Cross Country Chaos Read online

  He closed his eyes and swore under his breath. “I’ll be right there.” The woman disappeared, and Mart looked at Kelly. “Sorry.”

  “You’re a wanted man.”

  “Yeah, my face on every post office wall.”

  “Does Indiana want you, too?”

  He grinned. “Yeah, but Lord, I can’t go back there.”

  Kelly laughed, pleasantly surprised he’d not only picked up her quip, but returned it with impeccably precise timing. “Go on, I’ll see you later.”

  She watched him wheel out, unable to contain her smile.

  * * * *

  Sharon wrangled the boys so Kelly could nap and get some work done. Later, they ordered a pizza and settled in the room in front of the TV. They all slept late Saturday morning and met Mart for breakfast before following him to the college campus where most of the events would take place.

  Mart was pleased with Denny’s field practice. When they finished, Paulie took the throwing chair to the trailer and returned with the racer and tire pump.

  Kelly and Sharon sat in the nearly empty stands and watched Mart work with Denny. Paulie carried the air pump, walking next to Mart, listening as he coached Denny.

  Sharon’s voice startled Kelly. “You’re a good mom.”

  She looked at her mother, her eyes wide with surprise. Her mom never criticized her parenting—directly—but had never spoken out like this, either. “Thank you.”

  “I mean it.” Sharon watched the boys. “This was hard work getting them out here.”

  “You helped.”

  “No, I didn’t. All I did was swipe a credit card. And all the work you did to get Denny qualified and get him a chair.”

  “All I did was drive. Mart coached him, and David paid for the chair.”

  Sharon smiled. “Yeah, but I’m sure you stood up to David to make him pay for it. There’s no way, knowing the cheap son of a bitch, he would willingly shell out that much money for Denny for anything other than medical expenses.”

  Kelly couldn’t conceal her grin and simply nodded.

  Down on the track, Denny pushed his racer, Mart rolling alongside giving instructions and correcting his technique. Paulie walked with them, listening and learning. “They really like Mart, don’t they?”

  “Mom—”

  “I’m not making judgments, Kel. He’s a very nice man.” They were both quiet for a moment. “Have you set up your dinner yet?”

  Kelly shook her head. “We will.”

  They watched in silence for a while before Sharon spoke again. “I don’t think I could have done half as good as you’ve done. I remember after Denny was born, he was three days old. Leanne and I were sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, and you came in and plopped down in a chair next to me like you were fine.”

  “Mom, I had a new baby, and another son to take care of.”

  “Kelly, you’d had a C-section. I could barely walk for a week after Leanne was born with that C-section.”

  Kelly was nervous about the conversation’s direction. She didn’t like to revisit the early days, the anxiety, just putting one foot in front of the other to get through each day, the emotional numbness that was her security blanket to hold back the fear.

  And the grief.

  She wanted to focus on the here and now. “I did what I had to. I had it lucky.”

  Sharon snorted. “Lucky? Honey, we were all worried to death, and you kept it together and chugging along. Hell, even David stayed out of your way, and that in itself was a miracle.”

  Kelly shook her head, her voice dropping. “It could always be worse. I’d be there every day until late at night, go back early the next morning, and babies that were in the NICU the night before were gone. Not sent home in the middle of the night, Mom. Gone. Little babies no bigger than my hand, in incubator beds with intubation tubes and plastic wrap stretched over the top to keep the moisture in.”

  Kelly’s stomach rolled in a bad way. “And there was Denny, the biggest baby in there, a moose compared to the others, over seven pounds. He was one of the only babies the nurses could pick up and bottle feed and burp. He didn’t even need oxygen. I swore when he was in the hospital that I would never feel sorry for myself or what we went through, because it could always be worse.”

  She looked at her mom. “After the divorce, I knew I had to keep it together for the boys. Because it could have been worse then, too. David could have left me with nothing, he could have beaten me, he could have given me AIDS or something when he was screwing around. I don’t want to do anything to mess up their lives and hurt them more than they’ve already been hurt. Especially Denny.”

