Chapter 14

	Reese pulled his truck away from the curb outside Mikki’s building and eased into
traffic.  It was the third time he’d come to a stop, and the third time he’d pulled away
without getting out of the truck.  At least this time he’d gone so far as to turn off the
ignition, he thought, as he cursed himself and made a right at the next intersection.
	He wasn’t sure when he’d actually realized that he loved her, but he knew it had
been sheer torture those few days in Clay River without her, thinking he had lost her
forever.  Looking around him and not seeing her smiling face; sleeping in the bed where
she had slept -- the bed where they had made love only moments before he’d made
such a asinine fool of himself. He’d almost been certain he could smell the scent of her
as he lay awake in the night those nights.
	He’d managed to talk himself into believing that it didn’t matter, that in fact, he
was better off without her.  Afterall, he’d only known her for a few weeks, he could forget
her just as quickly and be no worse for the wear.
	Then, he’d made the long monotonous drive home from Clay River--without her. 
Every time he’d turned his head he had expected to see her sleeping there, her shoes
kicked off and her legs curled up under her, but the seat was always empty beside him.
She wasn’t there, she was with Max, he’d told himself, and by the time he’d reached
Elmdale he’d worked himself into such a state that he had hardly recognized himself, not
to mention how he had treated his workers in the days that followed.
	He groaned and rubbed a hand across his forehead.  “Damn fool!” he cursed
himself, as he cruised past Mikki’s building one more time--the seventh time he’d driven
by without stopping.  He still remembered how he’d felt like his blood was boiling up
inside as he’d watched Luke and Jake laughing like a pack of hyenas, at his expense. 
He hadn’t heard them though, all sound had fallen on deaf ears after those few fateful
words.
	“Max is a woman.”
	A woman!
	Why hadn’t he given her a chance to explain? Why had he jumped to the wrong
conclusion in the first place? For God’s sake, even if Max had been a man, he could
have been her brother or something, why had he assumed it was a lover?  He ran his
hands through his hair and swore, remembering the sincerity in her eyes as they had
made love. How could he have thought so low of her?
	More importantly, why did any of it matter so much in the first place. Why did he
care who she was sleeping with?  He’d slept with women before that he hadn’t intended
to stake a claim on. If he had no intentions towards her, why should it matter?  They
were only playing at being engaged afterall, it wasn’t the real thing. He had no claim over
her. Why should he give a damn how many other men friends she had?
	Because you love her, you damn fool!
	The realization had hit him like a ton of bricks as he was pacing his living-room
after he had left Jake and Luke in the shop. He had responded to this revelation by
pouring himself a stiff drink, and following quickly it by a second.
	Love.  What did he know about it anyway? It was what his parents had had, he
knew that. It was also what his mother and Patrick had, but it was something entirely
foreign to him.  Suddenly it had mattered who she spent time with, who she kissed, who
she slept with, for he wanted to be that someone.  He wanted to be the one to go to bed
with her at night, and the one to wake up beside her in the morning; the one she joked
with in the kitchen while they cooked side by side, and the one she watched with those
dreamy eyes whenever he was in the room.  He wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to make
love to her.  He’d never felt this way about any other woman in his entire life, and it
scared him to death!
	“So what are you going to do about it?” he asked himself, as he maneuvered his
truck around a delivery van and continued down the street.  He pulled his truck up to the
next corner and made a left turn this time, heading back across town, away from her
building.  Obviously talking things through wasn’t going to work, not if he couldn’t even
get out of his truck and face her.  After a sleepless night and a few unproductive hours
moping around on the job-site of no use to anyone and the subject of many silent
glances, he’d jumped in his truck and headed towards her apartment with the intention
of explaining everything to her and begging her to accept his apology.  He’d been driving
past her building for the past hour, and had only managed to turn the key off once.
	For reasons he didn’t understand, he found himself driving past Elmdale Primary
School, and made the next corner to circle around to the back of the school yard.  He
pulled his truck to a stop and climbed out.  The familiar screech of rusty metal filled the
air as the swings swayed lazily on the breeze.  He walked slowly over to the fence and
folded his arms across the top of the fence.
	In his imagination, he saw a cluster of tiny children gathered around their teacher
as they pondered the future of a butterfly.  Who was he kidding?  He’d been enchanted
with her from the first moment he’d set eyes on her right at this spot, and he’d been
denying it ever since.
	“Whatcha doin, Mister?”
	The small voice penetrated his thoughts and brought him back to the present. 
Turning, he found himself looking down at a small boy who seemed to have come out of
nowhere, perched on his bike with a super-hero bike helmet sitting crooked on his head.
	“Just thinking.” Reese said, offering the boy a smile.
	“That your truck?” The boy asked.
	“Sure is.” 
	“What’s it say?” The boy questioned, squinting at the writing on the side door.
