Second Time Around (9 page)

“You wanted me?” Em asked, shading her eyes against the sun as she reached them.

“Did you take Corey’s jellybeans and hit him?” Alec demanded.

“Yeah,” Em said unrepentantly. “But he hit me too.”

Alec took a step toward Em, prompting Halley to hold him back with her arm.

“What happened?” Halley asked.

“Corey put his jellybeans on the carpet between us and said we’d race to see who got them first. We banged our heads together when we both lunged for them.”

Halley fought the urge to laugh as she gave Corey a stern look.

“I feel okay now,” Corey said before she could say anything. He turned his attention to Em. “Do you have any left?”

“A few. Do you wanna play again?” Corey nodded and they both raced back indoors.

“Kids,” Rufus said with a grin, taking in Halley’s and Alec’s twin looks of amused exasperation. “We must put a gate in the fence so you can visit each other, no?”

Alec narrowed his eyes. He didn’t like how Rufus was putting on his fake French accent, something he usually used to pick up women in nightclubs. Couldn’t Rufus see that Halley was not that sort of woman?

“Having a gate is a good idea,” Halley agreed. “The kids will be able to go back and forwards and I won’t have to worry about them leaving the front door open and Cassie getting onto the driveway when she starts walking.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Alec admitted grudgingly, not liking how Rufus had shown him up. He mentally grimaced, thinking of the long drive he’d have to take to get to a hardware store to buy hinges and a latch.

“I’ve brought my tool kit,” Rufus said, setting down a large metal box near the fence that Alec hadn’t noticed him carrying. “Perhaps we’ll find something to do the job in there.”

“In that case I’ll leave you to it,” Halley said, her attention taken by Em and Corey arguing over something on the back deck. She hurried away before they could wake Cassie.

“You two seem pretty friendly,” Alec commented, trying to keep the irritation from his voice.

“Yeah, you’re right about her. She’s great,” Rufus agreed, his voice returning to normal now that he didn’t have an appreciative female audience. “For some reason I feel as though I already know her.” Alex frowned. He hadn’t talked Halley up for the past few weeks to Rufus with the intention that Rufus would hit on her.

From the inside of the house Halley’s voice rang out.

“Okay Corey, tell Em you’re sorry then give her a hug,” the men heard her say sternly. “Not around the neck!” she added, sounding exasperated.

“Halley sounds as though she’s onto it,” Rufus remarked as he flipped open the toolbox lid. “Look what I have here,” he murmured and withdrew a ziplock bag containing hinges, screws and a latch which he handed to Alec.

Alec turned the bag over in his hand and noticed the barcode stickers on the back.

“These are new, aren’t they?”

Rufus just smiled and pulled out a pair of heavy work gloves, reminding Alec of the floral explosion covering his hands.

Together they worked efficiently, dismantling the last of the fence and clearing out the debris from the post holes so they could be reused. When Halley came out a short while later with a large ice filled jug of juice they had a break.

“So that’s what your backyard looks like,” Halley said with interest, admiring the healthy looking plants and lawn which contrasted with the Buddy dug holes in the sun-browned grass on her side of the fence. “What’s your secret?”

“I don’t have a dog,” Alec said, eyeing Buddy with disgust as the dog nosed a ball towards him. Earlier Rufus had noticed Buddy looking at the bottlebrush tree expectantly and had kindly shook the tree for the dog. After being overwhelmed by the number of tennis balls raining on him Buddy had barked with excitement and had been bringing them balls to throw ever since.

Alec picked up the ball and flung it back at the bottlebrush tree which helpfully snagged it out of Buddy’s reach.

Rufus shook his head with a smile as he filled the glasses.

“Alec’s having you on. Mrs Weiss used to work in the garden while Em was at school.”

“Mrs Weiss… That’s Em’s old babysitter?” Halley looked at Alec for confirmation. He nodded and she looked back at his garden. “She’s done a fantastic job of it. It must have taken her months to do. Where did she find the time?”

“She lived with us after her apartment sold until her daughter and son-in-law could find a bigger house to rent. I wouldn’t take any money for board so she insisted on doing the garden as a thank you.”

Rufus drank his juice then snorted.

“What’s so funny?” Halley asked.

