Laurie Paige - Wanted - One Son

She looked rather dazed at the change of subject.

“Well, how about the team? Make up your mind. I’m hungry. You want to go out to dinner?”

She shook her head. “I’ve got to pick Doogie up and go to the grocery. We have chores at home, the horses, the calves.” She waved her hand vaguely.

“Are you going to let him on the team?” He carefully kept any trace of impatience from his voice.

“I…yes, I suppose it’ll be all right. If he wants to.”

“He does.” He tipped a finger to his forehead and headed for the door. No use pushing his luck with her. He’d got what he’d come for. He knew when to leave.

Stephanie sat in the chair, gently rocking back and forth for a few minutes after Nick left. Her mind was on her son and the estrangement between them for the past month. He seemed to resent everything she said to him, no matter how trivial.

Maybe Nick was right. Being around boys his own age might be the very thing he needed. She would see how it went. If his attitude didn’t improve, it was back to Mrs. Withers with him.

After locking up, she drove the short distance to pick him up. He was sitting on the steps as usual. He sprang to his feet as soon as he saw her turn the corner and was ready to go when she stopped at the curb. Stephanie waved to Mrs. Withers and started off.

“I have some news,” she commented.

“What is it?”

“I, um, talked to Officer Dorelli this afternoon. We have agreed that you can join the soccer team. If you’re interested.”

“I am,” he said at once, as if afraid she’d change her mind if he didn’t jump on it. “You said it was okay?”

Stephanie nodded. “Yes. I thought it sounded like fun.”

“Yeah. He’s the best coach in the county. His team wins the playoffs nearly every year. When do I start?”

“He’s going to come by for you tomorrow. I’ll call Mrs. Withers when we get home and tell her you’ll stay with me.” She paused. “I thought you could help out at the store for a couple of hours each day. You volunteered to do the vacuuming and dusting.” She grinned. “The pay is minimal and you have to bank half your earnings.”

“I will,” he promised, a big grin on his face. Like his father’s, his smile made her heart ache.

At the house he changed his clothes and went to the barn without a reminder. She heard him whistling as he fed calves and mucked out stalls. She felt something curiously like envy. She wished life was as simple as a soccer game.

Maybe it was. Maybe she’d lost.

Nick feinted right, then went left. Doogie stayed with him. When Nick let the ball drift in front of him, the kid was on top of it. He stole it and headed back down the field toward his goal.

“Good,” Nick called. He glanced at his watch. Almost five. He’d been working with the boy for two hours. “You have sound moves. Good instincts, too.”

Doogie nodded modestly, his attention trained on Nick as if he were delivering the wisdom of the ages. It made a man humble to be around kids.

“I played at school last year,” Doogie explained.

“I’ll keep you on the bench tomorrow afternoon, but you can suit up with us if you’d like.”

“Sure.”

Nick saw Doogie’s ears go pink with pleasure. At the truck, he reached into the back, then tossed him a T-shirt with the team’s name and logo—a growling bear—on it.

Doogie held it up. “Wow, neat.”

“We usually wear black shorts, but anything will do. You got shin guards?”

“I’ll get some.”

“Okay. Let’s get some supper. We can pick something up and eat at the store. I’ll have your mom sign the necessary forms so you can play.”

“Sure. Uh, what position do you think I ought to play once I start?”

“I like to move my players around so we get depth. That way any player can fill in for another if we need ’em. Families tend to go on vacations in the summer, you know?”

“Yeah.”

Nick noticed the silence that ensued. Doogie was troubled about something. That was a fact.

He wondered what he would have done about the shoplifting episode if the boy had been his son. Would he have been as understanding as he was with another man’s kid?

Absolute honesty forced him to admit he might not have been as keenly observant if Stephanie wasn’t involved. He considered that idea for an unnerving moment. All right, he admitted it. He wanted her. He wondered if he was using the son as an excuse to see the mother.

Maybe he was, but there were other matters between them. The past, for one. The acute awareness for another. Maybe it was time to bury the hatchet and—and what?

With this in mind, he told Doogie they would pick up some supper and take it to Stephanie’s boutique.

“That would be great.”

He stopped at the Bear Tooth Saloon and bought pork barbecue sandwiches, curly french fries and, because Stephanie used to be a health freak, a big bowl of salad and one of fruit.

With a start, Nick realized he no longer knew her tastes, whereas once he’d known her as well as he’d known himself…or thought he had.

Doogie ran into the Main Street Market and picked up soft drinks, then Nick drove to the store on Main Street.

He waited at the back door while Doogie went through the front of the store and into the office to let him in. They spread out their feast. Doogie called his mom.

“Surprise. Dinner is served.”

Stephanie closed the register and glanced at her son with a questioning smile. He smiled back. His eyes gleamed with pleasure. His sunny nature had returned. She realized how much she had missed it.

“Dinner? Wow, I’m impressed,” she said as they walked to the back of the store. “I hope you remembered the jelly. I’m starved.”

His grin widened as she teased him about the dinner he’d planned and executed all by himself when he’d been four. She and Clay and Doogie had sat on the living room rug and eaten the meal, which consisted of peanut butter sandwiches, chocolate milk and two cookies each. Halfway through, he had remembered he hadn’t put any jelly on the sandwiches. He’d taken the remains to the kitchen and added the jelly before he let his parents finish. Remembering the jelly had become a family joke.

“Actually,” he told her as they entered the hallway, “Nick got everything.”

“Nick?” Her steps slowed. “Is he in the office?”

“Yeah.” Doogie’s expression became anxious. “Is that okay? I didn’t think you’d mind.”

What could she say? “Of course not. I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“He picked me up at Mrs. Withers today. We kicked some balls around at the field. He gave me the team shirt. I get to sit on the bench at the game tomorrow.”

Stephanie digested all this news. She felt danger closing in around her like a smothering fog. She couldn’t figure out the nervy way Nick made her feel.

Once he’d been the hero in her world, but that was long ago. Now…now he was just a man, a cop like her husband had been. Nothing special in that.

Except that lately he made her nervous. Since that kiss under the mistletoe, she’d felt off balance around him, and she didn’t like it. She kept remembering things she shouldn’t. She thought he was, too. His eyes, when he looked at her…

She paused to collect herself before entering the office after her son. The desk was covered with napkins acting as place mats. Paper plates held curly fries and sandwiches still in their wrappers. Bowls of salad and fruit completed the meal. Nick sat in a straight chair at the corner of her desk. The wing chair was pulled up to the other end.

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