Summer Kisses (11 page)

She stood at the door and listened for a moment.

The voices all blurred together but Lexi and Sandy’s voice were easy to decipher. Ah, and Chelsey. Chelsey must have finished cooking the chili and brought it for a taste test.

She opened the door a smidgeon and peeked toward the kitchen. Sandy’s back was to her, but judging by the red pencil skirt and matching jacket she’d come straight from a sales meeting downtown. Her hair was in a neat twist on the back of her head. Sandy had always had a flair for fashion.

Sandy laughed about something and when she walked away, Jill blinked to make sure she wasn’t imagining things. As far as she could tell, Chelsey had indeed brought the chili for a taste test and she was spoon feeding the chili to Derrick. He opened his mouth and as he chewed and swallowed he groaned as if he was having a chili orgasm. While Derrick continued to make absurd noises, Chelsey grabbed a napkin and used it to dab at his chin as if they were lovers.

It was all too much. Why hadn’t anyone come into her room to wake her up? Why hadn’t Sandy kicked Derrick out of her apartment?

Sleepily, Jill trudged into the room. As she glanced around, she plunked a hand on her hip. “Where’s Ryan?”

“It’s alive,” Sandy said as she came to Jill’s side and tried to fix her hair.

Jill swatted her hand away.

“Ryan’s asleep,” Derrick said from the kitchen.

“Then why are you still here?”

“Because he’s our savior,” Chelsey said with way too much enthusiasm. “He added red and green chili peppers to the chili,” she went on, “and it turns out that’s exactly what was missing. The woman who sent in the recipe, you know, the one who won all those competitions…well, I just talked to her on the phone and sure enough, she forgot to include a few ingredients when she typed out the recipe for us.”

Jill grunted. How could she omit chili peppers from a chili recipe? “Did you tell her how much trouble she’s caused us?”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Chelsey assured her before she looked back at Derrick and batted her eyelashes.”

For the first time since hiring Chelsey six months ago, Jill noticed how perky and cute she was with her blonde curly hair that bounced around her pale shoulders every time she moved. She looked amazing in her sleeveless sundress and strappy sandals. Surprisingly, Jill found herself wanting nothing more than to tell them all to leave. And then she wanted to pick up the phone and call that woman and tell her she didn’t deserve to win any ribbons at the next county fair if she couldn’t even get one simple chili recipe right.

Breathe, Jill, breathe
.

Derrick was right. She had the baby blues, and she had them bad. All of this negative energy was wearing her out. Since when did she care what Chelsey wore or if everybody looked amazing except for her? She wasn’t vain like her mother and sister. She didn’t have to look perfect every second of the day. For the umpteenth time in the past week, she found herself wanting to cry, which only served to make her want to cry even more because she wasn’t a crier by nature. Her hormones were definitely out of control and she didn’t like it one bit.

Jill turned away to head back to her room when suddenly Ryan’s cry pierced her eardrums. She looked over her shoulder at Derrick. “Your baby is crying. I’m going back to bed.”

Thomas stood near the rose garden. Tonight he wore a tuxedo and the moonlight glistened off of his hair and played with the angles of his face, throwing shadows across a nicely shaped jaw and long straight nose.

Across the way, Derrick sat poolside in nothing but a pair of colorful board shorts. His fingers plowed through thick wet hair, sprinkling droplets of water over a bronzed chest and well-worked biceps.

Both men looked Jill’s way as she walked toward them, hips swaying.

“She’s beautiful,” Thomas said.

“Yes,” Derrick agreed. “And she’s all mine. You blew it, buster.”

Jill’s eyes popped open. She stared up at the ceiling. What was wrong with her? She hardly knew Derrick and yet she couldn’t shut her eyes without dreaming about him. Not once, but twice!

Her heart hammered against her chest as she realized she was absolutely, certifiably losing her mind. There was no other explanation. Derrick wasn’t her type. She wasn’t attracted to men with deeply tanned bodies and big muscles. Flashing white teeth and sparkling eyes that winked with mischief were not her cup of tea. No sirree. She liked professional men who took life a little more seriously. She preferred a man in a suit who used his brains more than his brawns.

