Saving Katie Baker (13 page)

Katie was thinking about how hard it was going to be on her daughter when the time came for them to leave. Micah wasn’t used to having a man around, and if Katie truly pondered it, she knew that she too enjoyed the addition. If she were honest, she would admit that she too was going to miss it. She’d miss him. Blake was such a great help, and not just with Micah. Adult conversation was pretty rare for this mother and preschool teacher.

While the last batch of cookies cooled on the counter, Katie began to clean up the mess they made in the kitchen. She scrubbed the cookie sheets and put them back in their place. She thought about how comfortable she had become in a stranger’s kitchen within only a day.

Katie turned and saw that Micah had a cookie in her hand, half of it already missing. Chocolate covered her hands, her hair, her face.

“You’re going to need a bath tonight,” she said.

Katie grabbed a washcloth and tried to wipe up as much as possible off of the little girl. She remembered Jill telling her once, when she was in a fit over the messes of toddlerhood, that this too was art. The idea really did help Katie learn to appreciate the little things, even the messy ones.

“Let’s take the helpers some cookies, shall we?”

She grasped the tray and reached over to Micah. The two of them walked outside, hand in hand. The men all paused at the sight of them. Katie hadn’t thought about her appearance, but she began to feel self-conscious with all eyes on her. She looked down and saw that flour was all over her jeans, and not only that but the jeans themselves were a sight. Only the one leg was covered while the other pant leg was split open right down the center, showing Katie’s bare skin.

Katie wanted to turn and run back inside the house, but Blake was already at her side. He grabbed some of her hair between his fingers and with a huge smile twirled it around like school girls do when they’re bored.

“You look adorable.”

Katie then realized that not only was the flour on her clothing but also in her hair. Blake continued to twist a strand of her hair in his fingers while grinning. Katie felt warmth rise up into her cheeks. Aware that this was a bit more intimate than it should be, she backed away and faced the others.

With the same goofy grin on his face, Blake yelled out to the group.

“Hey guys,” he shouted. “We have cookies.”

The men dropped their tools and all came rushing forward to enjoy the sweet gesture. Katie didn’t know what to say, both to the men who were devouring the chocolate chip cookies and to the one man who had touched her. Blake had given her chills with his touch. He had complimented her looks even though she knew she was a complete mess. Butterflies had forced their way into Katie’s stomach without invitation, and that fact made her anxious.

CHAPTER
12

K
atie was glad to get back inside and away from the men. The cookies seemed to be a success since each one of them had been completely devoured. All that was left on the platter in her hands were tiny crumbs.

She felt relief and exhaustion sweep through her. She contemplated the idea of taking a nap, but she knew that the sun would be going down in just a bit. If she slept now, she’d end up being up all night tossing and turning. Just like caffeine consumed after a certain time would keep her awake, naps in the late afternoon had the same affect.

Micah plopped down on the floor and began playing with some plastic cups. Blake had pulled them out earlier that day for her to use as little toys. “Improvising,” he said. Katie thought it brilliant, and wondered why she had never thought of doing the same thing before. She could have saved many trips to the toy store, not to mention the money that was invested in the little girl’s room, which now lay in ruins a stone’s throw away.

Who said kids needed expensive things? Micah loved the red cups; she’d stack them up and then knock them all down only to begin the ritual again. Oh what creativity lay here in child’s play. Micah was content to play alone on the floor, allowing only Montag to come distract her. When the dog would come roaming by, she’d then put all toy play behind and run off to pester him.

Blake walked in, and as soon as Micah saw him she did the same as she had done with the toys: she put play with Montag aside and ran up to Blake reaching her little arms as high as they could go.

“Hey sweetie,” he said as he lifted her up into the air.

“You know, she’s really going to miss having you around.”

Katie said the words, not thinking about them or their meaning until after they’d escaped her. She knew it was a bad habit, this speaking her mind without thinking first. Right then and there, she decided that she’d attempt to work on changing that tendency.
I must learn to control my tongue
, she thought to herself.

“I’m going to miss you both, too, you know.”

Blake said it in such a hushed tone that Katie really had to listen to hear the words. She even wondered if what she thought she heard was actually what he had said.
Did he say “both”? Is he going to miss me, too?

Blake looked at Micah and smiled, “We need to get you some clothes.” He glanced at Katie, “You could use some clothes, too.”

Katie couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at this suggestion. It sounded too intimate, and she didn’t want to go shopping with him beside her. She wanted to do it alone, yet knew that it was an unlikely option.

