Doorstep daddy (25 page)

_{"My roommate in college was from Fiji. Ronnie Uvatu. His dad brought over Fijian art for collectors when he visited. I fell into the business through him,
then began importing more commercial items, like fruit, toys and such. Everything grew so fast from there that I left college to handle the business full-time. I bought out Ronnie's dad, and the rest is Holiday Imports."}

_{"So you just point to something and say, Til import that'?"}

_{He chuckled. "Sort of. It's guessing at trends, believe me. I bombed with the electric kettle. That was my foray into the big time."}

_{"An electric kettle?"}

_{He nodded. "Micronesian countries use them like crazy, so I thought well, hell, if they're big in the tropics, they'll be big here. They weren't. They still aren't, even though I see them in catalogs sometimes. I took a bath on 30,000 for this area alone. A hot bath."}

_{She groaned. "Bad joke."}

_{"No kidding. I stuck with past success and bounced back with the Australian fascination. Americans love Crocodile Dundee. And frozen New Zealand lamb."}

_{"You import that?" she asked, surprised.}

_{"I'm the paperwork man for a food distributor here in Philadelphia."}

_{"No wonder my food bill's so horrendous. I had no idea such layers existed in getting a lamb chop." Clearly he was aggressive and thrived on working for himself. She admired that. "How are you doing with the job and suddenly having to raise three kids?"}

_{"Can't tell you. Your rules."}

_{She stared at him for a full moment, nonplussed by his refusal. Then she realized what he meant. "Oh, that's okay. You can answer."}

_{He shook his head. "Rephrase the question."}

_{She groaned. "When did you get a law degree?"}

_{"I was a big 'L.A. Law' fan. Actually I was taking
pre-law for my college major. Come on, you can ask the question in a different way."}

_{"All right. How is it going with your current situation?"}

_{"Barely managing."}

_{"Oh." She felt bad. He had two overwhelming tasks and was trying to handle them simultaneously. "Can I help?"}

_"No."

_{His tone held a finality that offended her, as if she wasn't good enough to touch either his business or his kids. "Pardon me for offering."}

_{He laughed. "You sound like I just told you that your dress clashes with your shoes. I said no because your life is busy enough, too busy. And you've already been a tremendous help. Don't worry, I'll manage. I think I'm beginning to get the hang of it."}

_{She looked heavenward. "Richard, you are hanging on by your fingertips. Amanda's very fragile emotionally, and she's a teen. No other recipe for possible disaster is necessary. She could erupt at any moment. Jason's a bundle of energy with no place to put it, and Mark has fallen backward in the toilet-training department. You need help."}

_{"Yeah, but we can't talk about it at dinner." He smiled smugly.}

_{Callie eyed him, resisting the urge to strangle him for throwing her own words back at her. "We can now. I just decreed it."}

_{"Actually I was enjoying getting to know what you're doing with school. We haven't even talked about your major yet. What is it?"}

_{She waved a hand in dismissal. "Forget me. I'm not interesting."}

_{"I think you are."}

_{"Richard, you need help with the kids. Now why don't you just admit it?"}

_{"I may need help, but you won't be the helper. You have other things to do. But I do find it interesting that your offer to help is automatic. Think about it, Callie."}

_{"I..." She paused, recognizing he was right. Despite her adamant order to speak only about themselves,
she
had brought up the children. She found them more important to talk about than her courses or her job, or his. Worse, she now argued to allow her help with the kids.}

_{Maybe she needed to look further inside herself, find out what was really in there.}

_{"I
feel guilty
about the kids."}

_{Richard glanced up from his after-dinner coffee, surprised by Callie's admission.}

_{She set her coffee cup down and sighed. "It's not right for us to be out having a nice dinner without them."}

_{She had been quiet after their discussion about whether or not she could help with the kids. He'd won that battle, but now it was clear her concerns had coalesced in another fashion. What a romantic date.}

_{"They're probably having a great time getting to know their second cousins," he replied. "We're supposed to be here, getting to know each other."}

_{"I know, I know. But what if they're not having a good time?" she asked logically, her gaze earnest. "Amanda's all over the place emotionally when she's at home, let alone when she's stressed out. Jason could barely let you be sick without panicking. And Mark's only two. Enough said there. We've just about finished dinner. Let's go get them."}

_{"You make it sound like they're Little Orphan Annies at Miss Flanagan's." Richard grimaced. "First, you don't want to talk about them, then you want to talk about them, then you feel guilty about not taking them to dinner."}

_{"I know, I know," she repeated, then sighed. "Don't you feel the least guilty leaving them with strangers?"}

_{Richard thought about it for a second. "No."}

_{"Richard! How can you say that?"}

_{"Because they're with family. Granted, I haven't seen Michael in years, but he offered the other day, and I felt it was right. I know my brother saw Michael occasionally, the others, too, and he liked them. Michael's got six stepkids. He never would have offered to watch mine for a night if he didn't like kids, now would he? Stop sweating it."}

