Best Served Cold (5 page)

“Not me!” Desmond declared.

“Of course not.” Sarah buttoned up her coat. “But Julia looks a little tired, don’t you think? Maybe you could tuck her in for a little rest after the mall.”

Des looked at me skeptically, and Sarah and I both laughed as she closed the door behind her.

A post-snow, winter Monday spelled a dead mall. Des and I hit the sales racks, and I snagged some good deals on his cute little jeans. We cruised the pet store and shared an ice cream cone before I finally gave into his persistent pleas for a train ride.

After months of weekly train rides, I was intimately acquainted with the elderly man who served as conductor, and he brightened when he saw us approach. I paid for our tickets and helped Des into his favorite caboose seat before folding myself into the tiny space next to him for the thrill-a-minute ride around the wide corridors.

As I had hoped, he conked out on the ride home. I managed to keep him asleep once we got there, and when I was sure he was settled into his toddler bed, I snuggled on the sofa with a reading assignment.

The Flemings home was cozy and comfortable. Dr. Fleming had joined the biology department at Birch last year, and Ava had been in his class when he announced that he and his wife were looking for a part-time nanny. The only caveat was that he couldn’t hire anyone whose major was in the sciences, so that he couldn’t be accused of favoritism.

Ava, knowing I was looking for a part-time job, passed the info along to me. Sarah and I clicked from our first meeting, and I’d fallen in love with Desmond. And as much as I loved living in the dorm, being in a real home three times a week was definitely a perk of the job.

My night of rotten sleep was catching up with me, and the less-than-scintillating reading for History of Journalism didn’t help. I pulled up a wooly red blanket and lay my head back on the pillowed sofa. My eyes drifted close.

I don’t know how long I dozed before a slamming door jolted me awake. Disoriented, I bolted upright and grabbed for the baby monitor on the table in front of me. I could hear the steady in-and-out of Desmond’s sleeping breath.

Before I had time to look out the window, loud footsteps came from the front of the house. My heart thumped: Danny and Sarah always came in through the kitchen, and I was sure I’d checked all the locks before Des and I left for the mall.

Someone was in the house with me
.

I looked around for some kind of weapon, but the Flemings’ house was so completely baby-proofed that there wasn’t even a heavy knick-knack in reach.

“Hey.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what I expected an intruder to look like, but it wasn’t this. He was tall—or maybe it just seemed that way from my vantage point of cowering on the couch. His light brown hair was wavy, curled at his neck, and his blue eyes were wide with surprise. His worn and faded jeans, along with the flannel shirt just visible under a bulky jacket, didn’t quite match the bright red socks on his shoeless feet.

If he hadn’t looked so perfectly comfortable standing there, I probably would have thought a homeless man had wandered into the Flemings’ family room. He dropped a fat green duffle bag onto the floor and stared at me a moment more.

Instinct kicked in, and I scrambled to the far corner of the sofa, mentally mapping out a path to Desmond’s room and praying I could protect the baby.

“Oh, God, I’m sorry.” The stranger took one step further into the room and lifted both hands. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I mean, I don’t know who you are. But obviously no one told you I was coming.”

I shook my head, adrenaline still pulsing in my veins.

He came a little closer and stuck out a hand. “I’m Jesse. I’m—Dr. Fleming is my dad.”

I opened my mouth to answer when more pounding feet sounded above. Des burst into the room from the other direction, his face still flushed with sleep and his favorite light blue blanket clutched in one arm.

“Doolia, I wake up--” He blinked in my direction and then caught sight of our visitor.

“Big bro!” Desmond launched himself across the room. Jesse scooped him up.

“Little bro!” He hugged the toddler, and all at once I could see the resemblance. Desmond’s curls were tighter than his brother’s waves, but the color was exactly the same, as was the shape of their faces.

I stood, feeling a little like an intruder as I watched their reunion. Desmond chattered about the train and the snow, and Jesse smiled and nodded in response.

