Fiance by Friday (8 page)

“Have you ever been in a Boys and Girls Club?”

“No, I haven’t.”

She walked him through the game room. Several couches and chairs, beanbag chairs, and pillows were thrown about. “Our mission statement really does define what we do for the kids. To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.” Karen had memorized the statement a long time ago.

“We accomplish that by having a safe place for kids to hang out after school. Kids love video games so we have that here for them.” There was a big-screen television she had personally bought for the club along with two gaming stations. A few older arcade games were lined up along the walls. “There’s also table tennis and a pool table when the video monitor isn’t working for them. We have a yard outside I’ll show you when we get there.”

“How many kids come in?”

“It varies. We’ve had up to a hundred kids signed up to come in daily…but double that who only come in periodically.”

Michael looked at the kids who were trying to act uninterested but failed. “They have to sign up?”

“For our insurance purposes they do. We have a pay-what-you-can system. Most of these kids aren’t able to pay. We rely on donations and outside fundraisers.”

“The kids themselves do some of the fundraisers,” Jeff added. “We had a car wash last month that brought in a couple hundred dollars.”

“A couple hundred doesn’t sound like it would pay your power bill.”

“It doesn’t,” Karen said, surprised at the level of interest in Michael’s voice.

“We help the kids after school with their homework and school projects. It’s mainly teens but sometimes we get kids that are eleven or twelve.” Karen walked by her math table and glanced at Juan’s paper as she did. “You’re never gonna get that pizza if you don’t get past problem six, dude.” There was laughter in her voice. She really did want the kids to do well.

“Yes, Miss Jones.”

She walked Michael into the kitchen. “The kitchen is fully functioning. We provide snacks and occasional meals. The truth is, there are plenty of kids out there who don’t get a solid meal at home. Every one of them knows they can find something here. Most are too embarrassed to say they’re hungry.”

“How do you get past that?”

“We let them know when we’re providing meals, and none of them miss that day.”

“Why not provide a meal every day?”

Karen met Michael’s eyes. “Funds.”

“Oh.”

He held the door to the back open and she walked through. Jeff had fallen behind with Tony, who was asking about details of what it cost to run the club.

“There’s a basketball court and a yard where the kids play. We try to organize scrimmage games for them. Seems the only way to get them off the video games.”

He watched her now, and she was highly conscious of the smile on her face.

“Sounds like you love it here.”

“The kids are great. Not all of them are disadvantaged. Just misguided. I like to think we keep them off the streets and away from drugs and gangs.”

He placed his sunglasses over his eyes. “Do you have a lot of that here?”

“We’ve had a couple of problem kids. But we deal with them as soon as we know anything about it. Two or three times a month a youth counselor is available. I think of this place as a safe haven for these kids. We have no tolerance for bullying and don’t judge.”

“Interesting.”

Jeff stood several yards away, well outside of hearing range. The teens lingering in the yard talked among themselves.

She lowered her voice. “Kid charities to spend your money on?”

Michael looked behind them. “Worked, didn’t it?”

Karen laughed. “So, what do you think?”

He shook his head. “I think Gwen was wrong. I think you are a saint. You do all this for free?”

“That would be the definition of volunteer.”

He chuckled. “Oh, a smart-ass…you’ll fit right in.”

She pointed a finger to his chest. “Saintly smart-ass. Get it right. Does Tony know why you’re really here?”

He shook his head. “Only you and I…and Gwen.”

Jeff and Tony were walking their way so Karen quickly changed the subject. “Well, what do you think?”

“I like it. There are plenty of youth charities out there helping kids after they’ve fallen down the wrong path. This one seems to want to get a hold of at risk kids before they tumble.” Even if Michael was acting the part, he did it successfully.

They walked back into the main room, where none of the kids had moved.

Michael leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Time to turn on the charm.”

And he did.

Karen found a stool for him to sit on as he encouraged the kids to ask questions. “Where do you guys go to school?” he asked them, helping to break the ice. “What do you like most about school?”

Several kids told him they liked going home.

Amy told him she liked coming to the club after school.

“What do you like least about school?”

“Algebra!” Juan said from the math table.

“Just think pizza party, Juan. Makes solving for
x
easier,” Karen called from the back of the room.

Several kids laughed.

“Pizza party?” Michael asked.

“Miss Jones bribes us with pizza if we do good on our tests.”

“Do
well
on your tests, Steve,” Karen corrected him.

“If I had a tutor as stunning as Miss Jones when I was in high school, I would have had straight A’s.” Michael kept eye contact with her throughout his exchange. “No bribes needed.”

The kids around them hooted and whistled.

“It’s been a long time since you were in high school, Mr. Wolfe. Things have changed.” She was teasing him, making him work a little harder.

From the playful expression on his face, he enjoyed the banter.

The kids were laughing and at least one had a cell phone out as he took pictures.

“I tell you what, guys…if someone here can convince Miss Jones to go out with me, I’ll do better than pizza.”

The kids were eating this up.

“Oh, my God, Miss Jones, Michael Wolfe just asked you out!”

“You’ve got to go, Miss Jones.”

Michael chimed in. “Yeah, Miss Jones.”

