It's embarrassing for me and the children. All the neighbors have noticed and they've made comments. Callie, I hate to bring this to your attention, but why would a man like Richard, with his position, have a relationship with you for any reason but one? He's not going to stay with you, toou know. A man like that wouldn't."}

_{Callie looked at her sister, ready to strangle her. Only the penalty stopped her.}

_{"Oh, don't give me that look." Gerri sniffed dramatically.}
⁴
_{'You were always above yourself. Mom should
have reeled you in, instead of letting you lord it over the rest of us. The others in the family can kowtow to you, but I certainly won't. I don't care if you make a fool of yourself over a man. Just don't do it so blatantly in front of
my
friends."}

_{"Gerri, you're nuts!" Callie exclaimed, finding her voice at last. "I don't know what your problem is, but back off!"}

_{Callie stalked out of the house, afraid if she stayed longer, she really would do physical harm to her spoiled-rotten sister. She couldn't believe how Gerri had attacked her. It was all nonsense, but it hurt. Hurtful words. Gerri had always been good at that. Still, the notion that she was somehow beneath Richard gnawed at her. She'd never seen him act superior about anything or anyone. He was no snob. She was certain of that.}

_{Yet, she didn't feel she measured up. Maybe that was a reason she wanted her distance. Yes, she needed to get a degree before she considered anything with a man and family. But she did have feelings of inadequacy. Callie shook the notion off. Gerri was nuts, plain and simple.}

_{As she drove out of the area, she passed by Richard's house. Making an instant decision, she turned the car around and parked in front.}

_{When she climbed out, she glanced around the houses, then made a rude gesture. "Take that, you bunch of nosy nasties. If you think I was crude before, just watch out."}

_{She smiled to herself, feeling instantly better. She walked up the walk and knocked on Richard's door.}

_{Amanda opened it. The teenager grinned widely when she saw who it was. "Callie! Hi! Thank God you're here. Uncle Richard's got to make a squirrel costume for Jason. By tomorrow."}

_{Callie chuckled ruefully. "I think I'll leave now."}

_{"Oh, no. We need help." Amanda gripped her arm and pulled her into the house.}

_{Richard was in the kitchen with the squirrel-to-be. Jason stood on the table. He wore brown pants and a brown shirt. On his head was a Mickey Mouse cap with the famous ears. Sticking out the back of Jay's pants was a feather duster dyed a mottled dun color. Mark was trying to climb onto the table and not yet succeeding because his uncle shooed him off.}

_{"It hurts, Uncle Richard," Jay whined, tugging at his tail.}

_{"Leave it alone," Richard commanded, pushing the boy's hand away. "I've got to see it before I can fix it."}

_{"Guess who I found," Amanda announced, grinning triumphantly as she led Callie farther into the kitchen.}

_{"Callie!" Mark shouted, and stopped trying to get on the table with his older brother.}

_{He ran to Calhe and hugged her legs. She reached down and picked the boy up. Mark's arms wrapped around her neck, and Callie hugged him back, kissing his hair, grateful the boy didn't act as if she was beneath him in the social stratosphere.}

_{"It hurts, Callie," Jason whined by way of greeting.}

_{Callie grinned at him. "You look like an ostrich with a gland problem, Jay."}

_{"See?" the boy said to the room.}

_{She turned to Richard. He stood there, grinning like a fool, obviously very pleased to see her. And not because she could turn Jason from lousy ostrich to good-looking squirrel better than he could. His smile held a hint of knowing intimacy, as if he and she were the only kwo people in the world.}

_{She remembered their conversation and the way she had scooted off the telephone. He'd dared her to take a
risk with him and see where their relationship would go. After Gerri's performance tonight, she wanted nothing more than to accept that challenge. "Hi, stranger," he said.}

_{She smiled, feeling more welcome here than she did anywhere else. "Hi. I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by."}

_{"I appreciate that...just for myself - " his grin widened '' - but if you have any advice on how to improve the squirrel costume, I won't say no."}

_{"Throw it out and start over," she suggested.}

_{"Yeah!" Jay cheered, and yanked the feather duster out of the back of his pants.}

_{"I didn't mean the tail," Callie said. "That was the best part."}

_{Richard laughed heartily. "I thought so."}

_{"Why is he in brown?" she asked, frowning. "Squirrels are gray...or is he supposed to be one who rolled around in the mud for three days?''}

_{"I'm s'pose to be a squirrel who doesn't want to store nuts for the winter," Jay said, making a face of disgust.
•
"It's a dumb play we're doing for the kindergartners about autumn."}