“That woman had us do all the grunt work under her direction then gets the credit for it all,” he told her.

“She sounds smart,” Halley replied in admiration.

“She certainly is,” Alec agreed as reached for the glass that Rufus had poured for him. He noticed his gloves and turned away to remove them. After dropping them on the grass he turned back to see Rufus removing his shirt.

It wasn’t often that Alec felt self-conscious beside his friend. In business they had their own strengths and were evenly matched in other areas. Physically however, Rufus had the advantage with his sun bronzed skin and muscled body which was the legacy of training with his last ex-wife who was a competitive body builder.

Alec grabbed his glass and quickly drank the juice, trying not to notice that Rufus now had Halley’s undivided attention. The moment he finished he slammed the glass back onto the tray then searched the ground for where he had left his shirt. His eyes swept the grass twice before he realised Buddy was sitting on it.

Alec yanked the shirt free of the dog, sending Buddy toppling over since he had started to stand at Alec’s approach. A surreptitious sniff confirmed that the shirt now smelled like Buddy but he slid it over his sweaty skin anyway.

Now adequately covered, he turned his attention back to the conversation in time to hear Halley tell Rufus that she needed a babysitter.

“Why do you need a babysitter?” Alec asked.

“I’ve just invited Halley out but she can’t go unless she has a babysitter,” Rufus explained then a thought occurred to him. “Alec,
mon ami
, you know Halley’s kids. What say you take care of them while I take Halley out on the town?”

Alec suddenly felt extremely possessive of Halley. Although he’d never come out and said that he was interested in her
that way,
he had met Halley first and he didn’t like the thought of Rufus entrancing her away from him with his easy charm and good humour.

“When do you want me to babysit?” he asked, knowing that he would go to work and set up important meetings for the next month if he had to so as to prevent Halley spending any time with Rufus on her own.

Rufus had two ex-wives and he trawled through women indiscriminately, Alec thought self-righteously. Halley deserved better than that.

“How about tonight?” Rufus asked.

“What about the fence?” Alec asked. If Rufus planned to keep helping him there would be no time to drive back to Sydney, get changed and return after the fence was finished.

“With two of us on the job we should have the posts done in no time.” Rufus gave a shrug. “After that we can’t do anything until the concrete is set.”

“Concrete?” Alec repeated.

“You do have cement for the posts?” Rufus asked.

“I decided I wouldn’t need it,” Alec said dismissively. He’d actually forgotten to buy any.

“But you’ll need it to help the fence stay in place,” Rufus told him.

“The posts will go deep enough into the ground not to need it,” Alec said, brushing off Rufus’ concern. He hoped that what he said was true as he caught his business partner’s eye. “Do you still think we will be able to finish the fence today?”

Rufus stepped back and ran a practised eye over the row of post holes.

“If we work hard we can manage it,” he said with a nod then turned his attention to Halley. “Could you be ready by six?”

“That would be perfect,” Halley said, pleased. “It’ll give me time to feed the boys.” She smiled at Alec. “I’ll make extra for you and Em if you like.”

“Sure,” Alec replied, trying to sound happy at the thought of his womanising best friend and partner setting his sights on Halley. He poured himself another glass of juice then drank it slowly to give him time to rationalise why the thought of Rufus and Halley as a couple upset him.

He was still thinking about it when they returned to work. Alec knew had no claim on Halley other than her services as a babysitter for Em. She could go out with whomever she wanted and he had no say. It didn’t mean to say he liked it though.

Rufus was a love ‘em and leave ‘em type of guy although he did occasionally marry… then divorce within two years. As much as Alec liked Rufus he thought Halley needed someone more committed and stable. Someone good with kids… like he was.

That thought came out of nowhere and he nearly hit Rufus’ hand with the hammer as his friend held the rail in place to be attached to the fencepost.

“Getting a touch of sunstroke?” Rufus asked, yanking his fingers clear just in the nick of time.

“No,” Alec said resentfully. He gestured to the post. “Hold the rail again. I won’t miss this time.”

Rufus immediately repositioned the rail and held it in place. As Alec swung the hammer the thought flashed through his mind that if he hit Rufus’s hand hard enough he wouldn’t be going out with Halley tonight.