“Does it always take a room full of kids to make women go out with you, Mr. Wolfe?”

Michael cocked his head to the side. “No. But it helps.”

There were no less than four cell phones out. She was going up on YouTube before she managed to get home. She just knew it.

“C’mon, Miss Jones.”

“I tell you what. Why don’t I give you my number and we can talk without an audience?”

“I can live with that.”

She looked around the gawking eyes in the room. “Can I borrow someone’s pen?”

Someone shoved one in her face. She walked up to her future husband, grasped his hand, and did what she was sure no one had ever done to him before. She wrote her number on his palm. When she finished he took her hand in his and kissed the back of it.

His eyes were laughing.

Something told her that the next year of her life was going to be a boatload of fun.

And if the kids could get more than pizza out of the deal…she was all in.

“This was exactly what I needed,” Karen said from across their table.

Gwen smiled and lifted her drink into the air. “Might be the closest thing you get to a bachelorette party if Michael moves as fast as I think he will.”

Karen and Gwen sat across from each other at the Hard Rock Café on Sunset. Gwen had decided to take Eliza up on her suggestion.
Put yourself out there. Date. Meet someone.

If she wanted to meet someone other than a boring, responsible man who could be counted on to show up on time but never
make her feel excited about his presence. She’d had predictable and utterly dull men in her life before, she needed to look outside of the ballrooms where she conducted her business.

The bar was packed. The patrons were all drinking, laughing, and forgetting about their problems.

“He’s really a nice guy. The kids loved him.”

Gwen glanced around the room, but didn’t notice anyone watching them. “I’m sure his celebrity status will make the kids look up to you even more.”

“An added bonus.”

“To a successful relationship,” Gwen said, clicking her cocktail to Karen’s.

“I can drink to that.” They sipped their drinks. “I can’t believe this is really happening.”

“Wait until you see his house.”

Karen smiled as she peered beyond Gwen. “Over here,” she said as she waved.

Eliza joined them, tossing her clutch on the table. “I wasn’t sure I’d find you in this zoo. Could they pack more people in here?”

“Probably.”

“It’s good to see you,” Eliza told Karen. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

“Not yet…but it is starting to look that way.”

Eliza flagged down a waitress and ordered a martini. “I see not a lot has changed,” she said after the waitress left.

“What do you mean?” Gwen asked.

“We’re sitting in a bar and your giant shadow is lurking in the back of the building.” Eliza tossed a peanut in her mouth.

“My shadow?”

Eliza looked to the right of the bar. “Yeah. The man who acts like you’re a job but can’t seem to leave you alone. If it was anyone other than Neil I’d be afraid he was a stalker.”

Gwen twisted around in her chair. Sure enough, perched at the edge of a seat on the far side of the bar, sat Neil.

“What’s he doing here?”

His eyes found hers for a brief moment before she looked away.

“I think that’s obvious.”

Her back teeth started to grind. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“I don’t know, Gwen. The last time we sat in a bar I remember a certain someone getting drunk and a couple other someones getting into a fight.”

She’d never live that down. Gwen and Eliza went to blow off steam in a Texas bar. The cowboys were full of “yes, ma’am” and “howdy, darlin’.” They danced and carried on…and yes, she drank a little too much. When one of the cowboys mistakenly took her smile as an invitation for intimacy, Neil erupted from the bar to teach the cowboy the meaning of the word no.

It was the first time Neil had defended her honor, and though she hated to admit it, she got a kick out of how ticked off he became when another man looked at her. “That was last year.”

“What’s changed since then?”

Nothing! It didn’t matter how much she flirted with the man, or how obvious she was about her attraction. Neil didn’t bite.

“Everything.” Gwen stood, ready to put Neil in his place. “If you’ll both excuse me for a minute.”

She pushed her way through the crowd as if on a collision course with Neil. He kept his lips in a thin line as she approached and gripped the longneck bottle at his side.

Slipping between the woman on the stool next to him and Neil’s massive frame, Gwen slapped her hand on her hip and growled. “What are you doing here?”

He blinked, once, and picked up his beer. “Having a drink.”

She wanted to scream. “Having a drink,” she repeated.

He tilted the bottle back, took a swig.

“I know what you’re doing, Neil. And I don’t like it. I don’t want or need a bodyguard.”

“That’s debatable.”

If stomping her foot would knock some sense into him, she’d stomp better than a farm girl in a vineyard.

Poking a finger into his chest, she moved closer. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to have a love life with a two-hundred-thirty-pound bodybuilder standing in my way?”

A muscle in his jaw tightened. “Two hundred and fifty.”

“Ahhh!” She did scream now.

He lifted his beer again, but before he could take a swig, Gwen grabbed it from his fingers and tilted it back herself.

In a move that would make Eliza and Karen proud, she pushed the empty beer bottle back into his hand and slid between his thighs.

His jaw twitched again.

The strong musky scent that was pure Neil invaded her senses. She dropped one hand to his thigh and left it there. “This is how I see it, Neil. You have two choices. Either back off or step up.”

Gwen squeezed his thigh before vacating his personal space and marching back to the girls.

A satisfied smile stretched over her face.

Chapter Seven