Authors: Theresa Ragan
“Good idea,” one of the twins said.
“By the way,” Derrick told Jake, “Mom wanted me to tell you she found the rollerblades you were looking for, the ones you need for your date with Candy this weekend.”
Brad made a whooping sound. “Candy Baker? The mean one?”
“The same Candy who ran off with your clothes when you were changing for P.E. when you were still in high school?” Cliff asked.
“It’s no big deal,” Jake told them. “I happened to run into her the other day.”
Cliff scratched his chin. “Rollerblading? Do people even do that anymore?”
They all laughed, except for Jake, of course. And Derrick, because he was too busy trying to figure out why his brothers were so damned blind and forgetful when it came to him and Maggie and what they had shared. Hell, he and his brothers and Maggie had all hung out together twenty-four-seven back then. Derrick couldn’t recall one time when Aaron and Maggie had spent more than a few minutes together. The only reason Derrick hadn’t gone after Maggie was because of the vow—the vow he now realized nobody had taken seriously except for him.
~~~
It took the four of them about an hour to fill his new two-bedroom apartment with a double bed, dresser, couch, coffee table and forty-inch flat-screen TV. The place had come with a refrigerator and a washer and dryer. Derrick opened the refrigerator and passed out canned iced teas.
“What’s this?” Cliff asked. “No beer?”
“Maybe next time,” Derrick said as he popped his can open.
“He’s trying to set a good example while he’s living here,” Brad reminded his twin.
“You need some pictures. I have an old poster of Pamela Anderson you can hang above the TV but I want it back when you move out of here.”
Derrick ignored them all as he headed to his new bedroom, the one with his bed and dresser, but more importantly, the one with his painkillers stashed in his luggage in the closet. He didn’t like taking painkillers. In fact, he avoided them whenever possible. But after lifting couches and tables and walking up and down too many stairs, his right knee felt as if it was on fire. Last week his doctor had offered to shoot his injured knee with steroids to ease the pain, but Derrick figured he’d let the doctor save the needles for someone who needed them more than he did. He’d dealt with worse pain than this during his football career and a little ache once in a while wasn’t going to take him out of the game. Football was his life. Football had provided him with a comfortable house, paid off his parents’ mortgage, and unbeknownst to Jake, football would see his brother through college. No, he’d never let a few painkillers ruin everything he’d worked so hard for.
“Hurting again?”
Derrick swallowed the pill and took another swig of his iced tea before he turned to his brother Connor leaning against the doorframe watching him.
“I’m fine,” Derrick said as he examined his older brother at closer view, surprised to see him, since Connor rarely came around these days. When he did show up he usually had on his scrubs and a white lab coat since he worked ridiculously long hours as a physician. Connor was the handsome one in the family and Derrick and his brothers liked to tease him about his good looks. Today Connor wore a dark-fitted suit and solid blue silk tie.
“Glad you stopped by,” Derrick said. “Hot date?”
Connor answered with a crooked half smile. “No date. I was at a conference not too far from here. Mom said you could use some help moving furniture, but it looks like it’s all taken care of.”
“Thanks anyway. How are things?”
“Fine,” Connor said. He nodded toward the luggage in the closet. “If you ever need help getting off those pills, let me know.”
“I appreciate the offer,” Derrick said, “but I’m fine. The knee is doing much better. In fact, I’ll be as good as new before you can say ‘preseason.’” Derrick didn’t bother explaining that he’d had the same bottle of pills for so long they were nearly expired. He knew his brother had a tendency to think anyone taking anything stronger than an aspirin had a drug problem. Two years ago, Connor had lost his wife to drugs, and he hadn’t been the same since. Derrick didn’t see any purpose in trying to set him straight. What good would it do? Instead, he ushered his brother out of his bedroom and down the short hallway leading to the main room.
“So, now that you’ve moved into an apartment the size of your master bedroom in Malibu,” Connor said, “what’s next?”
“Now I take one day at a time and hope for the best.”
“Wook, Mommy! It’s Howiewood.”
Nobody had bothered shutting the front door. Derrick laughed at the little curly-haired head sticking inside his new apartment. “Hey, Lexi, what’s up?”
“Who’s that?” Connor asked.
“That’s Satan’s child,” Derrick said under his breath.
