"You think?" Claire took one look at the chore schedule she'd kept on the fridge. Apparently, they'd abandoned her system as soon as she'd left. The clock hanging over the sink showed that she could spare a little time. Enough to throw the lasagna together, anyway. "Okay, here's the deal. If you want me to make the lasagna, then two of you can get started on washing and drying the dishes, plus run the dishwasher. And the other one can help me straighten up in here and cook."
Lauren bounced on her toes. "Yay. I'm glad you're staying. I'll help you. The twins can do the dishes."
"Do me a favor and start a load of laundry too." She checked the contents of the fridge. "I'm glad someone remembered to at least buy groceries."
"We ordered from the store's website and they delivered. The only thing we had to do was put everything away." Krissy squirted soap over the dishes. "It was super easy."
Ginger wrinkled her nose at the sauce crusted on a large pot. "Maybe we should order a housekeeper again too."
Claire preheated the oven, then grabbed the only clean baking dish left in the cabinet. They hadn't had a housekeeper in years. "Considering the state of the house, I'm sure Dad would agree."
Lauren and the twins kept up a rambling conversation as Claire layered the lasagna. While it baked, she helped Lauren search for her missing "lucky" leotard she insisted she needed for an upcoming gymnastics meet.
When her other sisters came home at five o'clock, Claire gasped at how much time had passed and bolted out the door. She was due at the ballpark in twenty minutes and the drive would likely take her more than thirty.
Thanks to traffic, forty minutes passed before she entered the stadium's employee parking lot. She grabbed her purse, pulled out her badge, and jogged toward the entrance. She couldn't afford to be late yet. Maybe no one had noticed.
Yeah right.
She flashed her badge at the security guard and increased her pace. Rushing to the third-floor office, she bypassed the elevator and ran up the stairs. The team wanted the mascots to be visible to the fans on the concourse prior to the game. People would see that she wasn't there with Liam. Even if the fans didn't notice, the staff would. Raymond had been pleased with her performance so far. She couldn't let that change.
Her purse caught the edge of a maintenance cart and yanked her back. She stumbled into the wall, cursing as her shoulder met concrete.
"Claire?" Liam, dressed as Fin, slowed to a stop on his golf cart. "I tried calling your phone. Are you okay?"
Rubbing her shoulder, she pushed away from the wall. "Sorry I'm late. I'll be dressed in under a minute."
She slid past him, jogged the remaining steps to the office, and dropped her purse on the floor. Her damn shoulder throbbed. Hopefully, it wouldn't hold back her performance. No one could see her wince in pain anyway during the game. The costume made sure of that.
The golf cart stopped in front of the door. Liam hopped off, grabbed his crutches, and lumbered into the room. The door closed at his back. "Are you getting in a pre-game workout by jogging around the floors?"
Laughter huffed out at the thought. "Right. That's it."
She tugged on the costume, tripping as her sneaker caught on the material. And then the zipper got stuck on the fabric. "Damn it, damn it, damn it."
"Hey, relax. We're good."
"No, we're not good. We're due out on the concourse."
"If you need more time, Fin can always pretend he locked Fiona in a closet so he could have fun on the field."
"Raymond's not going to buy that if he's out there." She sat on the couch and worked the material free of the zipper's teeth.
He came closer and laid his hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't throw you under the bus. I'd tell Ray that you were stuck in a traffic backup caused by an accident or road construction."
Her previous sales job had been cut-throat, with co-workers stealing customers and an everyone-out-for-themselves environment. She had never expected that Liam would back her up here. "Well, thanks. I appreciate it."
"Just curious, but why were you late?"
"Lasagna and a missing gym leotard."
She caught his grin through the mesh of Fin's mouth. "Yeah, I hate it when that happens."
They both laughed and he nodded toward the TV. "Today's episode of Fin and Fiona is The First Kiss. We can tune in right here during the fourth inning."
"With everything that's gone on today, I'd forgotten. I'm glad Raymond was right about the fans loving the Fin and Fiona storyline." Resisting Liam had been harder than she'd thought. Just one look into those laughing brown eyes and she'd melt. He made her wish for things that she shouldn't. She stood and slid the zipper closed.
He moved backward, but his crutch landed on her purse and fell away from his grip. His body pitched to the side and he flung out his arm and casted ankle. Claire sprang forward. She couldn't have him land on either of those. Yanking the front of his costume, she twisted toward the couch. His weight and momentum took them both down and they landed in a heap of tangled limbs.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Buried beneath him, she panted the apology. She never left her purse on the floor. "Did you bang your ankle?"
"A little." He pushed up on his arms but she couldn't see his eyes through the dark mesh of the costume. "Can you pull off my mask?"
"Sure." Berating herself, she slipped it off his head. His eyes kindled with that familiar spark and his dark hair was tousled in a sexy mess. She could picture him looking this exact way after a night spent together. Dragging her thoughts from going in that direction, she smoothed the strands, desperate to fix something after the near-disaster she'd caused.
His breath
