Barbara Dunlop - Overheated

“Stop right there.” Crystal plunked down on her couch.

“All we’re going to do is talk.”

“You know what happened last time you talked.” The last time Zane showed up, claiming he was a changed man and wanted to try again, he and Amber had partied hard. It took all of two weeks for the weasel to run through Amber’s savings account and break her heart again.

Amber’s voice hardened. “You never did like him.”

“It’s not a matter of liking or disliking.” It was a matter of decent versus dysfunctional.

“It’s not like there are thousands of men out there.”

“Actually, there are. Hundreds of thousands in North Carolina alone. Many of them good ones.”

“Zane’s a good one.”

Crystal sighed. They’d had this argument many times. “You’re beautiful, Amber.”

“No, you’re beautiful.” Amber nearly wailed. “You don’t know what it’s like.”

“I know what Zane’s like.”

“He’s a decent man, and a good father.”

“Don’t tell me he wants to see the kids.” Now Crystal was really worried.

“No,” Amber sniffed, and Crystal could hear the pout in her voice. “Not at the moment. He wants to see me. But I can’t go meet him without a babysitter.”

Crystal closed her eyes. Bingo. The reason for the call. “I can’t.”

“Why not? Just for a little while. You and the kids can have mac and cheese for dinner.”

“I have a-” Okay, it wasn’t really a date. “I’m going out.”

“Where?”

“None of your business.”

“Well, it can’t be more important than my marriage.”

“You don’t have a marriage. You have a loser of a-”

“You stop right there.”

Crystal took a breath.

“Zane may not be perfect,” said Amber. “But he was my husband, and he is trying.”

Crystal clenched her teeth. Zane was not trying. Zane was a loser lounge lizard who only showed up to mooch money, then left her sister in emotional tatters.

“I can’t babysit,” Crystal reiterated.

“Then I’ll have to think of something else.” Amber’s voice turned searching. “Jennifer is almost-”

“Jennifer is nine.” Crystal instantly saw where this was leading. “You can’t leave the kids alone, Amber.”

“She’s very responsible.”

“No. It’s illegal.”

Silence. Then an airy, “I guess I’ll think of something.”

Damn it. Crystal knew she couldn’t take the chance.

Their parents were rarely an option. If they weren’t working, they were sleeping, and they tended to subject Amber to lifestyle lectures if she was doing something other than visiting the local library. Amber wouldn’t call them.

If Zane showed up at the door, Amber might talk herself into leaving the children alone. Or worse, Zane might start the party right there in the apartment.

“I’ll come and get them,” said Crystal.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Amber enthused. “You’re the best sister ever.”

Crystal didn’t agree. A good sister would have been able to talk Amber out of this insanity. She wouldn’t have become an enabler.

“I’ll be there in half an hour,” she told Amber, punching the end button in disgust.

Crystal blew out a sigh of frustration, then dialed Larry’s cell phone.

“Larry Grosso,” came his crisp greeting. The sound of traffic was in the background, which meant he was already on his way. She felt terrible.

“Larry, it’s Crystal.”

His tone changed, becoming warm and friendly. “Hey, Crystal.”

Her body hummed in reaction to the deep baritone. She took a breath to combat the sensation. Nothing to do but blurt out the bad news. “I’m afraid I can’t meet you tonight.”

There was a silence.

“Larry?”

“I understand.” His tone was cool.

“How can you understand? I didn’t even tell you why.”

“If you’ve changed your mind-”

“I haven’t changed my mind.” Good grief, she’d been looking forward to this dinner for twenty-four hours. She wasn’t some flighty young thing who’d blow him off for a better offer. “My sister called. And, well, it’s complicated, but I have to babysit her kids.”

“I see.” He obviously didn’t believe her.

“It’s not an excuse,” she insisted. “It was a…kind of…emergency.” Emergency stupidity? Was there such a thing?

“How old are the kids?” asked Larry, his tone mellowing ever so slightly.

“Jennifer’s nine and David is seven.”

“We can bring them along.”

“To Rouladen’s?”

“Well, obviously not to Rouladen’s. What about Pizza Heaven?”

Something warmed in Crystal’s chest. “You’d take me to Pizza Heaven?”

“Sure.”

“With two kids in tow?”

“The kids would be the one and only reason to pick Pizza Heaven.”

Crystal laughed. “You mean you don’t want to play Bop-the-Mole or jump around in the ball room?”

There was a pause on Larry’s end of the phone. “I want to hang out with you. I don’t much care where we do it.”

Her heart warmed some more. “You’re a very nice man, Larry.”

Another pause. “Well, thanks for that. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“I’m going to have to change,” she warned him.

“Oh, no you don’t. If I’m showing up at Pizza Heaven in a suit, you’re wearing whatever it is you’ve got on.”

Crystal glanced down at the shimmering blue dress. “Well, thank goodness I didn’t go with the red.”

“The red?” he asked, interest clear in his tone.

“It’s a little flamboyant.”

“Yeah?”

“Guaranteed to turn heads.”

“Put it on.”

“I’m not going to put it on for Pizza Heaven.” But another buzz went through Crystal’s body.

Were they flirting? This definitely felt like flirting. Which was okay with her.

His tone went low. “Put it on for me.”

She was tempted. She was honestly tempted to do just that.

JENNIFER AND DAVID ORDERED kid’s combos that came with a soft drink and an ice-cream sundae, while Crystal and Larry split a pepperoni pizza and went with the beer that was on tap. Although she’d stuck with the blue dress, they’d drawn a few looks on their way in. But then Larry had slipped off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, and now they blended somewhat with the crowd of young families.

Crystal was impressed with Larry’s relaxed manner around the children.

