CHAPTER 9.

This was Cole Fletcher's third day helping out Lindsay. This morning he'd found himself at her doorstep fifteen minutes early, which surprised him. Not that he wasn't usually prompt for meetings and practice, but it just so happened he usually liked to keep the women he dated guessing, make them wonder if he'd show up or not. But Lindsay was different. She was a take-no-prisoners sort of gal, and he knew she'd throw him out on his ass if he didn't arrive on time. She took her daycare business seriously. He liked that about her. She was firm with the children and yet loving, too.

At the moment, he and Lindsay were playing flag football in the backyard. Cole formed a huddle with Becky and Jonathan and pointed across the make-shift field at Lindsay and the twins. "Okay," he said. "See those pieces of bright red cloth hanging off Sean's pants?"

Becky nodded, but Jonathan was more interested in the ladybug he found in the grass.

"Lindsay is going to hand off the football to one of her teammates. I want you to follow the person with the ball and pull that red strip of cloth right off their pants, okay?"

Becky nodded again.

Cole looked at Lindsay and watched her huddle with the twins, giving them thorough instructions, no doubt. Her curly red hair fell over her shoulders. Her legs were long, her arms slender and graceful. It didn't matter what she had on, a short dress or cut offs and a T-shirt like she was wearing today, she was drop-dead gorgeous.

"Okay," he told his teammates when he saw the other team take their positions. "Ready?"

Jonathan ran around in circles, laughing. Apparently the ladybug had traveled up to his elbow. Cole looked at Becky and sighed. "Time out," he called. He ran over to the picnic bench and brought back a napkin. "Here," he said to Becky, handing her the napkin. "Use this instead of your finger to get whatever's up your nose."

With her chubby little finger still lodged halfway up her nose, she managed to give him one of the sweetest smiles he'd ever seen. When that was taken care of, Cole deposited the napkin into the garbage and ran back to take his place. By the time he returned, the ladybug had flown away and Jonathan was chasing it across the yard. "Looks like it's you and me, Becky. Just keep your eye on the ball and get the flag, okay?"

"You're funny," she said.

He smiled back at her, although he had no idea what he had done to amuse her. "Thanks."

"Are you two ready yet," Lindsay shouted, "or are you going to try to stall again?"

"We're ready," he said, wanting nothing more than to take her down in one swift motion, pin her to the ground and kiss the hell out of her.

Lindsay counted. "Ten. Fifteen. Thirty-two. Forty-one."

Cole shook his head and wondered if Lindsay was ever going to flip the quarterback the ball. After a few more numbers, she finally did. Troy gave the ball to Sean and Sean ran as fast as his little legs would take him-right past Becky and into the end zone. "Oh, man," Cole said to Becky. "That was way too easy."

Lindsay flipped her hair back in a try-and-beat-that gesture, and then gave him a dazzling smile that made his insides zing and zap.

"You guys got lucky," he told her.

"Boys," Lindsay said, "looks like Cole is a sore loser."

"Who said anything about losing, right Becky?"

Becky laughed as if he'd just said the funniest thing in the world. He scooped her up into his arms and tickled her for good measure. After setting Becky back on the ground, he clasped his fingers around the football. "You better get ready," he warned Lindsay's team. "Becky and I are serious now."

"Ooooh, we're scared," the twins said in unison, not exactly shaking in their dirty little tennis shoes.

"When I say three," Cole whispered to Becky, "I'm going to hand you the ball and you're going to run like the wind right past those boys. I'll block for you, okay?"

She nodded so hard and fast that her curls bobbed.

"So you just follow right behind me, okay?"

Becky was still nodding when Jonathan reappeared.

"Hey, Jonathan," Cole said, bringing him into their huddle. "When I say three, Becky is going to follow me, but I need you to distract Troy. Tell him you found a big bug or something."

Jonathan laughed.

"Okay, let's go," Cole said for the third time. "Thirty-five. Nine. Three." Cole handed Becky the ball. She just stood there. "Run, Becky. Run!"

She finally ran.

Jonathan did as he was told and in a very loud voice he told Troy all about the biggest bug in the history of the world with five green eyes and two mouths, but nobody could hear a word he was saying.

Cole jogged at Becky's side. "That's right," Cole told her. "That's my girl. Keep running."

