gave her a hug with a quick kiss hello as she arrived, and waited for her to take her seat before sitting himself.
She chose to remain standing. «I'm sorry I'm late,' she said.
«You're worth the wait,' he replied, indicating that she should sit down.
«I hope you still think so when I have to cancel on you,' she said with a flirtatious and apologetic smile.
«But you're already here,' he said.
The guy at the counter was looking at them expectantly. It was as if they were taking up major table space in the practically empty coffeehouse.
«Would you believe I have to take care of a sick friend?» she asked. «A really sick friend,' she added, leaving out the fact that Kyle's illness was more mental than physical.
«Is it serious?» he asked, and she gave him extra points for the fact that he was obviously concerned.
«We don't know,' she replied.
«Well, then, you should stay with her,' Jesse said, starting to walk her to the door. «We're still on for tomorrow, right?»
«Of course,' Isabel replied without correcting the assumed gender of her friend. «Thanks for understanding.»
The guy behind the counter looked rather annoyed as they stepped out of the establishment and back onto the sidewalk. Isabel couldn't help but notice how Jesse had let the door slam behind him, assuming it was done on purpose to let the coffee guy know he hadn't liked being stalked while waiting for his date.
«Until tomorrow,' he said, giving her a more serious kiss on the lips. «And remember, you're all mine for the entire day.»
Reluctantly, Isabel broke from his embrace and started to make her way back to the Crashdown, peering over her shoulder every few seconds to keep him in her sight as long as possible. Even though she knew that Kyle needed
her, she couldn't help but feel guilty over the fact that she had to blow off Jesse to be there for her friend, especially considering how understanding Jesse had been about everything.
Once Jesse was finally out of sight, she replayed their conversation in her head and was confused about why she hadn't corrected him and explained that her friend was male. Certainly Jesse would have understood that a sick friend was a sick friend no matter what gender. She just chalked it up to the growing ease at which she had taken to lying about things after having had so much practice. It was not necessarily one of her better personality traits.
One day, she promised herself, I'm going to tell Jesse everything.
5
Baby-sitting is much easier than I thought it would be.» Max was comfortably leaning back into the Lyleses' plush white leather couch, careful to keep his sock-clad feet off the glass coffee table. «Especially considering that we haven't seen Jason since we got here.»
They had been in the Lyleses' home for well over five hours and hadn't even seen their charge. Every now and again, they thought they heard footsteps above them, but whenever either of them called upstairs, they got no response. At least a toilet had flushed once letting them know that Jason was still alive up there.
«He's got to come down for dinner,' Liz said as she looked through the take-out menus Aunt Jackie had left on the kitchen counter for her. «How about pizza?»
«Sounds good to me,' Max said, distracted by the silence from the second floor.
«Should we see what Jason wants on it?» Liz asked as she pulled the menu for the pizza parlor out of the pile.
«I think we've played his game long enough.» Max got
up from the couch with a determined look on his face. «Order whatever you want. I'll be down with Jason in a minute.»
Liz watched as Max went upstairs, looking more focused than she had ever seen him-and she had seen him in many intense situations. «First lesson in fatherhood coming up,' she said softly to herself.
Outside Jason's bedroom door, Max took a deep breath and prepared himself for whatever it was that was about to happen.
«Jason, this is Liz's friend, Max,' he reintroduced himself through the closed door as he banged on it. «We're ordering dinner. Open up.»
«Go to Hell!» the kid yelled back.
Not a great start, Max thought. On the bright side, he finally spoke.
«Look, Jason.» Max decided to take the gentle route. «We haven't even met, and I certainly don't know what's going on, but I'm sure Liz and I have nothing to do with it. Why don't you open the door and we can talk about it?»
Silence.
Okay, new direction.
Max placed his hand over the lock. «Jason, if you don't open this door, I'm coming in.»
«Go ahead,' Jason yelled. «It's locked-hey, how'd you do that?» he asked as the door opened.
«A little trick of the baby-sitting trade,' Max said cryptically from the now open doorway. «Come downstairs and I might consider showing you some other tricks.»
Intrigued, and lacking any other option, Jason got up and stormed out of the room.
Max followed as the twelve-year-old made his way downstairs. Jason seemed somewhat tall for his age and rather pale considering he lived in a desert. He had a shock of black hair that Max figured must have come from his father, since his mother's hair was light brown. Although she could have had it colored, he supposed.
Jason's clothes matched his hair, as he was outfitted in black from head to toe in a T-shirt and jeans that had obviously been bought for him when he was a few pounds heavier, since the clothes hung rather loosely on his body. Max knew from past experience what a crazy time period this was in a boy's life, and attributed the almost intensely skinny body to changes that Jason was probably undergoing. He was an attractive kid, and Max thought that once Jason's body got through this tumultuous period he would probably have a number of girls interested in him.
Liz came out from the living room when she heard footsteps plodding down the stairs. She tried to keep her excitement in check, considering how rude he had been to ignore her for so long. «Jason, it's good to finally see you.»
«What's for dinner?» was his short response.
«We haven't seen each other in over two years and all you have to say is, 'What's for dinner?»' Liz was visibly hurt by the boy's abrupt manner.
Max noticed that Jason seemed to be sorry for his rudeness, but only for a moment. The stone face of resolve quickly went back up as he chose to remain silent. Max figured he was like most preteens and was probably just angry at the world for no particular reason. Since he hadn't even truly met the boy, he wasn't going to take any of it personally, but he wished he could say the same for
Liz, who appeared to be more than a little hurt by her young friend's attitude.
«We're getting pizza,' Max spoke as abruptly as Jason had, then took Liz by the arm to guide her back into the living room.
«What are we doing?» she whispered.
«Ignoring him,' Max replied, also in a whisper. «Don't worry, he'll follow.»
Then they heard the front door slam shut.
«Time for a new plan,' Liz said as she hurried back into the hall and flung the door open. «Jason, freeze!»
He had only gotten a few steps away from the house when Liz's voice stopped him cold. With shoulders slumped, his back was still to her, but she had definitely gotten his attention.
Max came up behind her to watch what she was doing and provide backup if necessary. But her body