His aim faltered then corrected. The hammer hit the nail and the second hit made the nail head flush with the rail. For the sake of safety Alec handed Rufus the hammer as they moved over to the next post. Feeling the way he did, the thought of injuring Rufus was too tempting.

“Why do you want to go out with Halley?” Alec asked as he braced the end of the rail in front of the next fence post. “She’s got three kids and one on the way. I thought you liked them unencumbered.”

Rufus hammered the nail in then rested his hand on the post.

“You haven’t been able to stop talking about her at the office and now that I’ve met her I can see the attraction,” Rufus said with his trademark smile as he tossed the hammer up then caught it.  “I’m beginning to think I’ve had it wrong all these years. Mothers are sexy too.”

It was Alec’s turn to frown.

Rufus noticed his expression and laughed.

“Lighten up. I’m just having you on,” he said, playfully elbowing Alec in the stomach. “I just see a beautiful woman who has the weight of the world on her shoulders and I thought it would be nice to give her a break.”

“I give her breaks from the kids,” Alec told him, trying not to sound petulant.

“Ah, but does she get away from all this?” Rufus said, taking in Halley’s house with a sweep of her hand. As he did so Corey chased Casey and Em outside with a water pistol and squirted Em’s dress.

“I’m telling on you!” Em screamed at Corey then ran towards Halley who was busily unpegging washing from the clothes line.

“See what I mean?” Rufus said laconically.

“I’m not in a position to take her anywhere without the kids,” Alec said tightly, watching Halley make Corey hand the water pistol over to Em. While that was happening Casey strolled over to the bottlebrush tree and gave it a good shake, sending tennis balls falling to the ground like ripe grapefruit. Buddy appeared from nowhere and snatched up the first one he came across.

“Then I’ll have to make sure Halley enjoys herself,” Rufus said as Buddy dropped the ball by Alec’s feet and wagged his tail.

Alec picked up the ball and fired it back at the tree. Buddy immediately took off after it.

“Let’s get back to work,” Alec muttered, feeling somewhat powerless and inadequate.

By late afternoon the fence was finished. As Rufus packed his tools away Alec played with the gate Rufus had installed to give quick access between the properties. Despite his growing resentment of his friend Alec had to admit the gate had been a great idea.

“Do you mind if I have a shower at your place?” Rufus asked, snapping Alec’s attention away from the gate.

“Did you bring a change of clothes with you?” Alec asked in surprise.

“You know I keep an overnight bag in the boot of my car,” Rufus reminded him, swinging the toolbox off the ground.

Of course you do
, Alec thought.

“Be my guest,” he said through gritted teeth. He told himself that he was getting worked up over nothing. Rufus would hardly throw himself at a pregnant woman.

Whistling, Rufus strolled through the gate to Alec’s side leaving Alec to close the gate after him. Alec followed Rufus into his monstrosity of a house.

The house had seven bedrooms, three living areas and four bathrooms. Alec had bought it after his divorce from Miranda. He could now admit he had bought it in a moment of insanity, wanting to show Miranda that he was successful beyond anything her new husband could provide.

At the time he had rationalised the purchase. Having been made redundant by Miranda’s father’s recruitment company after Miranda had served him with divorce papers, Rufus had been disgusted by the way Alec had been treated and had left with him. They had decided to set up their own recruitment agency and had moved from Melbourne to Sydney to avoid being accused of breaching the restraint of trade contracts they had signed before working for Miranda’s father.

They soon found Sydney too expensive to afford decent office space as a start-up and had worked out of Alec’s apartment which wasn’t ideal. When his marital home was sold and Miranda put her share towards a new home in an upmarket Melbourne suburb with her new fiancé, Alec had found that his share of the money was burning a hole in his pocket.

When his current house came on the market Alec snapped it up based on the view from the street. He considered its ostentatious façade perfect to demonstrate to Miranda how successful he had become since they had parted. Because money had always been important to her he hoped it would also rub in what she was missing out on. The fact that he couldn’t really afford the house was beside the point.