“Hey, dude, so who’s this? Is this your girlfriend? How come no one told me you’re dating now?”

Desmond giggled as he remembered me for the first time. “Not my girlfriend! Doolia! She’s my Doolia.” He wiggled, and Jesse set him down on the floor.

Des grabbed my hand and dragged me away from the couch. I smiled, although I was sure my hair was sticking up in all directions and my makeup was probably smudged from sleep.

“Hi, I’m Julia.” I would have felt funny extending my hand—and Des had a hold of it, anyway—so I hoped the smile would do. “I hang out with Des while his mom’s at work.”

Jesse nodded. “I’m sorry for scaring you. I told Dad I’d get here some time today, but maybe they figured it would be later. No one told you I was coming?”

I shook my head. “Sarah was kind of rushed getting out the door, and this was my first day back after Christmas break. She probably just forgot to let me know.”

“Hmmm.” He frowned, and I wondered if he were upset that no one had thought his arrival important enough to mention to the babysitter. Now that the initial element of terror was wearing off, I remembered a few references to Danny’s children from his first marriage. I’d seen pictures of them, a boy and a girl, but looking at Jesse, I realized the photos had to have been over five years old.

“Doolia, I’m hungry!” Des tugged at my hand, and I let him lead me to the kitchen. Jesse followed us, silent as I put a few slices of cheese and apple on Desmond’s favorite Thomas the Tank Engine plate.

“So are you here visiting?” I screwed the lid onto the matching cup and set it on the high chair tray. Des grabbed it and chugged like a man just in from the desert.

Jesse slid out a chair and sprawled into it. “No, I’m actually moving here. For a little while, at least.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”
Lame
, I thought.
What a brilliant conversationalist I am.

“I graduated last year from SUNY, but now I want to get my masters. I was looking at a bunch of schools, and then my dad got this job.” He shrugged. “Birch has a decent SLP program, I get a huge tuition break since my dad is a professor, and I can live with him and Sarah rent-free. Call me cheap, but it works for me.”

“SLP?” I cocked my head, trying to remember what that meant.

“Speech language pathology. That’s my undergrad degree. But you need a masters degree to get a real job, like in a school or a hospital or even working with a practice.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” I reached over to put another piece of apple on Desmond’s plate.

“Yeah, I like it. Took a while for me to decide what I wanted to major in, so I was excited when I figured it out.” He pulled the package of cheese over toward him, peeled off one slice, folded it and took a bite.

“What about you? Do you go to Birch?” He swallowed and looked at me in question.

“Yeah. I’m in the journalism program. I’m a junior.” I wasn’t sure why I felt compelled to add that.

Jesse nodded. “So do you live here? I mean, are you like a live-in nanny?”

“Oh, no. I live on campus. I work here three days a week since Sarah went back to work.”

“I was just wondering. I’m living in the guest house out back, I guess.”

“I haven’t been inside it.” I played with a napkin on the table, folding it into tiny squares. “So, SUNY? Are you from New York?”

“Yeah, about an hour north of the city. A little town on the Hudson. How about you?”

“I’m a Jersey girl. I grew up on the coast, about an hour from here.”

“All done.” Des leaned his hands on the tray, struggling to get out of the high chair. “I wanna get down.”

“Okay, bub. Hold on.” I unbuckled him, wiped off his hands and face and set him free. “There you go. Run wild.”

Jesse and I both watched him take off for the toy chest in the corner where he dumped out a bag of wooden blocks.

“You’re great with him.” Jesse smiled at me. “Do you babysit a lot?”

“I used to, when I was in high school. I love kids. I have two younger sisters, too. They’re 13 and 17 now, but I helped out when they were little.”

“Are you the oldest?”

“Yeah. The bossy big sister.”

“I’m the middle kid. Or I am now, at least. I have an older sister, and then the little dude.” He glanced over at where Desmond was absorbed in his toys. I tried to think of something to say to fill the gap.

