The Accidental Encore (8 page)

“It’s a good day to hole up. I had to run to the grocery
store and I got soaked.” She stretched out on the floor in the corpse pose to
the relief of her aching back. “So, how was your weekend?”

“You mean my date?” Allie asked. “I know that’s why you’re
calling.”

“Well, I waited two days to call. I thought that was plenty
of time for you to be objective about the dentist.”

“I went out with the dentist last night.”

Oh, no. How like Allie to jump in with both feet and leave
common sense at the door. She really was desperate for a date to the wedding.
“Two dates in one weekend? Did you hit the jackpot out of the gate?”

“One date. One emergency.”

“What emergency?” Melissa asked. “Is everything okay?”

“One of the girls I teach started her period.”

“Oh. Okay.” Wait, Melissa thought, her sleep deprived mommy
mind two steps behind as usual. “Why were you involved with this?”

“It was Leah, with the dysfunctional uncle who hit me in the
car. The guy is…”

Melissa held her breath. There had to be something about
this guy for Allie to obsess about him again.

“He’s totally immature,” Allie continued. “His niece gets
her period and he’s so inept, he calls her piano teacher. Thankfully, Leah was
more grateful to have a woman around than embarrassed. She’s an absolute doll.
He, on the other hand, is a Neanderthal. Not only did I have to reschedule my
date with Allen the dentist, but he got inside my head about my outfit. I swear
he may as well have come along for dinner the next night.”

Hummmm. So she was thinking of the immature uncle when on
her date with the dentist. “So the date didn’t go well?”

“It went. He’s sort of attractive, if you overlook the
thinning hair and his enormous ego. His practice is thriving. He’s just
upgraded his Mercedes. His ex-wife is a lying bitch, but he’s not bitter. Total
nightmare. And I swear the whole night he kept looking at my teeth.”

Melissa sat up and attempted to do the fire log pose with
the phone tucked between her shoulder and her chin. “You have beautiful teeth.”

“And yet it wouldn’t take him but one appointment to file
down my wolf-like eyeteeth.”

Melissa gasped. “He did not call your eyeteeth wolfish.”

“Not specifically, but what would you think if a dentist
offered to file them down?”

“I’d think I’d never go out with him again.”

“Bingo.”

“So, what now?” Melissa asked. “Any more dates on the
horizon?”

“I’ve had a couple of email inquiries, but after this last
date, I remember why I stopped doing this in the first place. You’re so lucky
you’re married.”

Melissa glanced over her shoulder to where Ben dozed on the
couch. “Yeah, I felt real lucky last night when Ben went out with his friends
and didn’t get home until the wee hours this morning.”

“At least he came home,” Allie whined. “At least you wanted
him home.”

“Allie, I love my husband and I’m very glad I’m married, but
that doesn’t mean it’s always sunshine and roses. It also doesn’t mean I didn’t
suffer through countless awful dates.”

“I know. I’m just feeling sorry for myself on this rainy
day.”

Melissa unfolded herself from the pose and turned toward her
husband. “Ben’s due for some quality time with Henry, even if he does have a
raging hangover. You want me to come over? We could watch a movie, eat
something fattening, drink good wine.”

Allie sighed. “How soon can you be here?”

“Give me thirty minutes to shower. Pajamas okay?”

“Pajamas required.”

“Perfect.” Melissa hung up and crawled over to Ben. She
kissed his forehead and ran her finger down his nose. “Wake up, sleeping
beauty. You’re on duty as soon as Henry wakes up.”

Ben stretched and let out an enormous yawn. “Did I hear you
make plans with Allie?”

“Yes, you did.”

“Did I also hear you tell her I was out half the night and
have a hangover?”

“Right again.”

He opened his eyes. They were the same chocolate brown she
fell in love with, but a little fuzzy around the edges. “Why do you tell your
friends I’m a carousing drunk who can’t hold his liquor?”