Sean tried to take Becky down, but Cole scooped him up, tickled him and set him on the grass to the side. Cole turned back in time to see Becky trip. The ball bounced out of her hands. Lindsay scooped up the football and headed in the other direction. Cole ran after her. He grabbed the red flag sticking out of her shorts, but she had it in there good, so he grabbed hold of her waist and brought her to the ground on top of him.

She laughed until she opened her eyes and saw how close he was. "Hey," she said. "That's cheating."

Her face was inches from his. The creamy flesh of her neck beckoned him. He could smell her minty breath. The tremendous urge he'd had all week to kiss her took over him and he made his move. But instead of warm lips on his, he felt a stabbing pain in his thigh as she jabbed her knee into his leg.

"Ow. That hurts."

She pushed herself off of him. "Come on, kids," she called. "Time for lunch."

He watched her hips sway as she walked off. Damn. She was tougher than she looked.

Lunch time at Molly's junior high usually passed without fanfare, but today was different. Today Molly couldn't keep her mind off of the fact that Mad Max was her father. She'd known for three days now, but she hadn't told anyone but Lindsay that she knew. She didn't know what to do about it. She didn't know how to feel? She thought about talking to the school counselor, but then changed her mind. Adults weren't much better than her friends when it came to gossiping. She wasn't ready for the whole school to know she had a father. Once they found out her dad was Mad Max, everyone might want to be her friend for the wrong reason.

"Hey, Molly," a familiar voice called out.

Molly turned, surprised to see Grant Parker heading her way.

"Where have you been?"

Breathe, Molly, Breathe. He's just a boy. Never mind that he was the hottest boy in her seventh grade class. He was still just a boy. "I wasn't feeling well," she finally managed.

"Oh."

"But I'm fine now."

"I'm glad. I wanted to talk to you."

They walked together for a moment. She wondered if anyone was looking, watching them together. She hoped so.

"I had a great time at your party. Meeting Mad Max was awesome. My brothers are super jealous that I got to hang with Mad Max and Cole Fletcher."

She smiled.

Grant stopped walking and reached for her arm.

She stopped too and looked at him, curious. Her heart thumped against her chest. Swallowing dryly, she wondered what he had to say. Having his hand on her arm left her feeling off balance.

He gestured past the school parking lot toward the park. "Me, Katie, and Tom are heading off. You know, cutting school for the rest of the day. We're going to go hang out at the park. Do you want to come along?"

"Oh, I don't know-"

"Come on," he said, his chocolate brown eyes glistening in the sunlight. "It'll be fun. We only have two days of school left. If you're not having a good time," he added, "we'll come back before lunch ends."

Molly looked about, relieved to see that there weren't any teachers or adults around. She'd never cut class before. The idea had never crossed her mind. But how could she turn down Grant Parker, the cutest boy in the entire school? He was every girls dream. His hair was longer than most boys his age. He was in the eighth grade. All the girls had crushes on him.

If she got caught though, she'd definitely get into trouble. Her mom would be furious. She might even get suspended from school. But Grant was right, there were only two days of school left anyhow. Besides, the thought of her mom being angry with her, only made her want to cut class and go with Grant all the more. She tried to imagine saying no to him, watching him walk away without her. That made her feel sicker than the thought of going with him, so she nodded and said, "Okay. I'll do it. Let's go."

"What are you going to teach me today?" Max asked Kari as he followed her into the kitchen.

It was Wednesday morning and once again she had stopped at the grocery store on the way to his house. Together, they unloaded the groceries, putting the fruit and vegetables, eggs and other assorted items into the refrigerator. She pulled a tub of cream cheese from the refrigerator and held it up. "What's this?"

He laughed. "I didn't eat one bit of it, I swear. Fred and Dan bought it when Sally made the mistake of sending them to the store. I'm telling you, those guys are bad influences."

She lifted a skeptical brow.

"As soon as they're gone, I'll empty the refrigerator of all poisonous foods and you can come check it out."

"I think I'll do that. Today though," she said after she shut the refrigerator door and came around to the other side of the granite counter, "I'm going to sit here." She patted the cushiony seat on one of the stools. "And I'm going to watch you make us breakfast. You get to plan the entire day. Meals, exercise, everything. I'm just going to watch and see how you incorporate everything you've learned."

"You'll do whatever I say? Go wherever I want?"

"Absolutely."

"But this is sort of like a test, isn't it?"