	Reese grinned. “It says Kincaide -- that’s my name -- Kincaide Landscape
Professionals.”
	“My name’s Timmy.” the boy said, looking up at him with his forehead wrinkled
up. “What’s a lanscape profeshnul?”
	Reese’s eyes glinted in laughter. “It means I cut the grass for people, or big
buildings like schools and things, and fix up peoples’ yards for them.”
	Timmy looked thoughtful. “You cut the grass at this school?”  
	Reese shook his head. “Nope, not this one.”
	The boy straightened, and smiled. “That’s my school.” he said proudly.
	“Yeah? You like school?”
	Timmy shrugged, not wanting to appear too excited about school. “It’s OK. We
do some cool stuff sometimes.”
	“I bet you do.” Reese agreed, putting on his very best interested voice, which
brought a light to the boys eyes and a smile to his face.
	“Did you like school when you were my age?” he asked, looking up at Reese as if
the answer was very important.
	It was Reese’s turn to shrug this time. “More or less.”  he said, and when the boy
looked confused, he laughed. “I liked being with my buddies and playing ball at recess,”
Timmy smiled and nodded as Reese went on, “and even some of the stuff we learned 
was great stuff, but the teachers were no fun.” He looked down at the boy and wrinkled
his nose up in an exaggerated expression.
	Timmy’s eyes opened wide. “Not my teacher! She’s cool!”
	Reese laughed. “I bet she is.”
	The boy was nodding so animatedly that his helmet was sliding all around on his
head.  “She’s lots of fun -- and smart too!” He pointed to the sky, where the moon was
faintly visible in the blue of the day. “Miss Johnson says the reason you can’t see the
moon so bright in the day, like you can at night, is cuz of it’s like a big mirror.  She says
when you shine a light on a mirror it looks more bright when you turn the light off.  I tried
it at home, and it’s true.”
	“Is that a fact.” Reese said, looking down at the boy with renewed interest. “She
does sound pretty smart.  So she’s a good teacher, huh?”
	“The best!” Timmy nodded again. “And she helps me with my work when I don’t
unnerstan it, but she says it’s always bestest if you work at it yourself.  She says if you
want something to work out, you gotta work hard at it -- like my pluses. She says if I can’t
do it the first time, to try agin.”
	Reese raised his brow questioningly. “And then everything works out does it?”
	“Yup. Miss Johnson says pratice makes purfit.”
	Reese smiled and put his hand on the boy’s helmet, giving it a shake and putting
it back in place.  “Yep, I’d say she’s pretty smart.”  he said, glancing out over the empty
playground thoughtfully. “Well, Timmy, I’ve got something very important I have to do
right now. I’ll see you around, OK.” He offered Timmy his hand and the boy gave it an
exaggerated pretending to be adult shake. 
	“See ya Mister.” he called out as took off on his bike, his little legs going a mile a
minute, and his mouth making a variety of sound effects.  Reese smiled and  walked
purposefully back to his truck.  This time, he was going to park his truck, get out, and
walk into Mikki’s building. This time, he had a plan!

	Mikki sat curled up on the couch with a book. She loved reading, and with
everything that had been happening, she hadn’t been able to read much since the end
of school. In fact, the last few days, all she had been reading was recipes.  The
Moussaka and Baklava she and Max had made the day before had been good, even if
she did say so herself. She’d much preferred it over the Hungarian dish they had made
the day before.  Much as Max’s intentions had been good, however, she had finally put
her foot down, and convinced her friend that life had to go on. She wanted to sit around
her apartment, soak in the tub, read a good book -- just spend a lazy do-nothing day
alone.  Reluctantly Max had agreed, and so Mikki had spent the morning pouring over
her bookshelf full of books to find one she hadn’t managed to get around to reading yet.
Once she’d found one, she’d settled in with a fresh cup of tea and set about her reading.
	It had worked -- almost.  The book was suspenseful and managed to hold her
attention most of the time, although there were moments when she found herself lost in
a daydream of the man she was trying to forget. Still, she was managing to look at the
memories with a melancholy smile on her face, rather than tears in her eyes, which, she
told herself, was as it should be. Afterall, they didn’t have some deep binding history
together that she was trying to forget, and they hadn’t really been engaged.
	She sighed, and closed her eyes for a moment, remembering Reese’s touch
against her skin, then shook herself back to reality and focused her eyes on the book. 
Finding her place, she stood up and shuffled to the kitchen without taking her eyes off
the book, set her teacup on the table and got herself a piece of left over Baklava. 
	Constantine was just struggling to drag the fair Juliana into the lifeboat from the
freezing waters of the Pacific Ocean when there was a knock on the door.  Mikki
grumbled and ignored it, turning the page quickly to see if the poor shivering Juliana
would be able to keep her grip on her rescuer’s hand or fall back  into the depths and
drown.  A few seconds later, just as Juliana tumbled over the side of the lifeboat and fell
in a dripping heap on the floor, the knock sounded again, this time louder and more
persistent.
