Scrambled Babies (23 page)

“Madison, don’t whine!”  Paeton caught herself taking out her misery on her daughter.  She toned down her voice.  “There aren’t any more rabbit houses, Maddy.  Mr. Kaselman bought the only one.”  A tear escaped her will and rolled out of the corner of her eye.

“You mean Steve?”  If Madison noticed the tear, she didn’t acknowledge it.

“Yes, I mean Steve.”  Paeton brushed her hand at the rebellious tear.

“I like Steve.  Why did he buy our house?”

“I don’t know, honey.”  Paeton tried to make her sigh inaudible.  This would not be the topic of her choice.  “I guess because he liked it too.”  She sat down in a chair, taking Madison on her lap.  “I’m sorry you’re tired of living here.  I am too.  I’m sorry we aren’t moving into the rabbit house.  I loved the rabbit house too.  But there’ll be another—”  Paeton choked out the final words of her sentence, “another house we’ll love.”

“Another rabbit house?”

“No, probably not another rabbit house, but another house we will love completely as much.”  Paeton eased her daughter off her lap and rose.  She paced distractedly.  “It’s that Mommy has so much on her mind, it’s hard to look for houses right now.  Okay?  Maybe we’ll get an apartment soon.  That would be like a house.”

“Okay.”  Maddy flopped in the chair and watched her mother circle the room.  “I like Steve anyway.  Do you like Steve?”

Madison
’s astonishing question hit Paeton’s heart like a dart from a blowgun—quick and sharp.  “Why do you like Steve, Maddy?”  The sharp pain became a warm ache.  Even as angry as she was, Paeton couldn’t shake loose from the seductive enticement of the rabbit-house thief.

“I don’t know.  He has a cute baby like we do, and he likes me too.”

“How do you know that?”

“The way he looks at me and smiles.  He has pretty eyes.”

“Yes, he does that.”  Another dart from the mouth of her daughter.

“And he likes you too, Mommy.”

What was in Madison’s voice that made Paeton believe it was true?  “Oh, and what makes you say that, honey?”

“The way he looks at you when you don’t know it.”

But Paeton did know it.  She had felt those demon eyes enveloping her, beckoning her to do things she shouldn’t.  She didn’t want to admit it.  She laughed ironically to herself
.  Another jock?  Another broken heart?
  The question was how many times you could patch up a broken heart so that it could return love.  But Paeton’s heart spoke the real question—
do I have a choice about Steve Kaselman?

She thought she heard footsteps coming down the hall outside.

Knock!  Knock!

Paeton looked through the security peephole.  Perched in the bubble was the very distorted face of Steve Kaselman. 
Even through the fish-eye, he’s appealing!
  Then her anger rose again. 
Of all the nerve!  Didn’t even telephone first!  He thinks I’m on call at a moment’s notice?  He can rot out there, for all I care!

She hurried into the bathroom and fooled with her makeup, hoping he would go away.

Knock, knock!

“Mommy, aren’t you going to see who’s here?” Madison called to her.

“I know who it is.”

“You do?  Who is it?”

“It’s Steve.”  Whoops!  As soon as she closed her mouth, she knew she had made a mistake.

“Oh, goody.  I’ll let him in.”

Paeton flinched as she heard the door open and listened to Madison and Steve greet each other like old friends.  Preparing herself for the confrontation, she remembered Fred’s words:  “You two have to work together on this.”  The upsetting words and pictures from the
In Your Face
article jumped to her mind.  The devastating loss of the Alice house to Steve was fresh and painful.  Now Steve, the person responsible for all her problems, was in her hotel suite! 

Paeton reached down deep for composure as she emerged from the bathroom.  “Hi.”  She was determined to suppress her pain.  Be professional.  Business only.  In a sense, they were all each other had in this nightmarish situation.

“Hi.”  It was obvious he was searching for a clue as to how he would be received.  She thought she saw his left eye twitch.

Neither spoke at first.  They stood awkwardly sizing each other up. Each hoping for a signal as to how the other felt.

“Where’s your baby, Steve?”  Madison broke the tension.

“Uh, well, Maddy, I have someone who helps me take care of Ryan.  Her name is Greta.  I have so much to do I—”

Paeton found herself laughing gently in spite of the stolen-house incident.  Both she and Steve were successful single parents.  They had nannies in common.  “Don’t feel so guilty.  Rosa will be here any day to help take care of my children.  I guess I never had to hide the fact that I hired a nanny as soon as I started my book tour.”

Steve laughed lightly.  Paeton could tell his laugh was tentative.  He undoubtedly was still expecting some kind of wrath from her.  “Well, great.  I had a situation where I had to kind of, well, I mean—”

“I know all about you and your girlfriend.  I know you love Ryan.  But you can’t take him everywhere.  Look how crazy that was to have Kelsey in the announcer’s booth with you.  I understand.”

“You do?”  His eyes reflected appreciation for Paeton’s civil tone.  “That’s good.  We need to understand each other and work together so we can get this mess behind us.  Maybe we’ll have other stuff to talk about some day.”

“Nice to see you, Steve.  I have to go play now.”

Steve squatted so his eyes were level with Madison’s.  “Nice to see you too, Madison.  Maybe we can have a little talk later.  Just the two of us.”

“Okay.  See you later.”  Madison skipped off into her bedroom.

