The Prince Charming List (16 page)

“Where’s her blanket?” He twisted around to face me.

“I think it’s still in the living room. I’ll go get it.”

My mission only took a few seconds and when I came back into the nursery, Dex had started up the mobile attached to the headboard. Even after watching him in action, I still thought he was insane to send musical butterflies dancing above a sleeping baby’s head.

“Won’t that wake her up?” I moved closer to tuck the blanket around her and Dex stepped to the side.

“At this point, a helicopter landing on the roof wouldn’t wake her up,” Dex whispered.

We ducked out of the room and I braced myself for the awkward moment that was about to descend. Or for Dex to walk out the door without a word. Instead he sat down on the floor and picked up the toys that were strewn around.

“Thanks for coming over to help.” I perched on the edge of the chair and noticed that the long-range forecast for the Midwest predicted thunderstorms.

“I’m going to order a pizza.”

I blinked. “Pizza?”

“The cookies were only an appetizer. There’s a pizza delivery around here, right?”

I had no idea. I checked the phone book and found out that the Blue Light Lounge delivered pizza with fast, friendly service on the weekends. I called it in and returned to find Dex in the same exact state I’d left him. Focused on the Weather Channel.
Now
it was awkward.

“Is there a movie on?” Hint, hint. Now that I knew I should bring an umbrella to work on Wednesday, it was time to move on to something a little bit more lively. Like a golf tournament.

“This is the only station that comes in. He reached for a wicker basket near the couch and fished around inside of it. “I could read
Goodnight Moon
to you. Or, there are some games in here.”

“Trivial Pursuit?” I edged closer. I was terrible at the Sports questions but unbeatable in Arts and Entertainment.

“Nope. Looks like our choices are Candy Land and Twister. Which one?”

“Um…
Candy Land.
” There was a no-brainer. Joanna and Nathaniel were a little young to play. It had probably been a shower gift from someone who liked to plan ahead. Way ahead.

“Candy Land hasn’t been opened yet, but the shrink-wrap on the Twister game has definitely been tampered with. What do you think that means?”

“I have no idea,” I said primly. Even though I did. Annie and Stephen didn’t indulge in PDAs but I’d seen some of the looks that had passed between them over the barbecued chicken during my last visit. Sigh.

“We probably shouldn’t open Candy Land,” Dex said. He slapped the Twister game between us. “I’ll let you spin first.”

“Dex, I don’t…” The faint gleam of laughter in Dex’s eyes cut off my air supply. Was he
flirting
with me? Impossible. Guys like Dex didn’t know how to flirt. To flirt meant there was
chemistry
. And guys like Dex didn’t have chemistry. They were like flour in the pantry. They added stability, not spice.

The doorbell rang and I scrambled to my feet. Whoever was at the door was going to get a hefty tip for perfect timing. Even if the pizza was cold.

“Hi.”

It was Jared.

“H
i.” The word squeaked out like I’d spent the evening sucking helium.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure.” I glanced over my shoulder and saw Dex standing a few feet behind me, a wad of money in his hand. The awkward silence I’d felt with Dex was a party compared to this. “You two know each other, right?”

“Dexter. You actually have a night off from your broom?” Jared laughed.

“No.” Dex was back to monosyllables.

“I thought you might want some company,” Jared said, his eyes catching mine again. “I’ve got three videos to choose from—every one of them chick flicks—and the only thing chocolate I could find at the grocery store at eight o’clock on a Saturday night.”

For the first time I noticed he was holding a cake. It was a double chocolate layer cake decorated with pink roses. Across the top, in flowing white icing, were the words,
I’m sorry I was such a jerk.

Jared might have had a stubborn streak, but he sure knew how to make it up to a girl.

Now what? Do I invite him in to share a pizza with Dex and me? Do we watch the Weather Channel together? Or play Twister? Maybe Dex would bow out gracefully to the “three’s a crowd principle”?

“This is great. Now we can split the cost of the pizza three ways.” Dex stuck his wallet back in his pocket. When Jared and I came into the living room a few minutes later, Dex was planted so firmly in Stephen’s recliner he needed to be mulched.

While we watched the movie, Jared communicated his irritation using his own brand of Morse code—which meant shooting a series of weighted glances in Dex’s direction. Dex was oblivious. He plowed through most of the pizza and half the cake.

When Annie and Stephen tiptoed in half an hour earlier than expected, they didn’t look surprised to see Dex and Jared providing twin support.

“How were they?” Annie whispered as Stephen went straight to the twins’ room. “Stephen was a basket case all evening. I finally had to drop a Philippians 4:6 bomb on him.”

Do not be anxious for anything…

“They were fine. Dex thinks Joanna might be getting a tooth,” I whispered back. “Enjoy the rest of the evening. And feel free to finish off the chocolate cake.”