	“Just a minute.” Mikki called, taking another bite of Baklava and getting onto her
feet. Slowly she made her way to the door, turning one more page just before reaching
out to flip the lock.  Expecting it to be Max, or perhaps the prodigal Joey returned, she
didn’t look up as she swung the door open.  Instead, she turned slowly away from the
door with her eyes still glued to her book, but something caught her attention out of the
corner  of her eye, and she stopped and turned her head ever-so slightly to stare at the
feet that remained motionless outside her door.
	Men’s feet.
	Almost in slow motion, she lifted her eyes up the jean-clad legs, past the black
T-shirt, the undeniably masculine hands holding a pizza box, and on up to the smiling
face of Reese Kincaide. Time froze as Mikki stood staring at him, then blushing, she
snapped her mouth shut. She suddenly remembered that when she’d finished soaking
in the tub, she’d slipped into her nightgown since she’d intended on lazing around the
house all day.  Now she stood there feeling half naked with Reese staring at her from
the hallway outside her door.  Quickly she pressed her open book against her chest and
blinked.
	“Reese?” she said, her voice not much more than a whisper.
	Reese was glad he was leaning against the door jamb to hold him up, and forced
himself to ignore the fact that she was standing there wearing almost nothing at all.  He 
tore his eyes away from her to look into the room behind her.
	“My turn this time.” he said, lifting the pizza box slightly. “Is Max here?”
	Mikki pressed her lips together tightly and swallowed hard to regain her
composure. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth to speak. “Listen, Reese, I...”
	Reese moved quickly, straightening and holding up a hand to silence her. “Mikki,
it’s OK. I was just going to say that, if she were here, she could join us for pizza.” His
voice was soft and comforting, his eyes looked down at her with an apologetic look, and
she felt a little dizzy.
	“You know about Max?”
	He shuffled his feet, and gave her a one-sided grin. “Luke came by the shop.  It
seemed there was a menu of Moussaka and Baklava being prepared and his own
charms had failed him in getting an invitation to dinner.  He wondered if I would be able
to get him one.  I made a colossal fool of myself, and I don’t think either Luke or Jake will
let me live it down for a long while.  I imagine neither of them have ever laughed so
much before in their lives.”
	“Jake laughed at you?” Mikki stared at him wide eyed.
	“Sure. I pay him because he does good work, but he’s still my best friend, and he
seems to think that gives him the right to rib me whenever I act like an imbecile.”
	She raised an eyebrow at him now. “Oh? You do that often?”
	He laughed.  “Sometimes -- but never as bad as I did this time.  I deserved what I
got from those guys.  Mikki, I’m sorry. I am so sorry.”
	Mikki stood motionless, as if in a daze, until suddenly she realized he was still
standing in the hallway, pizza in hand.  “Oh! Umm -- don’t stand out there all day,
Reese.”  She reached for the pizza, then coughed, and quickly put the book back to her
chest, blushing.  “Maybe you’d better do that. Just put it in the kitchen, I’ll just go and get
dressed.”
	“You don’t have to, not on my account. I don’t mind.”
	She grunted. “Well, your girlfriend might, if she knew.”
	As soon as the words were out she regretted them, and grabbed her lower lip
between her teeth, glancing towards him nervously.  He had just stepped into the
kitchen, and swung around at the doorway, a dark expression on his face.  
	“What girlfriend?”
	Mikki made a mad dash for the bedroom and he called her name in a voice that
made her shiver.   “Mikki! Stop right there!”  She stopped, but didn’t turn around.  She
heard him approaching and felt herself trembling, then his voice was very near behind
her as he spoke again, this time a slow, purposeful tone.  “Mikki, would I be here,
begging for forgiveness, if I had a girlfriend?”
	She turned her head slowly to look at him, and saw something in his eyes that
looked like confusion, and hurt.  Her heart twisted in her chest and she wished she
hadn’t spoken those words.  “But -- but I saw you with her. The other day.”
	“You saw me with who the other day?” His eyes held hers now, daring her to look
away.
	“A beautiful blonde woman -- at the cafe across the street from Carlisle’s. You
hugged her and kissed her, and...”
	Suddenly Reese started to laugh, and Mikki looked at him, confused. “What’s so
funny?” she demanded, pouting.
	“At Maurice’s? On the patio?” he asked, and Mikki nodded dumbly.  He reached
out his hand and brushed a tear off her cheek with his thumb. “That was my Aunt
Monica. Remind me to introduce you to her some day. She’s Mother’s sister, the
youngest in the family.”
	“Oh.” Mikki said, then her face heated in a blush and her eyes lifted to his. “Oh!
