Starting From Scratch (9 page)

longer than necessary? Or was that just my wishful

thinking? I wasn’t sure. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”

“anks.”

“How goes the unpacking?”

She groaned and I laughed. “I think the boxes are

multiplying in the night,” she said.

“I’ve been here for two years or so and I still have

boxes I haven’t unpacked. ey say if you haven’t opened

them after a year, you should just throw them away

without looking inside. ey’re obviously filled with stuff

you have no need for.”

“I think I’m too much of a worry wart to do that.”

“Understood.”

“But at least I’m putting everything where I want it to

go, so if I can’t find something next week, I’ll have nobody

to blame but myself.”

Together we watched Max toss the rope for Steve.

“Cindy do the packing and you do the unpacking?” I

asked. It was an honestly innocent question, just me

making small talk with her, not wanting her to leave and

not trying to wrest any personal information out of her, but

she certainly gave me some.

“Oh, no. Cindy and I have been separated for quite a

while. It’s just me and Max in the new place.”

How I managed to not whoop with joy and do a little

dance right there on the grass, I’ll never know. Instead, I

glanced down at my shoes and gave her my sympathy. “I’m

sorry. I had no idea.”

She brushed away my apology. “Don’t be. It was over a

long, long time ago. It just took me a while to realize it.”

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“I hate when that happens.”

She gave a little snort at my lame attempt at humor,

and for that I was thankful. “Well, anyway, it was really a

pleasure to meet you. Come on, Max.”

I wanted her to stay and talk to me forever, but it

might look a bit weird to be inviting her in so quickly. I

decided right then to make more cookies and bring them

over.

Max patted Steve on the head. “I’ll come and play

with you again really soon, Steve. Be a good boy.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his gentle words. Steve

actually looked sad to see him go. My dog and I were

going to have a little talk about loyalty in the very near

future, that was for sure.

“Now, I don’t want you bothering Coach King all the

time,” Elena said to her son calmly as she took his hand

and helped him over the little fence.

I wanted to protest, to tell her he wasn’t a bother at all,

but I didn’t want to step on her toes when she was being

Mom. What Mom says, goes. Even I know that. I kept my

mouth shut.

“Can I come back and play with Steve again, Coach

King?” His big brown eyes were wide and his smooth face

was so sweet I’d have given him the keys to my car if he’d

asked.

“As long as your mom says it’s okay.”

“Cool!”

Elena caught my gaze and gave me a half-grin that

was so damn sexy I felt a little pang low in my abdomen. I

wondered if she had any idea at all how incredibly

attractive she was. “It was nice chatting with you,” she said.

“Same here. Welcome to the neighborhood.”

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“anks. I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”

“Well, you do have all my money,” I joked.

“at’s true.” She winked at me (God, since when did

my knees turn to Jell-O at a simple wink?). “en I’ll

definitely see you again.” With that, she tugged Max along

as she headed home.

Steve waddled up to me and sat near my feet, both of

us watching our new neighbors as they walked away, both

of us with the same enamored looks on our faces, I was

sure.

67

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Oh, my God, I’m bored out of my freakin’ skull.”

It was the answer I’d expected from Maddie when I

asked how she was doing, but she said it with such

frustration that she surprised me.

“at bad, huh?” I shoveled my last forkful of mashed

potatoes into my mouth, savoring the final blast of the

roasted garlic J.T. had stirred into them. Maddie was the

cook, but she’d taught J.T. well.

“Do you have any idea just how bad daytime television

is? Do you?”

“No, but I bet you’re going to tell me,” I teased.

“I don’t even have the words,” she replied, holding her

hands out, palms up.

“How have you been able to survive without your

brain turning to mush?”

“I’ll tell you how.” She sat up as straight as she could

while J.T. cleared her place setting. “I’ve had to find other

means of entertainment, that’s how.”

“Uh-oh.” I asked, “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not,” J.T. answered grimly from over my

shoulder as she topped off my wine. en she took my

plate and retreated to the kitchen.

Okay, now I was feeling a little uneasy and I posed my

question to Maddie, point blank. “What did you do?”

Georgia Beers

Maddie wet her lips. “Now, keep in mind that I’ve

been bored to the point of wanting to hang myself.”

“Maddie…”

“A n d I d i d n’ t l i e o r p o s t a n y k i n d o f

misrepresentation.”

She was talking too fast and I was feeling more and

more dread. I narrowed my eyes at her. “Madeline…”

“It was for your own good. I did it for you.”

“What the hell did you do?”

“I posted your profile on Lesbian Link dot com.” She

blurted it out so fast that I had to replay it in my head to

figure out exactly what she’d said. en my eyes went wide.

“You did
what
?”

“Posted your profile on Lesbian Link dot com?” e

tiny voice barely sounded like her, a telltale sign that she

knew she’d overstepped her bounds in a big way.

I just sat there, blinking at her incredulously. I opened

my mouth and shut it again two or three times as I tried to

absorb the fact that my dearest friend in the world thought

I needed a date so badly she’d posted my profile on the

biggest lesbian dating site in the area
without my

permission
.

“What…what…” I shook my head, unable to form a

sentence. “Why?”

“Why?” Maddie flinched as if I’d asked her the single

stupidest question ever. “What do you mean why? You

haven’t had a date in, what, six months? Eight? I’ve been

telling you to put up your profile for the hell of it, just see

what’s out there.”

“And I haven’t done that, have I?”

“No, so I did it for you.” She was so matter-of-fact, I

wanted to kill her.