"Maybe," she said, wondering what it was about him today that seemed different. He wore stone-colored lightweight pants with a smooth front and a classic short-sleeve white polo shirt.

"Okay," he said rubbing his hands together. "I think I can ace this test. Breakfast is important, so I better get this right. It's probably worth half the points for the day."

She merely smiled, crossed her legs, and decided to enjoy herself. Yesterday she took Molly to school and then spent the day in the office catching up on paperwork. Today she had been eager to see Max again. In fact, it surprised her how much she missed not seeing him yesterday.

"You'll be glad to know," he said, "that I had oatmeal for breakfast yesterday, another soybean burger for lunch, and a chicken salad for dinner. I wrote it all down in that food journal you gave me. The family was impressed."

"I'm impressed. You've caught on quick. I don't think you need me anymore, Max."

"Oh, no," he said. "I need you. I almost talked Breanne into running to the store for some good old-fashioned apple pie and french vanilla ice cream, but she wouldn't go."

Kari laughed and then looked about. "It's so quiet around here." This was the first time she recalled the two of them ever being in the house alone.

He cracked eight eggs into a bowl before heading to the sink to scoop out the yolks. "By the way, how's Molly feeling?"

"Better, although she's been acting strange. It must be a teenage thing, changing hormones and all of that."

"I know exactly what you're talking about. My sisters all went through spurts while growing up...there were times when all four of them would turn into demons, I swear." His brow furrowed. "It wasn't pretty."

She chuckled.

Max added four tablespoons of low-fat milk to the bowl. Watching Max cook filled Kari with a warm, tingly feeling. The more she thought about telling Max about Molly, the more she realized she needed to tell Molly first. School would be over in a few days. Then she would sit down and have a long talk with her daughter.

"You look as if you're a million miles away. What are you thinking about?"

She shook off the guilt creeping over her. She knew dragging things out was only complicating matters, but she'd already made up her mind. By next week, both Max and Molly would know the truth. "Sorry," she said. "I don't mean to be nosy, but I sensed something going on between you and your sister, Nicole, the other day. Are you two close?"

He pulled mushrooms, tomatoes, and scallions from the refrigerator and said, "I think you do mean to be nosy," he teased, "but yes, we're close. At least we used to be before her boyfriend, Jake, died in a car accident. I happened to be the one driving when a drunk driver broadsided us."

"That's horrible."

He sliced the vegetables as he talked. "We were all wearing seatbelts and everyone survived except Jake. According to the autopsy, Jake was a walking time bomb. He died from a brain aneurysm. I guess you could say there has been some friction between Nicole and me ever since."

She leaned forward so she could look into his eyes. "You don't blame yourself, do you?"

He picked up the measuring cup and measured two ounces of nonfat shredded cheddar cheese. "Hell, I don't know...that's not true. Sometimes I do blame myself, although I know I shouldn't."

"How awful."

"Nicole knows how sorry I am. We all are. But what good is *sorry' when someone has lost the love of their life? And Jake was definitely that."

"How long ago did she lose him?"

"It's been two years now." He washed a handful of strawberries in the sink, then returned to the stove. "Jake was a great guy. A good man. You would have liked him. Everybody did."

"I'm sure I would have. You're lucky to have such a wonderful family."

He looked at her, long and hard, before he directed his attention back to breakfast. After folding the omelet in the pan and transferring it to a plate, he set two fresh strawberries next to the omelet and slid the plate in front of her. "That's one hundred and eighty calories. Total fat: one gram. Less than 0.2 grams of saturated fat. Two grams of fiber, 26 grams of protein, and approximately four hundred milligrams of sodium."

He provided her with a fork, a napkin, and a glass of iced water. Then he pointed the spatula her way. "Eat before it gets cold."

She took a bite. "Delicious."

"You haven't seen anything yet. When you're done eating, I'm going to take you on the ride of your life."

And he was right. An hour later, she was straddled against him on the back of his motorcycle, her arms tight around his waist as they sped down the Santa Monica Freeway. Her hair whipped around her face. At first she'd been terrified, but once she began to relax, she found herself enjoying the ride...the scenery, the smell of the ocean as they drew nearer to the water, and especially the feel of her arms around Max. She felt young and carefree.

Exiting the freeway, Max slowed as he made his way through a small town. Boutiques and cafes lined both sides of the road. He pulled over to the curb and turned off the engine.

Kari removed her helmet. "What are we doing?"