Rufus barked one more time and then bounded out of the house and down the steps to the snow-covered yard. He ran in a crazy circle and the then lowered his chest into the snow. With his butt up in the air and his tail wagging triple time, he barked at the girls in an invitation to play.
“Hi, Zach,” Maddie said. “Can we play with Rufus?”
Zach glanced at the two girls. “That depends. Does your mom know where you are?”
“She can see us,” Maddie said.
Zach glanced at the house next door. He didn’t see Jessie. It occurred to him that Maddie had a great future as a lawyer or a politician given that she had not really answered his question. He glanced at Gracie, who was studying the toes of her thick snow boots.
“Gracie, did you two tell your mom you were coming over here?” he asked.
Maddie swiveled her head in her sister’s direction and stared at her as if willing her to answer correctly. Gracie glanced from Zach to Maddie and then back down at her shoes.
“We left a note,” she said.
“A note? Where is your mom?” Zach asked. He couldn’t believe that Jessie had left the girls on their own. It seemed completely out of character for the woman who had freaked out when her daughters left their backyard without telling her.
Maddie heaved a sigh as if accepting that the short-lived adventure was over. “She was in the shower.”
“Maddie and Gracie, trust me when I tell you that not telling your mom when you leave the house never goes well,” Carly said. She stood in the open doorway to Zach’s house, giving them a sympathetic look.
“Hi, Carly,” Maddie said. “You look so pretty in blue.”
Carly glanced at Zach. “This kid is solid gold.”
He nodded.
“I told you we were going to get into trouble,” Gracie said. “Momma is going to be so upset.”
“Well, let’s get you back home so you can apologize to her before she panics,” Zach said. He stepped into his house and grabbed his coat off a hook fastened to the wall inside the doorway. He glanced at Carly. “If the others get here while I’m gone, tell them I’ll be right back.”
“Will do,” Carly said. “But I can’t promise we won’t start without you.”
“Don’t worry,” James called from the kitchen. “I’ll save you some meat.”
“You’re a true friend, James,” Zach called. He gave Carly a pointed look and she laughed.
“Men and their meat.” She shook her head.
“Phrasing!” Zach cried and then grinned at her.
He shoved his feet into his boots and zipped his coat before he strode outside to gather the girls, where Maddie was running around the front yard with Rufus while Gracie stood looking guilt ridden and ill.
“Come on, ladies,” he said. “Let’s go see if we can mitigate the damage.”
“What does that mean?” Maddie asked.
“He’s going to try and get us out of trouble with Momma,” Gracie said.
“Oh, good,” Maddie said.
Her confidence in Zach’s ability to defuse Jessie’s ire was unwarranted and he hoped he didn’t let the kid down. Honestly, he wouldn’t blame Jessie a bit if she freaked out. One of the many reasons the thought of having kids tripped him out was the reality of how many bad things could happen to them. He was pretty sure if he had a kid, he’d never sleep again.
His boots crunched in the deep snow as they strode across the two yards. It was late afternoon and it was already getting dark. There were no lights on in Jessie’s house and he was glad he was with the girls so that he could make sure they arrived safely.
Rufus trotted along beside them, obviously feeling the same protective impulse. They were halfway up the walkway when the front door was yanked open and there stood Jessie in a bathrobe with a towel around her wet hair, clutching what looked like a Post-it note in her hand. She also had boots on, so Zach assumed she’d been on her way out when they arrived.
“Madeline Rose, Grace Josephine, get in here now,” Jessie ordered. She looked a little wild-eyed and Zach was glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of her scary mom face.
Gracie hopped right to it, plowing her way through the snow to get to the house, but Maddie did not feel so moved. She dragged her boots, leaving a wide swath in the snow, clearly not feeling the need to appease her mom.
Zach leaned down and whispered, “You might want to put it in gear, kiddo, your mom is looking a bit miffed.”
Maddie shrugged. She blinked at him as if to prove she wasn’t worried. Zach shook his head. Neither his mom nor his stepmom would have tolerated such insubordination.
