Hart, Catherine

by Impulsive

  Jess was dumbfounded.

  From the rear seat, Josh, who had been hanging on his dad's every word, piped up with another revelation. "Mom gots some new stuff from the doctor now, Dad."

  "What kind of new stuff?" Ty prompted.

  "Eye colors, and lipstick that don't come off like before. But she sure did look funny for a while, after she had it put on. Her lips was real big, and she had two big black eyes. Then they turned purkle, an' green, an' yellow, like rainbows."

  By now, Jess was holding her hand over her mouth to hide an ear-to-ear grin. Ty didn't bother trying to hold back. "Ah, the miracles of modern science! Isn't it grand? Reminds me of that old song Granddad James used to sing."

  "What song, Dad?"

  "Well, it went like this." Ty began to sing. "After the ball was over, she took out her glass eye. Put her false teeth in salt water, and hung up her wig to dry."

  Josh clapped enthusiastically. "Do it again, Dad!"

  "Only if you two sing along with me."

  With the convertible top down, they cruised down the highway—the three of them happily serenading anyone within earshot.

  CHAPTER 9

  Given his choice, Josh opted for lunch at McDonald's and an afternoon at the zoo.

  "But we went to the zoo last time," Ty reminded him. "Wouldn't you rather go to the Children's Museum? It's air-conditioned."

  "But, Dad, I wanna ride the elepunt an' the camel again."

  "Me, too," Jess whined, sticking her lower lip out like a pouty child.

  "Oh, no! Not only am I outvoted, but now I have two snivelers to put up with!" Ty complained mockingly. "Okay. You win. The zoo it is. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll draft both of you for the chimp exhibit."

  It was a delightful afternoon, despite the heat. Bright, breezy, and not unbearably humid. Jess had the time of her life, trailing along with Ty and Josh. It helped that Josh was so pleasant, and surprisingly accepting of Jess. As for her, she couldn't help but compare the five-year-old to his father. With their dark, denim blue eyes, blond hair, twin stubborn chins, and winning smiles, they looked like carbon copies of each other at different ages. Josh even had similar mannerisms: his slightly strutting walk, certain inflections in his speech, and a habit of tugging at his left earlobe, as Ty was prone to do. In no time flat, Josh had Jess's heart wrapped around his little finger.

  Berating herself for not thinking to pack her camera, Jess splurged on one of the disposable kind, exorbitantly priced at the zoo's gift shop. "I just have to get some pictures of you two together," she told them.

  "We'll probably break your camera," Ty warned her. "Especially since it's so cheap, regardless of the ridiculous sum you paid for it."

  Despite his disclaimer, the camera held up fine, and Ty and Josh were thrilled to pose for her. Actually, they were a pair of hams, intent on seeing who could make the funniest faces, noises, and imitations of the animals. They passed the camera around, Ty taking a few shots of her and Josh, Josh snapping a couple of Jess and Ty. They even got a bystander to take one of the three of them together.

  They stuffed themselves with popcorn, peanuts, and soda pop, though most of their munchies went to feed the animals. They rode the sight-seeing train, the antique carousel, the camels and the elephants. By the time they trooped wearily through the exit gate, the adults were as tired as Josh, or more so. But Jess didn't care. She would have turned right around and done it all again, because despite her aching feet, she couldn't remember when she'd had so much fun.

  "What do you say we take a breather, go check in at the hotel and give Josh a chance to catch a quick nap, get cleaned up, and go out to supper afterward?" Ty suggested.

  "Sounds great to me," Jess agreed.

  "No nap, Daddy," Josh protested testily. "I'm not a baby."

  Discounting his claim, Josh was sound asleep in the backseat of the car before they got out of the zoo parking lot. He didn't even wake when Ty plucked him from the car and carried him into the hotel. "Just get your own bag if you need it now," Ty told Jess. "I'll have one of the bell boys collect mine and Josh's after we check in."

  The team manager had reserved rooms for the players and coaches. As usual, Ty was paired with Gabe.

  "Does Gabe mind Josh sharing the room?" Jess questioned.

