Maid to Fit (6 page)

“See you at the game, Kayla,” he said with a laugh, and then disconnected the call.

She’d only heard him say her name once before, but both times it had given her shivers
and made her heart race. She tried in vain to focus on the things she needed to get
done so she could get out of the office at a semi-reasonable time, but her mind kept
drifting back to Ronnie.

Ronnie washing the dishes with a towel draped over his thick shoulder and a grin on
his face as he listened to Addie talk about school. Ronnie licking the metal beaters
of the handheld mixer he’d used to make mashed potatoes so Addie couldn’t have them.
Ronnie in her front yard, shirtless and trimming an overgrown bush in one of the flower
beds.

Yes, the man was
fine
. There was no two ways about it. He was chiseled and toned with brown hair that was
slightly curly and blue eyes that winked with sexuality. If that wasn’t enough to
whet a woman’s appetite, conversations like the one they’d shared on the phone would
certainly finish the job.

Even while daydreaming about Ronnie, she managed to finish up by six-thirty and head
to the nursing home. As she entered her mother’s room she noticed a dark bruise along
one side of her mother’s face. Kayla sat down next to her mom on a small sofa and
waited to see if she would recognize Kayla today.

“I’m just waiting on the doctor to take a look at my face,” her mother said after
a few minutes.

“What happened?”

“That tall woman slapped me. Can you
believe
that?”

“Someone
hit
you?” Kayla asked in alarm just as one of the attendants entered the room.

“She took a spill earlier getting out of the bed,” the attendant supplied.

“Why wasn’t I notified?” Kayla asked the woman.

“We had the nurse look at it and nothing is broken. I’ve been putting some ice on
it throughout the day whenever she is calm enough to allow it,” the woman replied.

Kayla got it, but that didn’t make accepting her mother’s injury any easier. Since
her mother’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease three years ago, Kayla had watched the
graceful, well-spoken woman go from forgetting simple things to not knowing her own
name half the time. Now she rarely even recognized her own child and grandchild. It
bothered Addie, so Kayla didn’t force her daughter to visit, especially since her
grandmother was usually oblivious to their visits anyway. The shell of a person her
mother had become quite simply broke Kayla’s heart.

“The doctor is really on his way to look at it, just to be sure? I’d prefer that,
if you don’t mind,” she replied.

The woman nodded and smiled at her. After clearing her mother’s dinner tray, she left
the room. Kayla sat silently for a moment wrestling with her emotions. Working so
much also meant spending less time with her mom, and even in the best nursing homes,
things could happen.

The extra money Kayla made allowed her to pay off some bills and ensured she could
keep her mother in this nice facility, but it also took away the time she could have
spent watching out for her mom. There was just no way to win in this situation. If
not for Ronnie holding down things at home and with Addie, she would have had even
less time with her mother.

“I’ll just wait here with you until the doctor can take a look at your face,” Kayla
said, patting her mom’s hand.

Her mother grabbed Kayla’s hand and held it in her frail one without saying anything.
She was losing more and more weight and getting weaker and weaker. Kayla hated that
there was nothing that could be done to stop the evil disease.

A little while later, when the doctor still hadn’t arrived, she helped her mother
change into a nightgown and lie down in the bed. Soon enough, her mother was asleep,
so Kayla headed down to the nurses’ station. After requesting that the doctor call
her once he examined her mother’s face, she headed home. Her heart was heavy, and
she just couldn’t seem to shake her worry, even though she knew Addie would expect
her to be excited about the first game of the season.

When she got home, Kayla changed clothes and heated up the dinner that Ronnie had
left in the microwave. Once again she paused to appreciate the man’s ability to so
effectively take care of the house and Addie…
and her.
After eating the meal and loading her plate into the dishwasher, she headed to the
football field.

It was a beautiful fall evening, and as she climbed the stairs of the stadium she
found Ronnie sitting on one of the benches watching Addie with a disgusted look on
his face. Kayla made her way to where he sat, and he slid down a little to make room
for her.

