Page 47 of Romance and Peppermint Lattes
“Right. I—I understand,” she stammered, stepping back. Her hands swung at her sides as she followed him to the door. “I really do appreciate this.” Already she could feel the warmth spilling into her apartment. And none too soon, either.
“Just remember to keep the door locked.”
She grinned and mockingly saluted him. “Aye, aye, sir.”
He left then. Maryanne hated to see him go, hated to see him walk away from her, and yet it seemed he was always doing exactly that.
***
Later that same afternoon, after she’d finished her errands, Maryanne was strolling through the park when a soft feminine voice spoke from behind her.
Maryanne turned around and waved when she discovered Gloria, the teenager she’d met here earlier. But this time Gloria wasn’t alone.
“This is my little sister, Katie, the pest,” Gloria explained. “She’s three.”
“Hello, Katie,” Maryanne said, smiling.
“Why am I a pest?” Katie asked, gazing at Gloria, but apparently not offended that her older sister referred to her that way.
“Because.” Looking annoyed, the teenager shrugged in the same vague manner Maryanne had so often seen in her younger brothers. “Katie’s three and every other word is ‘why.’ Whythis? Why that? It’s enough to drive a person straight to the loony bin.”
“I have brothers, so I know what you mean.”
“You do?”
“They’re several years younger than I am. So trust me, I understand what you’re talking about.”
“Did your brothers want to go every place you did? And did your mother make you take them even if it was a terrible inconvenience?”
Maryanne tried to disguise a smile. “Sometimes.”
“Eddie asked me to come and watch him play basketball this afternoon with Mr. Adams, and I had to drag Katie along because she wanted to come to the park, too. My mom pressured me into bringing her. I didn’t even get a chance to say no.” Gloria made it sound as if she were being forced to swim across Puget Sound with the three-year-old clinging to her back.
“I’m not a pest,” Katie insisted now, flipping her braid over one shoulder in a show of defiance. Looking up at Maryanne, the little girl carefully manipulated her fingers and proudly exclaimed, “I’m three.”
“Three?” Maryanne repeated, raising her eyebrows, feigning surprise. “Really? I would’ve thought you were four or five.”
Katie grinned delightedly. “I’m nearly four, you know.”
“Mr. Adams is already here,” Gloria said, brightening. She frowned as she glanced down at her little sister and jerked the small arm in an effort to hurry her along. “Come on, Katie, we have to go. Eddie wants me to watch him play ball.”
“Why?”
Gloria groaned. “See what I mean?”
“You go on,” Maryanne said, offering Katie her hand. The youngster obediently slipped her small hand into Maryanne’s much larger one, willingly abandoning her cranky older sister. “Katie and I will follow behind.”
Gloria looked surprised by the offer. “You mean you don’t mind? I mean, Katie’s my responsibility and it wouldn’t be fair to palm her off on you. You’re not going to kidnap her or anything, are you? I mean, I know you’re not—you’re Mr. Adams’s friend. I wouldn’t let her go with just anyone, you know. But if anything happened to her, my mother would kill me.”
“I promise to take the very best care of her.”
Gloria grinned, looking sheepish for having suggested anything else. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind in the least. I don’t think Katie does, either. Is that right, Katie?”
“Why?”
“Are youreallysure? Okay, then...” Once she’d made a token protest Gloria raced off to join her friends.