Connor angled his head for a better look at the little girl. “She looks sweet enough.”
Derrick chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong. The kid is great, it’s the mother—”
Sandy caught up to her daughter and peered inside the apartment before he could finish his sentence.
“She doesn’t look like Satan,” Connor said under his breath.
“You can’t judge a book by its cover,” Derrick said. “Never forget that.”
“Sorry,” Sandy said as she struggled with bags and packages and at the same time tried to get a hold of Lexi’s arm before her daughter could get inside Derrick’s apartment.
Too late.
Cliff was in the kitchen putting away plates and utensils while Brad fiddled with hooking up the television. Jake sat on the couch with his iced tea which left Connor to go to the door and free Sandy of her burden.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Not a problem,” Connor said, taking her bags anyhow.
Lexi pulled on Derrick’s pant leg. “Want to draw? I have new crayons.”
Derrick bent down on his good knee so the top of Lexi’s head came to his chest instead of his knees. “You’re in luck. My brother, Jake, loves to color.” Derrick pointed to the couch where Jake sat.
Lexi didn’t waste any time taking the crayons and coloring book to him.
Jake paled as the kid crawled onto his lap and got comfortable. Lexi opened her animal coloring book and stabbed a finger at the first picture she came to. “Wets do the wyon first. He says ‘roar.’” Lexi roared a couple of times and then smiled, proud of herself.
Sandy stood just inside the doorway and shook her head. “I’m sorry, she’s too fast for me these days.”
“Jake doesn’t mind,” Derrick said. “He was the coloring champion in his kindergarten days.”
The look Jake gave him told Derrick that his brother would find a way to get him back later.
“Ooooh,” Lexi said to Jake. “I wike you.”
Jake forced a smile as he took the crayon Lexi stabbed into his hand and started coloring.
Sandy looked around the apartment. “So which one of you lives here?” she asked Derrick.
“Derrick’s renting the place for a few months,” Brad told her.
“
Really
? Does Jill know?”
“Not yet.” Derrick gestured toward Jake, hoping to change the subject. “Sandy, I’d like you to meet a few of my brothers. Jake is the one coloring. Cliff is in the kitchen unloading and Brad is the guy fiddling with the television.” All three brothers greeted her with either a wave or a hello. “The well-dressed one with your bags is Connor.”
She smiled and made eye contact with everyone but Connor. Derrick couldn’t help but wonder if Sandy was being shy. He wouldn’t have guessed she had a timid bone in her body.
“Did you say ‘a few of your brothers’?” she asked. “Are there more?”
“Three more,” Connor said. “Garrett, Lucas, and Aaron—and two sisters: Rachel and Zoey.”
“Your mother must be some woman. I have my hands full with one.”
“She is,” all the brothers said at once.
Sandy seemed like a different person today, Derrick thought. She seemed relaxed, as if her guard was down. Or maybe she’d come to terms with the fact that he was in the picture now and everybody would be best served to make the best of it.
She looked over her shoulder and said, “Oh, look. There’s Jill now. Come on, Lexi, time to go.”
Derrick swept past his guests and headed out the door where he saw Jill trudging up the stairs to her apartment. Ryan was strapped into a baby carrier.
He greeted her at the top of the landing. “Hi.”
She stopped on the last stair. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here now.” He pointed to the apartment across the way.
She looked in the direction he pointed and saw Sandy surrounded by men. “What is Sandy doing over there?”
“She and Lexi stopped by to say hello. I was hoping you could do the same.” He lifted a finger. “One moment of your time, that’s all I ask, just long enough to give my brothers a glimpse of their nephew.”
Jill moved past him and set the baby carrier on the welcome mat in front of her apartment so she could sift through her purse for her keys. “You shouldn’t have moved here. I can’t believe you would stoop that low.”
Derrick didn’t respond. He didn’t want to argue with her because the truth was he’d known she wouldn’t be pleased. Instead, he watched Ryan try to stuff his tiny hand into his mouth. It had only been a few days since he saw his son and yet Ryan already looked as if he’d doubled in size. “Hey little guy,” he said as he bent down to talk to him. “You’re getting big fast, aren’t you?”
Ryan’s fingers clasped firmly around Derrick’s thumb. The little guy smelled like baby powder and formula. “Look at that. He already has a good, strong grip. Someday you’re going to play football like your old man, aren’t you?”