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Starting From Scratch

rough gritted teeth, I asked, “Did it ever occur to

you that I haven’t done it myself because I didn’t want to?”

She had the good sense to look chagrined, but replied,

“I just figured you were too chicken.”

“Too—?” I couldn’t even compute that one. I pinched

the bridge of my nose for several seconds, harnessing my

temper. “Take it down.”

“No.”

My eyes snapped back to her face. “No? What do you

mean no? Take it down!”

“Not until you look at the interested parties.”

When I re-focused on her, she was pressing her lips

together and trying not to grin at me.

“Interested parties?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“Eight of them.”

“Jesus Christ, Maddie.”

e fact that I didn’t tell her to go to hell was all the

encouragement she needed and she grabbed on with both

hands. “Just look. at’s all I’m asking. ere are a couple

you’ll definitely cringe at, but there are also a couple that

you might find…appealing.”

It didn’t make me happy to realize that she’d piqued

my curiosity, so I sat quietly for several long moments,

staring at the crimson-purple beauty of the wine in my

glass as I turned it slowly, my fingers on the base. “And

how long has my profile been up?”

Maddie threw me a grin of self-satisfaction. “Less

than twenty-four hours.”

Eight responses in less than twenty-four hours? at

was good, wasn’t it? I had no way of knowing. Maybe it

was a spectacular failure. But eight interested parties

seemed like a lot to me. Eight lesbians who wanted to get

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Georgia Beers

to know more about me? To explore the idea of dating me?

To say that didn’t appeal to my ego would have been a lie,

but at the same time I didn’t want to let Maddie off the

hook quite that easily.

I began my tirade. “You were so out of line.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t even have the right adjectives to describe how

out of line you were.”

Maddie nodded soberly. “I know. J.T. told me. But in

my defense—”

I cut her off with an upheld hand. “No. No, you don’t

get a defense here. Next time, listen to your wife. I don’t

care how bored you were. You had no right. You’re not my

pimp.”

She winced at my choice of words, but didn’t object.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“You should be.”

We sat in silence for long moments, sipping our wine

and not looking at one another. Maddie spoke first.

“So, when do you want to look at the responses?”

“How about after the game tomorrow?”

“Cool.”

Behind me at the sink, I was certain I heard J.T. snort.

72

CHAPTER EIGHT

I thought it would be kind of weird to have Maddie at

the game, since she’s used to coaching and I was a little

insecure about the job I’d been doing, but it was actually

good. She gave me some pointers as she crutched around,

suggested ways to help me get the kids to focus a bit more

on the ins and outs of the game, and was incredibly

encouraging for the players. ey warmed right up to her

and I think Gabriel developed an immediate crush,

carrying things for her and picking items up off the ground

that she couldn’t reach.

“J.T.’s going to be so jealous,” I muttered to her at one

point as he took his turn at bat, tossing a happy glance in

Maddie’s direction to make sure she was watching.

“Maybe. But I think he could take her,” she responded

with a grin.

Also hoping to show off his prowess at the plate for

somebody was Max. I was disappointed that Elena was

nowhere to be found and instead, Cindy was in the

bleachers. As usual, she was engrossed in her electronic

device, alternately punching buttons with her thumbs and

then smiling as an apparent response showed up. I don’t

know how many times she actually looked up to watch her

son, but judging by the disenchanted expression on his face

Georgia Beers

and his inability to make much contact at all with the ball,

I guessed the answer was not many.

He plopped down on the bench next to me with a

frustrated sigh and I ruffled his dark hair.

“Don’t worry, buddy. You’ll get it.”

He shrugged, telling me he didn’t believe me.

“Hey, where’s your other mom?” I tamped down the

little voice that scolded me for pumping a six-year-old for

information on my eye candy.

“She had to work.”

“Well, maybe she’ll come to the next game.”

He shrugged again and added a pout.

We only played five innings; that was about all the

kids’ attention span would allow. Despite the fact that we

didn’t officially keep score, I knew we lost by about seven

runs and I tried not to let the fact weigh on me. It was only

the first game and my players were a step above toddlers,

so getting upset by being beaten in tee-ball would have

been silly and was certainly not a reflection on my

coaching skills.

“It’s not about the win or the loss,” Maddie said

quietly to me as I was packing up the equipment. “It’s

about the learning.” She slapped me on the back and used

her best phys ed teacher voice. “Shake it off.”

e laugh slipped out before I could catch it. Maddie

always did know how to make me feel better. I continued

to pack things up as the crowd dispersed. Several parents

came up to tell me how much their kid was enjoying tee-

ball—or to offer me some pointers on improving things,

over which both Maddie and I managed
not
to roll our

eyes.

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Starting From Scratch

Cindy looked in my direction as she descended the

bleachers, but tossed me a quick wave and left with Max as

she chattered into her cell.

“Ready to check out the bevy of hotties who want to

meet you?” Maddie asked with a flourish of her hand.

“Not with you hovering over my shoulder.”

She looked totally crestfallen. “What?”

“I’m not looking at them with you. I want to look

alone.”

“Why?” She did a spot-on impression of a three-year-

old. e only thing missing was a foot stomp.

ere was no way I was going to look at potential

dates with her breathing down my neck. I knew she’d

mean well, but she’d have a comment, suggestion, or

editorial to give me on every single one, along with

judgments on my own opinions. No, I wanted to dive into

this all by myself, find my own way around, figure out if I

even wanted to be there. “I’m dropping you home,” I told