Loving Miss Libby (6 page)

Dan raised a finger, indicating he needed a
moment.   “Don’t go anywhere.”  He dashed out of the room, but soon returned. 
He passed her a helmet.  “Here, put this on.”

Libby gave a tentative laugh.  “You’re kidding,
right?”

He nodded, but the gesture morphed into a shake of
his head.  “Actually, you probably should wear it.”

“Dad!  The steaks are burning!”

“Oh, good grief,” he said, turning toward the back
door, and then back to Libby.  “Are you really okay?”

“I’m fine. 
Really
.”

He nodded and then ran out of the house, calling out
to her, “Keep the ice on your head!”

“What
a great day,” Marky declared, as he brushed his teeth in readiness for
bedtime.  “Pizza—two times in one day!  I just love pizza.”

Dan laughed.  “I guess that’s pretty much a perfect
menu for a five-year-old, eh, son?”

Markey nodded eagerly.  “Yeah.  Can we have the
leftovers for breakfast?” he asked, smiling enthusiastically.

“We’ll see.”

“Sorry about the steaks, Dad,” Kate said.

“They caught on fire,” Marky said, his eyes widened
ominously.  “That was cool!”

“No, son, it wasn’t cool,” Dan said sternly.  “Fire
is dangerous.”

“Oh, I know.  And I’m sorry I hit Miss Libby in the
head again.”

“Yeah, me too,” he muttered.  “Okay, guys, into
bed.  No arguments.  I need to go talk to Miss Libby.”

“Is her head still purple, Dad?” Marky asked.

“It’s pretty likely.”

“If you go downstairs, and her head is even purpler,
will you come get me?  I want to see…”

“Marky!” Kate scolded.  “You need to go to bed.”

“Kate,” her father said sternly, “I’m the father
here.  I get to tell Marky when to go to bed.  Marky, go to bed.  Kate, go to
bed…  I’ll be up to kiss you both good night and say your prayers in just a
bit.”

They both grumbled, but complied. 

With a weary sigh, Dan walked downstairs.  He found
Libby in the kitchen, tidying up. 

“You don’t need to do that,” he hurriedly assured
her.

“It’s not a problem,” she said.  “Thank you for
dinner, by the way.”

“You’re welcome.  I’m sorry about the steaks.”

“Don’t worry about it.  I’m hardly a master of the
grill myself.”

He laughed.  “Usually I can manage a steak, but I
got distracted.”

“Easy to do with two kids, I would imagine,” she
said with understanding.

“How’s your head?” he asked, pinning her with a
look.  “You’re not seeing double, are you?”

Chuckling, she shook her head.  “Nope.  Not yet
anyway.”  She checked her watch.  “I should probably go.  I know you have
things to do…”

He shook his head, his eyes weary.  “There are
always things to do, but right now, I’d like to sit.”  He gave her a
speculative glance.  “Will you join me?”

Libby was taken aback by the invitation.  She hadn’t
expected it.  “Oh, sure, okay.”

He indicated she should step into the family room
and followed her to the couch.  She sat down on one end and he dropped wearily
onto the other side.  “Thanks again for watching the kids today.”  He gave a
rueful smile.  “I’ll be glad when I’m out of the traffic unit and will have a
more regular schedule once again.”

“Will you still be on call?”

He shook his head.  “Nope.  I’m trying to avoid any
position that requires that I carry a pager.  I’ll still have to work the
occasional mandatory overtime shift, but I can handle that.  It’s all these
call-outs that are killing me.  It’s not conducive to family life.”

She nodded.  “Your kids are great, by the way.”

He gave a proud smile.  “They are.  They’re both
good kids.”  He sighed.  “I worry about Kate.  She’s such a worrier.”  He
appeared to realize what he’d just said.  “I guess she comes by the worry
honestly,” he admitted.  “Takes after her dad.”

Libby was unsure how to respond to that observation,
but didn’t have to, since he continued talking.