“Pro tip, kid,” he said. “You want to lead with an apology.”
“We left a note,” Maddie insisted.
Zach shook his head at her and Maddie made a huffy noise and began to stride a smidge faster to the house.
They had just reached the steps to the front porch when Gracie reached her mom and threw her arms around Jessie and hugged her.
“I’m sorry, Momma,” she said. Her eyes looked watery and she clung like a burr. “We should never have left when you were in the shower.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” Jessie said. She sounded unhappy. She held up the note. “And while this was a good idea, you know you have to ask me directly before you leave to go next door, down the street, or anywhere, don’t you?”
“Yes, Momma,” Gracie said. She looked crushed under the weight of her mother’s disapproving eye and Zach had to resist the urge to pat the kid on the back or hug her.
“Maddie, what do you have to say for yourself?” Jessie turned her unhappy gaze on her youngest.
“We left a note,” Maddie said.
She put one hand on Rufus’s back as if to draw strength from the dog and then she tipped her chin up in pure defiance. Zach blew out a breath. It did not take a genius to know that this wasn’t going to go well.
When he glanced at Jessie, he was pretty sure he saw her nostrils flare when she asked, “Is that all you have to say?”
“Yup,” Maddie said. She crossed her arms over her chest and met her mother’s gaze without flinching.
She reminded Zach so much of his youngest sister, Addison, known as The Wild Thing, that it was all he could do not to move to stand behind Jessie and wave his arms at the kid like he was signaling that the bridge was out. Although, if Maddie really was like Addison it wasn’t going to help one bit.
He glanced at Gracie to see her put her hand to her forehead as if she just couldn’t believe that her little sister was going there.
“Madeline, you and your sister are too young to be traipsing about the neighborhood when it’s almost dark,” Jessie said.
“It was just to Zach’s house,” Maddie protested. “We wanted to see him and Rufus.”
“It’s also incredibly rude to show up at someone’s house uninvited,” she said. “What if Zach had company?”
“He did,” Maddie said. “We peeked in the windows and we saw her.”
“Oh, my god.” Jessie’s eyes closed for a moment, as if she was praying for patience, then her gaze darted to Zach’s. “I am so sorry. I hope they didn’t interrupt your date.”
“No worries,” Zach said. “It’s not a date, just some friends, my Maine crew, are over for a potluck dinner, that’s all. No big deal.”
A look passed over Jessie’s face, one of longing, and it occurred to Zach that being a single mom, she probably didn’t get much of an opportunity to hang out with her peers.
“If you want, you’re welcome to join us,” he said. The words flew out of his mouth before he thought them through.
“Oh, I couldn’t,” Jessie said. One hand flew to the towel on her head and the other to the front of her robe.
Zach wondered for the briefest second, a nanosecond really, if she was wearing anything under the robe. Then he
felt Gracie and Maddie watching him, and he shook the thought off like a boxer throwing off a shot to the temple. Bad, Zach, bad.
“Sure you could, Momma,” Maddie said. “And we can come, too.”
“Maddie, what did I just say about not inviting yourself over to someone’s house,” Jessie said. She glanced up at Zach. “They usually have much better manners than this. I don’t know what’s gotten into them.”
Zach smiled. She looked adorably flustered and he couldn’t help but be charmed stupid by it.
“We’re just having some drinks and dinner,” he said. “The girls are more than welcome. They can sack out in my den and watch a movie while the grown-ups chatter, and there have been rumblings of a card game happening.”
“Please, Momma, please.” Maddie grabbed her mother’s hand and pulled on it. Gracie said nothing, just pressed herself into her mother’s side with hopeful eyes.
Jessie glanced at the girls and then at Zach. She looked as if she desperately wanted to join the big kids. Then she looked down at the Post-it note in her hand and at her two girls and sighed.
“Thank you, Zach,” she said. “It’s incredibly nice of you to invite us, but I can’t say yes.”
“But Mo-o-o-o-om.” Maddie turned the word into a ten-syllable protest.