Jill disappeared inside her apartment and dropped her purse on the coffee table with a purposeful
thunk
.
She came back to where he hovered over Ryan and crossed her arms tight against her chest. “One minute,” she said. “That’s all you get. And Ryan is not going to be a football player when he grows up.”
It took a moment for what she said to register. The football comment had thrown him off, but more importantly, he hadn’t expected Jill to agree to his request to introduce Ryan to his brothers.
He stood, figuring he’d better move quickly and take advantage of her agreeable mood. But before he could pick up the carrier, Jill leaned low and scooped Ryan into her arms.
Derrick followed close behind as she headed for his apartment.
Ryan began to fuss.
“Is that Ryan?” somebody asked over the din when Jill stepped inside his apartment.
Brad reached Jill’s side first. “Can I hold him?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Derrick said.
“Of course you can.” She placed Ryan in his brother’s arms. “Here.” She showed Brad how to place his elbow. “You can use the crook of your arm to hold his head up. Yes, like that.”
“Look at that!” Brad said. “He stopped crying.”
“He don’t wike his mommy,” Lexi said as she picked a new crayon out of the box next to Jake.
“That’s not true,” Sandy told her daughter. “What did I tell you about that?”
“You said it’s okay cuz wots of babies don’t wike their mommies.”
“I did not.” Sandy looked at Jill and gave her an apologetic shrug.
Jill looked determined to ignore them all as she continued to help Derrick’s brother with Ryan.
A knot formed in Derrick’s throat. What the hell was wrong with him anyhow? Every time he was around Jill and his son a gushy sappy wave of emotion swept over him.
Cliff and Connor were now huddled around the baby, smiling and making faces at Ryan. “You did good,” Connor said to Derrick after taking a quick peek at Ryan.
“He didn’t do anything,” Jill said.
She was mad at him for renting out the apartment, no doubt about it.
Cliff laughed at her sassiness. “It’s pretty amazing how all of that donor stuff works. It won’t be long before women don’t need men at all.”
“You know what they say,” Jake said, “you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them.”
Sandy huffed.
“That’s what Mom’s been telling Dad for years,” Brad said before he started making ridiculous goo goo sounds at the baby.
Jill smiled at Brad’s antics, a genuine smile that told Derrick she was warming up to his brothers, or at least to one of them.
“I have new crayons, Jill!” Lexi shouted into Jake’s ear, making him wince.
“You’re a lucky girl,” Jill told her. “What are you doing over there?”
“Pwaying with my new boyfriend.”
“Okay,” Sandy said, shaking her head and trying not to look amused. “I think it’s time for us to go.”
“Sorry I was late,” Jill told Sandy. “You know how bad traffic is at this time of the day.”
“No worries. Lexi always manages to find something for us to do.”
“I should go,” Jill said. “It was nice meeting you all.”
“Before you go,” Brad said, “Mom would be forever grateful if you brought Ryan to the barbeque at her house this weekend. We’ll all be there.”
Derrick noticed Jill’s eye twitch, a definite sign that she was uncomfortable. He’d seen the same twitch the other day when he showed up at her doorstep unexpectedly.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Jill said.
“Lexi could ride the ponies,” Cliff pointed out.
Lexi dropped her crayon and screamed, “Ponies!” at the top of her lungs.
“And Jake will be there,” Derrick told Lexi, causing her to jump up and down in Jake’s lap as she clapped her tiny hands in giddy delight, making Jake grimace.
“Your parents have ponies?” Sandy asked.
“They own a pony farm,” Connor answered.
“Mom would love for all of you to come for an early dinner on Sunday,” Cliff told Sandy, making it clear that she and her daughter Lexi were invited too.
Brad nodded his head. “And we won’t take no for an answer.”
Chapter Seven
“Have you ever seen that many good-looking men in one family?”
Jill and Sandy sliced and diced the green peppers and onions for the chili recipe they planned to have on the cover of next month’s issue of
Food For All
. Every month they had a theme and this month’s focus was soups, stews, and chili. Sandy was an amazing cook and usually didn’t bother fiddling with other people’s recipes, but the woman in charge of the test kitchen had quit, leaving them in a bind.