Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (157 page)

“
I dunno.” Jason entrusted
Lilith with his mayonnaise jar and they peered through the fogged
glass together. “He hasn’t moved much since I caught
him.”

“
Mmm. Do you know what kind
of bug it is?”

“
A cicada. His name is
Bob.”

“
Bob the Cicada?” Lilith
echoed.

Mitch cleared his throat suddenly and Andrea
caught the glint in his eye. “Bob,” he mouthed silently as he came
to Andrea’s side, then shook his head as he bit back his laughter.
Andrea was very relieved to see his eyes sparkle like that. Mitch
reached into the fridge for the hamburger patties. “Is the grill
on?”

“
Yes, it’s ready,” Andrea
confided. “So are the fries, just about.”

“
Fries?” Mitch grimaced.
“What happened to salad?”

“
Oh, we won’t waste your
nice salad. Now, shoo. And hurry up.” Andrea flicked her hands and
Mitch shooed, both of them content to leave the kids talking to
Lilith.

“
There’s Bob!” Jen
cried.

Jason tapped a finger on the jar. “See?
Right there.”

Lilith frowned with concern. “He’s awfully
still, Jason.”

“
What’s the matter with
him?”

Lilith pursed her lips in thought. “Do you
know what cicadas do when they’re happy?”

Jason shrugged, Jen watched Lilith with wide
eyes.

“
Well, they’re not so
different from us,” Lilith confided and dropped to sit cross-legged
on the floor between the children. “They like to sing.”

Jason shook his head, daddy’s little
skeptic. “Bugs don’t sing!”

“
Not really. But they can
rub their wings together and make a sound that we call singing.
Crickets do it, too.”

“
I thought that was when
they wanted to find a lady cricket and make babies.”

“
See? Just like us.” Lilith
smiled. “People sing when they’re courting, too. And they court
when they’re happy. Has Bob been singing?”

“
No.” Jason was
solemn.

“
Then, maybe, he isn’t very
happy.”

“
But why not? I put lots of
grass and stuff in the jar for him!”

“
Maybe it’s too hot. Or
maybe he just doesn’t like being stuck in the jar.” Lilith made a
face. “Do you like when you have to stay in your room?”

“
No.”

“
It’s kind of the same,
isn’t it?”

Jason shuffled his feet as he considered
that.

Mitch strode back into the kitchen and put
the dirty plate in the sink. “Five minutes a side.”

“
Can’t I have mine rare?”
Andrea asked.

One look from Mitch answered her question.
“You do remember our microscopic friend E. coli bacteria? And that
article I did about all those people who were so sick last
summer?”

Andrea rolled her eyes and soundly cursed
little invisible things that took the fun out of life. But Mitch
had already begun listening intently to Lilith’s conversation with
Jason.

“
But if I let Bob go,”
Jason reasoned carefully, a tiny version of his father chasing down
a solution, “then I won’t be able to look at him
anymore.”

Lilith smiled sadly. “If you don’t let him
go, Bob will stay sad. He might get so sad that he dies.” Jason
frowned, but Lilith leaned closer to him. “You know, a long time
ago, I knew a very wise woman and she told me a magic rule that
just might help you decide what to do.”

Jason immediately brightened. “What kind of
magic rule?”

“
Is it a secret?” Jen asked
in a hushed voice.

Lilith smiled. “Kind of a secret,” she
acknowledged. “It’s a rule to make sure you live a good life.
Do
whatsoever you will, but harm none.
”

Jason’s brow furrowed. “What does that
mean?”

“
It means that you can do
whatever you want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody
else.”

That sounded like fine thinking to Andrea.
In fact, it sounded like a variant of Mitch’s own code of ethics.
She slanted a glance to her stepson and found his gaze fixed on
their neighbor. He looked a bit surprised by Lilith’s rule.

It was about time the man had a surprise or
two!

“
Is this hurting Bob?”
Jason asked, his little brow furrowed.

Lilith looked at the jar and wrinkled her
nose. “What do you think?”

Jason bit his lip as he considered the
matter. “Maybe I should let Bob go.”

