Four Times the Trouble (4 page)

Wandering out to the deck off his bedroom, he looked out at a light blinking on the ocean, remembering. The time he’d asked for a first-baseman’s mitt had been one of the worst. He’d been so excited when his Little League coach had given him, a fifth grader, the honor of playing first base. Everyone knew a first baseman was one of the most important players on the defensive team. But when he’d asked his mom for a mitt, she’d told him to wait for his father to get it the following week. And when he’d been with his father, he’d been told that his mother would have to handle that one. As it turned out, the coach had lent him a mitt. He’d only been eleven at the time, but Jacob had felt the humiliation clear to his bones. He’d been barely able to make himself go to practice once his coach knew he wasn’t worth enough to warrant a stupid baseball mitt.

He’d learned the lesson over and over again through his teenage years. There were celebrations for his half siblings’ birthdays, while his were either forgotten or acknowledged with a card. There were school trips he couldn’t take because his parents’ “real” children always came first. By the time his high school graduation arrived, it hardly hurt at all when the seats reserved for his family were empty. His mother had thought his father was going to be there. His father thought his mother would be. And it was an absolute that they couldn’t both be there at once. Other than exchanged phone messages regarding changes to his visitation schedule, his parents hadn’t spoken since their divorce.

Jacob left the deck, walking through his silent house to the kitchen. He reached into the cupboard above the refrigerator, pulled out his bottle of scotch and poured himself a shot. Stopping only long enough to wipe the butter from the floor, he carried the glass back to his bedroom, looking in on the girls as he passed their open door. They hadn’t been asleep long. Jessie’s bear was still tucked in beside her and Meggie’s covers were on top where they belonged. Satisfied that everything was as it should be, he returned to the deck and stretched out on the padded lounge. His kids were not going to grow up the way he had. They might have only one parent, but at least that parent loved them to distraction.

He took a sip of the scotch, savoring the taste, thinking suddenly of Michelle. Now there was a woman worth having. She was loyal to the core. It was too bad that the man she honored with her loyalty wasn’t around to know how lucky he was. If Jacob could ever find a woman who loved him the way Michelle loved Brian Colby…

Jacob stood up and tossed the rest of the scotch over the deck rail. He was getting maudlin. He had all the women he could handle, in miniature, sleeping right down the hall from him. They needed him and he needed to be there for them. He’d long since given up wanting anything more.

CHAPTER THREE

“I
’
M
GOING
TO
BE
a little late getting home today, but I’ll make it up to you, Noby, I promise.” Michelle gazed into the blue eyes across the table from her and refused to allow their unblinking stare to make her feel guilty. She took a sip of diet soda, her version of morning coffee, and picked up the Wednesday-morning newspaper. It was a rare treat for her to still be at home when the paper was delivered.

She read one headline before the newspaper was smashed to her lap, a white paw on top of it. Those eyes were a lot closer—and demanding an explanation.

“Jacob and I are doing a remote broadcast at the new mall off La Cienega. I’m meeting him at the station at eight, we’re driving over together, and we’ll be done by two. That should put me home before four—in plenty of time for dinner.”

Michelle took another sip of soda. The blue-eyed stare was relentless.

“You’re not going to let me read my paper, are you? Maybe it’s time I started reading it online.”

Still nothing but that silent stare.

“You’re spoiled rotten.” Michelle leaned over to plant a kiss between Noby’s knowing blue eyes. “And I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

* * *

“A
ND
THERE
YOU
HAVE
IT
, folks. Jacob Ryan and Michelle Colby are secretly involved in a wildly passionate relationship, which is open now for your viewing pleasure,” Jacob muttered under his breath as their mics went dead.

“Jacob.” Michelle punched him playfully in the shoulder as they cleared the papers off their table in the main entrance of the mall. “It wasn’t that bad.”

Jacob took off his microphone, handing it to one of the KOLR technicians. “Admit it, Michelle. You just like having all those people drooling over me and envying you for having me.”

“In your dreams, Ryan.”

“Yeah, there, too,” Jacob mumbled, reminded all too clearly of the dreams he’d had Monday night. Dreams of women he could deal with. They came with the territory of the single man. But dreams featuring Michelle Colby were something else entirely. As he’d told himself in no uncertain terms early Tuesday morning.

They finished clearing up, stopping several times to sign autographs, and in a matter of minutes were saying goodbye to the technicians who would drive the KOLR van back to the station. Jacob had to admit, if only to himself, that the broadcast had come off better than he’d hoped. Not because he’d had any doubts about his or Michelle’s performance, but because for the past two days he’d had doubts about himself.