“The men have cleared our driveway and they said that the main roads are pretty clear. They just left. Do you want to go down the road and see if Target is open? We can pick up a few things for you guys. I can take you both.” Katie thought about it, but remembered that they didn’t have a car seat or clothes for Micah.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for all of us to go, Micah won’t have a seat. She’s also practically naked and I don’t think she’d fit too well in any of your clothing.”

Just as the words were out, Katie remembered his shirt against her own skin. She blushed a little at the thought of her skin being where his had been.

“Hmm, I didn’t think about that. I don’t really want you going alone, the roads are clear, but still a bit rough. Would you be okay making a list for me?”

The thought of Blake buying clothing for her caused her to blush all the more. Katie wasn’t sure if Blake’s suggestion was too intimate, but once again there was no other out.

“I guess that’s our only option.”

Katie went in search of a notebook or piece of paper. She spotted an empty envelope on the kitchen counter and began to make a list of the needed items. She started the list with diapers, trying to remember what size it was she purchased last. Micah was a bit between sizes at the moment. Katie opted for the larger option and hoped this would be the last pack that she’d have to buy. It was time for potty training to begin.

Katie moved on to thoughts of her own needs for underclothing. How could she send Blake inside a store to buy personal undergarments? She hesitated.

She reminded herself of what she had said before, “This was the only option.” These were needed items. She wrote the words, panties size small, and debated attempting to describe her favorite kind but then stopped. Whatever he ended up picking up for her would be fine. She thought about her bra. It would be nice to have more than one but she just couldn’t write another intimate piece down on the paper.

Her list continued with the next item, jeans in a size 6, shirts, medium, children’s size 2 dresses and tights. Katie smiled at the thought of Blake walking around the Target shopping center, filling his basket to the brim with little girl dresses and female items. This wouldn’t be an easy thing for him to do and for some reason that fact gave Katie more comfort in this whole process.

“Here it is,” She said handing the list to Blake:

Diapers- size 4

Panties- size small

Jeans- size 6

Shirts- medium

Toddler’s Dresses- size 2 (and tights)

She waited to see what his response would be. He glanced down, reading the items that were written down one-by-one in blue ink. His face began to turn red.
Poor guy
, she thought.

“Sounds good. Okay, I’ll be back in a few.”

With those words, Blake grabbed his wallet and keys and headed towards the door.

“Wait, I need to give you some money. Oh crap, I don’t have any cash, just a card. Do you think they’d give you hassle if you used a card with my name on it?”

Katie fumbled through her briefcase for her wallet, hoping this would be a viable option. The people at the store hadn’t given her any issues when she would use her husband’s card.

“Katie, it’s fine. Really, don’t worry about it. Let me get these things for you. It’s the least I can do. You can just pay me back in cookies,” Blake said, grinning at the end.

“Are you sure? You’ve done so much for us already.”

She put the wallet back in the leather bag and stood up. Katie felt compelled to hug him, but she didn’t. She wasn’t sure why she hesitated, it’s not like it would have been out of line. If it were Jill, or a female friend, she would have hugged them in an instant to show her gratefulness.

“No worries,” he said, as he opened the door. “Want me to pick up some pizza for dinner while I’m out? Any preferences on type?”

Micah heard the conversation and piped in, “Pizza.”

“We aren’t picky, and are definitely fans of pizza.” Katie smiled and attempted to quiet her daughter, who was still repeating the word over and over again.

“Pizza. Pizza. Pizza.”

“Great, see ya in a few. Bye-bye, Micah,” he said and winked at the little one as he waved goodbye just before walking out the door.

Katie stood smiling at the interchange. This should be an interesting trip for him. She thought of the times that her husband had gone to the grocery store for her with a list of feminine items to pick up. He had hated it and fought her tooth and nail on the issue.

Blake drove slowly down the road. The devastation of houses mowed down, power lines tangled, and cars piled everywhere overwhelmed him. He was glad, for once, that Katie wasn’t with him; it would’ve been too much for her to handle—it was almost too much for him. He thought about turning around at the first house that looked like Katie’s. His stomach turned, and he felt himself begin to get nauseous.

Blake pulled into the Target parking lot—the store was still standing, but everything outside was damaged. There were cars on top of one another, and one of the store’s front windows was busted out. He was surprised to see someone enter the store, and figured they must be open.

“I guess business has to go on,” he said to himself before parking the vehicle.

He turned his truck into a parking spot next to a Volkswagen bug that was also missing a window. It looked as though the owners had taped a large piece of plastic over the rear windshield. Things were really messy, and would continue to be for quite a while.

He looked around at the other cars as he grabbed a cart and walked into the store. The sliding doors were stuck open, no longer sensing when to move open or closed. A family walked inside just in front of him, the wife was obviously pregnant. Blake’s thoughts ran to Katie. He realized just then she had done it all alone, birthing Micah and learning how to be a mother. His heart hurt for her.