_{"This must be a man thing," she said in disgust.}

_{"What's a man thing?"}

_{"Anything that women don't understand."}

_{"Maybe, Callie, you ought to rethink yourself," he said, feeling pressured because he didn't feel guilty. "Why are you worried about the kids when they're not even yours?"}

_{"I know they're not mine." Her voice trembled with anger. "I never thought you would say something like that."}

_{He reached across the table and took her hand. "I didn't mean to offend you. I love it that you care about the kids. I know they love it, too. I also know you're afraid of ties that keep you from your goals. What I was saying so poorly was that you shouldn't have to feel guilty, because they're not your responsibility. Right now I'm feeling guilty because you feel guilty, and yet I don't feel guilty. Boy, are we screwed up."}

_{She laughed. "I think you're right." "So why exactly do you feel guilty?" She made a face.}

_{He gazed at her sternly. "We've had two fights and a veal parmigiana."}

_{"We didn't fight. Not really. We just disagreed."}

_{He chuckled. "You really are confused. Finish your coffee and we'll go get the kids. Knowing you, you'll hound me until we do."}

_{Her relieved smile almost had him laughing. Still, he wondered what her contradictions meant. Hope, an emotion he wanted to believe, said the contradictions meant she cared, possibly cared deeply, for him and his family. Despair said they meant she didn't find him interesting enough for one evening without his niece and nephews. Common sense told him her state of mind might be good or it might not.}

_{Richard set aside his thoughts, since they might confuse
him,
and finished his coffee. He kept the conversation light on the ride to Michael's. Callie seemed more animated, as if she was looking forward to seeing the kids. That wouldn't surprise him after what her brother had told him regarding her need to nurture. If his hope was right, then he had seen it refuse to be tamped down tonight, no matter how much she tried to force it back.}

_{Michael and Janice said nothing when he and Callie arrived earlier than anticipated. The kids were busy with their cousins, to his relief. Although he'd said differently, he had been a little worried about the arrangements. Probably he'd fed off Callie's guilt.}

_{"Do we have to go?" Jay moaned, watching his older cousin David play a video game. "David's going to show me
The Legend of the Five Fingers."}

_{He was flanked by three lookaiikes, two males and one female, who seemed ready to block his departure.}

_{"Amy!" Mark shouted, running around the foyer. "Amy! Amy! Amy!"}

_{"Mark! Mark! Mark!" a cute-as-a-button dark-haired girl shouted while running ahead of him in circles.}

_{Amanda didn't say a word. She was too busy upstairs with her cousin Heather.}

_{"Now why did I feel guilty?" Callie murmured.}

_{"Damned if I know," Richard replied, pleased that his charges were so content with the arrangements that they didn't want to leave.}

_{Eventually they got Richard's three Holidays moving out the door and into the car.}

_{"That's a lot of kids," Richard said as he backed down the driveway.}

_{"They were fun," Amanda said. "Heather's going to ask me to her next sleepover so I can meet her friends."}

_{"They have sleepovers with more children?" Richard asked, trying to envision wall-to-wall teenage girls in Michael's house. His brain refused to create the image. He couldn't blame it.}

_{"Heather has them all the time," Amanda said, laughing.}

_{"Me love Amy," Mark announced. "Me love Pooh. Poopies!"}

_{"We got you out of there in the nick of time," Richard said, grinning.}

_{"Chris, C.J. and Cat showed me their rooms," Jay said, adding his two cents to the praises of the cousins. "They have bunk beds in Chris and C.J.'s. Cat sleeps with Amy in another room. Uncle Richard, they taped the room right down the middle! Amy's side is all girly.}

_{Cat's is way cool. And David lent me
Five Fingers.
He's way cool, too."}

_{"The Jason seal of approval." Richard smiled as he drove, happy this part of the night had worked out. "I guess you liked your cousins."}

_{"Yes!" Amanda and Jay said together. Richard assumed Mark felt the same since the little boy happily shouted, "Car!" whenever one passed them.}

_{When Richard turned into the neighborhood, he realized that Callie had been very quiet all the way home.}

_{"You okay?" he asked, glancing over at her when he pulled the car to a stop in his driveway.}

_{She came out of her reverie and smiled slightly. "I'm fine."}

_{She looked distracted to him. Fortunately Mark insisted on Callie carrying him into the house and then putting him to bed. Richard hustled Jason along the bedtime process, sensing Callie would leave if he wasn't at the door to stop her. He knew Amanda would go to bed on her own and simply kissed her good-night.}

_{He snuck into Mark's room as Callie kissed the child good-night and was able to escort her out after giving Mark his own good-night kiss. Something inside him, however, noted the moment, and he felt like part of a family. Callie's presence made the difference between him and the children being distant strangers. It wasn't that he needed a woman to give the sensation a traditional value. She had taught him how to reach inside himself and open up to the kids, something he and Callie desperately needed themselves.}

_{When they were alone downstairs, Richard said, "How about some coffee?"}

_{"I should be getting home," Callie said.}

_{"I believe I forgot to mention
my
rules for this date.}

_{You and I must have a nice after-dinner coffee and conversation," he said with a grim smile.}