Part-Time Wife (12 page)

"None of my business," she said softly, and turned toward the stairs.

Ten minutes later she slipped the first four pancakes off the electric griddle and put them on a warming plate. Ten minutes after that, all three boys sat around the table drinking juice and laughing. Jill served them. Ben stared at the pancakes uncertainly.

She leaned over his shoulder and set down the bowl of berries. "Have all the fruit and syrup you want," she said quietly. "Stay away from the butter."

He gave her a grateful smile.

"What are we going to do today?" Danny asked. "I finished my homework yesterday."

"Me, too," C.J. said, then stuck a piece of pancake in his mouth. "Is Dad home?" he mumbled.

"Yes," she said. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

"Yes'm." He barely moved his lips as he spoke the word. She had to turn away to hide a grin.

"Do you think Daddy will stay with us today?" Danny asked.

"Nah, he's gonna be too busy," Ben answered for her.

Jill didn't like his answer, but she didn't have a better one. Craig hadn't told her his plans. Maybe she should tell him that his sons assumed he wouldn't have time for them.

She got up to pour herself more coffee. There was a creak on the stairs. She set the pot down, turned and was instantly pleased she wasn't holding anything as fragile as a glass coffeepot.

Craig walked into the kitchen. There was nothing extraordinary about the action. She'd seen him walk into the kitchen before. But she'd never seen him out of uniform, and, frankly, he took her breath away.

He was dressed simply. Bare feet, worn jeans, a sweatshirt. Thousands, maybe millions of men wore the same casual clothes on the weekend. But other men weren't Craig.

His dark hair was still damp from the shower and smoothed away from his face. One stubborn lock brushed against his forehead. His jaw was clean-shaven, his smile easy. The university logo on the sweatshirt had seen several dozen washings. The once dark blue fabric had faded. But it looked soft, and it highlighted the width of his shoulders. His jeans hung loosely on his legs, the denim lighter at the seams, knees and, intriguingly, at the crotch.

Nothing about his clothing was overtly erotic, yet she couldn't stop the ripple of need that coursed through her. Her heart pounded hard and loud in her chest and her palms were suddenly sweaty.

Their eyes met. She sent up a quick prayer that he couldn't read what she'd been thinking. It would be too humiliating.

"Morning," he said.

The three boys turned as one. "Dad!" They tumbled from their seats and into his arms. In the confusion of hugs and questions, Jill tried to draw in a steadying breath.

"How many pancakes would you like?" she asked, and was pleased when her voice sounded normal.

"A plateful. I'm starved. I didn't get dinner." He glanced at the table, then at her. "This looks great. Thanks, Jill."

He'd said her name a hundred times before, but this time was different. This time the sound skittered across her skin, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"My pleasure." She poured more batter on the griddle.

"Are you going to work today?" Danny asked as he stepped back and stared at his father.

Craig leaned over and ruffled his hair. "Nope. I'm off for the whole weekend."

"Wow! Can we practice baseball?"

"Sure. Whatever you want."

The three boys grabbed him again and held on tight. Craig turned away from the table, dragging them along. C.J. laughed. Even Ben giggled.

"You boys going to let me go?" Craig asked.

"No!" they answered as one.

With that, Craig dropped to his knees, taking the boys with him. They swarmed over him, like bees on a flower. They were one mass of tickling, wrestling, hugging bodies.

"I've got you now."

"I'll get you back."

"Let's tickle Dad."

"Let's not."

Bits of conversation overlapped. Jill turned the pancakes and stared at the Haynes males enjoying themselves. She felt as if she were on the outside of the inner circle. The familiarity of the emotion startled her. In that moment, she realized she'd spent much of her marriage on the outside looking in. She'd fooled herself into believing that she belonged, but it wasn't true. It had never been true.

She set the cooked pancakes on the warming tray.

"You boys planning to finish your breakfast anytime soon?" she asked.

"No!" Danny said. He was tugging on his father's leg. Ben had wrestled one of Craig's aims to the ground and was trying to pin it there. C.J. lunged for her.

She tried to jump back, but she wasn't fast enough. He tugged on her leg. Her knee gave, and she started to fall. She didn't know what to brace herself on. She didn't want to hurt any of the boys.

Before she could figure out what to do, Craig twisted free and grabbed her. He spun her as she fell, so she landed across his lap. Her bottom connected with his rock-hard thighs.

She barely had time to absorb the feeling of his body so close to hers when Danny flung himself on top of them both. His bony legs splayed over her hips and he leaned down to press his nose against hers.

"I'm the winner," he said.

She smiled. "You are?"

"Yep."

Craig laughed. She felt the vibration of sound against her arm, which was pinned against his chest. C.J. came up behind her and started tickling her. She shrieked.

"Stop that," she demanded between gasps.

"She's real ticklish," C.J. crowed in delight.

Ben started to attack, too.

Jill tried to slip away, but she was trapped. Craig leaned over, trying to shield her with his body. As his weight shifted, they all tumbled together, a wild assortment of arms and tangled legs.

She laughed until her sides ached and she couldn't catch her breath. For that moment, she was a part of the family. She knew it was temporary, but she didn't care. The warmth and happiness thawed the ice around her soul.

"Okay, boys, get up," Craig said. "While we finish breakfast, we'll decide what we're going to do this weekend. But whatever it is, we're going to do it together."

"Everything?" Danny asked as he stood up. "Even go to the bathroom?"