“Because it’s the truth and it makes Allie feel better about
being without a man.”

He scowled at her and tried to sit up, but only managed a
semi-reclined position. “I feel so used.”

“If you hadn’t had so much to drink last night, you’d be
getting used right now.” She ran her hand up his leg.

“I’m up now.”

“Now I have plans.”

“I don’t get Allie,” Ben said. He swiped his hands over his
face and yawned. “She could have a man—any man—with the snap of her
fingers. Why is she always alone and yet complaining about being alone?”

“Come on, Ben. You know Allie. She’s the most insecure woman
I’ve ever met. She’s also incredibly picky and shy around men. She’s
uncomfortable around most men, so she ends up alone.”

“That makes no sense whatsoever.”

“It does when you know Allie as well as I do.” Melissa took
pity on her hurting husband and scooted behind him and began to rub his
shoulders.

“Ummm. What did I do to deserve this?” he asked.

“You made the very wise decision to marry me and ensure that
I’m done with dating forever.”

Ben grabbed her hands and pulled her on top of him. “Why
don’t I help you out of these clothes?”

“Ben…”

“What?” He lifted her sweatshirt and yanked it over her
head. “Didn’t you say you had to shower and change?”

Melissa struggled with loyalty as Ben drew kisses along her
jaw. The devil knew just how to tempt her.

“We could shower together,” he suggested.

“What if Henry woke up? We’d never hear him.”

Ben made quick work of her jeans. “He’s in a crib. Where’s
he going to go?” He’d stripped her to her bra and panties in less than sixty
seconds. “On second thought,” he said as he pulled off his t-shirt. “We
shouldn’t waste time. Let’s do it here.”

“God, I shouldn’t be this easy,” she moaned.

“Nope,” he said. “That’s just the way I like you.”

***

“I thought you said practice ends at five,” Craig goaded
Leah as she put her lacrosse bag into the back of the truck and leaned inside
to give Blackjack a pat on the head.

“It does. I was talking.”

“So I saw.” He’d arrived early so he didn’t have to listen
to another lecture on how she needed a phone. He couldn’t believe how many
conversations they had that led back to her needing a phone. “I didn’t know you
had boys on your team.”

“What?”

“I saw you talking to a boy carrying a lacrosse stick. I
assumed he was on your team.”

“Funny, Uncle Craig. That was Brody. He’s Cassidy Mizer’s
brother. He plays on the eighth grade team.”

“An older man?”

“An older brother.” She rolled her eyes. “So how was your
day?”

Craig thought back. He’d had a good day. Davis had gotten
Stacy to sign off on his kitchen design and he’d met with his cabinet guy to
work up a quote. He’d sheetrocked the newly created great room after the
electrician had rerouted the wiring. “All in all, not bad. I got a good bit done.”

“Me too. I got an A on my math test.”

“Did you?”

“Yep. That ought to make Dad happy when he calls tonight.”

“You’d think,” Craig said. He was sick of Mark calling,
harassing him about putting himself out there, going out with women. His
brother didn’t know when enough was enough. Didn’t he have better things to
think about on his honeymoon?

“So what’s for dinner?” Leah asked.

“Some chicken casserole your dad made.”

“Are you asking Allie to stay?” Before Craig could answer,
she said, “I really want her to stay.”

He’d thought about it. Wasn’t that why he’d pulled the damn
casserole out of the freezer? It was a lot harder to invite a woman to join you
and your niece for left over pizza. “I’ll ask, but don’t be surprised if she
says no.”

“She hardly ever said no to dad.”

“Your dad’s a lot nicer than me.”

“To her he sure is.” Leah looked out the window and tried to
put her feet on the dash when Craig tapped her leg and shook his head no. She
sat up straight and slapped her hands on her knees. “Why don’t you like Ms.
Allie? She’s so nice.”

“I never said I didn’t like her.”

“You didn’t have to say it.”

