Chapter Nine

       “Max?” Mikki’s voice came to her over the phone.  “You wouldn’t know where Jake is
would you?  Reese has been trying to get a hold of him since early this morning but he
hasn’t been answering his phone.”
	“Jake?” Max glanced over to where Jake lay propped on one elbow beside her
on the bed, watching in amusement and tracing his finger along her arm.  They'd been
laying in each others arms after making love again when the phone had rung.  At first,
Max had contemplated not answering it, but some deep seated feeling of obligation won
out, and she'd reached for the receiver.  Now she pointed toward the phone and
covered the mouthpiece, wrinkling her brow.  
	“It’s Mikki,” she mouthed to the man at her side. “Reese is looking for you.”
	Jake shook his head and waved his hands in the air.  “I’m not here!” he
whispered, but he made no attempt to move. 
	“No, Mikki, I don’t know where he might be.”  She swatted at Jake’s finger to try
to stop the playful drawing that was threatening to make her laugh uncontrollably, but he
merely grinned at her and continued. 
	Mikki sighed.  “All right then.  Well, if you do see him, tell him Reese is looking for
him, Okay? It's not like him not to be at the shop by now."
	"True," Max said, trying hard to sound surprised.  Jake slid a finger over her side,
making her flinch, and she tried to stifle a giggle.  "That's not — like him — at all" She
glared at Jake and swatted at his hand, and Mikki asked her if she was alright.  "Fine,
fine.  Just something funny on TV.  I better let you go in case Jake is trying to call
Reese."
	"Okay," Mikki said, her voice clearly indicating she thought there was something
strange about her friend's behaviour, but she didn't question it further.  When Max hung
up the phone she glared at Jake, but couldn't stay angry at him.
	"That was Mikki! "
	"I know, you told me that already." He never stopped grinning.  He was enjoying
her turmoil.  Teasing each other was something they were good at, and this was teasing
at its best, he thought.  Then again, he'd discovered last night that there was something
else they were good at too.
	"Why were you doing that while I was on the phone with her?" Max pouted at
him,  sounding exasperated. 
	He shrugged, smiled, and grabbed her, pulling her down on top of him. 
"Because it was fun," he suggested. 
	Max giggled, then tried to frown.  "Reese needs you at work.  He's been calling
you since early this morning and no one at your place answered the phone. Why do you
suppose that was?"
	He shrugged again, kissing her fleetingly several times.  "I guess I wasn't there."
	This time Max really did frown, and lifted up onto her elbows to look down at him. 
"Jake, I don't think it's a good idea that Mikki and Reese find out about — well, you know
— us."
	"There is no us,"  he reminded her.
	She lowered her eyes to his chest, and spoke softer.  "You know what I mean,
Jake.  I mean about what happened last night."
	"And this morning," he added with a wink.
	She blushed slightly.  "Yes, and this morning.  I just think that Reese and Mikki
shouldn’t know anything went on between us here.  They would take it the wrong way. 
They'd never let us live it down."
	"You want to live it down?" He was teasing her, not taking the subject seriously.
She rolled her eyes and groaned in exasperation, which only made him grin more. 
Finally he reached up and brushed a hand gently across her cheek, weaving his fingers
through her hair.  "Seriously, I do understand what you're saying.  If they knew, they'd
start trying to fix us up together all the time.  That would never do.  We'll keep it our little
secret, Okay?"
	"Okay," she smiled at last, and bent her head to plant a quick kiss on his lips. 
But when she tried to get up again, he held her fast and kissed her deeper.  
	"Jake!" she protested, when he released her lips at last.  
	He sighed, and dropped his arms to the bed beside himself.  "There’s no way I’m
phoning the shop from here, they have caller ID, so I guess I should go over there and
find out what Reese wants, huh?"
	She gave him a worried look, glancing at the clock.  Her intention, when she'd
headed into the kitchen that morning, had been to get some breakfast ready so Jake
could then head off to the shop in time for work.  Since then, they'd lost all track of time. 
"Could it be that it's a work day and you're not at work?"  she suggested.
	He sighed.  "That probably has a lot to do with it," he agreed, chuckling.  She
rolled away onto his knees, and let him sit up on the side of the bed.  He looked at her
thoughtfully, and for a moment she thought he was about to say something more, then
his eyes seemed to clear and he turned away, rubbing a hand over his face.  "Can I use
your shower first? I probably shouldn't show up at the shop looking like this."
