For the Love of Pete

by Sherryl Woods

  “How come we can’t build it here?”

  “Because I know a better place.”

  “But we don’t have to wait long to go there, right?”

  “No,” Pete assured him. “We don’t have to wait long.”

  Just until he got sufficient caffeine in his system to guarantee he could keep up with his son.

  Chapter Twelve

  Not that she was eager or anything, but Jo was over at Pete’s house by the bay twenty minutes ahead of the agreed-upon time. As she sat in her car with the heater blasting, she studied the snow-covered landscape and knew, once again, that she simply had to live here. It was like a fairyland now that the sun had come up and the ground and trees were sparkling as if they’d been dusted with diamonds overnight.

  Seeing it like this gave her some new ideas about what ought to be planted—holly trees with their dark green leaves and bright red berries certainly, and perhaps a grove of pine trees and blue spruce that would look like something on a Christmas card on mornings like this. Most properties around here couldn’t afford the space for an entire grove of trees, but Pete had bought up at least two acres. He’d only cleared a small portion of that facing the water.

  Jo was lost in a sketch of the proposed grove, when she was startled by a tap on the window of her car. She turned to find Pete grinning at her and beside him a pint-sized replica bundled into a bright red jacket with blue mittens on his hands and a knitted blue cap pulled low over his ears. He was frowning at her.

  “You’re trespassing,” he announced when she rolled down her window. “This is my dad’s house.”

  Pete started to say something, but Jo stopped him.

  “You must be Davey,” she said, fighting the sting of tears as she looked into that precious face with its startling blue eyes and freckled nose.

  His frown only deepened. “How come you know that? I don’t know you.”

  “Because your dad told me how handsome and smart his son was, so that has to be you.” She slid out of the truck and held out her hand. “I’m Jo. I’m doing some work for your dad.”

  Davey stared at her hand, clearly torn between suspicion and every lesson he’d ever been taught about being polite to grown-ups. He finally gave her hand a reluctant shake, though the scowl still hadn’t left his face.

  “What kind of work?” he asked, his voice laced with skepticism. “Girls don’t build things.”

  “Uh-oh,” Pete muttered, clearly amused at the sexist controversy his son had just unwittingly opened up.

  Jo grinned at Davey. Six definitely wasn’t too early to start teaching a kid about equality. “Is that so? Who told you that? Not your father, I’ll bet.”

  “Definitely not me,” Pete acknowledged hurriedly.

  “Your mom, then?” Jo asked Davey.

  He suddenly looked a little less sure of himself. “Nah. She always says girls can do anything boys can do.”

  “She’s absolutely right,” Jo said, surprised to find herself siding with Kelsey Catlett about anything. “Then who gave you the ridiculous notion that girls can’t build anything?”

  The smart kid promptly turned the tables on her. “Have you ever built anything?”

  “In a way.”

  “Like what?”

  “I design gardens and then I put them together for people. That’s why I’m here. I’m designing some things for this house. Want to see?”

  Clearly intrigued, he nodded and inched closer when she pulled her pad out of the car. She flipped it open to the page she’d just completed. Davey’s eyes widened.

  “Wow!” he said. “It’s like Christmas!”

  Jo beamed at him. “That was exactly my idea.”

  “Where’s it gonna go?”

  “If your dad agrees, I thought right about there,” she said gesturing toward an open spot on this side of the house that wouldn’t block any of the water views. Instead, it would offer a completely contrasting view to anyone sitting in the dining room having breakfast on a morning like this one. Turning one way, they’d see the bay. Facing the other, they’d look into a small forest of evergreens. Either view would provide a tranquil backdrop for their morning coffee.

  “Are you gonna do it, Dad?” Davey asked excitedly. “It would be so cool to have Christmas trees growing right outside. We could even put lights on ’em at Christmas. We’d look outside and it would be like a fairyland.”

  Pete grinned at him indulgently, then faced Jo. “I guess that’s a yes on the trees. Anything else in that notebook of yours?”