"You are so weird," Ben said and lunged for his brother. Danny shrieked and took off around the table. In a matter of seconds, all three of them were racing around the room.

Craig shook his head. "I think my brothers and I were worse. I don't know how my mother stood it."

"I'm sure she loved you all."

Jill stood up and brushed off her behind. Without thinking, she offered her hand to Craig. He took it and rose to his feet. Once there, he towered over her. Six feet of sexually enticing male.

"What do
you
want to do this weekend?" Craig asked her.

"I get a vote?"

"Sure, you're part of the family."

C.J. stopped running and leaned against her. "Let's go bike riding."

Danny flopped into his seat. His light brown hair fell into his eyes. "I wanna play baseball."

"I want to go to the movies," Ben said.

All four males stared at her. Jill was torn between wanting to belong and reminding them that she was just the temporary help. She would only be here for another three weeks. Not that she'd seen Craig interviewing anyone else for her job.

If she were smart, she would ask for the day off. Craig was home; he could handle the kids by himself. She opened her mouth to say just that.

"I'd like to not have to cook dinner tonight," she said, then wondered where that had come from.

"Done," Craig said, pulling out the chair at the head of the table. "Everyone gets his or her wish."

There was a collective cheer.

Jill walked to the counter and put four pancakes on a plate. If she'd known Craig was going to be granting wishes so easily, she might have asked for something more intriguing.

* * *

They stopped to rest in the park. Craig sat on the ground with his back against a tree, while Danny flopped next to him. Ben, C.J. and Jill sprawled across a picnic table, using the attached bench seats as foot-rests.

Overhead the sun was bright, and the temperature was just warm enough not to be cool. As his boys chattered, Craig tried to remember the last time he'd taken the day off and done nothing except have fun. Usually there were errands to run and the boys had activities. But today everyone seemed to be content to be together.

"We can take the short way home," he said, then stretched. "Of course the long way goes right by the ice-cream shop."

C.J. grinned down at him. "Gee, Dad, let's go the long way."

Jill leaned over and bumped C.J.'s shoulder. "And people say you're not too smart."

He laughed. "I'm very smart."

"So smart you've got Krissie Nelson doing your math homework for you. Don't think I haven't caught on."

C.J.'s eyes widened and he looked as startled as a mouse facing down a tiger. "How'd you know that?" he asked, then clamped his hand over his mouth.

Ben laughed. "You blew it, bozo. Now you're dead meat."

C.J. looked at Jill. "She just did it at recess a couple times. How'd you find out?"

Jill arched her eyebrows. "I know everything." She touched his face. "You left your homework out on the kitchen table yesterday morning and Krissie had written a note on the paper. Cheating is stupid and you're not. Okay?"

C.J. flushed. "Yeah. Sorry." He glanced at his father. "Dad?"

Craig was torn between wanting to ground C.J. for the next fifteen years and being impressed with how Jill had handled the situation. He fought down the flicker of annoyance that she hadn't discussed it with him, then realized that in the past four days he'd only been home to sleep for a couple of hours.

"I expect better of you," he said quietly.

C.J. sucked in a breath as if he'd been mortally wounded. "Dad—" He broke off and stared at the trees for a moment. "I won't do it again."

Jill stood up and jumped to the ground. "Let's go get some ice cream," she said and headed for her bike. Everyone followed.

When C.J. walked by, Craig snagged his arm. Father and son looked at each other for a moment, then C.J. mumbled, "I'm sorry," and ducked into his embrace. Craig held him tightly for a moment.

"I know," he said and smoothed the boy's hair.

When he released him, C.J. smiled and reached for his bike. Order had been restored.

A bike path wound through the large park. Ben led the way. Craig glanced at Jill's bike. He'd borrowed it from a neighbor. She caught him staring.

"What's so interesting about my bike?" she asked.

"I didn't know the seat went down that far." It was as far down as it would go and she still had to stretch to reach the pedals.

"We aren't all descendants of Amazons," she said tartly. "Besides, you're just jealous. Short people are superior and you tall people know it."

He laughed. "How do you figure?"

"We're ecologically superior. We take up less space, use less oxygen and don't need as much food or clothing. All that and we're just as smart and productive. There's really no reason for tall people to exist at all, but as a group, short people are very kind to those less fortunate souls." She smiled sweetly, then raised her chin, obviously proud of the way she talked herself out of that one.

This afternoon she wore a short-sleeved shirt tucked into stone-washed jeans. A baseball cap covered her bright red hair and sunglasses shielded her eyes.

"You don't expect anyone to believe that, do you?" Ben asked from the front of the group.

"Yes," she shot back. "You especially!"

He laughed.

Craig tried to remember the last time he'd been out like this with the boys. Recently there hadn't been a lot of fun in their lives. He had no one to blame but himself. He'd been afraid of his children and right now he couldn't figure out why.

Some of it, he admitted, was Krystal. She'd had the unique ability to make him feel inadequate. He should have recovered from her betrayals a long time ago. Maybe he had and just hadn't realized it. Maybe he was hiding behind her memory because it was easier than facing the real world.

They came out of the park at the west end. Across the street was the ice-cream store. They waited for the light, then rode across together. After leaving their bikes outside, they entered the small establishment.

There were tiny tables and chairs with round seats pushed up against the plate glass window. In the center of the store was a long refrigerator case. C.J. and Danny raced toward it and pressed their faces close, as if they had to see the contents rather than read the labels.

"I want two scoops," Danny said.

"Me, too." C.J. licked his lips. "

"Peanut butter!"