Lilith watched him carefully. “It’s up to
you.”

Jason’s face brightened. “Maybe I’ll be able
to hear Bob sing again if I let him go.”

Lilith smiled. “Maybe.” Andrea admired how
she exerted no pressure on Jason, just expressed her point of view
and let him make up his own mind.

Which Jason quickly did. He took his jar
back from Lilith and marched purposefully for the back door. “Come
on, Bob,” he said, as though Bob had much choice in the matter.
“It’s time to let you go. Maybe you can sing and find a wife. Then,
you can bring lots of baby cicadas to see us.”

“
Will Bob fly out of the
jar?” Jen asked in excitement.

Lilith shrugged. “Let’s go see.”

They followed Jason, hand in hand, Bun
dragging behind. Mitch blinked and shook his head. A gasp of
delight from the back porch a moment later revealed that Bob had,
in fact, taken flight. The children began to chatter, Lilith’s low
laughter underscoring their tones.

“
It’s amazing,” Mitch
murmured. “Jen never takes to anyone that fast.”

Andrea swung the spatula at him and decided
not to push her luck by talking about kismet. “I told you she was a
nice girl,” she hissed. “Even your kids can see the truth.” She
pretended to chase Mitch across the kitchen. “Now, go get those
burgers before we starve!”

He grinned and bowed low. “Yes, ma’am. Right
away, ma’am.”

Andrea rolled her eyes as he ducked out to
the porch and the kids clamored for his attention. She reached for
the oven mitts and eyed the french fries again. They were never as
good this way as when they were deep-fried, but she supposed it
didn’t hurt to compromise with Mitch.

Once in a while.

Then, Andrea’s lips curved with the
realization that there was one teensy detail about her trip she had
forgotten to tell Mitch.

Well, this was as good a time as any.

She marched to the back door and peered
through the screen. “Mitch?”

“
Uh huh.” He barely looked
up from the grill. Andrea could hear the children chattering away
to Lilith from further down the yard. They were speculating on
whether one of the cicadas currently singing could be Bob. Lilith’s
manner with them confirmed Andrea’s suspicions that her plan was a
good one.

“
There’s something I should
tell you, about the cruise.” That got her stepson’s attention, as
Andrea had thought it would. She smiled broadly when his head
snapped up. “Don’t fret, worry-wart. It’s just that the weekend in
the middle of my cruise is the same weekend that you have that
conference in Kansas City.”

An expression of exasperation just had time
to work its way across Mitch’s features before Andrea continued.
“But you promised…”

“
I know, I know, and I’ve
solved it, so you have nothing to be concerned about.” Andrea gave
Mitch a smile that was supposed to be reassuring.

But Mitch treated Andrea to one of Those
Looks. “Why doesn’t that inspire great confidence in me?” he asked
wryly. “I suppose it’s too much to hope you’ve bitten the bullet
and cancelled?”

“
What a thought!” Andrea
rolled her eyes. “Of course not! Lilith is going to watch the kids
that weekend.”

“
Lilith!” Mitch’s lips
tightened, he glanced over his shoulder to the silhouette of the
lady in question, then leaned closer to Andrea. His voice was low,
his gaze bored right through the screen mesh to lock with
hers.

“
Didn’t it occur to you
that we might be imposing? This woman is just our neighbor, Andrea.
We’ve only known her for a week, Cooley keeps trashing her house.
Did you ever think that she might not want to be swept into our
chaotic household?”

Andrea hadn’t. She frowned. “But she said
she’d be delighted…”

“
What else was she going to
say?” Mitch demanded in frustration. “Andrea, I think you’ve really
put Lilith on the spot here. It’s not fair.”

Andrea smiled slowly as she realized just
what Mitch was doing. She folded her arms across her chest and
leaned against the counter to eye him.

“
What?” he asked
impatiently. “Is it so bizarre to not want to impose on
people?”

“
No, but it is bizarre that
you’re suddenly worried about protecting Lilith from the rest of
us,” Andrea retorted, not bothering to disguise her triumph. “I
thought
she
was supposed to be the one with the evil plans
for me.”

