39
I put my dime in the pay phone and dialed. It rang eight times with no answer before I hung up. My mother was probably at the playground or the club with the kids. Their swimming lessons were on Thursdays, but we had talked about them needing to get more practice. Not that my mother would get in a pool herself. If her hair got wet, we wouldn’t have to worry about the Soviets anymore because she would unleash a fury that would make nukes look puny.
But she wasn’t averse to slipping a teenager some money to play with them in the pool while she sat under an umbrella with her friends.
At least someone is having fun today, I thought.
Then I remembered I had her car.
Playground, then .
I shrugged and slipped back into the driver’s seat of her car, heading back toward the office.
Which was in utter bedlam by the time I returned.
I heard the shrieks from the hall, and I rushed in, half-convinced we were under some sort of attack—from whom I didn’t know. But I ran in, ready to do battle, only to stop short at the scene in front of me.
Michael had his tie around his head, covering one eye, the hook of a coat hanger where his left hand should have been, a flagpole in his right as he fought off Robbie, who wore Michael’s coat, belted at the middle. Debbie sat on top of a file cabinet, clapping her hands and cheering for her brother, while the interns watched in amusement and Stuart glowered over his typewriter.
“What on earth?” I asked, crossing to Debbie, and pulling her off the cabinet.
Michael turned at the sound of my voice, and Robbie stabbed him with a ruler to the ribs. Michael yelped and grabbed at his injury, and I started toward him but stopped when Paul put a hand on my arm. I watched as Michael took his time about “dying.”
“Is this the end of Captain Hook?” he cried, just before closing his eyes.
Robbie took a bow for the applauding interns, then ran to hug me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him, trying not to sound annoyed about the mess. Besides, whatever the reason they were there, it wasn’t their fault.
“Gramma brought us,” he said with a shrug. “I’m Peter Pan!”
“I see that,” I said. I looked down at Debbie. “I suppose that makes you Wendy, then?”
“Nuh-uh,” she said, putting her fists at her hips in a far better impression of Peter Pan than her brother. “I Tinkerbell.”
“Of course. And that would explain the hook,” I said to Michael.
“He can’t hear you,” Robbie said. “He’s dead.”
“An assassination wasn’t what I expected when I came to work today,” I said.
“Why don’t you take them home?” Stuart said. “You know, so we can actually get some work done?”
“Lighten up, Stu,” Michael said, sitting up. “Your mom brought them by an hour ago,” he said to me.
I wondered if Nancy’s offer to dig a hole would apply to my mother as well. “Did she say why?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Lunch with Anna someone,” Michael offered with a shrug.
“Hey, you’re dead!” Robbie said, pointing his ruler at Michael.
He grinned boyishly, then jumped to his feet. “It’ll take more than that to kill Captain Hook,” he shouted, brandishing his flagpole at Robbie. Robbie screamed and ran to hide behind Stuart.
“Get him!” Debbie yelled, although I wasn’t quite sure who she was talking to as she squealed in delight when Michael growled in her direction. Then she wriggled out of my grip and ran around the room, flapping her arms and proceeding to knock over a huge stack of papers.
Stuart looked ready to commit murder—which could be quite convenient if I could get him to channel that toward my mother instead of him just scowling at me, like this was my fault.
But my rage dissipated rapidly as Michael caught Robbie and threw him over his shoulder. “Let’s see how you like losing a hand to a crocodile,” he snarled.
“Mommy!” Robbie shouted. “Save me!”
“Your mommy is no match for this!” Michael said, holding up the coat hanger.
Robbie made a grab for the hanger and slipped a little. Michael released the hook to keep from dropping him, and Robbie delivered a particularly ill-placed kick. Michael sank to his knees before freeing Robbie, who plucked the hanger off the ground and ran away with it, declaring he was now Captain Hook and telling Charlie to walk the plank and George to swab the deck.
“Are you okay?” I asked, kneeling beside Michael.
“Been better,” he said through a grimace. “Children of my own may not be in my future after that.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help myself.
“Might want a wife before you start thinking about kids. And by the time you find one of those, you’ll probably be recovered.”
“A wife?” he asked. “No way! I’m never growing up and getting married.” He stood back up, taking a first gingerly step to make sure he was okay, before bellowing, “Hook! I’m coming for you!” And then he took off after Robbie again.
“Are all grown men such children?” Claire asked me over the noise and commotion.
I glanced at Stuart. “No.” But I smiled as I watched Michael playing with the kids. “The good ones know how to turn it on and off though.”
Michael motioned for Paul to help trap the kids in a corner. I turned to Claire to say something else, only to see her watching Paul with keen interest.
I remembered my resolve to do a little matchmaking there, but Paul glanced up at Claire and grinned, and I realized he hadn’t been acting on his little crush on me in some weeks. Romance seemed to be brewing without any nudges from me, and I loved to see it.
“Watch out, Wendy!” Michael called, and I realized he was talking to me. “The pirates are coming for you!”
They played for another half hour before I made the executive decision to bring them home. Debbie didn’t always nap anymore, but she was yawning and clearly needed one after the excitement of the day.
“I’ll help you all out,” Michael said, pulling his tie off his head.
The car was parked nearby, and I started to say that wasn’t necessary, but he knelt down and gestured for Robbie to hop on his back, then picked Debbie up in his arms. “Curbside service,” he said as he gestured for me to go first. “Your mother said you had the car today.”
That was right: “How did she get here?”
“We took a cab,” Robbie said excitedly. “The driver smelled like hot dogs!”
Michael and I exchanged a look, and we both tried not to laugh.
“I’m sorry about this,” I said as he helped the kids into the back seat of the car.
“Don’t be. We had fun.”
“But there’s so much to do—”
“And it can wait an hour,” he said, standing back up. “Like I said the other day, family comes first.”
I contrasted that with Larry, who was using the family as a threat to get his way. And without Linda’s cooperation—
“You okay?” Michael asked.
I snapped out of my reverie. “Sorry—I’ll explain another time.”
“Can we come back tomorrow?” Robbie asked.
“No,” I said firmly.
He pouted. “Then can Michael babysit sometime?”
I started to laugh. “If we don’t win, you’ve got a job lined up,” I said.
“Perfect. I’ll bring the hook.”
Get in the car and go home, Beverly, I told myself. But my body didn’t cooperate as I still stood there smiling at him. “You’ll make a great father someday. Assuming everything is still working after that kick.” Then I clapped a hand over my mouth. “I’m sorry—I didn’t—I—”
Michael laughed and put a hand on my shoulder. “I think I’ll be okay.”
“I’m just going to go home,” I said quickly, opening the driver’s side door and sitting, mortified.
He shut the door for me, then leaned in Robbie’s window. “You take good care of your mother, okay?”
Robbie saluted him. “Aye aye, Captain!”
“Are you all pirates now?”
Michael winked. “Have fun, Wendy lady.”
I never ate lunch, I told myself as I pulled away. That’s all that fluttering in my stomach is. Nothing more.
But the thing about Wendy was that she grew up ever so long ago and therefore knew better than that.