“Is everything okay?” she asked him.

“Your daughter’s coach is
killing
me,” he said, pointing out a woman sitting several seats over, in the front row.

The woman was talking to the two women who sat next to her. Kayla couldn’t quite figure
out what the woman had done to draw such ire from the normally easygoing Ronnie.

“I don’t understand,” she said, looking back at him.

“I don’t think she’s even
looked
at the girls this whole first half of the game. The other team has the ball, right?
Addie’s cheerleading squad is doing a cheer for the offense,” he said disgustedly.
“So instead of stopping the girls so they don’t make fools of themselves, it’s merely
social hour for her.”

The man to Ronnie’s left snickered at his comment. Looking out to the field Kayla
could in fact see that the other team had the ball, and upon listening to the cheer
the girls were doing she cringed. The girls stood close to the stands and the football
team was lined up on the sideline acting as a barrier between the game and the cheerleaders.
The girls were facing the crowd rather than the game.

“Maybe they can’t see past the boys,” she said.

“It doesn’t help that the coach isn’t paying the slightest attention to the game
or
them,” he said.

“I suppose not,” she replied with a sigh.

He looked away from the game and the girls and turned toward her. After studying her
face, he asked, “You okay? You look…sad.”

“Long day. My mother apparently fell and busted her face. The nursing home didn’t
call and let me know,” she said.

He studied her a little longer. “Did you eat the dinner I left for you?”

“Yes, thank you,” she said just as the halftime buzzer rang. “You can leave now, if
you want. I appreciate you bringing Addie and staying to support her.”

Addie ran up the steps of the bleachers with one of her friends and stopped in front
of Kayla and Ronnie. The smile Addie wore had Kayla wanting to thank Ronnie again
for stepping in and picking up her slack.

“I’m going to get a soda from the concession stand. Would either of you like anything?”
Addie asked politely.

“I’d like your coach to pay attention and actually
coach
you guys,” Ronnie said sarcastically. Again, the man next to him snickered.

When Addie looked at him in confusion, he sighed and said, “You guys are cheering
defense cheers at the wrong times and offense cheers when the other team has the ball.
Can’t you see what’s going on out on the field?”

Addie and her friend looked at each other and then looked back to him. “It’s confusing.”

“What’s confusing?” he asked.

“Football,” Addie’s friend supplied.

Ronnie looked at them like he was waiting for them to tell him they were just joking.
When the admission never came and the two girls continued to stare at him, he wiped
his hand down his face. Even frustrated he was way too good-looking
.
Each new look she discovered only made Kayla’s imagination run wilder.

“You know the difference between what an offensive cheer is and what a defensive cheer
is, right?” he asked.

“Yes,” the girls replied in unison.

“Fine. During the second half I want you to check with me before you start each cheer.
I will hold up one finger if you should be doing an offensive cheer and two fingers
for a defensive one. Got it? One for offense, two for defense,” he said.

“Okay,” Addie replied.

Then he stood up and fished a ten-dollar bill out of his pocket and handed it to Addie.
“Get water bottles for each girl on the team. No soda.”

“Thanks, Ronnie,” Addie said with a smile. She grabbed the money from him and the
two girls headed down to the concession stand.

Sitting back down, he said, “So is your mama going to be okay?”

Kayla couldn’t get over how quickly Addie had come to trust Ronnie. How quickly they
both had come to rely on him…

“You in there?” he asked, waving his hand in front of her face and then leaning close
to look her in the eye.

God, he was handsome
.

“Yeah,” she said, trying to shake off her attraction to him. “I asked that they have
the doctor look at her and then call me. The attendant said she fell, but my mom said
a woman hit her. Even though I know confusion is one of her symptoms, thinking people
might be hurting her… What if she’s actually telling the truth? What if she is remembering
what truly happened?”

“If you’re in doubt why don’t you set up one of those nanny cams in her room?” he
asked.