  “Give yourself a chance to relax. Let go a little. The boys are old enough now, they’re more independent, they need their mom happy.”

  “I am happy.”

  “Take a chance.”

  “I took a chance on David and ended up a divorced mom of two.”

  “Martin’s not David.”

  Kelly’s heart skipped, watching as Mart reached over Denny’s chair and made an adjustment, sending him ahead again. It was obvious from how Paulie leaned in that Mart was explaining what he did to Paulie.

  “No, he’s not David. Can we drop this?”

  Sharon patted her leg. “I’m just saying, sweetheart.”

  * * * *

  After swim practice, Mart had afternoon meetings. Sharon and the boys attended a weightlifting seminar at the host hotel. Kelly used the time to work and dump her camera card. She also needed coffee. When she returned to the room, she found a plastic bag full of parts from Denny’s regular chair hanging from the doorknob.

  Concerned, she opened it and found Mart’s note.

  Our boy has been talking to other kids and decided he doesn’t want these anymore.—Mart.

  Push handles, wheelie bars, armrests. Kelly swallowed her fear, recognizing Denny needed to define and stretch his independence. It would be wrong for her to force him to keep them on his chair if he didn’t want them.

  She remembered the sight of all the kids doing wheelies in the lobby and tried to settle her stomach. It couldn’t be worse than when Denny was four years old and started diving—head-first, with outstretched arms like a little Superman—off the couch to get onto the floor.

  Her baby was growing up.

  She re-read Mart’s note. Our boy.

  Kelly sat on the bed and stared at the note. She dropped the bag to the floor, startled by the how loudly the parts inside clanked together.

  He’s not David.

  Maybe if she repeated it enough times, she could make it sink in.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sunday morning, Kelly and Sharon slept late while the boys raced downstairs to have breakfast with their new friends. Later, they all ate lunch with Mart, and then he had to attend an officials’ meeting.

  “I’ll see you guys at the opening ceremonies tonight.”

  Denny flapped. “Okay!”

  Paulie and Denny wandered off in search of other kids, with an admonishment to stay together and not leave the hotel. Kelly and Sharon returned to the room, each claiming a bed, the TV dark.

  “Do you hear that?” Kelly whispered.

  “What?”

  “Silence.”

  “I would, honey, if you’d shut up,” Sharon whispered back, and they both giggled.

  Their peace was destroyed minutes later when the boys burst into the room. “Mom, can we go swimming?” Paulie asked. “Everyone’s going swimming.”

  Kelly waved from the bed. “Yes, fine. Stay together. Be back by three, don’t drown. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  The boys quickly changed and stormed out, and Kelly sighed.

  “Bliss,” she whispered.

  Her mom didn’t respond, and Kelly realized she’d fallen asleep. Kelly took the opportunity to work. Around two-thirty, she wandered downstairs in search of coffee and found the hospitality room, where they handed out free information, samples, and local maps
. She turned to leave and nearly tripped over Mart.

  He smiled. “Hi.”

  “Hi.”

  He started to say something else when another official walked in. “Marty, there you are. Karen needs you in the war room. Computer’s down again. Can you come?”

  Was that frustration on his face? He nodded. “I’ll be right there, Jim.” Mart turned to Kelly and smiled. “I guess I’ll catch you later.”

  “Okay.” Something in his voice made her heart flutter in a good way. She found the boys in the pool and reminded them of the time. As Kelly returned to the room, she thought about her steamy afternoon field practice with Mart and how she’d love to feel his strong arms around her again.

  * * * *

  Foiled again. Mart was going to talk to Kelly when Jim interrupted. He wanted to talk to her alone, not with a thousand ears around.

  His afternoon was busy with meetings and helping with the computers, wireless server connections that tenaciously refused to stay connected. As a professional geek, he was the one tapped to fix things and knew he might not get another chance to talk to Kelly that night. Between the ceremonies and the race, his time was spoken for.