Since he couldn’t admit the need to impress his ex-wife was the driving force that had made him purchase a house beyond his means, Alec had rationalised it by telling himself that he and Rufus could work out of it until their company became big enough to have an office in the city. When that happened they should be able to give themselves a long overdue bonus for their efforts which would take the sting out of the mortgage. The hour and a half commute north to their new office in Sydney would be a small price to pay for the satisfaction of seeing Miranda’s regret.

The irony was that Miranda had never seen the new house. With the final divorce papers he had also received papers from her lawyer giving him full custody of Em which he had been happy to sign.

Less than a week later a large box containing some of Em’s clothing and personal possessions had been shipped to his front door. There had been no note to him or photos inside for Em; the items appeared to have simply been sent to erase Em from ex-wife’s existence.

Neither of them had seen Miranda again and he had been stuck making interest only payments on a house that was too big for his needs ever since.

Although the mortgage breaking bonus was yet to appear, their company JB Recruitment had soon been able to afford them generous pay rises. Rufus had used his to finance his second marriage and divorce while Alec continued to spend his on care for Em.

Alec knew he was being foolish keeping the house when he was financially treading water but he felt he had something to prove. Sometime soon he hoped their company would be in a position to pay dividends. With luck it would be enough to significantly lighten his financial burden.

When he got out of the shower a short time later Alec strode into his closet to find a nice shirt, determined to look at least as good as Rufus. Then he recalled he would be looking after the children and the skin on his back crawled as he thought of the warm, wet and stinky formula that Cassie had repeatedly spilled down him. With a grimace he left the closet, went to a drawer and pulled out one of his old t-shirts instead.

Once Rufus was ready they returned to Halley’s. She met them at the back door and apologised to Alec because the children had just started dinner and she had hoped to have got them through the bath before they arrived.

Alec was unable to immediately respond; he had been rendered speechless by the change in her appearance. Gone were the loose fitting t-shirt, shorts and pony tail he was used to seeing. Instead Halley was wearing a black beaded maternity dress that shimmered when it caught the light and matching heels. Her lightly applied makeup made her eyes look mysterious and her streaky blonde hair fell loose over her shoulders. Alec thought she glowed.

“Wow!” Rufus exclaimed, having less trouble than Alec did in expressing himself. “You look fantastic!”

Halley smiled at him and Alec felt the sudden urge to have her attention.

“I haven’t seen you in that dress before. It’s pretty.”

“It’s one of Krystal’s,” she told him.

Alec saw her eyes grow shiny and knew that reminding Halley of her sister at this time had been a
faux pas
. Somehow Rufus also seemed to realise the mention of her late sister had upset her.

“Well, you look gorgeous,” he said, taking her by the hand. “We’ll have to go somewhere extra special so I can show you off.”

Halley smiled shyly at him and Alec wished he had bit his tongue.

After a few minutes making arrangements it was decided that Em would stay overnight so she wouldn’t need to be disturbed after going to sleep. Halley thought it would be easier for them both seeing as she would be taking Em to school in the morning anyway. Alec ducked home to retrieve the items that Em would need then returned to see them out the door.

“Don’t wait up,” Rufus said then twitched his eyebrows knowingly with a grin that sent Alec’s hands into fists at his sides. Alec decided right then that he hated his best friend. 

Halley sent him a wave then Rufus ushered her to the car. Alec stood in the front doorway watching the tail lights go down the drive until an argument between the children got louder and caught his attention. With a sigh he went back inside.

Four hours later he was sitting on the second bottom step of the staircase getting a whiff of regurgitated formula every time he turned his head. Cassie had been in top form before she had finally settled to sleep in her bassinette in the lounge.

How long did it take to eat a meal anyway?
Alec wondered as he tried not to watch the red hand on the wall clock mark off the seconds.

He heard a car brake outside the house and quickly stood up. While he had been stewing about Rufus being out with Halley he had missed hearing it drive up.

Alec lifted the Roman blind away from the window by the front door and watched Rufus cross to the front passenger’s door to open it for Halley. Torn between running for the couch and pretending to watch something on TV and opening the front door, he chose the latter.

Let him try and kiss her with an audience
, he thought, scowling as he released the blind.

Alec switched on the entry light and opened the door just as Rufus was helping Halley up the steps.

“Hi, did you enjoy your dinner?” he asked cheerfully.

“Yes we did,” Halley said, slinking past him into the house.