  "Nah, he and Josh are good buddies. Sometimes Josh even sleeps with him, instead of me. Then there are times when Corey comes to the games and she and Gabe get a room of their own."

  "She's on a photo shoot this weekend, isn't she?"

  Ty nodded. "For another week yet. In the meantime, Gabe is back to baching it."

  "When we get back to Columbus, why don't you and Gabe come by my house one night for dinner?" Jess offered. "I know you didn't win our bet, but I suppose I could break down and make you a home-cooked meal, anyway."

  "Great! I was hoping to weasel at least one out of you."

  When the desk clerk checked the roster, Jess was disgruntled to find that the team manager had put her in a room with three of the cheerleaders. "Do you have anything else?" she asked the man. "A single room, on any floor, would do. Naturally, I'll pay for it myself."

  "Sorry, miss. With the game and two conventions going on, we're booked solid."

  Ty glanced at the register himself. "It'll work out, Jess. They've got you rooming with Destiny, Jazz, and Pepper. They're all nice. Now, it would be another story altogether if they'd put you in with Bambi. One of you would probably come away bald, and from where I stand, I'd put my money on you keeping your hair."

  Jess sighed, and accepted the room key the clerk handed her. "I suppose you're right. They did seem fairly personable when I met them before. It's just that I'm not used to sharing quarters with other women. I haven't had to do that since college."

  "Think of it as a pajama party. Isn't that what they called them, back when my sisters used to have a horde of giggling girls sleep over?"

  "Yes, but I never thought I'd see the day when I would attend one of those goofy gatherings."

  Ty, still carrying his slumbering son, ushered Jess ahead of him into the waiting elevator. "What? Didn't you go to scads of those things in your teen years? I thought all girls did that."

  "Not me," Jess informed him with a shake of her head. "I wasn't all that popular in high school, and I didn't date much. Therefore, I didn't really fit in with most of the other girls, when all they could talk about were boys, clothes, who was going steady with whom, et cetera."

  "Oh, well, you probably didn't miss much," Ty said. "It all seemed pretty silly to me, even from a distance. When Karlie, Cheryl, or Lynn threw one of those shebangs, I was exiled to a pup tent in the backyard or shuttled over to my best friend's house for the night."

  "Good grief, that's right. You did put down on that questionnaire that you had three sisters. Two older, and one younger than you, if I recall correctly. And no brothers, to help even the odds?"

  "Nary a one. Just me and Dad against four females. The worst of it was trying to get some time in the one and only bathroom. Dad finally tacked a schedule on the bathroom door. Not that they abided by it too faithfully, but at least it gave us guys some small chance at the shower and toothpaste."

  "About the same chance I'm going to have rooming in with three other women," Jess surmised. "Which means I'd better hustle if I want to wash this cotton candy out of my hair."

  The elevator stopped on her floor first. She was out and in the hall before she thought to ask, "When and where should I meet you?"

  Ty stuck his foot out to hold the door open long enough to call back, "Six-thirty. In the lobby. Don't wear anything too fancy. Unless I miss my guess, we'll be dining on pizza at the Mouse House."

  Jess lucked out. Pepper was the only one who had checked into their room before her. She was sitting on one of the two queen-size beds, painting her toenails. "Oh, hi, Jess. I was beginning to wonder if my deodorant was failing and everyone was avoiding me."

  "Hi, Pepper. Where are our other two roomies?"
r />   "Out shopping. They barely took time to drop their bags off at the desk before hailing a cab."

  "Didn't you want to go with them?"

  "If you'd ever been shopping with Destiny, you wouldn't ask such a dumb question," Pepper replied with an exaggerated shudder. "That girl has an incredible knack for finding the most bizarre boutiques. You know, those little holes-in-the-wall stocked full of old sixties styles that look like they're straight out of a 'Brady Bunch' rerun. Bell-bottoms, beads, headbands, you name it. Weirdest stuff I've ever seen. Personally, I wouldn't be caught dead wearing any of it."

  Jess laughed. "Sounds really 'far out.' "

  Pepper returned her grin. "Almost as spacey as Destiny."

