Man of the Month (Willowdale Romance Novel) (10 page)

“What’s your address?”

Jeanne chewed on her thumbnail and glanced nervously out the window as she answered.

“How old are your boys?”

“They’re not my boys they’re my
 . . .
date’s. I don’t remember. Little. Seven and four I think.”

“Where’s your date?”

“Out to dinner?”

“Without you?”

“I’m babysitting for him.”

“Babysitting for your date?”

“Stupid, I know.”

“Someone will be right there to help the boys, ma’am, but I’m not sure who’s going to help you. Babysitting for your date while he goes out
 . . .
”

Jeanne rolled her eyes. “I know, I know. If there was a 911 Relationship Hotline, I would have called it ages ago. Thanks for your help.” She ran back to the bathroom. Water was still flowing under the door. “Guys! Guys are you all right? Turn the water off!” Her anger had morphed into bone-chilling fear.

She heard the distant blare of sirens and ran outside to the end of the driveway to flag down the fire department. She was waving her arms madly when Brad pulled up and parked on the side of the road. He hopped out of his truck and ran over to her. “What are you doing out here? Did they run away on you?”

Tears streamed down her face, and she pushed her hair out of her eyes. “No, they’re not answering me, and water is rushing under the door. I called the fire department because you weren’t here yet.”

“I was gathering up tools from my brother, but of course nothing was where it should be.” He grabbed her arm. “I’ll go in and get them out. J, it’ll be okay. I promise.”

She nodded and started sobbing after he ran off, realizing the boys could be in serious trouble. The fire truck appeared at the end of the block, and she stepped out into the street jumping and waving.

“Over here! Right here!” she yelled, knowing of course that they couldn’t hear her. She saw an old lady peeking out from her curtain across the street, and realized she was going to have to explain this all to Jeff. No doubt there wouldn’t be any more phone calls after tonight, which was fine with her.

The fire truck pulled up ahead of Brad’s truck, and two firefighters jumped off.

“Are the kids still in the bathroom?” one asked.

“I think so. My friend is trying to get them out.” She ran inside and they followed, and Jeanne saw Brad fling the door open. “Brad? Are they okay?”

Brad froze in the doorway. “I don’t know.”

The firefighter pushed past Jeanne, and she spotted a dark head floating in the tub. A scream caught in her throat, and she started sobbing. “Oh, my God, oh, my God.” She wrapped her arms around herself and prayed that the firefighters could help the boy.

Brad scooped up the smaller boy, Zach, who was standing there, frozen, wrapped in a towel. The firefighter pushed past him and picked up Max, floating on his stomach. The firefighter lifted him out in his arms, and Max started sputtering and gasping and then laughing.

“Tricked you! You thought I was dead, didn’t you?” He smiled, showing a gap-toothed grin.

Jeanne’s hammering heart slowed down a bit as she realized she’d been had. Big time had. “You rotten little—”

“Now, now, let’s be glad the little tyke is fine, Jeanne,” Brad said, putting his arm around her, squeezing hard.

Zach laughed, and Jeanne stomped off, her feet sloshing in the wet carpet.

After checking out Zach and declaring him fine, if not a mischievous little devil who should be watched a bit more closely, the firefighters left, and Jeanne slumped on the couch across from the two boys bundled up in towels and munching pizza like nothing strange at all had happened.

Brad sat between them, grinning widely for some reason, and she just crossed her arms in a huff, angry that she was rattled and he was not. The boys totally adored him.

Yeah, the guy who didn’t want kids. Totally unfair
.

“We should see if Jeff has a shop vac and try to dry out that rug a bit. Does your daddy have a great big vacuum?” he asked them.

Max nodded. “He cleans his car with it, and sometimes I can help.”

Zach dropped his pizza and ran for the garage. “I want to help, too!”

And that’s how Brad got the kids to clean up the carpet and make it seem like fun, like they were treasure hunters searching for gold buried in the rug.

They even asked Brad to read a book to them before bed, and by nine they were tucked in and asleep. Since no girls were allowed, Jeanne waited on the couch, flipping through 435 cable channels.

Brad finally flopped down next to her and laughed. “They remind me of Tommy and me, but add in two more hellions, and that’s what my folks had to deal with.” He patted her knee. “You got off easy tonight with just two of them.”

“Got off easy? I had to call 911!”

He rubbed her back, like he was trying to soothe an angry dog. “Everything ended up fine. No harm done.”

Her eyebrows shot up.

“We had fun like that all the time.” His grin faded. “Before things went bad, anyway.”

“Zach scared the tar out of me, pretending he was dead. How was that fun?”

“Don’t forget his mother died recently. Kids do weird stuff when their parents die.”

She slumped back in the couch. “Yeah, I seem to recall that. Becca wouldn’t eat anything crunchy for six months, and we had no idea why. She finally told us it sounded like a car smashing in her mouth.” Jeanne shook her head. “No wonder she was anorexic in college.”

