FAE-ted (4 page)

Anna giggled, a sound I'd grown to love. "Nate's very
messy."

"Guys are like that." While we waited, I walked around the
room, pointing out things I loved in hopes Anna would think
differently about them.

"All clear!"

Nate's shout drew us to his bedroom. I peeked inside and
was pleased to see that it looked very lived in and downright cozy.
Sports posters lined the walls, none of them hung straight. I saw
dusty trophies on the built-in corner shelves, CDs on a stereo, and
DVDs piled high beside a flat screen television. The closet doors
stood slightly ajar thanks to a sneaker, and inside it I glimpsed a pile
of clothing he'd probably just tossed in there. That made me smile.
"Nice."

"Thanks. Let's get out of here."

"But you didn't show her your cars, sil-ly," said Anna,
heading to his dresser.

"Anna!" But he was too late. She'd opened the drawer to
reveal at least a zillion Matchbox vehicles.

I looked Nate in the eye. "When did you stop playing with
these?"

He hesitated and then came clean. "I might've bought one
last week."

Anna's quick nod confirmed it.

I burst into laughter. "And you made fun of me?"

"They're collectable." He cleared his throat. "Er, want to see
the master bedroom?"

"Why not?" I grabbed Anna's wrist and followed Nate down
the hall to a bedroom big enough to have a sitting area in it.
"Wow."

"Yeah." Turning on his heel, Nate abruptly left. We followed
more slowly since I wanted take in everything before we completely
abandoned the area. I wondered briefly how Ginny would feel
moving into a bedroom an ex-wife had decorated. But that was none
of my business...

Seeing that Nate had skipped all other upstairs rooms and
was already going down the steps, Anna and I hurried to catch up. He
ended the tour downstairs by pointing to his left, "Kitchen," his right,
"Living area," and then behind him, "Den and office." Nate glanced at
his watch. "Want to watch 'The Wiggles'? They're on."

"Uh-huh."

Placing a hand on his stepsister's carrot-top head, he guided
her into the den, which I realized was the man cave I'd been looking
for. While he dealt with the TV, she dragged a small beanbag chair to
the middle of the room and plopped down in it. She appeared
completely relaxed, and I knew why. This space felt friendly.

I sat on one end of a corduroy couch and was pleasantly
surprised when Nate sat in the middle of it, instead of at the other
end, moments after. He propped his heels on the coffee table in front
of us, but though tempted, I didn't do the same. I mean, I had on
shoes, as did he. Mom would've killed us both if we'd done that at my
house.

"You graduate in May, right?" he said, breaking an awkward
silence.

"Wrong. I graduated December eighteenth."

"So you're one of those."

"Excuse me?"

"Straight A student who pre-planned her entire high school
experience so she could graduate early."

"And what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing if you scheduled in time for fun."

"You haven't noticed how well rounded I am?" I winced,
instantly regretting my thoughtless choice of words.

Predictably, Nate grinned, but he didn't leer or anything. "Oh
I've noticed, all right. I
am
a guy."

Flustered, I changed topics. "I assume you got a scholarship
of some kind. What college?"

"U-ler," he said, local slang for UALR. "You?"

"Same."

He turned his head to look at me. "No shit?"

"Shhh!"

"Sorry. What's your major?"

"Early childhood development. Yours?"

"So far? Engineering, though I'm thinking about a change to
anthropology."

Not knowing what to say to that, I tried to watch TV. The
antics of the Wiggles held my attention for maybe two seconds
before the miniature weather map in the lower left corner
completely distracted me. "We really need to stay here tonight."

Nate's gaze followed mine. "I know, but how do we do it
without a meltdown?"

"I have an idea--something I saw in a movie that I think
might work."

"What movie?"

"A chick flick you've never seen."

He smiled. "So what's the idea?"

"Tell you in a minute."

Though he clearly waited to hear more, I just shook my
head. I needed to plan this thing out before I proposed it. So that's
what I did, outwardly engrossed in the TV but inwardly constructing
a haven for the sweetest little girl in the world. When the credits
began to roll, I sat up, pretty sure my idea was doable. Only then did I
realize that Nate had draped his arm across the back of the couch at
some point and wrapped one of my blond curls around his finger,
resulting in a collapse of my makeshift hairdo. "Ow!"