  She handed it to him. “It’s more like notes right now. I drove around yesterday to get some ideas. I haven’t worked them into any sort of plan yet.”

  With Davey tugging on his arm begging to see, Pete knelt down so his son could look over his shoulder at the drawings. They lingered intently over each one. Jo watched Davey almost as intently as she did Pete and was pleased by the reactions she detected on their faces.

  “Cool,” Davey pronounced when they’d looked at every page. “Can you teach me to draw like that?”

  “I’d love to,” Jo said, thrilled by his eagerness and his apparent acceptance. She knew it could have been a whole lot harder to win him over. And maybe this was just détente.

  “Now?” he asked.

  “Hey, buddy, I thought you wanted to build a snow fort?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Davey said, readily distracted. He grinned up at Jo. “You want to help? Dad and me can show you how.”

  “I would love to help,” she said. “Where are you going to build it?”

  “By the water,” Davey said at once. “That way when the bad guys come up by boat, we can nail ’em.”

  Jo laughed. “Good plan.”

  “The kid is definitely full of ideas,” Pete said, tagging along behind them as Davey led the way to his chosen location.

  Jo turned and met his gaze, hoping he could see the gratitude in her eyes for this chance. “Thank you,” she mouthed silently.

  When they finally reached the site for the fort, she turned to Davey. “Okay, Captain Catlett, what do we do first?”

  Davey giggled. “First we make really big snowballs, right, Dad? Big as me.”

  Jo nodded thoughtfully. “Then who gets to lift them? Your dad?”

  “He’s really, really strong,” Davey said with evident pride. “He could probably even lift you.”

  Jo chuckled. “I am definitely bigger than a giant snowball,” she agreed, loving the way the boy’s mind worked, to say nothing of his enthusiasm for whatever he set out to do. What an absolute joy he must be!

  Oddly, she was feeling none of the anguish she’d expected to hit her when she first set eyes on him. She was simply gathering up every precious moment and storing it away to think about when he wasn’t around. She wondered if that’s how Pete survived the separations, by making so many memories that his son was never far from mind.

  It took them two hours to build the fort to Davey’s very precise specifications. Once it was done, Jo was the first to get behind the wall and lob a snowball straight at Pete. It hit him squarely in the chest, catching him completely by surprise. Jo ducked down behind the wall when he started to reach for his own fistful of snow. While he was distracted, Davey hurled another one that he barely managed to duck.

  “Okay, you two, this is war,” Pete declared, pelting them with snowballs of his own, then chasing down Davey and rubbing snow on his neck.

  Next he came after Jo, a diabolical expression in his eyes, but she was quick. She whirled away and ran, laughing as she danced out of his path.

  The laughter died, when he snagged her ankle, somehow managing to land beneath her, so that he took the brunt of the fall. She grinned down at him. “You are such dead meat,” she said, picking up a handful of snow to rub in his face.

  But before she could do that, a fistful of snow was shoved down the back of her jacket by his sneaky little boy, whom she’d mistakenly assumed to be on her side. She should have known better.

/>   “Way to go, Davey!” Pete enthused, giving his son a high five. “We guys have to stick together.”

  Laughing, Jo got up to shake the snow out of her jacket. “I’ll remember this,” she warned Pete. “Just wait.”

  His gaze locked on hers. “You gonna get even, tough girl?”

  “You bet,” she said at once. “And you won’t even see it coming.”

  “Uh-oh,” Davey said, grinning at his dad. “You’re in big trouble, huh?”

  Pete winked at him. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  Jo laughed at the pair of them. “Okay, macho guys, let’s go have lunch before we all catch pneumonia. Soup and burgers? How about it?”

  “With fries?” Davey asked at once.

  “If your dad agrees,” she told him.

  “He will,” Davey said triumphantly. “Dad loves fries better than anything.”

  He always had, Jo thought, and barely managed to keep herself from saying it aloud.

  “Not better than anything,” Pete replied quietly, his intense gaze fastened on Jo. “Some things are even more incredible.”

  Jo lost herself in the heat in his eyes for a moment, but then the moment was lost when Davey demanded to know what could possibly be any better than French fries.