After all these years of working with Michelle, he was suddenly finding her more attractive than filet mignon. It made no sense. She certainly wasn’t encouraging him. After all, she wore her wide gold wedding band like a suit of armor. The woman was so tied up with a memory, she probably wouldn’t even remember how to talk to a flesh-and-blood man off the air. Or at least that was what he told himself.

“Would you mind if we made a quick stop before heading back?” he asked Michelle as she waved off the van. “I need to pick up something for the girls.”

“I’m not in a hurry,” Michelle replied, as easygoing as ever. Her blond hair swung over her shoulders as she turned toward the mall. In Jacob’s dream he had run his fingers through it.

He made a beeline for the department store where he did all his shopping for the girls. They’d had a minor crisis this morning, and he’d promised Allie he’d take care of it today.

“What are we looking for?” Michelle asked as she followed him into the store. He seemed to know exactly where he was going.

“Wednesday panties.”

She looked to see if he was pulling her leg. “Pardon me?” she asked, trying to keep the laughter out of her voice when she saw he was serious.

“Allie couldn’t find any Wednesday panties this morning. I don’t know what happened to them, but they weren’t in her drawer or in the laundry. I had a hell of a time getting her to go to school.”

She could see the girls’ department straight ahead.

“Uh, Jacob? What are Wednesday panties?”

“They’re underwear with Wednesday written on them. There’s a pair for every day of the week. Allie’s obsessive about wearing the right pair on the right day.”

“Oh.” If anyone had ever told Michelle that she would be following Jacob Ryan into the girls’ department to buy underwear, she’d have laughed them out of the city. “So how’d you get her to go to school?”

“Convinced her that if she wore both Tuesday and Thursday they’d average out to Wednesday.”

Michelle burst out laughing and Jacob sent her an understanding grin. “I know. It’s not the smartest thing I’ve ever come up with, but it was the best I could do on short notice.”

He stopped in front of a rack of packages of pastel-colored underwear. Michelle watched as Jacob chose two packages of size-seven panties and four size-six ones. He obviously didn’t realize that each package had an entire week’s worth. Michelle smiled.

“Jacob? That’s forty-two pairs of underwear,” she said, trying to be gentle about educating him.

He just nodded as he moved through the department carrying all six packages. “I only go through each crisis once if I can help it. I’m going to put an extra day per person away in
my
underwear drawer.”

Michelle wasn’t sure which touched her the most, the ease with which he moved among the racks of miniature feminine apparel or the competent way he handled being a single father to three little girls. She did know that she envied him more than she’d have thought possible.

“Look at these.” Jacob stopped by a rack of child-size Lakers jerseys. “They’re great! The girls’ll love them. Help me find two six-X’s and a seven,” he said, riffling through the shirts on the rack.

Michelle helped him find the sizes he needed and then followed along as he searched for three pairs of jeans to match. She was seeing a whole new side to Jacob Ryan. A side she liked far too much.

He took his choices to the register and handed over his credit card. “How are you today, Mr. Ryan?” the middle-aged clerk asked.

“Just fine, Joan, and you? Did you enjoy your trip to Florida?”

The clerk kept up her end of the conversation as she completed the transaction, but Michelle couldn’t help but notice the glances she kept sending her. The glances weren’t surprising. After all, she was used to speculation about Jacob and her. What shocked her was how disappointed she felt that there was absolutely nothing for the clerk to speculate about. Michelle had no business wishing she and Jacob
were
an item, and buying clothes for
their
children.

“You know, Jacob, if you end up with all this when you’re just going after a single pair of underwear, I’d hate to see what happens when you shop for school clothes,” Michelle said as they headed to his vehicle.

Unlocking Michelle’s door before storing his package in the back of the Explorer, Jacob said, “A way to a woman’s heart is through the clothes department.” At least he hoped the new clothes would help.

“Where’d you ever hear something like that?” Michelle asked, grinning at him as he climbed behind the wheel.

“God knows Ellen sure bought enough of them. And I can remember my half sister’s pleasure every time my mother surprised her with something new.” He turned his key in the ignition. He’d always told himself it was because girls loved getting new clothes that none of those surprises had ever been for him.

“So what have you done to upset your daughters?”

Jacob shot her a startled glance. “Why would you think I’ve upset them?” he asked, turning out into the city traffic. Was he that transparent? Or worse, did she know him that well?

“Why else would you think you need to buy your way into their hearts?”