Nate jerked his hand back, evidently as surprised as I was.
Eyeing my hair, which lay in a golden tumble around my shoulders,
he cleared his throat. "Who's ready for lunch?"

I automatically checked the clock and saw that it was only
eleven.

"We just ate, sil-ly." Anna hopped up to join us, rolling her
eyes--a boys-are-so-ridiculous expression that made me laugh out
loud.

"The first thing to learn about big brothers is that they're
always hungry," said Nate, getting up. He stretched lazily, his eyes
once again on me. "Are you a good cook?"

"Daughter of a chef, here," I said. "But it's going to cost
you."

Nate and Anna exchanged a look. He pretended to be
disgusted. "Another kiss, I guess."

"I'll go first." Leaning close, Anna kissed me right on the
mouth, something I hadn't expected. "Your turn, Nate!"

Her brother arched an eyebrow, but didn't argue before he
pulled me to my feet and brushed his lips over mine. My heart
slammed into my ribcage and then went nuts. Certain my face
matched my red T-shirt, I stepped back. "Thank you, Faerie Rose and
Prince Nate. I'll definitely cook, but not until we're
all
hungry."

Nate groaned.

I ignored him. "So let's do something else first. I have a great
idea."

Anna's eyes lit up. "What?"

"If we're going to spend the night in your room, and I think
we should, I want to build us a tent." Leaving her no chance to argue,
I charged out of the den to the stairs. Before I got to the second floor,
I heard them pounding up the steps behind me. I ran straight to
Anna's new room, pausing at the door so they could catch up. "I'm
going to need..." I rattled off a list that included five bed sheets, nylon
rope, and safety pins, all of which I felt sure Nate would have.

He did. And when he returned with them, we got to work
stringing the rope from her closet's double doorknobs to her
bedposts, about six feet away, which meant they crossed one spot in
the room twice. Then Anna helped Nate hang four sheets to form the
sides of our tent, I secured everything with the pins. One last draped
sheet made our roof; a couple of folded quilts that looked handmade,
our floor. When we finished, we had a shelter that came up almost to
my waist and was just big enough for two.

Anna crawled inside at once. "I need pillows."

Nate got the ones off her bed and tossed them inside.

"And a blanket."

He found one of those, too.

"And Sparky."

"Where is he?" Nate looked all around for the stuffed
toy.

I didn't see it either. "In the car?"

Anna stuck her head out of the tent and pointed to her big
brother. "Go get him."

"What are you supposed to say?" Thoughtlessly, I repeated
something I heard moms tell their little ones every day. I glanced out
Anna's window, noting how hard it was pouring.

"Pleeeease?"

Nate turned toward the door; I grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Can he wait until the rain slacks off?"

She rolled her brown eyes. "I guess. Will you and him come
in?"

Though I had my doubts that we'd all fit, I dropped to all
fours and crawled inside. Nate did the same.

"Lay down." Bossy Anna patted the quilt on either side of
her. So we all settled in.

"We need art," I said, my eyes on the bare walls of our tent.
"Can you draw a picture?"

"Uh-huh."

"And we need a light," said Nate. "I've got just the thing." He
sat up, which raised our roof, and wiggled out feet first, which
hopelessly wrinkled the quilts.

As I patted them back into place, I heard him leave the room.
"I think I'll like sleeping in here."

"Me, too," said my petite companion, just the words I'd
hoped to hear. Something else I heard was thunder, but the house
muffled the sound, and Anna didn't seem to notice.

Nate brought us a plastic camp lantern that ran on batteries.
Thrilled, Anna played with it for a bit while we lay beside her,
watching. I didn't mind. I loved lying in that tent, which really was
quite cozy. Didn't hurt that Nate was there, too, just one small child
away. And more than once I thought of pinching myself just in case
this whole thing was one of those wildest dreams of mine. "What
kind of picture are you going to draw?"

"A rainbow with a butterfly," Anna said. "Will you draw
something?"

"Of course."

She turned to Nate. "Will you?"