“If you ever need someone to show you around the campus or whatever, let me know.”
Smooth, Jules.

He grinned. “Thanks. I might take you up on that. At least you could tell me where the best bars and coffee places are, right? I don’t trust my dad to know that.”

“Sure, I--” The back door opened on a blast of frigid air, and Dr. Fleming stomped in.

“Jess?” He took the room in two strides and grabbed his son. “You’re early. Glad you made it down. How was the drive?”

Jesse hugged him back, and I saw genuine love on his face. “Wasn’t bad. Yeah, I made better time than I thought. Scared your babysitter half out of her mind, I think.” He gestured to me.

Danny grinned at me, and I was again struck by family resemblance. “Sorry about that, Julia. Sarah must’ve forgotten to tell you Jesse was coming.”

“It’s not a problem.” I stood up and slung my bag over one shoulder. “Sarah asked me to put on the lasagna, and then I’ll head out, unless you want me to stay longer?”

“No, that works. Don’t worry about the food, the men will take care of it.” Danny clapped Jesse on the back. “Want to be my sous chef, bud?”

“Daddy,
I
help, too!” Desmond abandoned the blocks to clamor up onto a chair. His dad ruffled his hair.

“Sure, sport, you, too.” He smiled at me. “Do you I owe you a check, Julia?”

“Nah, Sarah will take care of it on Friday.” I shoved my arms into the sleeves of my coat and glanced at Jesse.

“Nice meeting you. I’m sure I’ll see you around, either here or on campus.”

“Yeah, definitely.” His eyes lingered on me just a minute before Des pulled his attention away.

For the first time in many weeks, I didn’t think about Liam once on the way home.

I didn’t see Jesse the rest of that week. When I got to work on Wednesday, Sarah apologized profusely for not warning me that her stepson was expected.

“I completely spaced on that. I’m so sorry.”

I shrugged. “No big. I was just a little startled, but Des knew him, so I figured he was legit.”

“Oh, yes, Desmond loves his big bro.” She smiled at her son as he sat at the table, intent on a coloring page. “He’s been in seventh heaven since Jesse got here.” Sarah worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

“He seems, um, nice.” There was that stupid word again. But what else was I going to say?
Your stepson is really hot?

“Yeah. Jesse’s always been a good kid.” She lowered her voice. “You know, it was hard on Danny’s older kids when we got married. I mean, Danny and their mom had been divorced for quite a few years before I even met him, but they were used to having him all to themselves. Jesse came around fast, but Alison...” She shook her head. “She’s not quite there yet.”

“It’s really great that you and Dr. Fleming are letting him live here and go to school.”

Sarah shook her head. “That didn’t take any thought. I love having him around, and of course Danny and Des do, too. And Jesse is awesome with the baby. I wish Alison would come visit more, get to know him better.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Danny keeps telling me these things take time, and I guess I trust him.”

I thought about the Flemings as I hurried through the bitter wind on Thursday afternoon, heading for class. My parents were happily married and still so gooey in love that my sisters and I pretended to be disgusted. But deep down, I knew I was grateful that I didn’t have to deal with all the crap I’d seen some of my friends go through. And as much as I liked Sarah, Danny and Desmond, I could see the strain that divorce and remarriage had on the whole family.

Thursdays were my favorite class days, since I only had one two-hour seminar, and it was in the early afternoon. It was my one day to sleep in a little. Plus I was excited about the seminar topic: Modern Journalism and Social Media.

I took a seat in the middle of the large classroom, smiling at a few people I recognized from other classes. By the time we hit junior year, most of us who had been in the same major for two to three years had survived more than a few classes together.

“Hey, you’re Julia Cole, aren’t you?” The girl sitting behind me leaned forward.

She looked vaguely familiar.

“Yep.” I searched my memory for her name but drew a blank. I couldn’t even remember what class we might have had together.