The clock on her nightstand read three o’clock.

She looked back at the ceiling before giving the clock a second look. No way was it three o’clock. It was closer to nine o’clock in the morning the last time she had awakened to the sounds of everybody partying in her kitchen. If it was three o’clock, that would mean she’d slept six hours straight. She’d never taken a six hour nap in her life. Trying not to panic, she flipped off the covers, slid her legs over the side of the bed, slipped her feet inside her big pink slippers, and headed for the door. She listened for a moment.

Nothing. Not a sound.

Ryan. Where was Ryan
?

She hadn’t spent this many hours away from him since he’d been born. It was no use. Panic hit her like lightning, swooshing through her insides as she shot through the door and ran to the family room.
Where was everyone
?

She ran to the baby’s room. Empty.

She ran to the kitchen and saw a note written in cursive.

Took Ryan for a stroll to the park. Hope you don’t mind.

—D

Derrick had taken her baby out of her apartment.

How could he
?

White-hot flames shot up from the tips of her toes, searing and blistering.

She ran to her bedroom and shook her feet until one slipper flew across the room. The other slipper disappeared under the bed. She shuffled through her closet until she found a pair of tennis shoes and quickly jammed them onto her feet. A glimpse at the mirror above her dresser caused her to make a quick trip to the bathroom where she splashed water on her face, brushed her teeth, and combed her hair back into a ponytail.