“Thanks so much, Heather,” Annie whispered. “We really needed a few hours to laugh together. I mean, we love being parents, but I don’t want to forget what it’s like to love being a couple.”

“Anytime,” I said, and meant it.

Jared was waiting for me by the door, but there was no sign of Dex. I felt a stab of frustration because I’d wanted to thank him again for helping me with Joanna. When you didn’t want him around, he stuck by like gum on the bottom of your shoe and when you did, he pulled one of his disappearing acts.

Jared started to say something but my yawn drowned out whatever it was. “I guess that answers my question. Can I take you out for breakfast tomorrow morning?”

I could tell he wanted to make sure things were okay between us. And with Dex there, we hadn’t had a chance to talk.

“I have church in the morning.”
Don’t you have church in the morning?
Not that going to church meant a person had a relationship with Christ, but at least it might give me a clue we were looking for answers in the same book. The only time Jared had talked about God was that night at Riley’s. I’d replayed that conversation in my mind and realized he hadn’t actually come right out and said he was a believer. But he hadn’t said he
wasn’t,
either. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially since there was an invisible picture of his face on the top of The List.

“I’ll call you around noon, then.” He started to walk away but then turned back, pulled me against him and kissed me.

Slightly off the mark but close enough to count. When I came to, Jared was halfway down the block and Dex’s car was pulling away from the curb.

I couldn’t remember driving home. I staggered up to the apartment and flopped down on the bed, trying to make sense out of what had just happened. Jared didn’t seem like the type of guy who considered kissing a recreational sport and he hadn’t pushed the
come over to my place and check out my couch
issue for a while. I’d convinced myself that he was being careful because he respected me…and himself. That he wasn’t one of those guys who viewed relationships the same way they did their favorite video game, where it was all about moving to the next level.

I touched the side of my mouth, where Jared’s misplaced kiss had landed. What was
that
about? There hadn’t been much emotion there. It reminded me more of a timber wolf marking his territory than something to write about in my journal—if I kept one. The thought crossed my mind that maybe the kiss had been more for Dex’s benefit. Which was crazy. Jared wouldn’t see Dex as a threat. Which proved how frazzled I was and how much I wanted life to be simple again.

God, I can’t read Jared’s mind but show me his heart, okay? I don’t want to make a mistake.

All my chaotic thoughts tangled together that night while I was sleeping. In my dream, I was pushing a stroller with (gulp) three babies in it. Junebug came to life in Marissa’s studio and took out a shelf of pottery. But the scariest thing was the kiss. It wasn’t Jared who’d pulled me against him. It was Dex.

I woke up gasping for air, with Snap purring away on the pillow next to my head. When I realized it was a dream, I talked myself back to reality. Annie had twins,
not
triplets. A clay statue could
not
come to life. And
Jared
was the one who’d kissed me.

Since both my thoughts and dreams were ganging up on me, I got up and did something guaranteed to bring focus back to my life. My nails. I was a few minutes early for the church service, so when I saw Annie unloading baby paraphernalia from her car, I changed course and went to help.

The door opened before we reached it and I glanced up to thank our knight in shining armor. Dex. Of course it had to be Dex. I felt myself blush, remembering the dream. He had Joanna tucked in the crook of his arm.

“Did you lose Nathaniel?” I asked the question to accomplish two things: take the focus off my red cheeks (which I wasn’t about to explain) and because I really wasn’t sure that Dex hadn’t misplaced one of Annie’s twins.

He pretended to look around. “There’s a Nathaniel?”

Annie giggled. “Stephen has Nate. Thanks, Dex. There’s some potato salad in my fridge with your name on it.”

“I’ll stop by after the service.”

“Are you free after church, Heather? We’re having some people over for lunch.”

“I…ah, have plans.”

“Oh. You can invite Jared, too. We’ve got plenty of food.”

Annie was a mother, all right. A young mother, but still a mother. Nothing got past her.

“I’m not sure what our plans are. But I’ll mention it.”

“Great. But if it doesn’t work out this time, we’ll understand.”

Dex and I trailed behind her in a lumpy caravan on our way down the hall to the nursery. Stephen met up with us just outside the door, Nathaniel cradled in his arms.

“Sorry I’m a few minutes late, I had to meet with the kids about the Fourth of July celebration next weekend.” Stephen looked at Dex and me and I knew what was coming next. “Are either of you interested in helping out? We usually run some games for the teens—a pie-eating contest, maybe some karaoke.”

“Sure.” Dex didn’t hesitate.

“I don’t know what my plans are yet.” Lukewarm words. Yuck. They put a bad taste in my mouth. But maybe Jared wanted to do something with me. And if he did, I had a hunch it wouldn’t be organizing games for the youth group.