“No, Maddie, I can’t reward your poor choice to leave the house without telling me by letting you go to the same place that you went without asking.” Maddie opened her mouth to argue, but Jessie shook her head. “No, my mind is made up. If you want to visit Zach or Rufus in the future, I expect you to ask me and him properly first.”
Maddie’s lips compressed into a thin line and she stomped her foot on the porch in a show of temper. “You never let us have any fun!”
“That’s enough,” Jessie said. “Go inside, please, and wash up for supper.”
Maddie shoved the door open and stormed inside. Jessie leaned down and kissed Gracie’s head.
“Why don’t you go in, Gracie.”
“Okay, Momma.” Gracie looked at Zach with regretful eyes. “See you, Zach. Bye, Rufus.”
She turned to go inside, her slight shoulders drooping under her coat.
“Hey, ho, wait up,” Zach said.
Gracie turned back around and he held up his fist. With a small smile, Gracie bumped knuckles with him, they both leaned in to touch elbows, and then they knuckle bumped again. Then Grace added a little hip-hop shimmy, which Zach imitated.
“You added a little something,” he said. Then he grinned. “I like it.”
Gracie flushed with pleasure and then patted Rufus and dashed into the house. Jessie watched her daughter disappear and turned back around to face Zach. Rufus had moved to sit beside Jessie and as he leaned against her, Zach wondered if the dog, too, was being lured in by the faint lavender smell coming off her skin.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ll talk with them about respecting your privacy. I can’t imagine what they were thinking.”
As she spoke an orange furball bolted out of the open door and attacked the shoelaces dangling off Zach’s boot.
“Chaos!” Jessie cried as she bent down and scooped him up. “I swear we are not as ill-mannered as we seem.”
Zach laughed. “There’s no need. The girls are welcome anytime.”
“Shh, don’t let them hear you say that,” Jessie teased. “You’ll never be rid of them. They are quite charmed by you and Rufus.”
She cradled the cat with one hand and reached down to pet Rufus with the other. The dog closed his eyes as if in bliss. Lucky dog.
“Are you sure you don’t want to join us tonight?” he asked.
He gestured back to his house and noticed that several cars were now parked in front, meaning the rest of the crew had arrived.
“Gavin and Mac will be there, so unless you have a thing against socializing with your boss . . .” he said. He let his voice trail off.
“I really wish I could,” Jessie said. She met his gaze and gave him a rueful smile. “Truly, you have no idea how appealing an evening among adults sounds, but I can’t. It would give the girls the wrong idea about consequences.”
Zach nodded. He felt his bangs flop over his forehead and he gazed at her from beneath them. “You’re a good mom.”
Jessie waved a dismissive hand at him but judging by her tiny smile, he could tell she was pleased.
“Zach, are you joining us at your potluck or not?” They both glanced in the direction of Zach’s house to see Carly, standing with Emma, Mac, and Jillian. Carly waved her arm and added, “Hi, Jessie!”
Jessie waved back. “Hi!”
Zach didn’t miss the lonely note in her voice and he felt a sympathetic pang in his chest. He couldn’t imagine what his life would be like without his squad. Heck, he owned the brewery with his best friends, Brad and Sam, and he was pretty sure not a day in the past fifteen years had passed without seeing them, texting them, or talking to them.
“You’d better go before they eat all of the food,” Jessie joked.
“Right,” he said. “So, I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah,” she agreed.
Zach gave her a small wave and then patted his leg, signaling to Rufus that it was time to go home. He didn’t think he was imagining how reluctant Rufus seemed to leave. In fact, he was pretty sure the dog felt the same way he did, like they were abandoning Jessie to her loneliness. It didn’t feel good.
Chapter 5
“Are you sure about this?” Carly asked. “Most people like to be warned before nine people show up at their door. In fact, if nine people showed up unexpectedly at my door, I’d hit the lights, flip the deadbolt, and belly crawl out of the room so they couldn’t see me through the windows.”