He could feel her looking at him. Really looking at him. And he found himself wanting to tell her. What could it hurt? She’d been a good buddy over the years. And she was so tenaciously married to her memory she was no threat to
him.

“I think my place in their hearts is pretty much a given. Though I’m not so sure it’ll still be that way a few years from now when they want to start wearing crap on their faces and talk on the phone all the time.” He paused, wondering if he should stop right there. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d confided in anyone—not about something that mattered.

“So you just like to spoil them?” she asked.

Jacob shook his head, well aware of the danger of overindulgence. “As a general rule they think I’m stingy with the goodies. But right now I don’t want them feeling like they’re missing out on anything.” He turned onto La Cienega Boulevard, heading back toward the station. “I guess the jeans were a little overboard, considering that they already have enough clothes to get us through two weeks without doing laundry. I just wanted to do something to make them feel special.”

Michelle was surprised by the concerned tone in Jacob’s voice. He always seemed so invulnerable. She’d pretty much figured that if life ever did dare throw him problems, he’d just tackle them—or hire someone else to do it for him. But he’d been unusually preoccupied on Monday, too.

“Are you having some difficulties with the girls?” she asked, feeling rather tentative. Jacob wasn’t the type one usually offered a shoulder to.

He shifted in his seat. “I don’t know that I’d call it that exactly, but there seems to be a misunderstanding or two we need to clear up. The girls’ principal called me last Friday. It seems there’ve been a few minor problems at school which they’re attributing to a lack of feminine guidance in the girls’ lives. Ms. Wilson seems to think that my daughters are blaming themselves for my divorce and subsequent single state.”

“Did you talk with them about it?”

“Yeah. I talked. But I’m not sure they heard. In fact, I’m pretty sure they didn’t.”

“Did their principal have any suggestions?”

“Not really.”

“She referred you to someone else?”

“No, though she did mention calling in a school counselor if things don’t get better.”

“So how does she expect that to happen?”

“The most obvious answer would be for me to marry again.”

“Oh.” Michelle didn’t know why she should feel so deflated. “I guess that wouldn’t be too difficult. Considering the number of women who’ve thrown themselves at you in the past year, you should have at least a hundred to choose from.”

Jacob glanced at her oddly, and Michelle realized how she must have sounded. After all, why should she care if every eligible woman in the state of California wanted to date Jacob? “I haven’t dated a hundred women in the past
five
years, Colby.”

“Fifty then.”

“Thirty. Maybe. And since when have you been counting?”

“I’m not counting obviously.” Michelle flushed with embarrassment, glad that at least half his attention was on the traffic. “So what’d you tell the principal?”

“That I’d talk to the girls.”

“Which didn’t work.”

“Not yet, but it will. Like everything else, these things take time.”

“I’d be glad to help out if they need anything meanwhile, Jacob. You know that, don’t you?”

Jacob glanced over at her, his brown eyes piercing. “What, you wanna marry me?”

For a split second the idea held way too much appeal, leaving her strangely depressed as she replied, “I’m already married.”

“Hey, I was only teasing, Colby. Lighten up.”

“I know you were. But I meant it about your girls, Jacob. I’ve only met them a couple of times, but they seem like great kids. I could spend some time with them. You know, do girl things. It’d be fun.”

“Thanks, but that won’t be necessary.” Jacob answered so quickly Michelle knew he hadn’t even considered her suggestion. “We’ve managed on our own thus far and we’ll get through this, too. All they need is a little extra love and attention, and their insecurities will vanish just like their wet diapers did.”

“Hey, I never meant to imply that you won’t do just fine. It’s obvious you have things well under control. But until Brian’s home I’ve got time on my hands, and I can see where three little girls might benefit from having a woman around now and then. There are bound to be things that are understood differently from a female point of view. You know, like the importance of feeling pretty and falling in love with teddy bears.”

“Just because I’ll never feel some things doesn’t mean I can’t recognize or understand them. I’m not the first single father on earth, Michelle, and I sure won’t be the last. Others have coped. So can I. But thanks for the offer. I appreciate it.”

Michelle knew a brick wall when she smacked into one. After all, she knew Jacob. What she hadn’t realized until right then was just how much she would’ve enjoyed doing something for his children. For a brief moment there, when she’d heard herself offering to take Jacob’s daughters under her wing, she’d felt almost excited. She had a gaping hole inside her that could use some filling up. And Jacob’s children were safe. They belonged to him, not to her. She couldn’t lose what she didn’t have.