“The local businesses are going to donate prizes. Maybe the Cut and Curl could offer a free haircut or something,” Annie said.

“No problem.” I latched onto Annie’s suggestion and pushed aside the irritating voice in my head that told me I was taking the easy way out.

“Let me know what you need me to do, Stephen.” Dex tucked a corner of Nathaniel’s blanket in, gave his toes a little squeeze and took off.

“Is something wrong with Dex?” Stephen frowned.

“That’s just Dex. He’s a now-you-see-him, now-you-don’t kind of guy.” I was surprised they hadn’t figured this out by now. “The antisocial type.”

“Dex isn’t antisocial,” Annie said, laughing. “It was his idea to start a summer Bible study for the guys in the youth group. They’ve been having a great time.”

I watched Dex pause at the end of the hall, where two little boys ambushed him. Dex got them both in a headlock and mashed their faces together.

The guy had no people skills. He lacked what Grandma Lowell would have called
social graces.
If that didn’t put Ian Dexter in the antisocial category, then he must have an evil twin somewhere—an evil carpenter twin—because I couldn’t pry more than one or two sentences out of him.

“I think he’s still dealing with a lot,” Annie said, nuzzling Joanna’s silky red hair. “He spends a lot of time in his head. Sifting through the junk. I did the same thing.”

“Dealing with what?” Maybe exhaustion, considering how many jobs he was trying to hold down.

“Annie, I think it’s time to get the twins settled.” Stephen gave her a meaningful look and Annie made a face.

“Oops. I was thinking out loud again.”

The prelude was starting, but I didn’t want to abandon Annie and Stephen. We lugged everything into the nursery and the nursery worker who hurried up to help was Kaylie Darnell. Even though she was a teenager and it was July, she was shrouded from chin to ankle in beige twill. There was a fine line between thrift-store chic and great-grandma’s attic and she’d crossed it. Maybe she tried to pick out clothes that helped her blend into the woodwork.

“It looks like you’ve got your hands full this morning.” Annie counted babies and arms with the speed of a calculator. The results she came up with made her frown slightly.

“The other person scheduled to work with me had car trouble this morning. She should be here in about fifteen minutes.”

“You and Stephen go ahead. I’ll stay and help Kaylie until reinforcements come,” I offered. “We’ll be fine.”

Stephen was already putting Nathaniel in an infant seat on the floor. “Thanks, Heather.”

Now Annie handed Joanna over with a smile. “See you two later! Come and get me if they’re fussy.”

“They’ll be fine,” Kaylie promised, cuddling Joanna against her.

When we were alone, I dropped to the floor in front of Nathaniel’s infant seat, made sure he was comfortable and wiggled my eyebrows at the other baby who was drooling in the next chair. “Who’s this little charmer?”

“That’s my brother, Adam,” Kaylie said. “He screams if I’m out of his sight.”

Which gives you a really good excuse not to be in Sunday school with other people your age.

“He’s a cutie, too.” I offered my finger, which Adam latched onto and tried to maneuver into his mouth.

Kaylie carried Joanna over to the enormous quilt that hung on the wall by the changing table and started pointing out colors to her.

I know I’d told God I wasn’t going to be a busybody anymore, but did prying Kaylie Darnell out of her shell fall into that category? I hoped not. “Annie mentioned there’s going to be a Fourth of July celebration in the park next weekend. Are you planning to go with the youth group?”

“No.”

I stood up and wound the baby swing, where another apple-cheeked pixie was dozing. Time to try another route. “Are you going to be a senior this fall?”

There was a long silence. Déjà vu. It was like talking to Dex. “Yes.”

“Any plans after that?”

“I’m still praying about it.”

“Me, too.”

Now she looked at me. Skeptically.

“Hey, sometimes it takes a while to figure out what you want to be when you grow up.”

“You’re managing the Cut and Curl.”

“Just for the summer. Once the end of August rolls around, I have no idea. I keep waiting for God to unveil the plan. And I’ve been out of high school almost three years. Most people are well on their way to
something
by then.”

“What did you do after you graduated?”

“I went to Europe with a friend of mine for a year. When I came back, I signed up for cosmetology school. Which surprised a lot of people. Especially my parents.”

“You went to Europe? For a
year?
”

“Not quite a year. More like nine months.”

Kaylie suddenly sat down in the rocking chair with Joanna and leaned over to nudge up the volume on the kids’ praise tape that was playing.

I think it was to drown me out.

Jared was waiting for me on the stairs when I got home. After our misunderstanding, I expected he’d want to talk. Instead, he dangled a key in front of my face.

“Let’s go for a ride.”