  Mart tried to focus on the task at hand, but his mind wandered back to Kelly. Every night—hell, every few minutes, it seemed—he replayed their field practice session. How she leaned into him, took his hand in hers.

  He’d flirted with her, taking a risk she’d be offended. Had she been flirting back? It sure felt like it. She’d agreed to go to dinner with him. That was a good sign, right?

  But he sensed her fear. He didn’t want to rush into something, push her too hard and have her run the other way. He sensed if that happened, he probably wouldn’t get a second chance.

  Jim said something, and Mart pulled his focus back to the war room, to the computer in front of him.

  “Sorry. What?”

  “Man, what is up with you? You are really out of it.”

  Mart shook his head. “I’m okay, just a little distracted.”

  “Denny Alexander’s mom?”

  Jim laughed at Mart’s stunned expression. “Dude, I saw how you looked at her. I’ve known you how many years? Is she single?”

  Mart nodded and turned back to the computer. “Divorced.”

  “Ask her out.”

  “I’m trying to set up a dinner date with her, and almost did.” He looked at Jim. “Until someone interrupted me.”

  Jim reddened and coughed. “Sorry, man. You should have said something.”

  Mart shook his head. “It’s okay. She’s already agreed to go out while we’re here. I want to talk to her alone to set it up, but we keep getting interrupted.”

  “Take it from a married guy with two kids, there’s never a time you don’t get interrupted, buddy.”

  The connection took—again—and Mart pushed away from the computer. “There you go.” He turned to leave when Jim stopped him, his voice low.

  “Marty, ask her. If she’s already said she’ll go out with you, just do it.”

  “Easy for you to say. You’re married with two kids.”

  “I didn’t get them by being a chickenshit.”

  The rest of the afternoon, Mart was pulled in twenty directions. He barely had time to eat and change before opening ceremonies. He drove to the stadium, met with the other officials, and received his assignment for the 5K.

  Scanning the growing crowd for Kelly, he didn’t see her until after the kids were queued for their entrance, grouped by state and team, volunteers carrying state flags ahead of them. The individual competitors were escorted by volunteers carrying banners made especially for them so they didn’t feel left out. The announcer introduced the teams and individual athletes as they circled the track.

  Mart waved from his location with the other officials in the middle of the field. Kelly saw him, smiled, and waved back.

  Mart now understood all the corny clichés about smiles brightening a room or lifting a heart. When he saw Kelly, her smile had that effect on him.

  He didn’t think he’d have time to talk to her tonight. There was still another hour left in the ceremony, and then he had to work the race. He would, without fail, ask her tomorrow.

  * * * *

  Kelly filmed the procession while her mom took pictures. She found Denny and Paulie, walking near the front of the Florida contingent. Denny was too nervous to go by himself, so the officials let Paulie walk with him.

  “Look at them, Mom.”

  Her mom nodded. “No Super Dad in sight,” Sharon said. “If it was Paulie, you know he’d be here.”

  “My baby’s growing up, Mom.”

  “Get used to it. It doesn’t get any easier.” She said it kindly.

  Kelly watched Denny wheeling in with the other athletes, Paulie behind him. “I think Paulie’s really happy for Denny.”

  “He is. At the weightlifting seminar, he was trying to get Denny to try some of the things they had set up for littler kids.”

  Kelly felt a stab of regret. “I should have been there, dammit.”

  Her mom put a hand on Kelly’s leg. “No. Stop that. You’re usually with them every day except for school. You need down time, Kelly. They’re old enough, they need to explore on their own. You’re not a bad mom for not going.”

  They fell silent as the National Anthem played and the ceremony started.

  From her spot in the stands, Kelly watched Mart, relatively unobserved. Her mom was right. Mart wasn’t David. He deserved a chance. She was adult enough she could handle this, right?

  But what if it was a mistake?

  If she dated Mart and it didn’t work out, could she still be adult enough to handle him coaching Denny? Would it be weird and awkward?

  That was a huge if.

