The Man Upstairs (You, Me & The Kids)

by Pamela Bauer

  Dena turned and saw that Sara had come out of the house. “Over to Katie’s,” she called back. “You said I could go over there to do my homework.”

  “Okay, but be back by nine.”

  Sara gave him a defiant look but didn’t protest.

  When Quinn gave Dena his attention again, she said, “You sound an awful lot like a father.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah. By the time I have kids of my own I’ll be an old hand at this.”

  Kids of his own. Months ago they’d both agreed that children were possibilities of the future, not probabilities. Now she wondered if he wasn’t regarding them as the latter.

  Before either of them had said another word, Leonie came running out of the house looking as if she’d burst with excitement.

  “I have news!” she called out.

  “It must be good. Your smile could light up the whole city,” Quinn said to her.

  “Oh, it is good!” she said, bubbling over with happiness. “I just talked to Maddie and Dylan on the phone. They told me I’m going to be a grandma for the second time.”

  Quinn gave Leonie a hug. “So there’s going to be another Donovan for you to spoil. Congratulations. That Dylan didn’t waste any time, did he?” he said with a grin.

  “I suspect Maddie had something to do with it, don’t you?” she said with a wink.

  Dena knew she had to say something. “That’s wonderful news, Leonie. I’m very happy for you.”

  “It is wonderful, isn’t it,” she said, a note of wonder in her voice. “Maybe this time I’ll finally get a little girl.”

  “Hey, boys are nice, too,” Quinn teased. “They wash your cars for you,” he said, nodding toward Kevin, who was hard at work scrubbing the tires on the SUV.

  “So what do you think of Maddie and Dylan’s news?” Quinn asked when Leonie had gone back inside.

  “I think it’s nice,” Dena answered. “Maddie will make a good mother.”

  “If Dylan’s anything at all like Shane, he’ll make a good dad, too,” he noted.

  Dena shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation had taken. She worried that Quinn would ask her again how she felt about children.

  “I’d better go inside,” she said, glancing toward the house.

  He lifted a hand to her cheek and tenderly pushed back an errant curl that had escaped from the leather slide holding the rest of her hair at the back of her neck. “Yeah. You look done in. I was going to ask you if you wanted to go out tonight, but I can see you’re exhausted.”

  She nodded. “I am tired.”

  “Before you go, I want to ask you something.”

  “Sure,” she said with a shrug.

  “I asked one of my sisters if she’d take Sara and Kevin on Saturday night.” He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that Kevin was squirting the car with the hose. “Hey—watch where you’re spraying that thing. Leonie doesn’t need her car washed, too,” he told him.

  As Quinn bent to show Kevin how to hold the hose, she again thought how easy it had been for him to slip into the role of father. With his usual patience, he explained to the seven-year-old the right and wrong way to rinse off the car.

  When he was done, he turned back to Dena. “Sorry about that. Where were we?”

  “You said your sister was taking the kids on Saturday?” she reminded him.

  He grinned. “Ah, yes. How could I forget? A friend of mine has this lake cabin near Brainerd. He gave me the keys and told me to feel free to use the place anytime this month because he’s going to be in Europe. What do you think? Feel like running off to a deserted island with me?”

  When he looked at her with that tender smile on his face, he could get her to do just about anything. “How deserted is it?” she asked.

  “It’s going to be nothing like the camping weekend,” he was quick to point out. “No cooking outdoors, no hauling water to do the dishes, no hiking to the showers.” Then he leaned close and said in a low voice. “No kids sleeping between us.”

  “Sounds like my kind of getaway,” she said on a sigh.

  “I know it’s mine.” His gaze flicked to Kevin and back. “There’s only one way onto the island, and that’s by boat. There are lots of pine trees, a beautiful beach where we can watch the sun set.”

  The picture he painted was a tempting one, yet she hesitated. She’d decided to see less of him, not put herself in a position where she’d only fall more deeply in love. “I’d like to say yes, but…”

  He reached for her hand. “Will you come if I say I’ll let you bring a laptop?”

  “I don’t have a laptop.”

  “Then I’ll buy you one.”

  Her eyes widened. “I can’t let you buy me a laptop.”

  “Then say you’ll come with me without one, because one way or another, I’m getting you to that island cabin,” he warned her with a devilish glint in his eye.

  When he brought her hand to his lips and placed a kiss in the palm, she knew she wasn’t going to turn him down.

  “All right. I’d love to go with you.”

  IT WAS A TWENTY-FOUR HOUR fantasy for Dena. Their time at the cabin couldn’t have been more romantic. There was no talk of children, no worrying about what the rest of the world was doing while they pretended to be the only two people on the planet.

  The only exploring they did was of each other’s minds and bodies. They drank wine in front of a fire, swam naked in the moonlight and slept until the sun was already high in the sky. Being with Quinn made Dena think that once the children were gone from their lives, everything would once more be as it was before that last hockey game of the season.

  “You’re smiling,” he observed as they drove back to the city.

  She sat with head back, her eyes shut. “Hmm. I’m languishing in contentment.”