Mitch tellingly looked away. “I don’t really
know what’s going on,” he said gruffly.

“
Uh huh. But funny thing
is, you’re not worried about leaving those two little ones in her
care.”

Mitch inhaled sharply and fired a bright
glance at his stepmother.

Andrea grinned, then tapped him on the
screen between them. “I think you like her,” she whispered
knowingly. “And I think that’s a very good thing. It’s about time
you put the past where it belongs.”

Mitch covered his surprise quickly, but not
quickly enough that Andrea didn’t see it. He snorted, as though
indifferent to Andrea’s claim, although that lady knew better.
“Right. I think you’ve got love on the brain, Andrea. You’re only
seeing what you want to see.”

“
And what are you seeing,
eligible single father of two?”

Mitch’s lips twisted wryly. “I’m seeing a
woman’s life seriously affected by our moving in here and probably
being changed against her will. A woman who’s probably too nice to
argue about it.”

“
Ha! See? You do like her.
That’s the only reason you care about imposing on her.”

Mitch flashed his Death Glare but he was
wasting it on Andrea. She didn’t even flinch.

“
I care about imposing on
anyone
,” he insisted. “Do unto others and all that
jazz.”

Andrea let her skepticism show.

Mitch shook the barbeque spatula at her.
“And I’m going to talk to her about this tonight. If you can’t
watch the kids, I’ll find someone else, or I’ll cancel my
conference.”

“
I thought you couldn’t do
that.”

“
It would not be a good
career move.” Mitch headed back to the grill again, his expression
grim when he glanced back at Andrea. “But you’ve got to have
principles, and you’ve got to live by them.”

Andrea couldn’t think of a thing to say to
that, so she just grinned back at Mitch. She could always count on
Mitch to do the right thing and to take the high road, no matter
what the cost to himself. As much as his career meant to him, it
was nothing compared to those kids.

Before she could think any further than
that, the new smoke alarm started to screech.

Mitch looked back through the storm door and
lifted one brow. “Is that the french fry timer?” he teased and
Andrea wished she had something to throw at him.

But then he’d have two storm doors to fix,
and the man had more than enough on his plate these days.

*

Andrea had hauled her dress box out to a
taxi after dinner and waved madly as she went on her way. Mitch had
asked Lilith whether they could talk after he put the kids to bed,
and she quite contentedly sat on the back porch waiting for
him.

Jen and Jason had given her unexpected
goodnight hugs before they were herded upstairs, the sweetness of
their trust tugging at Lilith’s heartstrings. She stared at the
sky, listening to the rumble of Mitch’s voice between childish
squeals and giggles, splashes and noisy kisses. Lilith was well
aware of the wolfhound keeping a vigilant eye on her from the far
corner of the yard, but she’d figure out how to solve that problem
later.

For now, she savored the twinge of the
twilight capturing the azure of the sky and the silence descending
in the house behind her. It was still hot, still clear, and she
watched the first stars appear.

She heard Mitch’s footsteps in the kitchen
but didn’t turn around, smiling to herself as he came to her, once
more, in the twilight.

“
Could I interest you in
some sangria?” he asked. “House brew?”

Lilith cast that smile over her shoulder.
“That sounds nice.”

A moment later, Mitch joined her, two
glasses filled with ice in one hand and a pitcher filled with red
wine and bobbing fruit in the other. He sat down beside Lilith on
the top step, stretching out his long, tanned legs and leaning his
back against the pillar of the porch.

Lilith accepted a glass, he poured, and they
clinked glasses. “To new fences,” Mitch said.

“
And good neighbors,”
Lilith added. They shared a smile and Lilith sipped. The sangria
was cool and fruity, rich on her tongue. “It’s lovely. Very
refreshing.”

“
Hmmm. Just the thing after
a day of chasing dogs and kids.” Mitch swirled the drink around his
tongue, then nodded approval.

They sipped in companionable silence for
several relaxing moments. Lilith was quite certain there was
nowhere else she’d rather be. The faint calls of parents summoning
children carried through the air, there was a murmur of
conversation and the clink of glasses in the distance, the cicadas
were singing.