Brad’s smile was gone. “I never really thought about how hard it must have been for you guys growing up. I always just thought about how my family was the dark sheep of the town.” He shrugged. “I was actually mad at all you Clark girls for a while. Usually after my father had done a number on me. Somehow I found a way to blame it on you guys. Like, if only your parents hadn’t been out that night, my father wouldn’t have reason to hit anyone. Mom would still be alive, and my father wouldn’t be a raging drunk.” He shrugged, looking like a little boy with wide eyes.

All the hardness in her heart was melting away. “I’m sorry for how things turned out for you.” She wrapped her arms around her crossed legs. “I was always fascinated by you in school. You were older and kinda dangerous. You got in trouble all the time.”

He shrugged. “What did I have to lose?”

She rested her hand on top of his and squeezed. “Weren’t you worried about what your father would do to you?”

Brad let out a soft snort. “He was going to do it anyway. And once I got big enough to fight him off, he’d usually just pass out from drinking and fighting with me, and I’d be all right.”

Jeanne sniffed, her throat thick. “You picked up some good parenting skills somewhere.” She pointed towards the boys’ bedrooms. “You were great with them. Doesn’t that show you that you would be a good father? You didn’t even raise your voice in all that ruckus. I’m impressed, really. I feel like a total schmuck. I totally didn’t know how to handle that. And I’m the one wild about having kids.” She rolled her eyes.

“Stepping in to save the day is no big deal when it’s not your kids. Who knows how I would’ve reacted if those were my children? I’m not willing to find out. I get to drive home tonight and never see them again and tease you about this until you die.” He grinned at her.

“I think you’re going to regret not being a father, Brad.” She just couldn’t understand how he could be so adamant about it, especially when he was so comfortable around them. Maddening.

He sighed. “I’m going to regret getting into this argument with you again. Come here.” He put his arm around her, and she leaned into him.

“So if you didn’t like me in high school, how did we ever become friends when we started working together at The Hideaway? Why don’t you still hate me?” The very notion made her sick to her stomach.

He brushed her hair off her cheek with the back of his hand. “I think I always wanted to be your friend and hated that it could never happen. Not after our families’ history. And when I’d catch you looking at me with those big green eyes, and you were just so beautiful
 . . .
” He snapped his mouth shut. “I’m just glad we started working together because I can’t imagine life without you. Without my best friend.”

She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. It always came back to this: friends.

IT WASN’T LONG before Jeanne was asleep, and Brad liked the feel of her against him, her cheek pressed against his arm. Lately, he’d been wary of touching her because of what it ignited in him. He didn’t want her to sense it. But with her asleep, he didn’t worry about sliding his arm around her, pulling her closer, smelling the clean, sweet scent of her. Somehow, this Man of the Month thing was backfiring because Brad only wanted her more.

He thought about what she’d said, how he’d been with the boys. It was easy to handle kids for a few hours. He knew he was going home later. It wasn’t his wet rug to deal with, although they had cleaned up most of the mess. But he couldn’t do this every day. Not without losing his patience, or worse. No, he would certainly disappoint them in some way, and he wouldn’t be able to stand the way Jeanne would be sure to look at him when he did. Messing up a child was far too big a risk to take. So was losing Jeanne’s respect.

The jangle of keys pulled him out of his pity party, and he saw Jeff come through the front door.

He froze when he spotted Brad. “What are you doing here?” The dude did not look happy.

Brad unwrapped himself from Jeanne while she opened her eyes and yawned.

“Oh, we’re still here,” she said. Then she spotted Jeff. “Hi, Jeff. How was your dinner?” She scratched her head. She must have temporarily forgotten about the hell that had been unloosed earlier.

Jeff walked over to them and braced his hands on the back of the couch. “It was fine. I didn’t realize you’d be asking someone over. I thought we’d have some time alone once I got back.”

She rubbed her eyes. “Brad sort of rescued me. Before the firefighters got here.”

Jeff’s eyes bulged. “What happened? Are the kids okay?”

Jeanne stared at the floor. “They locked themselves in the bathroom and had the water running and wouldn’t let me in.’

“She called me for some lock picking advice,” Brad said. “And since I was at my brother’s just a few minutes away, I stopped by.”

“And the fire department?”

She twisted her hands in her lap. “Well, Brad wasn’t here yet, and the kids weren’t answering me, so I got really worried and called 911.”

“They were fine,” Brad added. “Although Max gave Jeanne the scare of her life. He was floating in the tub, trying to make us think he was dead.” He hoped he wasn’t getting the kid in too much trouble, but Jeff didn’t look like the violent kind. Brad would know.

“Your rug is kind of wet,” Jeanne said.

“We went over it a few times with your shop vac.”

Jeff ran his hand down his face. “I am so sorry, Jeanne. They can be difficult sometimes, but I thought maybe since you liked kids so much you could handle them.”

“This wasn’t Jeanne’s fault,” Brad said. “I think they’re having some issues with their mother dying. Might want to get some help for them if you haven’t.” Could have helped him when he was a kid. Who knew?

Jeff frowned at him. “I hardly think I need your advice on raising kids.”