The last thing she did before running out the door was grab a sweatshirt from the pile of clean clothes on the wicker chair sitting in the corner of her room.

~~~

Derrick decided they couldn’t have picked a nicer day to visit the park. Chelsey was a character with her wide smile and enthusiastic spirit. Sandy, on the other hand, was proving to be a hard nut to crack. No matter how charming he was, she would not cave.

As Sandy and Chelsey passed out coupons to people so they could receive a discount on the
Food For All
magazine along with free samples of the chili, Derrick made small talk with strangers and signed autographs. A woman and her son walked his way. Derrick bent down on one knee so he could talk to the boy. “What’s your name?”

The kid blushed and handed him a jagged piece of paper ripped from a magazine. “Eddie.”

“How old are you, Eddie?”

“Eight.”

“Do you like to play football?”

He shook his head. “Mom says I can’t. I’m too thin. She thinks the other guys will break my bones.”

“Do you have a football at home?”

He shook his head again.

Derrick signed the piece of paper “Hollywood” and then scrawled his e-mail address beneath his signature. “E-mail me your address and I’ll send you a football. It won’t hurt you to practice throwing to your friends.”

The kid smiled and then looked over his shoulder at his mom to make sure it was okay. She nodded, prompting Eddie to take the slip of paper and run back to her with an energetic hop in his step.

An elderly woman had been waiting patiently for him to sign a coupon Sandy had given her for next month’s issue of
Food For All
. He signed it and then hooked his arm around the woman’s shoulders as her husband took a picture of the two of them. The couple then reversed positions and took another picture. After they walked away, he glanced at his watch. “It’s three o’clock,” he told Sandy and Chelsey as they passed out the last of the chili and coupons. “I should head back before Jill wakes up and finds the place empty.”

“Jill is going to love what we’ve done here,” Chelsey told him. “Thanks to you we passed out more than 250 twenty-percent-off coupons for next month’s issue. We also got the thumbs up from every person who tried the chili.”

“I must admit,” Sandy said. “This was a great idea. No offense, Derrick, but I had no idea so many people would go out of their way to meet a football player. Jill will be very pleased.”

“No offense taken,” he said.

Derrick leaned over the stroller to check on Ryan. After having everyone fawn over him for the past two hours, the little guy was worn out. The temperature hovered around the low eighties and high seventies—a perfect day for an outing with his son.

When Sandy and Chelsey had mentioned that they were going to pass out chili along with discount coupons at the mall, he’d suggested they keep it simple and take the chili and coupons to the park. So that’s what they did and it hadn’t taken long for word of mouth to get out that a pro football player was passing out free chili and taking pictures.

“You have some gall taking my baby without asking me.”

Derrick turned to the sound of Jill’s angry voice.

Chelsey put a hand on Jill’s shoulder. “This was my idea,” she said, trying to take any blame off of Derrick. “And you won’t be angry once you see what he’s done for the magazine. Hundreds of people found out that Hollywood was in town and they came by in droves—all from word of mouth. Once they heard that a celebrity was at the park handing out free chili and autographs, people streamed in and just kept coming. It was fascinating to watch.”

Derrick could see it coming, but poor Chelsey had yet to see the power of a woman’s hormones after having a baby. Unfortunately Chelsey was about to see the full effects first hand.

Jill pivoted so she was face-to-face with Chelsey, their noses inches apart. “Since this was your idea,” she said, “you’re fired. No need to return to the apartment. I’ll send you your termination papers along with a final paycheck.”

School must have gotten out, Derrick noticed, because a group of teenagers were huddled together a few feet away. They were pointing and laughing, talking about women’s underwear.

Derrick took a closer look at Jill. Sure enough, there was something pink and lacy sticking out from underneath her sweatshirt. He reached over and grabbed what turned out to be a pair of panties.

The kids laughed some more.

Jill swatted his hand without bothering to see what he was up to. She was too busy ripping Chelsey to shreds.

Derrick stuffed the panties into his front pants pocket.

“Are you kidding me?” Chelsey asked. “Look around you, Jill. We just passed out every coupon we had for next month’s issue. We also got high ratings on the taste test we did for the chili that you want to put on next month’s cover. Not only that, I took some amazing cover shots that I think you’re going to be thrilled with. That’s three items off of your to-do-list.”

Jill pointed toward the street. “Go.”

“But—”

“Nobody takes my baby without asking me. And, in case you haven’t noticed, I am the new editorial director.”

Derrick kept hoping Sandy would come to Chelsey’s rescue, but she was passing out coupons to a family out of earshot and missed the commotion. He was about to step in and try to help Chelsey out himself, but three women, all holding babies, were now surrounding him. Not wanting complete strangers to see Jill’s meltdown, he turned to the women and ushered them a few feet away.

“Would you mind if we had a picture taken with you, Mr. Baylor?”

“Not at all.” He situated himself in the middle of the women and they all looked toward the camera which was being operated by a man he guessed to be one of the ladies’ husband.

“We were watching you with your son earlier. He’s adorable.”

“I noticed he’s not wearing anything on his feet,” the curly haired woman said. “Even when it’s warm, he should have something covering his feet.”

“We also noticed a rash on his leg. I recommend cornstarch to take care of that.”

They all started giving him advice at once. He nodded his head as he tried to take it all in: what detergent to use for washing Ryan’s clothes, the best brand of diapers, and all the other essential baby items to purchase like carriers and swings.

A finger stabbed into the back of his arm, making him wince. He looked to his right and wasn’t surprised to see Jill holding Ryan and giving him a look that could very easily make the devil himself bend to his knees and grovel.

Instead of groveling, he threw an arm around Jill’s shoulder and pulled her in close. “This is Jill Garrison,” he told the ladies. “Ryan’s mom and editorial director of
Food For All
.”

“Really?” the lady with curly hair asked as she took inventory of Jill’s outfit: a pair of gray sweatpants and faded sweatshirt complete with big-eyed kitten wearing a blue frazzled bow around its neck. “This is your wife?”

The woman next to the curly haired lady blushed at her friend’s behavior and said to Jill, “We were just telling your husband what a darling baby boy you two have.”

“He’s not my husband,” Jill growled.

“Sorry. I just assumed.”

Jill opened her mouth to say something, but Ryan began to fuss before she could say another word, which Derrick figured was a good thing. No telling what might come out of Jill’s mouth. Judging by the deep furrows in her brow, it couldn’t have been good.

“He might be colicky,” the third woman said, speaking for the first time. “My little guy was colicky for the first three months. It was horrible because I was sleep deprived and for the longest time I didn’t think my little Nathan liked me.”

In the blink of an eye, Jill’s expression went from angry to curious. She looked from Ryan’s scrunched-up unhappy face to the woman who just spoke. “Colicky? What is that?”