  He reached across and took her hand in his. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “You should.” She sighed. “I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed twenty-four hours more.”

  He brought her knuckles to his lips. “I feel the same way. I mean, I knew when I planned this thing it was going to be great, but it went way beyond my wildest expectations.”

  She giggled. “Makes me want to buy an island.”

  “I have the place for the rest of the month,” he reminded her.

  “Ah, don’t tempt me.”

  “We’ll go next weekend.”

  “No can do. I have work.”

  He groaned. “You work too much.”

  “Don’t you?”

  He didn’t answer immediately, and she realized that he was changing. At one time he never would have chastised her for working on a weekend. He was changing, and it made her nervous.

  “You’re not going to work the weekend after the next one, are you?”

  “Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?”

  “You mean besides being with me?” he asked with a grin. “Yeah, it’s Father’s Day. You don’t talk about your dad very much.”

  “There’s not much to talk about. He lives in Iowa. Works at a bank.” She didn’t add that the reason she seldom went home was because he’d always made her feel as if she’d never lived up to his expectations. “I don’t know much about your father, either,” she pointed out, wanting to take the focus off of her dad.

  “He’s a good guy. He’s a pipe fitter. I think you’re going to like him.”

  Which meant he intended for her to meet him soon.

  “If you come with me when I pick up the kids, we can stop in and say hello to him and my mom. My sister just lives a couple of blocks away.”

  Again she felt as if he was pushing her to do something she wasn’t quite ready to do. “I would, but I really need to do some work this evening.” When he groaned again, she added, “This isn’t the off-season for me.”

  “Guess that means I can’t get you to take a couple of days off during the week and sneak away with me then, either?”

  “No,
and I’m surprised you’re not working. I thought you said you had training during the off-season.”

  “Not this year,” he told her.

  “Because of the kids,” she deduced.

  “No, because of me.” As they approached a wayside rest sign, he said, “I could use something cold to drink. What about you?”

  “If you want to stop it’s okay with me.”

  He pulled off the highway and into the small parking area. It was a small rest stop compared to the ones found on the interstate. No building housing travelers’ information, no vending machines with snacks and soft drinks. There were several picnic tables, all of them in the shade and all of them empty.

  “Guess we’ll have to settle for a cold drink of water,” he said, eyeing the stone fountain.

  “That’s fine.” She looked around as he took a drink. “It’s quiet here. You wouldn’t know the highway’s right on the other side of those trees.”

  He nodded. “Not a bad place if you want to stop for a picnic lunch while on your journey.” He turned his head. “There must be running water somewhere. I can hear it.”

  “Maybe there’s a creek,” she said, nodding toward the copse of trees.

  “Want to find out?” he asked.

  “Sure.”

  He led her by the hand along a narrow dirt path, pushing aside overhanging branches so that they wouldn’t brush against her. They hadn’t gone far when they saw the brook. A footbridge stretched across it at the point where the water fell over a small damn of rocks.

  Dena ran up onto the wooden bridge. “Isn’t this quaint? I bet people don’t even realize this is here.” She took off her sandals and dangled her feet over the side so they could splash in the water.

  “You look at home,” Quinn said as he stood staring at her.

  “This feels good. Come join me,” she urged him, patting the wooden planks beside her.

  He did as she requested, dipping his toes into the rippling water. “I feel like a kid.”

  “That’s the way you’re supposed to feel,” she told him, her feet splashing about in the creek. “Sometimes you have to think like a kid to experience the simple pleasures in life.”

  He smiled at her then and said, “You’re my kind of woman, Dena Bailey.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” she answered.

  “Am I your kind of man?” he asked, his face now serious.

  “You need to ask that after what happened at the cottage?” That brought the smile back to his face.

  She leaned back until she was lying down staring up at the canopy of leaves filtering the June sun. “I wish I had my sketch pad right now. I love the way the sunlight plays through the leaves.”

  He stretched out beside her, staring up at the sky.

  “See what I mean? Isn’t that just the most incredible pattern?” she asked him, her finger pointing overhead.

  He agreed, then said, “So you do love the outdoors as much as I do.”

  “Almost as much,” she added.

  They remained there on their backs, looking up at the sky while their feet dangled in the creek. They didn’t talk because they didn’t need to. They were simply enjoying the moment. The silence, however, was broken by giggling. Both Dena and Quinn pushed themselves up on their elbows to see that another couple had found their idyllic spot.

  They stood, arms entwined, looking a bit embarrassed that they’d interrupted Dena and Quinn.

  “We’re sorry,” the girl said, clinging to her boyfriend as if he were a lifeline. “We didn’t mean to intrude.”

  “It’s all right,” Dena said, sitting upright. “We have to go soon anyway.”

  As she and Quinn pulled their feet from the creek and reached for their shoes, the young man said, “Are you…do you play for the Cougars?” He had asked hesitantly, as if suddenly embarrassed to have brought up the fact that he’d recognized Quinn.

  Dena was the one who said proudly, “Yes, he does. He’s Quinn Sterling.”

