“Bad idea.”
“I knew you’d see it.”
“How about chess? We could play a game of chess. It’s dull, hardly the stuff of erotic fantasies.”
“I don’t play chess.”
“Checkers, then. Hell, help me out here, Annie. I’m trying.”
“Okay, checkers. I think Paul has a set in his room.”
“You get ’em. I’ll make a bowl of popcorn.”
“I should have known you’d try to sneak in junk food.”
“I’ll bring grapes for you.”
Fifteen minutes later they had the checkerboard on the table between them, along with a bowl of buttered popcorn and a plate of grapes. Five minutes after that, Hank had won the first game.
“You’re not concentrating,” he accused.
“Who can concentrate? You’re over there crunching away on the popcorn.”
“Popcorn does not crunch. At least not a lot. It’s hardly enough to distract a really good checkers player.”
“I never said I was any good. Even Tommy can beat the socks off me. You’re the one who wanted to play.”
“I wanted to do something that would keep my mind off taking you to bed.”
“Is it working?”
“No!”
“That’s what I was afraid of. It’s not working for me, either.”
“Do you know why?”
“Physiologically or psychologically?” she inquired. He glared at her.
“It’s because we’re living here together, playing house, so to speak. Only we’re not…you know.” His voice trailed off weakly.
“See,” she gloated. “You can’t even talk about it.”
“Do you honestly want to talk about it?”
“It’s been my experience that talking usually helps.”
Hank was shaking his head adamantly. “Not in this case. Take my word for it, Annie. Talking about sex will not get our minds off it.”
“It might put it into perspective.”
“Right now about the only thing that would put it into perspective for me is a cold shower, which I intend to take.” He got as far as the door before turning back, a wistful expression on his face. “I don’t suppose…”
“I am not taking the shower with you.”
He grinned. “It was worth a shot.”
The next morning they were both bleary-eyed and grouchy.
“What’s wrong with you two?” Paul asked when they’d both snapped over something totally inconsequential.
“Not enough sleep,” Hank said, staring pointedly at Ann.
“Whose fault was that?” she retorted, slamming a teacup down in front of him and pouring him some herbal tea.
“I want my soda,” he said, pushing the cup aside.
“I threw them all out.”
“You did what!” he bellowed, sounding like a wounded bear.
She smiled. “Try the tea.”
“I will not drink this watered-down excuse for tea. There’s no caffeine in it.”
“That’s the point.”
In midargument Ann noticed that the kids were following the battle as if they were at a tennis match, looking back and forth, back and forth, as the barbs flew.
“Enough,” she said with a sigh. “Truce.”
“Does that mean I get my soda?” he inquired hope fully.
“It means we’re going to stop fighting about it.”
“We’re only going to do that if one of them turns up on this table in the next ten seconds.”
“Oh, go fly a kite!” she said and stalked out of the house. Openmouthed, the kids stared after her.
“Is Mom okay?” David asked hesitantly.
“She’s fine,” Hank said tersely.
“Are you sure?” David persisted.
Tracy shot a knowing look at Hank. “I think she’s in love.”
“Mom!” The chorus of voices was incredulous. Hank could feel his skin burn.
“Tracy, I don’t think this is a topic that needs to be discussed just now.”
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Not now, Tracy.”
Jason stared from one to the other before finally sending his chair flying as he got to his feet, scowling fiercely at Tracy. “You think Mom’s in love with him? You’re crazy! She’s not out of her mind.”
“Just because you and Hank don’t get along doesn’t mean Ann can’t like him,” Tracy retorted. “Don’t be such a jerk.”
“You’re the jerk.” He slammed out of the house.
“If you and Ann fall in love does that mean you’ll be our dad?” Paul asked. “I think that’d be neat.”
Hank felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. “Whoa, everybody. Let’s slow down a minute. First of all, the way Ann and I feel is nobody’s business but ours.”
“Hey, we live here, too,” Tracy protested.
“My point is that this is something she and I have to work out and we can’t do that if you all are watching and questioning every move we make.”
Tracy was nodding knowingly. Hank didn’t trust that smug expression one bit. “You’re in love all right.”
“Tracy!”
She grinned unrepentantly. “Sorry. I got carried away. What can we do to help?”
“Keep your opinions and your guesswork to yourselves,” he grumbled, knowing that was about as likely as shutting down the lurid speculation in the national tabloids. He began to have some sense of what celebrities went through when their personal lives got turned inside out in public.
As soon as the kids had all gone off to school, including Melissa, who was attending a nearby nursery school in the mornings, Hank left the house and walked slowly across the highway to Dolphin Reach, where Ann had her office. Though he knew all about the innovative treatment she was involved in there—it was where Todd had brought Kevin for help with his dyslexia—this was the first time he’d entered her professional domain.
A young receptionist looked up and smiled a harried greeting as she continued handling phone calls. When she was finally free, he asked for Ann’s office.
“It’s the second one on the left, but she’s not there. I think she’s down with the dolphins.”
“Is she with a patient?”
“Nope. Her first one’s not till ten.”
“Thanks.”
As he walked through the grounds and headed for the dock, his curiosity about her work mounted. What had ever given her the idea of using dolphins as a part of her psychological counseling? Then he spotted her at the end of a dock and thought he knew.
She was kneeling on a platform that stuck out into the protected harbor, her skirt swirling around her. A brisk wind tousled her hair. Dolphins surrounded her, their built-in smiles impossible to resist as they bobbed in the water. Seeing Ann’s laughing response to their