Why hadn’t she thought of that? Last year when her mother had broken her finger, Kayla
had worried then if perhaps her mother was being mistreated. The news was full of
horror stories regarding elderly people being abused. Though she knew her anxiety
probably stemmed from all the negative publicity, every time she read a story or saw
a report on TV, she worried all the more.

“Sergeant Hawkins can probably hook you up with something you could use, if you’re
interested,” Ronnie offered.

“That would be great. It’s probably nothing, but it would put my mind at ease to know
for sure,” she said.

“I aim to please,” he said with a grin and a wink. Then his gaze dropped to her mouth.
Slowly, he reached out and touched her bottom lip with his index finger. He looked
back into her eyes, still touching her lip. “Smile for me,” he said.

Something like an electric current traveled from the gentle tug of his finger through
her entire body. The feeling made her gasp. At the sound, his look changed from one
of leisurely flirtation to one of raw hunger.

He leaned closer, almost as though he meant to kiss her, when suddenly two boys walking
past yelled, “Hey, Sergeant, where’s Sergeant Buck?”

Ronnie jumped back from her as though he’d been caught stealing and smiled at the
boys, who quickly took off with another group of kids. Ronnie cleared his throat and
ran his hands down the length of his thighs. He sat up a little straighter and glanced
guiltily at her.

He smelled like soap…
and man
…and Kayla didn’t realize she was still staring at him until she jumped at the sound
of Addie’s voice.

“How was work, Mom?”

Addie had returned, water bottle in hand. Kayla cleared her throat and turned to focus
on her daughter. “It was good. How was your day, honey?”

“Good. I’ll tell you more later. Halftime’s almost over,” Addie said cheerfully. With
that, she bounded back down the bleacher stairs to join her teammates, who were all
now sporting water bottles.

“You didn’t have to spend your money on her,” Kayla said, looking back at Ronnie.

“I’ve got this good-lookin’ woman that pays for my…
services.
So don’t worry. I can afford it,” he said with a lopsided grin.

Oh, that grin.

She turned away quickly as the second half of the game started and watched Addie and
her friend look toward Ronnie before starting each new cheer. It didn’t take long
for the other girls on the team to figure out what was going on and soon they would
all look at him before starting a new cheer. The crowd responded well to their more
effective cheers and the girls looked more and more excited and confident as the game
went on.

When the game ended, the man sitting next to Ronnie smacked him on the shoulder and
said, “Well done, buddy.”

The girls huddled together and then headed straight toward Ronnie and Kayla like a
pack of overexcited puppies. Addie was right in the middle of the group and looked
to be on cloud nine.

“Mom, can they stay overnight? We need to work on cheers for next week. We’ll stay
in the basement and try to keep it down,” Addie begged.

For once the house was clean enough for guests, if only she hadn’t agreed to go into
the office early tomorrow morning for a video conference with a client. Kayla hated
to disappoint Addie just when her daughter finally seemed to be snapping out of her
attitude and getting back to the girl Kayla knew and loved.

“I’m sorry, but I have to work for a few hours really early in the morning and I am
not about to leave a bunch of other people’s kids alone, even if you’re all still
sleeping,” she said.

“Couldn’t Ronnie come over and stay with us in the morning?” Addie begged. “Please,
Ronnie?”

“Addison, Ronnie doesn’t work weekends. That wasn’t part of the deal,” she admonished.

“I need to spend some time with Sergeant Buck tomorrow, too,” Ronnie said.

“Bring him with you then. Please, Mom? We need to start planning for competition,
too.”

She couldn’t remember the last time Addie had had a friend over and she hadn’t even
asked since the
past
school year. But they had already eaten into Ronnie’s weekend. It was one thing for
him to help out through the week, doing the extra little things that made him so special,
but Ronnie having to bring friends to his job in order to spend time with them only
made Kayla feel like
her
job was ruining not only her own life, but his as well. She glanced at Ronnie, and
he gave her a look that said he didn’t care either way.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” she asked him.

He shook his head and the girls began to squeal. They headed back down the bleachers
to talk to the other parents who were waiting for their cheerleaders.