“What was that all about?”  Paeton smelled conspiracy.  She hated Steve doing something that would be beyond her knowledge and control.

“Huh?  Oh, nothing.  I like your daughter, that’s all.  Something I say to people I like.”

Paeton eyed the bag in Steve’s hand.  “What’s in the bag?”

“Uh, bagels and cream cheese.  I brought them as some kind of peace offering.”  He looked pleadingly into her eyes, held out the bag, and spilled out the beginning of an apology that had obviously been rehearsed.  “Look, Paeton, I had no idea you loved that house.  Honest.”

Zing!  Their eyes locked, and Steve’s words were suspended in midair. 

After a quick trip to unknown but magnificent and promising planets, Paeton forced herself to break away. 

Steve stumbled forward with his apology, but it faltered into gibberish.  “And I want you to know that—even though I—what I’m trying to say is—”

Paeton came to his rescue.  She gently raised her hand for him to stop.  “We need to talk about this
In Your Face
article and how we can team up to overcome it.  It could destroy both our careers.  We certainly know we love our babies.  Nobody can blame us for their looking like twins.”  She reached out and took the bag.  “I’ll get some plates and pour some coffee.  I haven’t eaten.  They smell good.  Black?”

“Yes, black is good.”  Steve exhaled loud relief.

They sat at the small table across from each other, eating bagels and sipping black Sumatra.  There was another uncomfortable silence.  Paeton was the first to break it.  “I know our agents say we have to work together on this thing, but what can we possibly talk about?  We switched babies. 
In Your Face
has made a big deal about it.”  She threw up her hands.  “My agent tells me we can’t sue.  I don’t see anything we can do but weather the storm.”

“Well, I don’t either, actually.”  Steve looked at his bagel.  “I, uh, really wanted to see you.  And to make sure you understood that I had nothing to do with buying that house out from under you.”

Paeton flushed.  She vowed inwardly not to reveal her extreme disappointment.  “I have to admit I’ve been wondering.”  She stopped, gathering control.  “Why did mister jock sportscaster buy a rabbit house, as Maddy calls it?  Isn’t it a little juvenile for you?  Aren’t your jock friends going to make fun of you?”

“First of all, there is nothing juvenile about Lewis Carroll.  Second, I don’t do things to impress my jock friends, as you call them.  I do as I please.  If they think it’s juvenile, that’s their problem.”

“Okay, I have to know.  I was totally charmed by that house.  I think of it as the Alice house.  Because I’m a writer, it made perfect sense for me to live there.  Surrounded by fictional characters and flowers and whimsy.  Whatever made you want it?”

“Did you know there is an intricate chess game played out in
Through the Looking-Glass?
”

“What are you talking about?”

“Carroll was a genius with numbers.  Chess is very logical and numerical.  I was a chess whiz when I was a kid.  Still not that bad now, as a matter of fact.  Anyway, my mother showed me how to figure out the chess moves portrayed by the characters’ actions in the story.  I was fascinated.  I always had a soft spot in my heart for that book.  So when I saw the house, it brought back wonderful memories—the book, my mother.  She died suddenly two years ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”  Paeton almost took his hand.

“It’s okay.  She went peacefully.  But, well, what can you say about death?” 

“How’s your dad taking it?”

Steve frowned.  “They were divorced.  Anyway, I love the flowers and the whimsy too.  I love the damn place.  I feel kind of weird now that you think I stole it.  Speaking of weird, don’t you think it’s weird we both loved the same house—the Alice house?”

“Weird?”

“Well, I don’t know.  Our babies are twins.  Our homes are twins, in a sense.”  Steve stopped abruptly and took a courageous breath.  “Do you want to have dinner Saturday night?”  He accompanied his request with a please-say-yes look in his eyes.

Paeton was knocked completely off balance.  “Excuse me?”

“Dinner.  You and me.  Alone.  Quiet.  No kids.  No nannies.  I think we do have some other stuff to talk about.  What do you say?” 

Steve was searching her eyes.  To her chagrin, as always she had little resistance.  “Well, I—”

“Great!”  Apparently, to Steve she had accepted.  “I’ll buy.  My treat.  Diaper-endorsement money.”

Paeton simply had no defense against this persistent jock.  “Only if I pick up the check next time.”  What was she saying?  Next time?  Was this leading somewhere?  Was she not in charge again?  Paeton didn’t know if she liked it or not, but she seemed destined to go where Steve led.

Steve stood up.  His smile was wonderful.  “Great.  That’s great.  Eight?”

She was putty.  She rose too.  “Eight is good.  I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

Steve extended his hand.  “Saturday night.  Eight.”  Paeton took it hesitatingly.  She hated the slight tremble as her hand came closer and closer to touching his.  She hated even more the wild blip recorded in her heart when he finally enclosed her hand in his.  She had never had a man in such control of her emotions before.  She had loved Kevin, but he had never had much effect on her body. 

Their handshake lasted too long.  His hand was electric and firm.  And when her eyes met his, she wanted to do more than just shake hands.  Finally, when it was really too late to deny her obvious pleasure in touching him, Paeton reluctantly pulled her hand away. “Well, see you.”

“Yeah, see you.”  He turned his head toward Madison’s room.  “Uh, bye, Maddy.”

Madison
called from her video game, “Bye, Steve.  See you later.  Then maybe we can have our little talk.”