“My wife was always so … calm,” he said.  “Nothing
riled her.  Me…?”  He shook his head.  “I can’t even fix my daughter’s hair and
do it right.”  He shook his head, his expression woeful.  “If you want to see a
guy stressed out, ask him to do his daughter’s hair.”

“Hey,” Libby objected, “I think you’re doing just
fine.”

“Said the woman who took two blows to her head
today, courtesy of my five-year-old…”

“He’s a little boy,” she said.  “And I don’t hold a
grudge.”

Dan laughed.  “That’s good news.  So you work from
home?”

She nodded, smiling at the swift shift in their
conversation.  “I do medical transcriptionist work.”

“It must be nice working from home.  Sure saves on
the gasoline bill.”

“I do like it,” she said, “although there are times
I wish I didn’t work out of a home office.  Sometimes there’s just no getting
away from work.  At least if you leave it at a distant office, you don’t have
to constantly look at the work, knowing it’s close by and waiting for you. 
…Makes it impossible to play hooky.”

He watched her with a knowing look.  “You don’t
strike me as someone who plays hooky.”

“I don’t?”

He shook his head.  “You seem inordinately
responsible.”

“Guilty,” she said.  “I guess I’m fairly boring.”

He gave a gasp.  “Hey, I didn’t say that.  And my
kids certainly wouldn’t say that.  Heck, I think Marky throws balls your way because
he’s looking for an excuse to spend time with you.  And he’s pretty
discerning.  He doesn’t take to just anyone.”

She smiled softly.  “He’s so cute.  And Kate…  So
mature for her age.  Such a nice little girl.”

Dan smiled proudly.  “I’ll probably keep them.”

“Well, I would hope so,” Libby said. 

He gave a rueful smile.  “I’ll do my best to keep
Kate from showing up at your doorstep every morning,” he said.  “Fortunately,
school is out on Friday, so she won’t have to worry so much about her hair.”

“Hey, we women always worry about our hair,” Libby
laughed.

Dan looked pensive.  “With Marky, it’s easy. 
Kate…”  He gave a shrug.  “What do I know about being a girl?  Not so much,” he
added with a weary smile.  “Sometimes I wish these kids came with a manual, but
then, I probably wouldn’t have time to read it anyway.”  He yawned, and Libby
gave him a commiserating smile.

“I’m going to get out of your hair, so you can get
some rest,” she said.

“Oh, I didn’t mean for you to run off.”

“I need to go anyway.  It’s been…”

“A long day,” he finished for her, eyes sparkling
with humor.

“I was going to say,” she said, raising a clarifying
finger, “that it’s been a fun evening, and I’ve enjoyed myself tremendously. 
But I should get home.”

He rose from the couch, and she followed.  “Thanks
again for everything today,” he said.

“And thank you again for dinner.”

“Anytime.”  He walked her to the front door, and to
her surprise, locked it behind him.  She gave him a questioning glance.  “I’m
going to walk you home.”

She chuckled.  “I think I’ll be fine on my own.  I
don’t expect you to leave the kids.”

“How about if I walk you as far as the sidewalk, and
then watch to assure you make it safely inside your house.”

“That sounds reasonable,” she said.  “Thank you.”

He smiled into her eyes.  “Anytime.”

*** 

“Pizza for breakfast!” Marky squealed.

Dan eyed the pizza box in the fridge.  “Protein,
starch, vegetables…”  He gave a defeated shrug.  “Oh, why not?”

“I’m going to have cereal, Dad,” Kate said, eyeing
the pizza with distaste.  “I’m kind of tired of pizza.”

“I’ll bet,” her father said.  “I think I’ll have
cereal too.”

“More for me!” Marky cried eagerly.

Kate spied the cupcakes in a container on the
kitchen counter.  She rose from the dinette table and retrieved it.  She set it
down in front of her at the table.  The cupcake she’d decorated, featuring the
large pink heart, drew her attention.  Suddenly, an idea formed in her head.