  Pete tugged his blue cap a little lower to cover his eyes. “Kissing girls,” he said at once, then stole one from Jo before Davey could rip away the impromptu blindfold.

  His son regarded him with blatant skepticism. “Gross,” he declared.

  “Tell me that when you’re sixteen,” Pete said. “Hop into the truck, buddy. I’ll be there in a minute as soon as I open the car door for Jo.”

  “Can’t she open it herself?” Even as the words left his mouth, Davey’s expression brightened with sudden understanding. “It’s another one of those things to keep girls happy, huh?”

  Pete winked at him. “Exactly.”

  Davey ran on to the truck, while Pete went with Jo and opened the door.

  “See you in ten minutes in town,” he said.

  “Do you think it’s going okay?” she asked worriedly.

  “Are you kidding? The kid’s fallen in love with you,” he said. “Same as me.”

  He winked and left, leaving her with her heart thundering in her chest and a million and one dreams coming alive again.

  Lunch was an unqualified success. Pete watched his son with the woman who should have been the mother of Pete’s children and knew that they could become the perfect family. Jo was a natural with the boy and Davey was responding to her effortless teasing with increasing affection. He told himself he wasn’t leaving Kelsey out of the equation, just adding Jo into it, but it was hard to imagine Kelsey fitting in to the idyllic image in his head.

  “Hey, Dad, I have an idea,” Davey said, when they were all stuffed with hamburgers, fries and slices of pie. “You said we could rent a movie tonight. Maybe Jo could come, too. It would be like a party. You could make popcorn and hot chocolate and stuff.”

  Pete grinned at him. “Maybe Jo doesn’t like popcorn and hot chocolate and silly kid movies.”

  “Bet she does,” Davey said confidently. “Right, Jo? You think all that stuff is cool, don’t you?”

  “Nothing better,” she agreed at once. “Finding Nemo was one of my all-time favorite movies.”

  “See,” Davey said. “So, can we ask her?”

  Pete laughed. “I think you just did.”

  Davey gave him a baffled look, then grinned. “Oh, yeah. So, will you come, Jo?”

  She cast a look at Pete, clearly seeking his permission. “What do you say, Dad?”

  “Fine with me,” he said at once. He glanced at his son. “Maybe we should let her pick the movie. What do you think?”

  Davey looked doubtful. “You aren’t gonna pick some mushy thing, are you?”

  “Nah,” she said at once. “How about I show you my choices and you can help me decide?”

  Davey nodded eagerly, then glanced worriedly at Pete. “That sounds fair, right, Dad?”

  “More than fair,” he said with amusement.

  He wasn’t sure who was manipulating whom anymore. It was just plain as day that these two knew how to work each other. It couldn’t have made him happier, but it was worrisome, too. The instantaneous bonding was going to cause problems down the road. Kelsey would hear all about this, and there would be hell to pay. But Pete had accepted that going in. Sooner or later, his ex-wife would have to come to terms with the fact that he really had moved on. He knew it would dash the hopes he suspected she had that one day he would come to his senses and chase after her.

  “Okay, let’s head for the video store and pick out a couple of movies, one for tonight and one for tomorrow. Then Davey and I can run by the store for supplies.”

  “Sounds good,” Jo said.

  “You want to come by around six-thirty and have dinner with us? We’re going with the canned spaghetti thing,” he told her with a grin.

  “I think I’ll pass, unless you can be persuaded to sacrifice the canned stuff in favor of homemade. I still have sauce in the freezer.”

  “Awesome,” Davey said at once.

  Jo slapped his hand in a high five. “There’s the man,” she said approvingly.

  “Okay, then, I guess dinner’s under control,” Pete said.

  “I’d better come at six, though, to boil the pasta and heat up the sauce.”

  Pete nodded. “We have a plan, then.”

  It was the kind of plan he’d always imagined making on a snowy Saturday with his family, but Kelsey had always insisted that Saturday was a date night, not a family night. She didn’t care where they went, as long as it was out and they were alone. He looked into Jo’s shining eyes and saw no hint of hesitation or dismay. If anything, she looked as eager as his son.