  What if it did work out between them?

  She admitted it—she was scared. Terrified.

  * * * *

  They saw Mart in passing at breakfast early Monday morning. He was rolling out the door behind a group of officials when he spotted them and wheeled over.

  “Hey,” he said.

  Kelly’s heart sped up. “Morning.”

  “I was going to call you.” He pulled a sheaf of papers from his backpack. “Here’s Denny’s heat sheets for this morning. I’ll try to get there as soon as I can, but I might miss some of it.”

  Denny flapped, frowning. “You’re going to miss swimming?”

  “Not all of it, buddy. I have to do some things. I’ll get to see some of your events, but I don’t know if I’ll make it for the first one. You’ll do great, just listen to the officials.”

  That soothed Denny. “Okay. But you’ll see some of it?”

  Mart nodded. “I promise.”

  Another official called to him. “Marty, can John ride with you? He had to run to his room to get something.”

  Mart nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine.” He looked at Kelly. “I’ll see you at swimming.”

  She nodded, wishing she’d made it downstairs earlier for breakfast to spend more time with him. “Okay.”

  Mart rolled down the hall. Kelly fought the urge to turn and watch him until he disappeared.

  * * * *

  Mart had looked up Denny’s competitors’ qualifying times. If Denny swam his best and didn’t DQ, he could possibly go home with all gold in swimming.

  The twenty-five meter freestyle was Denny’s first event. Kelly helped him find the staging area.

  “Am I swimming against other kids?” he asked.

  “This time you are. But all you have to do is swim hard like in practice. If you don’t pull on the ropes, you won’t get a DQ.”

  “Is drowning a DQ?” he asked with a playful grin.

  She laughed. “Yes, drowning is a DQ.” She kissed him. “Good luck. Listen to the officials, and swim hard.”

  The volunteers pointed Kelly where to go. They would take Denny’s chair to the other end of the pool.

  Kelly turned and caught sight of Mart charging through the
crowd. He rolled to a stop next to Denny, and the boy smiled.

  “You made it!”

  He high-fived Denny. “Go fast, bud.”

  “I will.”

  Mart followed Kelly to the spectator area. Her mother had the video camera ready.

  “He looks like he’s feeling pretty good,” Mart said.

  “He’s warmed up and ready to go,” she said. “I’m so nervous. My baby’s at Nationals!”

  He patted her, comforting, and left his hand on the small of her back. “He’ll do fine.”

  Instinctively she moved closer, hoping he wouldn’t move his hand and enjoying the contact. It distracted her so much she nearly missed taking pictures of Denny’s start.

  Denny won by several seconds over his closest competitor. Kelly headed for the exit gate to meet him, Mart on her heels. When they were out of earshot of Paulie and her mom, Mart caught her hand.

  “Kelly, got a sec?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  His eyes met hers, and her stomach fluttered. God, this was torture. Why couldn’t she spit it out, admit she was attracted to him?

  “Before I get pulled away again, and while we’re alone—our dinner date. How about tonight?”

  It took a second for her brain to register what he’d asked. She smiled. “Sounds great.”

  He held her hand and made no move to let go. She risked gripping his fingers a little tighter.

  “Great. I’ve been wanting to ask you ever since you got here. We’ll talk later about all of us going out. I wanted to lock in our dinner before you made other plans.”

  “It’s not like I have a full social calendar.”

  Did his smile get even bigger?

  “Maybe I can take care of that for you.” He squeezed her hand. “I’ll meet you at six.”

  “Come by my room. I’ll be enjoying the peace and quiet.”

  He looked like he wanted to say something else when Denny flew through the gate. “Did you see me, Mom?”

  “Yes, honey.” Kelly laughed and hugged him, handing him a towel. “We all saw you. You did great.”

  “Did I win?”

  “I think you did, buddy,” Mart said, “but we have to wait for results to be posted. I’ll show your mom where. Swim that hard in your other races, you’ll do fine.” He had four more swim events that morning.