  Jess plopped her suitcase on the empty bed. "Are you going to need the bathroom, or can I monopolize it for about half an hour? I've been to the zoo with Ty and his son, and I'm in sad need of a quick shower."

  "Go ahead. But don't lock the door, okay? I'll try to run interference for you, but like as not Jazz will dash in here about to wet her pants. I swear that gal's got the weakest bladder in the world."

  Jess had gathered her clean clothes and her shampoo and was halfway to the bathroom when she thought to ask, "By the way, Pepper, what do you know about a restaurant called the Mouse House? Ty said that's where we were going tonight."

  Pepper's eyes went wide and began to sparkle. Then her lusty laugh broke forth. "Maybe you ought to put off that shower until you get back. You'll probably need another one, anyway. The Mouse House is one of those kids' places, where they have video games, and all sorts of other hyper-activities for children. Mostly designed with breaking the sound barrier in mind, I think. They also serve a variety of ultrafattening junk food."

  She went on to add, "If you're extremely nimble, you'll make it past all those screaming, jumping kids, and the obstacle course of horn-honking clowns and midgets dressed up as cartoon characters, without wearing your meal all over the front of you. Don't quote me on this, but I think they award the kids with free tokens for every adult they bowl over. And if you haven't got ear plugs, for God's sake find someplace to buy a pair beforehand, or I can promise you'll be deaf for hours afterward."

  Jess grimaced. "Oh, yippee, skippy! And me without my raincoat. That would have provided some protection, at least."

  "I've got a dry-cleaning bag you can wear, instead," Pepper offered gleefully.

  "Don't laugh," Jess responded wryly. "I just may take you up on that."

  The Mouse House was a far cry from Jess's idea of the dream date, but it wasn't as awful as Pepper had portrayed it, either. Her major mistake had been wearing her cream-colored jeans instead of her blue ones. They were now finger-painted with pizza sauce, bearing the imprint of Josh's small hands after he'd excitedly grabbed her without first wiping his hands clean.

  Immediately after it had happened, Ty apologized profusely. "I'm sorry, Jess. He just gets so carried away sometimes that he forgets to be careful."

  "No harm done," Jess told him, not wanting Josh to get into trouble over one little accident. "It'll wash out, and if it doesn't, it's no great tragedy. I'll just say it's the latest in designer jeans."

  She didn't realize her mistake until Ty instructed her to stand up. He did likewise, coming around to her side of the table. "Turn to face me, and hold still." With no more warning than that, he stepped close, put his arms around her, and planted his hands firmly on the seat of her pants. Then he swung her around to view the result of his "handiwork."

  "Perfect!" he gloated. "The only thing better would be two more handprints to match, on the front of your blouse, but that will have to wait until later. Not here, in front of the kids," he added in a staged whisper.

  Jess couldn't turn her head far enough to see her own behind, but she didn't doubt she now wore matching imprints of Ty's hands on the rear of her jeans. "Ty!" she exclaimed. "You idiot! Do you know what that is going to look like to everyone?"

  He chuckled. "Like I've been copping a feel?"

  She whirled to face him, torn between laughter and exasperation. "Precisely. You might just as well have autographed the darned thing!"

  His eyes lit up. "Great idea. Let's do it." He reached for his pen, but she swatted his hand away.

  "Don't you dare!" she hissed, though her intended scowl emerged as a smile. "There are impressionable children here, including your own very attentive son, who is going to go home and give his mommy a blow-by-blow description of everything that went on this weekend."

  Ty resumed his seat, his face still alive with mischief. "Spoilsport!"

  Privately, Jess wished they had been somewhere else, alone, and he could have signed his name to her jeans. As it was, she was tempted never to wash them again, unless she could be sure of setting the stain in for all time.

  Later, Ty apologized again, not for the pizza prints on her jeans, but that they couldn't have gone somewhere nicer to eat, like a supper club, maybe one of the local comedy clubs, or out dancing.

  "I really didn't mind," she told him sincerely. "After all, this is your time to spend with Josh. I'm the one who's intruding, but I'm glad you invited me along because I had a lot of fun."