His thoughts roamed to children, pregnancy, and parenthood as he entered the children’s department of the store. Diapers were the first thing on the list Katie made, He looked at the many options and felt overwhelmed with choices. She didn’t write down what brand. Someone else was standing next to him in the aisle.

“Pampers or Huggies?” he bravely asked.

The woman looked at him with eyebrows bunched in skepticism as if to suggest that he should know the brand of diapers that his child wears.

“Um, I like Pampers.”

“Thanks,” he said, and grabbed the biggest bundle that he could find and checked the item off the list before going in search for little girl dresses.

Blake was in luck—he spotted a whole clothing rack of dresses, super cute and on sale. He picked out four brightly colored cotton knit ones that looked like something Micah would wear, and they were only five dollars each. He never thought he would actually enjoy the process of shopping, but here he was, a bachelor, with a cart full of diapers and toddler dresses and his heart was full.

The dresses also had a corner area with matching tights so he grabbed some pink and purple polka-dotted ones. He smiled at the thought of seeing Micah in clothes that he had specifically chosen for her. He could see her now, the curly blonde hair bouncing as she ran around in these clothes.

He really was going to miss them if and when they left. He had to find a way to keep them close. He couldn’t lose them. He thought of maybe talking to Katie tonight about it, hoping to encourage her to stay on, even if it was only just a little bit longer.

He moved down the list: it was time to get Katie some panties. He wasn’t sure how he felt about buying them for her. His heart beat wildly as he saw the variety. He didn’t want to come home with some that were too sexy and have her irritated with him, but he also didn’t want to return with ugly ‘granny’ panties either.
There has to be a balance
, he thought to himself. Just then, Blake found an aisle that had some ‘boyshort’ underwear. He thought of her in them and had to immediately shake his head and move on to other thoughts. This was harder than he had anticipated.

Blake decided to come home with a variety. He grabbed a pair of the cute boy-cut ones, another pair that were black and lacy—a bit on the sexy side—and a pack of regular fruit of the loom cotton bikinis. He moved away from that section as quickly as possible so thoughts of Katie naked wouldn’t keep him from accomplishing his task.

It had become more and more difficult for Blake to keep his thoughts away from her body and the two of them together. He didn’t know what it was about her that kept drawing him in. She wasn’t like most of the other women that he’d been with. He hadn’t felt this magnetic pull so intensely before. He knew he had to do something about them. He couldn’t continue living with a woman he wanted so much without her knowing it. A thought popped into his head.

She should be MY girl. I want her. I want Katie Baker
. It didn’t make sense to him why such a thought would come up because they weren’t at that place. They would probably never be at a place where marriage was an option. Why now? Why would such thoughts enter his mind? It would never happen.

The thought of proposing made Blake laugh out loud. Katie would slap him silly if he tried talking her into marrying him, especially since only a couple days ago she thought he was a big jerk.

The phrase
perception is reality
came to mind.
Ha, you can’t be serious
, Blake began trying to talk sense to himself internally while browsing the aisles of the store.
You can’t possibly think getting into a relationship with Katie after only knowing each other a couple days is a good idea
. Blake was completely in shock at the thought that this might be what the universe had planned all along.
Could it be destiny
?

He could really lose her this way. What if she got scared and left refusing to talk to him or ever see him again. At least right now they were becoming friends. He decided to push the thought aside, to ignore the nagging feeling and just be happy and content with friendship status.

He found some jeans along a wall of the women’s clothing section and looked for the ones that best seemed to fit Katie’s style. He knew nothing about shopping for women’s clothing and Katie seemed sensitive when it came to her blue jeans. He found one in her size that looked similar to the ones that she’d had on and he grabbed two of the same pair.

Target was full of sales racks, so he decided to browse through them looking for some cotton t-shirts for Katie. He found a couple comfy looking options and a red button down that looked more like her working style. His mind went to the buttons. She didn’t tell him to get her a bra. He wondered about this, but wasn’t about to venture into that area just yet.

Blake walked to the food section and picked up a couple of pizzas to pop in the oven when he got back to the house. He checked out quickly, glancing at the lady who was ringing up his items. He was sure that she was probably attempting to make sense of the puzzle: little girl and women’s clothing and pizza—a very unusual shopping cart. He smiled; it was actually more fun that he thought it would be. He would love shopping for these two the rest of his life.

“Okay, seriously, stop with the marriage thoughts. I can’t marry her.”

He didn’t at first realize he’d said the words out loud, but he had. The woman looked at him as if he was some crazy person, and truth be told, he probably was crazy for considering such an off-the-wall idea. Blake handed her a credit card from his wallet and smiled.