Valerie Taylor - The World's Best Dad

His eyes met her own, and she felt a jolt of recognition, two adults sharing the knowledge that each found the other attractive. She bit back a smile. “And this is my daughter, Marisa.” She and Marisa grinned at each other, enjoying the word.

He leaned down to offer his hand to Marisa, who transferred her rapt attention from Joe to Ben. She smiled in delight. “Are you a daddy?”

Julie suppressed a sigh of anxiety. Clearing her throat, she nodded at Carla. “And, ah, this is my friend, Carla Hartshorn.”

Carla grinned at him, all teeth, and Julie stiffened in anticipation of something embarrassing. Carla didn’t disappoint. “So, you and your wife been in this neighborhood very long?”

Julie fought the urge to close her eyes in mortification. Leave it to Carla to go straight for the marital status.

His smile twitched as he reached for Carla’s hand, his expression acute but good-natured. Julie could see in his face that he understood the question completely, and when he switched his glance to her, she almost laughed at the awareness she saw there. She smiled, sharing the joke with him.

“We’ve been here five years, and we’ll probably be here forever. We like the neighborhood. But it’s just me and Joe.” The child at his side tugged on his arm, and he gave Julie a wry smile. “Which reminds me. The one with no clothes is Joe, the terror of the neighborhood. I’ll replace the sand in your sandbox and clean it tomorrow.”

He pulled his son around to face him and leaned over to look into the child’s eyes. “Apologize to Ms. Miles, and promise her you won’t do that again.”

“But I’m a cat!” Indignant exasperation.

His father took him by the chin. “Then you better learn to be a cat with manners, because cats without them end up staying in the house a lot. Apologize.” He released both chin and wrist and straightened, expectant.

Joe eyed Julie, then looked at the ground. “Sorry.”

“And?” His father’s tone was insistent. He wasn’t letting his son off that easy.

“And I won’t do it anymore.” But as he said it, Joe cast a calculating gaze toward the sandbox, as if trying to come up with some loophole.

Julie didn’t quite know what to say. She didn’t remember Marisa ever misbehaving like this, or shrieking at anyone, not in the four years she’d known her. Plus Julie was a little uncomfortable with the fact she was talking to an almost naked person, even if he was just a little boy. “Well, that’s okay, Joe. I’m pleased to meet you, and thank you for not…um, using the sandbox that way anymore.”

She cleared her throat and looked again at Ben. “Actually, I was just coming over to ask if I could borrow a phone.” She held up her dead cell phone. “Murphy’s Law.”

He nodded. “Be my guest. In fact, it’s a portable. Joe and I’ll go get it for you. No use you getting wet, too.”

Marisa, who’d been staring at Joe again, said, “Cats don’t like rain.”

Joe stopped struggling for a moment. Julie almost laughed at the expression on his face as he considered that pronouncement.

Ben hoisted Joe back up onto his hip. “I better take advantage of the temporary lull in motion while he works that one out. Just give me a couple minutes to get something warm on him, and we’ll be right back over.”

Julie thanked him, but he waved her off. “That’s what neighbors are for. Go back inside, get out of the weather.”

Throwing the small boy over his bare shoulder, he headed toward their house. Joe bounced up and down, hooting with glee as they crossed the yard in the drizzle.

Marisa went to investigate the sandbox. Julie bit back a smile as the little girl peered over the edge, then turned to look at the neighbor’s house, her face full of curiosity.

Carla breathed out. “Man, you have all the luck, moving in next door to that.”

“What, a small boy who’ll pee in my sandbox? Yup, I’ve got the luck of the Irish, all right.”

Carla laughed. “The father, silly. He’s quite the specimen. I wonder if he wanders around without his shirt all the time? I wonder if that’s all natural, or if he works out? Want me to find out for you?” She peered over at the darkened windows of the house next door, as if trying for a peek inside. “And he’s going to be living there for a while. Did you notice I found that out for you?”

Julie gave her a wry look. “I noticed. And that he’s single, too. And, no, please don’t find out anything else.”

“Subtlety was never my strong suit.” Carla grinned. “So shoot me.”

“He is pretty cute, isn’t he?” Julie pretended to peer at the windows, too. “You know, if I trimmed that hedge a bit, I bet we could sit on the patio at night and, well, see what’s what.”

“Voyeurs R Us.” Carla kept her face straight. “I like it. We could probably sell tickets.”

They both jumped when a light appeared in one of the windows. When Ben followed his son into what was obviously the child’s bedroom, Julie gave a guilty laugh. “Guess I don’t need to trim the hedges after all.” She called Marisa, and they turned to go into the house.

The big mover was poking his head into the kitchen when Julie stepped in from the patio. “Oh, there you are, lady. Come here, I think you better look at this.”

Julie’s heart sank as she followed him upstairs, trailed by Marisa. What now?

Upstairs, in the bedroom that was supposed to be Julie’s, the mover opened the closet door. The floor was covered with water, which had splashed onto the walls.

Julie looked up at the ceiling of the closet at a large, dark stain. As they watched, a drop of water formed and fell to puddle on the floor, splashing the walls.

Marisa looked at the wet spot, then up at Julie. “If we had a daddy, I bet he could fix it.”

BEN KNELT ON THE FLOOR in front of Joe’s bed and hustled the now-shivering child into a sweatshirt and sweatpants. Joe’s feet were clammy as he slid socks over them. “Weren’t you cold out there?”

“N-no!” Joe shook his head, stubborn. “Cats aren’t cold outside. Cats are cold inside, though.”

Ben bit back a laugh and gathered the child into his arms, rubbing him to warm him. He held him close for a moment, enjoying the feel of the small body in his arms. How much longer would Joe let his father cuddle him close? Ben felt a pang of yearning, part of him wishing he could keep Joe four years old forever. Nuzzling his neck and making snarfing noises, Ben carried Joe to the living room, grabbing the portable phone on his way out the front door.

The two of them stepped under the front porch overhang at the new neighbors’. The front door was off the hinges, so Ben called in through the open doorway, “Telephone man.”

Julie came around the corner, her red and white sweater setting off the flush of her face—not to mention hugging her curves. The faded jeans didn’t say anything bad about her, either. She smiled at him, her lips parting in a fascinating way. The little girl, Marisa, followed right behind her, almost clinging to her side.

He held up the phone. “It should be all charged up, and at this distance you shouldn’t have any trouble. But if you do, I can bring over the charger.”

She shook her head. “Won’t do any good. No electricity.”

Marisa tugged on Julie’s arm. “It’s ’cause we don’t have a daddy. A daddy could turn the lights on.”

Ben watched Julie bite her lip and sympathized. Joe was almost as good as Maggie at making Ben aware of all that he was not. He smiled at Marisa. “I thought you people just liked having the lights out.”

Marisa laughed, and as he watched, Julie relaxed ever so slightly. “It was supposed to be turned on, but they still haven’t gotten to it. That was one of the things we needed the phone for.” She glanced over her shoulder as Carla walked into the room from the kitchen. “I was going to sic Carla on them.”