"Yep."

"Let's do it now," I said to give my back a break. A long night
sleeping on the floor would be a killer, even with two quilts beneath
us. I decided to wait until the last minute to get in the tent again.

I left it first. Anna followed, and then Nate. She ran down the
stairs ahead of us and straight to the kitchen bar. I saw that there
was already a box of Crayons on it and a couple of coloring
books.

"Do you want to color a picture in these or draw something
brand new?"

"Brand new." Ann started to climb on a bar stool. Nate
grabbed it to avoid a tip over. Once she was settled, he left us for a
couple of seconds and then came back with paper and pencils. By
then, I'd sat on the stool next to Anna. He moved one of the two
remaining to the other side of the bar so he could sit facing us.

After thinking for a moment, I sketched a castle complete
with turrets and a moat. Anna went to work on her rainbow and
butterfly; Nate drew a sports car of some kind. I realized he was
quite good at drawing.

When she began to color the first picture, he hopped off his
stool. "I'm
fae
-mished. If you really aren't going to cook for a
while, I need a snack."

I hid my smile with difficulty. "You do realize there's a
frozen foods section at the grocery store stocked full of stuff ready to
nuke and gnaw, right?"

"Hey! I prepaid you to cook."

"And I will..." I checked out the time on the oven clock. "At
noon. That's thirty minutes."

"Don't do me any
fae
-vors."

Though he grumbled like an old man, I could see that
peek-a-boo dimple. "Believe me, I won't. But we can't have you
fae
-nting from hunger."

Anna looked up, glancing from me to him before she sighed
heavily and went back to coloring. My eyes met Nate's. We both
laughed at her expression. With Nate's heel tapping out the seconds,
I waited the whole thirty minutes before I slid off my stool. "So what
are you two hungry for?"

"Grilled cheese sandwiches," said Nate.

"Red soup," said Anna.

Nate grinned at my puzzled expression. "That's tomato in
child speak."

"Ah. How about both?" After all, nothing went together
better than soup and sandwiches. I walked over to the refrigerator
and scanned the contents, quickly locating cheese and butter.
Spotting a loaf of bread on the counter, I got that, too. By then, Nate
had a big can of soup, one of many I could see on a shelf. That told me
Anna ate there often. Or maybe they'd just stocked up for later.

I found a saucepan and a skillet, both of which I set on the
smooth-top stove. Waving Nate out of the way, I got busy. In no time,
the kitchen smelled of melted butter and toasted bread. The savory
steam from the soup added another layer of aroma, and before I
finished up, my mouth began to water.

We ate at the counter instead of on the dining room table,
something I suspected happened a lot. I noticed that Anna's eyelids
drooped and wondered if she normally took naps. Keeping to a
schedule could be hard when circumstances changed or the
babysitters were unaware of it. I doubted that we'd ever get her
down for one.

After lunch, Nate and I sat on the couch in the living room at
Anna's request. We watched a small TV that sat on a shelf in a stately
walnut credenza, but not for long before she jumped up and began
playing piano for us, a jarring, noisy concerto that assaulted our ears.
When she finally ended it and took a bow, Nate and I applauded in
relief. Then she surprised us by taking off her shoes and socks and
stretching out on the couch between us, her head in my lap and her
legs across Nate's. In no time, she slept.

I still waited a bit before I risked speaking. "How long ago
did you and Missy split?"

"June."

"Did you lose interest? You two dated a long time."

Nate turned his head to look me in the eye. "Are you
suggesting I'm fickle?"

I wanted to die. "Of course not. It's just that she's so
beautiful--"

"So now I'm shallow?"

I didn't realize he was teasing until our eyes met again and I
caught that twinkle. I huffed my exasperation. "So what
happened?"

"Missy was un-
fae
-thful."

"Cheated on you, huh?"

"Yep."

"Do you still love her?"

"Nope. Have you got a steady?"

"I don't even have an unsteady," I said without thinking.
Embarrassed, I wished I hadn't been so honest. No girl wanted to
come off as undesirable. "Haven't had time for boys since Mom
opened Festivities in July. And I'll be even busier starting in
January."

He frowned. "You've given up dating?"