  The young man stumbled in his haste to get across the footbridge to shake Quinn’s hand. Dena watched as he reached into his pocket, pulled out a receipt from a gas station and asked for an autograph. Quinn obliged him, talking with the young couple for a short while.

  As he led Dena back to the car, he said, “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be sorry. I thought it was sweet the way he fussed over you.”

  “Sweet?” He made a face.

  “Well, maybe not sweet, but I did enjoy it. I was the one who confirmed his suspicions that you were a Cougar.”

  “Yeah, and I have to admit I’m a bit surprised. When we first met you didn’t even want to date me because I was a professional hockey player,” he reminded her.

  “I know, but I’ve gotten used to it. In fact, there are times I think it’s rather cool to be seen with a Minnesota Cougar.” She gave him a quick kiss.

  “How about being seen with a former Minnesota Cougar? Would that be just as cool?”

  “You’re not going to be traded again, are you?” She stopped dead in her tracks, her heart missing a beat at the thought.

  He stopped, too. “No, I haven’t been traded.”

  She exhaled a long sigh. “Thank goodness. There are a lot of people in Minnesota who will be as happy as I am to hear that.” She started walking again and he joined in step with her.

  “I doubt there will be any more trades in my future.”

  “Management’s wised up, then?”

  “No, I did.”

  She chuckled. “I’m not following you.”

  “It’s kind of difficult to trade someone who’s retired.”

  Again she stopped. “Retired?”

  “I’ve been thinking it might be time for me to let the younger guys get some of the spotlight.”

  “You’re only thirty-one!”

  He smiled. “I’m one of the older guys on my team.”

  “And one of the best.”

  “I’ve always believed an athlete should go out at the top of his game.”

  She stared at him in disbelief. “But you love hockey.”

  “And I always will, but I’m losing some of the passion I need to be a player in the NHL. I’m tired of being on the road, of missing out on family events, of missing out on relationships. It’s a grueling schedule. Most people only see the glory of being a professional athlete, but it’s not an easy life. You’ve seen what it’s done to my body.”

  She had seen what injuries had done to him, still, she countered, “But you’re so good!”

  “It’s not enough to be good.”

  “Just a few weeks ago you told me that as long as you could play the game, you’d be out there on the ice, playing your heart out,” she reminded him.

  “But that’s just it. I’m not sure my heart is in it anymore.”

  She gave him another puzzled look. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, and you haven’t answered my question. Would it be just as cool to date a former Cougar?”

  “I’m not with you because you’re a hockey player. You ought to know that by now.” She started to walk again, annoyed that he’d even think she was that shallow.

  He reached for her hand. “I do know that. Look, I’m sorry. I don’t want us to be snapping at each other over my job or yours.”

  “Work is important to both of us,” she reminded him.

  “Yes, and that’s why I wanted you to know I’ve been thinking about changing careers.”

  She still couldn’t believe it. They’d reached the SUV and stood next to the passenger door. She’d assumed that he was going to be the kind of athlete who had trouble calling it quits.

  “You told me hockey is your life.”

  He opened the door for her to get into the SUV. “It was my life. I’ve found other more important things I need to put first.”

  Dena wanted to ask him what, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear the answer.

  “I can see by your face
that I caught you by surprise,” he said a few minutes later when they were back on the road.

  “Yes, you did.”

  “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  “That it must take a lot of courage to walk away from a professional career in hockey.”

  “It does, but I feel good about it. As to how my family’s going to react…” He shrugged. “I’m worried my dad will be disappointed.”

  “Fathers can have pretty high expectations of their children,” she commented.

  “Especially hockey dads. He’s been at every single home game I’ve ever played in except for one—that was when he had his appendix out and he was in the hospital.”

  “When are you going to tell him?”

  “Tonight.”

  So he’d told her before he’d even told his family.

  “Will you come with me?” he asked her for the second time.

  “I can’t.” The words were out before she could even think about it. “I told you I have work to do.”

  “Can’t you forget about work for one night?” he said on a note of frustration.

  “No, I can’t,” she spat back.

  Silence stretched between them. They’d had their first fight. Things definitely had changed. He had disregarded the first rule of their agreement. Work would always come first.

  She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Her relationship with Quinn was supposed to be one day at a time, yet he was now talking about the future. And she had a terrible fear that the future Quinn saw was not the same one she had in her vision.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  AS DENA PASSED the kitchen on her way to the laundry room, she noticed Quinn sitting at the table with books and papers spread out before him, a perplexed look on his face.

  “Heavy stuff?” she called out from the doorway.

  He looked up and smiled. “It’s a course schedule for the university. You’re right. I love hockey too much to leave it completely, so I’m going to go back, finish my degree and coach high school kids.”

  “They’ll be some mighty lucky kids.”

  “You think so?”

  She nodded.

  He leaned back in his chair and eyed her appreciatively. “Got time for a beer?”

  She noticed the Rolling Rock on the table, then glanced at the clock. “No, but I’ll have one anyway…if you have a spare,” she said with a grin.