“Agreed,” Jillian said. “Once the bra is off for the day, I don’t want to see anybody.”
“About what time of day would that be?” Sam asked.
“Shut it.” Jillian smacked his arm but she was laughing.
“Trust me, it’ll be fine,” Zach said. He glanced over his shoulder at his friends, giving them a wink.
“Uh-oh,” Gavin said. He was carrying an enormous tray of lasagna that his girlfriend, Mac, had made.
“What do you mean, ‘uh-oh’?” Zach asked. While Brad and Sam were his oldest friends, they were brewery guys like he was. Gav was a veterinarian so if he said “Uh-oh,” they all listened.
“The only thing missing from your ‘it’ll be fine’ statement is ‘hold my beer and watch this,’” Gavin said.
Mac laughed and then stood up on her tiptoes to kiss her man’s cheek. “Don’t freak him out. This is Jessie. She’ll be happy to see us, I’m pretty sure.”
“Pretty sure? That’s a ringing endorsement,” James said. He was carrying his charcuterie board while Carly walked beside him with a basket full of crackers to go with it.
“We’re bringing food,” Emma said. “I forgive an awful lot if people bring me food.”
“That’s because you’re eating for two.” Brad looked at his wife in wonder. Emma’s pregnancy had been the news of the holidays, since they waited to tell everyone until she was a few months along. According to Emma, however, Brad hadn’t stopped grinning from the moment the stick turned blue.
“Food always makes everything better,” Zach said. “Now hush.”
He hefted the slow cooker in his arms as he stepped up onto the porch. Maybe this was crazy. Maybe Jessie would be mad, but he hadn’t been able to forget the forlorn look on her face when he’d walked away. After fifteen minutes in his house, he’d corralled his crew to pack up their potluck and bring it to Jessie.
He propped the heavy ceramic dish on his hip so he could lean on the doorbell with his elbow. He heard it chime inside the house and waited. Rufus took the opportunity to wedge himself between Zach and the door, obviously determined not to be denied.
It occurred to Zach just as the door was being opened that Jessie might still be in her bathrobe. He had a spasm of maybe-this-wasn’t-such-a-hot-idea. Luckily, when the door opened it was Gracie.
“Zach, you’re back!”
“And I brought dinner!”
“Awesome!” She turned around and yelled into the house, “Mom, Zach is back and he brought dinner!”
Zach glanced over Gracie’s head through the living room to the kitchen beyond where Jessie stood holding a frying pan. He wasn’t sure if she was about to start cooking their dinner or brain him with it, so he smiled, showing as much teeth as possible.
He was relieved to see that she was dressed in jeans and thermal shirt with a brightly colored flannel shirt over that. Her light brown hair with the blonde ends was still damp but it was drying in loose waves that framed her face, softening her usually serious expression.
“Well, are we allowed in or are we supposed to freeze our butts off out here?” Carly asked from the back of the pack.
Zach stomped his feet on the welcome mat and led the way in. Jessie didn’t move. Her jaw slowly lowered as she took in all of the people filing into her house.
“We felt bad that you couldn’t join us, so we decided to bring the potluck over here,” Zach said. He made sure he stayed out of striking range of the frying pan. “Is that all right?”
“We brought lasagna,” Mac said.
“And cheesecake,” Gina, Carly’s younger sister, added.
“Oh, well, in that case, come in,” Jessie said.
Zach’s friends needed no more encouragement. They hit Jessie’s kitchen like they were on a rescue mission, plugging in the slow cooker, preheating the oven, and loading her counter until it groaned under the weight of the food. Zach watched Jessie slowly lower the frying pan. So, no cracked skulls. He took that as a good sign.
“Hi, Jessie,” Gavin said. He gave her a one-arm hug. “Zach seemed to think you were in need of adult time. If you’re not, just give the word and I’ll get everyone out.”
“No, no,” she said. Zach saw her give a furtive glance toward the staircase. “Some adult time would be really nice; besides, I think it’s bad form to throw out your boss.”
Every Dog Has His Day Page 4