  "So did I," he said. In deference to his son's presence, he gave her a peck on the cheek. "Good night, Jess."

  Josh raised his head from Ty's shoulder, giving her a sleepy smile. " 'Night, Jess," he echoed. "Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

  Jess laughed and reached out to ruffle his blond locks. "You, too, tiger. See you in the funny papers."

  After breakfast the next day, the Knights had a light practice at the RCA Dome, what amounted to an early warm-up for the game. Remembering her promise to Ty, Jess let Josh watch as she gave Alan a few last-minute pointers. Then, to the boy's delight, she let Josh kick a few balls, and gave him a short lesson on some simple soccer maneuvers. Josh was elated, so excited that he could barely eat his lunch, which he did with the entire Knights' team.

  The game, which was to be televised, was scheduled for a one o'clock kickoff. Jess was disappointed that she and Josh couldn't sit together; but she had to be on the sidelines with the other coaches, and Josh wasn't allowed to stay there. Aware of this, Ty had already arranged for Josh to sit in the reserved section with Lisa Harvey and her children.

  The Colts had the home-ground, home-crowd advantage from the start, though many Knights fans had driven the relatively short distance to Indianapolis in support of their new team.

  "I'd really like to win this one," Ty told Jess. "Not only for the Knights, but for Josh. But it's going to be a hard row to hoe, since many of the Colts are guys I used to play with. They know my style, my favorite moves, which will make it twice as difficult to surprise them."

  His prediction proved true. Though Ty and his teammates did their best, the Colts were reading many of the plays and held the Knights to two scores. Fortunately, Alan made both points-after, but at the half the Colts were leading by two touchdowns. The down-hearted Knights followed their coaches, Jess included, into the locker room for the traditional halftime pep talk.

  "Things aren't looking real good out there, fellas," Danvers said. "I know you're doing your best, but you've got to dig deeper if we're going to pull ourselves out of this hole." He listed a couple of changes he thought would help, matching his players against different opponents. "Ty, since the Colts are evidently so familiar with your technique, I'm thinking of putting Jack in at the start of the second half. Sort of mix it up more. We've got to get them off our scent, so to speak."

  Though Ty hated to admit it, Danvers was right. "I understand, Coach, but I'd still like to keep my hand in. If we alternate sporadically between Jack and me, it might confuse their defense even more."

  Danvers nodded. "I like that, James. It just might work."

  They returned to the game, their deflated spirits somewhat renewed. Jack Hays took over as quarterback for the first possession, with a revised offensive line. The baffled Colts' defense, not expecting such
a drastic change in the lineup, faltered. Several downs and mixed running plays later, the Knights were finally on their opponents' forty-five-yard line. From there, Hays, not noted for successful long passes, made a short shovel-pass to Tornado Jones. Like the whirlwind he was nicknamed for, Tara's hubby made straight for the end zone, outrunning three Colts to get there. Then, Alan, unable to handle the pressure, missed the crucial kick.

  Jess nearly bawled. Damn! A conversion kick, straight in and short, and Alan had to miss the blasted thing! Josh could have made it from there! Well, not really, but after making the first two Jess was hoping for a third. Obviously, she was going to have to work harder with him.

  Fortunately, the realigned defense held the Colts from another score. Hays loped back onto the field, confident and cocky. Impossibly, the Colts were already onto him and the Knights' new offense, almost as if they were plucking the plays straight out of Jack's head. It was a fast one, two, three, and punt.

  Again, the defense managed to hold the Colts, and Ty ran onto the field to lead his offense once more.

  It was right about then that Jess's headset, which all the Knights' coaches were required to wear, went on the fritz. Suddenly, she was listening to the television broadcast of the game, though that should have been impossible. She heard the announcers talking, about Ty, evidently.

  "When he's on his toes, James can really drill it. I've seen him shoot some real zingers, straight from the pocket, for the score."

  A second speaker agreed. "He's got great hands, and he can fake-pump with the best of them, but he's got to have better protection."

  The first man again, "I agree. He's got some good moves, but he's got to avoid the sack. At least he doesn't fumble the play very often."