Once David had discovered Larry consulted on the space shuttle program, Larry became his new hero. He’d peppered Larry with questions all through dinner. Even Jennifer seemed impressed.

David announced he was going to be an astronaut, and Jennifer allowed that some things about math were cool.

As the meal wound down, Larry nodded to the display board above the counter. “Can anybody tell me which price is the best deal for games tokens?”

Jennifer and David quickly swiveled on their wooden bench seat, studying the numbers. Tokens were four for a dollar, nine for two dollars, twenty-five for five dollars, and fifty-five for ten dollars.

David peered hard, then looked to Jennifer.

“Fifty-five for ten dollars,” she sang out.

“Fifty-five for ten dollars,” David gamely echoed.

Larry handed Jennifer a ten dollar bill. “For ten dollars, how many will you each get?”

Both the children’s eyes went wide as they stared at the bill.

Jennifer bit her bottom lip. “Twenty-seven,” she said. Then she grinned at Larry. “And you can have the extra one.”

He smiled back. “Good answer.”

The kids looked to Crystal for permission. “Go ahead and have fun,” she told them.

They instantly scampered away.

“That was very nice of you,” she said to Larry.

He took a sip of his beer. “I wish you’d quit calling me nice.”

“You are nice.”

“Nice is boring.”

“You’re not boring. You helped with the space shuttle.”

“That seemed to impress the kids more than it impressed you.”

Crystal leaned an elbow on the table and rested her chin against her hand, gazing up at him with a grin. “Go figure.”

“Yeah? What would it take to impress you?”

“Rouladen’s would have done it.”

“Tomorrow night?” he asked without skipping a beat.

Crystal came upright, feeling guilty. “I wasn’t fishing.”

“I know you weren’t.”

“You can’t buy me dinner two nights in a row.”

He lifted the corner of their leftover piece of pizza. “This wasn’t exactly dinner.”

She waved a dismissive hand. “It was fine.”

“You liked it?”

“The beer was cold, the pizza hot, and the cheese was…almost real.”

“Rouladen’s will have real cheese.”

“You don’t have-”

He took her hand in his, and she immediately stopped talking. He looked deep into her eyes. “I want to.”

She gazed back. His grip felt good. His hand was warm and broad and strong, with thick skin and the odd callus. It didn’t feel remotely like a professor’s hand.

“I want to, too,” she admitted.

He gave her a slow smile.

She lifted her beer mug with her free hand, leaving the other just where it was.

David shrieked, drawing her attention to where he and Jennifer were playing Bop-the-Mole.

“So, what was the emergency?” Larry asked in a low voice.

Crystal sighed heavily, keeping her gaze on the children. “My sister’s ex-husband is in town,” she grumbled.

“Trouble?” guessed Larry.

“Zane is always trouble. From the minute my sister laid eyes on him. To the day he got her pregnant. To the day he walked out and left her with a stack of bills and two tiny children.”

“Why is he back now?”

Crystal had wondered about that. “I don’t know yet.”

“Does he want his kids?”

She turned her attention to Larry. “Zane couldn’t care less about his kids. He’s a drunk and a mooch, and he’s after any money he can wring out of Amber. Then he’ll walk away, breaking her heart all over again.”

Larry frowned. “Sounds like a prince. Why doesn’t she tell him to take a hike?”

Crystal shrugged. “Self-esteem issues. He tells her he loves her. Makes wild promises about get-rich schemes and the fabulous life they’re going to lead together.”

“Let me guess. You tried to talk her out of seeing him tonight?”

“You bet your ass I tried to talk her out of it.”

Larry looked like he might launch into a lecture. But then the tension went out of his shoulders. “You know, you can’t literally bet your ass.”

The statement surprised her. She’d expected something along the lines of not being her sister’s keeper.

“You got something against metaphors?”

“I mean,” he continued. “What would it be worth? One ass is a hundred dollars? A thousand dollars?”

“This is the math nerd in you coming out, isn’t it?”

“Now your ass,” he said, leaning back to gaze down her silk dress. “That’d be worth about a million.”

She gave him a mock incredulous look. “Did you seriously just offer me a million dollars for…”

His face fell. “I didn’t-I mean, I wouldn’t-”

She struggled to keep her face straight. “What? You don’t think I’m worth it?”

He gave her a hard stare. “I’m getting the hell out of this conversation.”

“You’re a smart man.”

“That’s what my IQ results say.”

“How high?”

Looking embarrassed, he gazed down at his empty beer mug. “I’m not about to tell you that.”

“Why not?” she pressed. “Afraid I’ll be intimidated?”

“I just don’t like to talk about it. Hey, David,” he called across the room. “How’re you guys doing?”

The kids held up fists full of bright orange tickets they’d won at the game and that could be redeemed for various prizes.

“Nice try,” said Crystal.

“Looks like they can get a rubber gecko. Or maybe the mini fire engine.”

“How high?”

Larry gave a long-suffering sigh. “You’re not going to drop it, are you?”

“Not a chance.”

“That would be the courteous and respectful thing to do.”

“Who ever told you I was courteous and respectful? Come on, Larry. How bad can it be? I already know you’re a rocket scientist.”

“One sixty-five,” he finally admitted.

Crystal whistled low. “That’s pretty bad.”

“See?”

“I mean.” She put a combination of reverence and awe into her voice. “How can I ever dare talk to you again? What if I say something profoundly stupid?”

“You’re not going to-”

“You must know everything. You must laugh at us regular folks. You must be, on all counts, a superior human being to me or anyone else on the planet.”

He glared at her.

She faltered for a split second. “You do know I’m messing with you, right?”

His expression didn’t change. “You mock my intellect?”

She scoffed, fairly sure now that he was messing right back. “One sixty-five. Big deal. I’ve got an ass that’s worth a million bucks.”