Craig blew out a breath. Weren’t twelve-year-old girls
supposed to think about boys and their friends and…phones? “I like her fine.
She’s…” Too damn pretty. And he’d spent too much time feeling bad about the way
he’d treated her last week. “Fine.”

“Good, because I want her to stay for dinner.”

Craig turned the radio down and cleared his throat. “Is this
about what happened last week? I mean, have you felt okay since…since it
happened?”

“Yes,” she said quickly. “No. I mean yes, I feel okay and,
no, that’s not why I want her to stay. I like her. Besides, if I’m going to
have a woman living in the house starting next week, I could use some practice
of having one around.”

“Practice? You think of Allie as stepmom material?”

“I think she’s a woman and if she’d married my dad, she
could have been my stepmom.”

Why did the thought of Mark and Allie sharing cozy dinners
suddenly make his hands fist on the wheel? “I don’t know Allie real well, but
she doesn’t seem much like your new stepmom.”

Leah considered his question as she bopped her head to a
tune. “Actually, she kind of is. They’re both pretty—in different
ways—and they’re both shy.”

“Shy?” Craig choked out the word. “You think Allie’s shy?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“I wouldn’t call her shy.” A beautiful pain in the ass is
what he’d call her.

“She’s been staying for dinner for a couple years now and I
get the feeling she’s lonely.”

Craig looked over at his niece, but she’d recognized a song
on the radio and had turned it up loud. Lonely? He certainly knew what lonely
felt like. Staying with Leah, having someone to come home to every night, was a
nice treat from his usual, but he knew as soon as Mark and Carolyn got back,
he’d have to get used to a whole new kind of lonely. “Then I guess we should
ask her to stay.”

Chapter 11

Allie shoved her sheet music in her bag and gathered her
coat. The last thing she wanted was another run in with Craig. He sauntered out
of the kitchen at the same time she caught a whiff of something baking in the
oven. It smelled like Mark’s chicken and rice bake casserole. Her stomach
growled audibly.

“Lesson done?” he asked. He wore his usual faded jeans and
flannel shirt. She could see the fraying edges of his undershirt at the base of
his neck. The day old beard added to his scruffy appearance. Why now, of all
times, did she have to find his unkempt look so attractive?

“Yep.” She patted the dog on his head and dropped her bag so
she could put her arms in her coat. “See you Thursday.”

He reached behind her and grabbed the coat collar. “I was
kind of hoping you’d join us for dinner.”

She looked over her shoulder and up into his eyes. Their
color perfectly matched the strand of blue in his shirt. “Are you kidding?”

“No. Leah wants you to stay.”

Allie turned around to where Leah sat on the piano bench.
She nodded her head up and down as if to verify Craig’s claim. Allie let Craig
pull the coat from her arms and hang it in the closet. “Well, that’s very nice
of you, Leah.”

“Leah?” he said. “What about me?”

“Did you make the casserole?” she asked.

“No,” he said with that irritation line between his eyes.
“But I put it in the oven.”

“If that constituted cooking, I’d call myself a chef.”

“You don’t cook?” he asked. He led her into the kitchen
where he’d opened a bottle of white wine.

“No. Recipes are like braille to me. Where others see a
guide to a completed masterpiece, I see nothing but little raised dots on
paper.”

“No wonder you like eating over.”

“It’s better than eating a microwave meal alone.” She
accepted a glass of wine and tried to discreetly peek at the label. Huh. Very
nice. She had a bottle of this at home. Allie heard Leah practicing in the den.
“So, how’s she doing?”

“Leah?” Craig asked. He opened up a bag of salad and poured
it into Mark’s wooden salad bowl. “She’s fine.”

“I mean about her period. Any issues?”

“None. If I hadn’t seen the blood myself, I’d think I
imagined the whole episode.”

Allie wished she’d imagined the whole episode. She was still
smarting about his ‘girls’ comment. “Good. I figured, when you didn’t call,
that she was doing okay.”