	"Sure." She wrapped the sheet around herself and watched him as he stood up
and headed to the bathroom.  She sat for some time listening to the water running, then
pulled on the T-shirt  and  boxer shorts she'd discarded the evening before, and went
back to the kitchen. 
	When Jake finally emerged, he was fully dressed and was fishing his keys out of
the pocket of his jeans.  "If we ever do this again, I guess I should try to remember to
bring my cellphone in out of he truck with me and leave it on, huh?" he said with a wink.
	Max gasped.  “Your truck!”  It had been parked outside her place all night.  What
if Reese or Mikki had driven by and seen it?  She chewed on her lower lip and looked
worried.    He caught her eyes and knew what she was thinking. 
	"And park the truck somewhere else, I guess, too," he said, then his grin
widened, and she couldn't resist smiling with him.	
	"Yeah, I guess so," 
	He paused a few more seconds, then nodded, and stepped toward the door. 
"Right.  Guess I should go then."  He walked purposefully to the door and opened it,
taking one step through it, then stopping to look back at her.  He looked like he was
going to say something, then thought better of it and swayed forward.  Then he turned
back to her once again, a dark look in his eyes that she couldn't quite describe.  "So I'll
see you later?"
	"Sure," she said, nodding and smiling.  "Later."   And then he closed the door
and Max stood looking at it for a long few minutes remembering his words. If we ever do
this again, he had said.  Max smiled to herself.  Would there be a next time?  

	Reese cast a disgruntled stare over his shoulder as his partner walked into the
shop two hours later than usual.  He'd been slugging sacks of soil mix for the past half
hour, after spending a good part of the morning trying to find his partner.  The back of
the truck was already piled high with plastic bags of the mixture, and Reese was none to
impressed at having loaded them all himself.  
	"About time you showed up," he said, with no humour in his voice, 
	"I'm here now aren't I?" Jake said.  He'd almost blurted out that he'd heard
Reese was looking for him, but that would have just caused more questions than it was
worth.  Reese turned his back to him and grunted, tossing another bag of soil mix into a
wheelbarrow. 
	"Where the hell have you been anyway?  I've been calling your place all
morning."
	"Guess I forgot to turn the ringer back on on the phone," Jake said casually.
	Reese grabbed another bag and glared at him.  "So you were sleeping like
Sleeping Beauty while I was slugging away here on the job?  Our job, I might remind
you. Today's the Taunton contract, remember?  It's imperative that we both show up
there, and that everything go as smoothly as possible.  We're already running late."
	Jake closed his eyes and cursed under his breath.  Of all the days to show up
late, why did it have to be today!  He'd forgotten all about the Taunton job.  It had been a
hard one to get, designing and sculpting the grounds around the newly renovated
Taunton Mansion out on Claiborne Road, and old man Taunton would be watching them
like a hawk to make sure everything went exactly as he wanted.  He would also be
counting the minutes.  Jake looked around the shop as a wave of guilt engulfed him. 
	"Alright, Reese.  I'll admit, I screwed up," he said, kicking at a pebble with the toe
of his boot.  "What can I say, I'm sorry.  What's left to be done to get ready?"
	Reese grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow and prepared to push it out the
door to the waiting truck.  He cast his partner a cold stare and grunted, then opened his
mouth to speak.  Then his eyes narrowed, and he took a second look. 
	"Damn, Jake, aren't those the same clothes you were wearing last night?"  
	Jake grumbled to himself under his breath.  Did Reese have to notice
everything?  "So what if they are?" he asked.
	Reese's mouth curled into a wicked grin and he set down the wheelbarrow and
put his hands on his hips, giving his partner a thorough head to toe stare.  "They are too! 
Why, you sly devil, you!  So who's the lucky lady?"
	Jake frowned. "There's no lady. Who said there was a lady?" he snapped,
perhaps a little too quickly.
	Reese threw back his head and laughed, then shook his head and picked up the
wheelbarrow again, marching straight out to the driveway with it.  "Right, whatever you
say, Buddy," he said over his shoulder.  "Whatever you say.  If she's no lady, that's fine
with me, as long as you had fun."  He winked, and Jake felt like tossing something at
him, but thought better of it.  They had to get over to Taunton's as soon as possible, and
it wouldn't be a good idea to decapitate his partner beforehand. 
	But if he had wanted to toss something at Reese at that moment, he wanted to
even more when Mikki stepped out of the house just as Reese was standing beside the
truck laughing at him.
	"Hey, Mikki!"  Reese called to his wife.  When she spotted Jake she smiled and
waved to him, stepping closer.
