Marie Ferrarella - Mother in Training

Or, more accurately, a monologue. She’d talked and he’d listened. Or appeared to. After about a week of relative silence on his part, Jack finally offered more than single-word responses to her questions.

Given something to work with, she let her questions grow lengthier and progressively more personal than just inquiries about how he liked the weather, the Mets, his muffin. Week number two had actually seen the beginnings of a smile on his lips. That was when her heart had fluttered for the first time. That was also when she’d almost spilled coffee on his lap instead of into his cup.

She began to look forward to Jack’s daily stops at the shop. A couple of times, he put in more than one appearance, dropping by around lunchtime the two days he was in the area because of a case. The county courthouse was only two blocks away.

He was a creature of habit as much as she was a free spirit. And he always, always came into the shop around the same time. Eight-thirty. It was almost nine now.

“Maybe Mr. Big Shot’s cheating on you with another coffee shop,” Milo said, chuckling into his two chins as he changed the industrial-size filter for the large steel coffee urn. Steam hissed, sending up a cloud of vapor as he removed the old filter.

Milo had caught her looking again, she realized, averting her eyes from the door and back to the sugar container in her hand. Zooey shrugged, her thin shoulders moving beneath the stiff, scratchy white cotton uniform. It chafed her neck a little.

She saw no point in pretending she didn’t know what her boss was talking about. “Maybe he took a vacation day.”

“Or maybe his wife did,” Milo commented.

Zooey was about to tell the man that Jack was a widower. It was the latest bit of personal information he’d shared with her. Eighteen months ago, his wife had been killed in a hit-and-run car accident, leaving him with two small children to raise: a girl, Emily, who was about seven now, and a little boy, Jack Jr., still in diapers. The boy was almost two.

But the information never reached her lips. Milo was nodding toward the door.

Zooey turned around in time to see Jack Lever walking in. He was herding a little girl before him, while holding tightly on to a boy who looked as if he was ready to explode in three different directions at once. Jack was also trying to hang on to his briefcase.

Zooey’s heart went out to him immediately. The man was obviously struggling, and while she would have bet even money that Jack Lever was a formidable opponent on the courtroom floor, he looked as if he was in over his head at the moment.

Kids did that to you, she thought. She had a younger brother who’d been a pistol when he was around Jack Jr.’s age.

Abandoning the sugar dispenser, Zooey made her way over to Jack and his lively crew. She flashed her brightest smile at him, the one her father had once said could melt the frown off Satan.

“Hi. Table for three?” she asked, her glance sweeping over the two children before returning to Jack.

“More like a cage for two,” he murmured wearily under his breath.

Zooey’s eyes met his. He would have looked more refreshed wrestling alligators. “Tough morning?”

He gazed at her as if he thought she had a gift for severe understatement. “You might say that.” Jackie tried to dart under a table, but Jack held fast, pulling him back. “My nanny quit.”

“You don’t have a nanny, Daddy.” Emily giggled shyly, covering her small, pink mouth with both hands.

The sigh that escaped his lips measured 5.1 on the Richter scale. “And as of seven this morning, neither do you.”

Zooey deliberately led the three to a booth, feeling that the enclosed space might make it easier for Jack to restrict the movements of his children. Just before she turned to indicate that they should take a seat, she grabbed hold of two booster seats stacked in the corner and slid one on each side of the table. Then, because Jack seemed to be having more trouble with the boy, she took him by the waist and lifted him in the air.

“Up you go, young man.”

Because she added a little bounce to the descent, Jack Jr. laughed gleefully, his eyes lighting up. He clapped his hands together. “Again,” he cried.

Zooey winked at him, leaning over to make sure that he was securely seated. “Maybe when you leave.”

The little girl was tugging on the short apron Zooey wore. When she looked at her quizzically, Emily said shyly, “You’re pretty.”

Straightening, Zooey beamed. “Well, thank you, honey.”

The smile on Emily’s lips faded just a little as sadness set in. “My mommy was pretty, too,” she added quietly.

Poor baby, Zooey couldn’t help thinking. She deliberately avoided looking at Jack, feeling that the moment had to be awkward for him.

“She would have had to have been,” Zooey told her, running a hand over the girl’s vivid blond hair. “Because you are.”

Jack saw his daughter all but sparkle in response.

It suddenly hit him. For the first time since they’d opened their eyes this morning, his children were quiet. Both of them. At the same time.

Stunned, he looked at the young woman he’d been exchanging conversation with for the last six weeks, seeing her in a brand-new light. That of a sorceress. “How did you do that?”

Looking up from the children, Zooey smiled at him beatifically. “Do what?”

“Get them to quiet down like that. They’ve been making noise nonstop all morning.” Even Emily, whom he could usually count on to behave herself in his company, had been more than a handful today. When it rained…

The waitress’s green eyes were smiling as she looked at the two children again. “Maybe they’re just worn-out,” she suggested modestly.

The truth of it was she had a way with kids. She always had, having gotten her training early in life while learning to keep her brothers and sisters in line. The fact that it had resembled more of a conga line than anything drawn using a straight edge was the secret of her success.

Zooey raised her eyes to Jack’s. He was, after all, the customer. And undoubtedly running late. “The usual?” she asked.

It took him a second to get his mind in gear. And then he nodded. “Yes, sure.”

Emily cocked her head, trying to understand. “What’s the usual, Daddy?”

“Coffee and a blueberry muffin,” Zooey answered before he had the chance. The little girl made a face. Zooey laughed. “How does hot chocolate with marshmallows bobbing up and down sound to you?”

The grimace vanished instantly, replaced by a wide grin. “Good!” Emily enthused.

“Messy,” Jack countered.

“The nice thing about messy,” Zooey told him, giving the towel hooked on her belt a tug, “is it can always be cleaned up.” And then she looked from one child to the other. “But you guys aren’t going to be messy, are you?”

Emily shook her head solemnly from side to side. Watching her, Jack Jr. imitated the movement.

Zooey nodded, trying hard to match the children’s solemnity. “I didn’t think so. By the way, my name’s Zooey.” She held her hand out to Emily.

The little girl stared at it, stunned, before finally putting her own hand into it. “Emily,” she said with the kind of pride and awe a child felt when she suddenly realized she was being treated like an adult.

“Jackie,” the little boy announced loudly, sticking his hand out as if he was gleefully poking a snake with a stick.

Zooey shook the little boy’s hand and never let on that the simple gesture made her own hand sticky. Without missing a beat, she took her towel and wiped off his fingers.

“Pleased to meet you, Jackie. You, too, Emily. I’ll be right back with your hot chocolates,” she promised, backing away. “And the usual,” she added, looking at Jack before she turned on her heel to hurry to the kitchen.