“Daddy…  Did you eat your cupcake?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah.  I had two.  One last night and another
one at Libby’s house.  They’re very good.”

“No, Dad.  Did you eat the one Libby made
especially
for you?” 

He gave her a questioning glance.  “What?” 

“Libby made you a cupcake!” Marky said eagerly,
following his sister’s lead.

“Which one?” 

Kate carefully lifted the cupcake out of the
container, careful to avoid damaging it.  She held it out for his inspection. 
“It’s pretty, huh?”

“Uh, well, yeah, it’s … pretty.”  He studied the
heart on the top of the cupcake, and then searched his daughter’s face.  “Are
you sure she made this one for me?  She actually said that?”

Kate nodded eagerly.  “Yep.  She said she really
hoped you’d like it.”

“Do you like it, Daddy?” Marky asked.  “Miss Libby
was real careful when she made it.  She said it, uh…”

“What, son?”

Kate picked up where Marky left off.  “Oh, Marky was
going to tell you Miss Libby said it had to be perfect.  She really wanted you
to like it.”

“Huh?” Dan said, studying the cupcake.

“Well, aren’t you going to eat it?” Kate asked.

“Yeah, Dad, eat it,” Marky urged.

“Not for breakfast,” he said, smiling, but looking
slightly confused.  “I’ll eat it later.”  He put it on the table and clasped
his hands together.  “Hurry up and finish breakfast, if you want to get to the
park early.”

“Okay!” Marky said.

“Okay, Daddy,” Kate complied, as she watched her
father.  Clearly he wasn’t certain what to make of that cupcake with the big
pink heart on it, but she was pleased when she saw a smile pulling at her
father’s lips.

Unfortunately, the smile vanished when he answered
the telephone.  

***

Libby, dressed for a day out of doors, was
determined to do some weeding.  It was nice to have the mowing done—nice of Dan
to have done it for her—and she figured she could finish up the weeding before
it became too warm to work outside.

She set about the task of clearing the weeds from
her garden first, relieved to see there weren’t too many.  She followed by
tugging out any larger weeds within the lawn, and then set about clearing out
weeds from the flower beds near the back of her home.

As she toiled in the soil, she glanced up at the
sun.  It was nearly summer and she was so eager for the season to arrive.  She
enjoyed spending time outside, and even the warmer temperatures didn’t bother
her too much.  If she could, she’d spend every spare moment outside.

Her thoughts turned to her little neighbors next
door.  Usually, she heard them outside playing on the weekends.  It was quiet
in their backyard, so she figured they probably weren’t home.  She wondered if
they were at church.  She had attended the earliest service, in anticipation of
getting outside after.

She had really enjoyed spending the previous evening
with Dan and the kids.  Even after an entire day with the little ones, she
hadn’t grown tired of them, but had actually felt a bit blue when it came time
to leave them.  Maybe her biological clock was ticking, she thought.  But then,
she was only thirty-one, and had plenty of time to have children.

She had always liked kids, but she had to admit, she
really liked these particular children.  They definitely tugged at her heart
strings.

Her thoughts were pulled from the children when she
heard the phone ringing in her house.  She yanked off her gloves and headed
inside.  She snatched up the phone in her kitchen, wondering who was calling
fairly early on a Sunday.

“Hello.”

“Libby?  Hello, this is Doctor Mason…”

“Oh, hi,” she said, surprised to hear from her
employer on the weekend.  “How are you?”

“Uh, well, Libby, that’s why I’m calling.  I’m
actually at the hospital right now…”

“But you’re not on call today…”

“No, I mean, I was admitted to the hospital this
morning.  I’m about to go in for an emergency appendectomy.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.  Are you all—? 
Stupid
question
.  Of course you’re not all right.”

“I will be in a week or so, but that’s why I’m
calling, actually.  I’ll be out of commission for a week, but my wife is
insisting I take the next three weeks off.  She thinks I’m…”