	"We wondered what had happened to you, Jake," she said, much more politely
than her husband had greeted him,  Jake noticed. 
	"Jake spent the night with a lady last night. That's why we couldn't find him at
home this morning." Reese said with a wink towards Jake.  "But he says she's no lady."
	Jake groaned.  "I did not!" he insisted.  "I did nothing of the kind!"
	"Right," Reese nodded teasingly and grinned at Mikki, waving a hand in Jake's
direction.  "Just look at him.  Same clothes he was wearing last night.  What other
explanation could there possibly be?"
	"I haven't done the laundry in a while," Jake grumbled, just loud enough for
Reese to hear.  Reese laughed even harder, and slapped his partner on the back.  
	"Don't worry Buddy, maybe she'll do it for you."
	Jake frowned, and picked up a  bag of soil mix and tossed it into the back of the
truck  with a thud.  Mikki smiled, and shook her head.  The boys were at it again, she
thought, as she turned away.  
	"Hey! Watch my truck!"  Reese shouted from inside the shop with a laugh.
	Jake grumbled again,  but the corner of his lip began to curl.  They'd known each
other for more years than he could count, and they were closer than brothers.  It was
almost impossible to stay angry with Reese.  And it was just the same way with Max.  As
he unloaded the rest of the bags of soil mix his thoughts drifted back to the night before. 
Max was a special woman, and he'd never want to hurt her.  He was glad they had
come to an agreement, that they both understood what it was they had — and didn't
have.  But damn, the thought of her in his arms made him want to turn around and go
straight back to her place again.   He'd have to throw himself right into his work to get
that thought out of his head. 
	He lifted the next few bags into the truck more carefully and turned back to the
shop with the wheelbarrow.  Today, they would be working under the watchful eye of
Percival Taunton, and Jake would have to have  his wits about him and make sure not
to make any mistakes.  Not like he had last night, he thought.  He frowned deeper, and
glanced across the shop at Reese, who was rummaging in a stack of terra cotta pots
trying to find the ones tagged for the Taunton job.  No, there could be no more mistakes.
The first thing he would have to do when he got home after work was pack a change of
clothes and stick them behind the seat in his truck!

	  "Jake finally showed up this morning," Mikki said, as she fussed with Maddy's
bib, sitting across the table from Max, on the patio at Maurice's cafe.  It was girl's day
out, a tradition they'd started some time ago, and had only suffered slightly since
Maddy's arrival.  Mikki wasn't due to go back to her job at Elmdale Elementary until the
fall, and Max's school year was over for another summer, so both women were free any
day during the week.  Although they saw each other often enough, it was usually at
Mikki's house, so they enjoyed ths time out on the town when they could get it.  
	"Well that mystery is solved then," Max said, cheerily. 
	Mikki chuckled and glanced at her friend, like a girl with a secret.  "I wouldn't
know about that.  Reese seems to think there still is a bit of an unsolved mystery."
	"Really?" Max concentrated on her lunch, picking up her water glass and taking a
sip. 
	"Reese seems to think he spent the night with a woman last night."  Mikki said
with a wink. 
	Max sputtered, spraying water back into her glass, coughing an choking. 
	"Are you okay?" Mikki spun around to look at her friend.
	Max held up her hand.  "Fine.  I'm perfectly fine.  This just went down the wrong
way.  What makes Reese think that?"
	Mikki's eyes sparkled.  "Apparently he was wearing the same the same clothes
he'd had on when he stopped by our place last night."
	Max winced. 
	"Are you sure you're alright?"
	"Yes," Max coughed, hitting her chest for effect.  "I'm fine.  What did Jake have to
say about it?"
	Mikki shrugged, turning back to wipe Maddy's face with a paper napkin. "He
denied it."
	Max let out her breath.  "Well there you go then."  She took a long sip from her
water glass, then set it down and ran her hand over the table cloth.
	Mikki wasn't being put off that easily, however.  "But Reese didn't believe him,"
she said.  
	"And what do you think?" Max asked.
	Mikki laughed.  "I think my husband was having some fun at his friend's expense. 
But who knows.  Jake is a good looking guy, why couldn't it be true?"
	At that moment Maddy tossed her toy on the ground with a loud clatter, and let
out a shrill laugh.  Mikki turned her attention to her daughter, and when at last she turned
back to the table Max took advantage of the distraction to change the subject.  
	"How's she doing with her teething?" she asked, and just as she expected, Mikki
fell right into a discussion about Maddy's progress with her teeth, and the subject of Jake
and his whereabouts the previous night was successfully dropped.