You mean...?”
	He shook his head. “I have no girlfriend, Mikki.”  He looked down at her, his eyes
traveling over her face, mentally tracing the outline of her lips, and she shifted
uncomfortably and moved slightly towards the bedroom door.
	“I--I better get dressed now.” she said, almost a whisper. 
	He sighed, and turned away, as if the spell had been broken, and ran his hand
through his hair.  “Mikki, wait. There’s something else I have to tell you.”
	She stopped and looked back over her shoulder, and he leaned against the
nearest wall, gazing out over the room towards the window on the other side. “I should
have explained this a long time ago. I tried, a few times, but it just never worked.  Mikki--
about your picture--how it got in my house. I...”
	She sighed, and gave him a soft smile. “It’s OK Reese, Max told me everything. I
know about the picture. I’m sorry I acted unreasonably.   I know you replied to my -- or
should I say -- their personal ad about me.”
	He gave her a half grin and stood straight again. “Well, that’s not exactly the truth
either.” He suddenly had the urge to hold her, and he reached out and pulled her into his
arms, hugging her close and resting his chin against her hair. 
	“What do you mean?” she asked.
	“Well, I didn’t answer your ad. Aunt Monica did.”
	“What?” Mikki lifted her eyes to look at him, and he looked down at her, laughter
dancing in his eyes.	
	“She’s an insufferable match-maker.  She’s been trying everything she could
think of to get me married off.  This time she thought she’d try the personals, since
nothing she’d ever tried before had worked.  She wrote in pretending to be me. 
Apparently, your friends wrote back, pretending to be you.”
	Mikki started to laugh at the hilarity of the situation. “You mean, neither one of us
wrote to each other?”
	He shook his head, and brushed the hair off her forehead as she laughed more.
“And it was Monica who sent me to see Mrs. Bloomburg, across from your school that
day.  My guess is she had done her research to see what time recess was, and figured
you’d be out on patrol. I have since found out, by the way,  that Martha Bloomburg was
spending a week at her sister’s in Connecticut at the time.  Oh, and she doesn’t want
anything done to her yard, which is a good thing I imagine, since the Cartwright
restaurant job is going to take the guys and I a good part of the summer to finish.”
	“Your aunt really  is a scheming relative, isn’t she?” Mikki giggled.
	“She certainly is.  I thought I was furious with her over it.”
	“And you’re not?”
	He shook his head, still holding her loosely in his arms. “Oh noooooo-- far from it.
I’m starting to think everything might just work out for the best.”
	She raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh really?”
	He cleared his throat. “Oh yes!” he said, his tone exaggerated, but his eyes full of
laughter. “Of course I owe a great debt of gratitude to one of your little fans, too.”
	“Who?” she looked up at him questioningly, and he laughed.  
	“A little boy named Timmy.” he explained. 
	“Timmy?” she asked, 	surprised and curious.
	He nodded. “I ended up over at your school today, at the place where I first saw
you. I’d been driving around the block downstairs trying to get up the courage to come
up here and beg you to forgive me for being such an idiot. I’d pretty much given up, then
Timmy started singing your praises. He’s a great advocate you know!”
	“Oh really?” she smirked up at him. “What did he say?”
	He smiled, and ran his hand through her hair. “He told me all about the moon.”
Reese said, teasingly, and when she playfully hit him on the chest he smiled down into
her eyes and went on.  “And he said that Miss Johnson says, if you want something to
work out, you gotta work hard at it -- and if you can’t do it the first time, try again.” 
	Mikki felt a warmth rush through her,  proud to know that her words had rubbed
off on Timmy Sullivan. Then her eyes held Reese’s as she wondered what those words
had meant to him.  
	“So--I wanted it bad enough--so I came back to try again.” He smiled, and she
leaned in, hugging him closer.  “Mikki, these last few days have been murder for me. I
can’t stand not being near you -- I want you in my life, for the rest of my life!”
	“Oh Reese!” she whispered.
	She didn’t say anything more after that. She couldn’t have if she had tried, for
Reese’s lips claimed hers, in a hungry kiss that silenced her for a long, long time. His
hands slid along her night gown, feeling the warmth of her body through the light fabric,
and a moan escaped him through his kiss.  The sight of her in it had stirred his blood,
but the touch of her in it had set it positively boiling.  Letting go of her lips only long
enough to see where he was going, he reached down to pick her up, and carried her
into the bedroom.
	“Reese.” she whispered dreamily, as he lay her on her bed.  
	“What?” he said breathlessly, afraid she was going to stop him.  He looked down
at her with a hopeful look in his eyes, his face so close to hers, waiting to kiss her again.
	Instead, her arms slid down his slowly, and her lips planted kisses on his face as
she whispered, eyes sparkling. “You have too many clothes on.”