  How had he ever for a single second forgotten that she was the perfect match for him? Okay, if he was being totally honest, he hadn’t forgotten. He’d just buried the knowledge in order to live the life he’d been forced to choose.

  And now, at long last, he had a second chance. He vowed here and now that he wouldn’t waste it.

  It was nearly midnight when Jo finally got home from their outing. She was on such an emotional high, she didn’t think it was possible that she’d ever come back to earth. The spaghetti had been a big success with Davey, as had her special hot chocolate with just a hint of peppermint in it. They’d eaten a huge bowl of buttered popcorn and watched both movies, though Davey had fallen asleep fifteen minutes into the second one. Pete had carried him to bed, then returned to snuggle with her in front of the TV.

  Neither of them had paid much attention to the plot of the movie, which was probably just as well, since she assumed Pete was destined to see it again on Sunday night when Davey realized he’d slept through most of it.

  Tonight had been bittersweet. It had given her a taste of all she’d lost…and maybe all she could have, if she was brave enough to take another chance on loving Pete.

  Was she that brave? She was beginning to believe she was, but now and then a vague feeling of panic would roll over her. At its core was always the faceless woman who’d stolen Pete from her the first time. Kelsey still had a powerful claim on him. Something told Jo that she wouldn’t give it up lightly. Worse, Davey was bound to be caught in the middle. Pete didn’t seem to be half as worried about that as she was, but she knew she could never do anything that might turn that wonderful child into some sort of pawn between his parents.

  Too wound up to sleep, she made herself a cup of chamomile tea, then sat at the kitchen table, wishing for once that her sisters were here to listen to her jumbled thoughts and help her make sense of them. Unfortunately, if she told them everything now, she had a feeling not one of them would see Pete for the incredible man he was. They would focus exclusively on the fact that he’d broken her tender young heart.

  When the phone rang, she almost laughed. It was bound to be Ashley, checking up on her, putting her mind
at rest that Jo had survived her day with Pete and his son without any emotional scars.

  “Hello, worrywart,” she said, when she picked up.

  “How’d you know it would be me?” Pete asked.

  “Actually I was sure it was going to be Ashley. I thought you’d be sound asleep by now.”

  “I couldn’t sleep till I knew you were home safe and in bed. Are you in bed?” he asked hopefully.

  “Nope, fully dressed and in the kitchen. Sorry to spoil your fantasy.”

  “Ah, well, I have a pretty vivid imagination anyway. I’ll make do.”

  “Today was fun,” she told him quietly. “Thank you.”

  “It was fun for me, too, and Davey was over the moon. Of course, he’ll never be satisfied to eat spaghetti from a can again.”

  “An educated palate is never a bad thing,” she told him.

  “I’ll add that to the list of lessons I can take credit for,” he said lightly. “’Night, darlin’.”

  “Good night, Pete.”

  It was fully a minute before Jo finally hung up the phone and cut the connection. She sighed when it rang again.

  Smiling, she picked it up. “I thought we’d said good night, Pete.”

  “So that’s who you were on the phone with,” Ashley said. “Didn’t you just leave him?”

  “You’re up late,” Jo commented, ignoring her sister’s testy tone.

  “I wasn’t waiting up for you to get home, if that’s what you’re thinking. Josh and I had to go to some big dinner-dance thing with his old law partners in Richmond tonight. We just got back. Thought I’d check on you before going to bed, but your line was busy.”

  “How was the event you went to?”

  “Boring,” Ashley said. “I’d almost forgotten how dull a roomful of lawyers can be.”

  “Oh, my God,” Jo said with exaggerated alarm. “Let me check outside to see if the sky is falling.”

  “Very funny. How was your date with Pete and his son?”

  “Amazing,” Jo admitted. “And scary.”

  “Scary? Why?”

  “I love that kid,” she admitted. “Now the stakes have really gotten high, Ashley. I want them both in my life. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to handle it if I lose them.”