Mad About You

financial obligations have taken an upswing. I know I turned you down when you asked me about taking over Dean's job when he leaves, but now I'd like to take a stab at it."
    Lenny pulled on his chin, clearly pleased. "Why, sure, Bailey, I've been after you to join the design team for years. Be nice to see you exercise that brain of yours instead of those overdeveloped pecs." He laughed and extended his hand. "I'll talk to Dean this morning about turning his current projects over to you starting next week. Be thinking about your replacement, and have a name to me by Friday." He reached to pick up the phone, ending the conversation. When Bailey opened the door to leave, his boss called, "Oh, and Bailey—congratulations on your new family."
    Bailey thanked him, his boss's words leaving his chest tight. He was a long way from having a family, but making progress. He left the office and climbed into his company truck. When Lenny had offered him the design job a couple of weeks earlier, Bailey turned him down flat, saying he didn't want to play politics with the city planners. But in fact he'd turned down the job because he didn't want to be reminded of the ambitions he'd abandoned years before. Mindless hours of cleaning the previous night had given him time to think, and he'd begun to realize that not only had he ditched his responsibility to Ginny when they were married, but he'd also ditched his responsibility to himself over the years. Accepting the design job was one small step toward reversing the cycle.
    On the way to the job site, he called to line up an appointment with an architect and a builder later in the week. When he ended the calls, he smacked the steering wheel in satisfaction.
    He spent the rest of the morning overseeing two skeleton crews on a job that was near completion, and the early afternoon with three large crews newly formed to landscape an entire industrial park. The blistering hot day seemed to creep by. He looked at his watch every few minutes, already anticipating the moment he would see his son again. His eagerness was further fueled by the knowledge he would also see Ginny, a thought that sent a stab of desire to his groin. Toward late afternoon his fantasies began to run so rampant, he abandoned his clipboard and joined two men hoisting sledgehammers just for the physical release.
    At three o'clock he left the job site and went home to shower. The clean scent of the scrubbed bathroom was a welcome change, but not enough to make him dally. In and out in a flash, he was ringing Ginny's doorbell just before four o'clock, their agreed meeting time.
    He'd barely taken his finger from the button when Chad threw open the door, then covered the steps in one leap. "Let's get outta here," he grumbled loudly.
    "Hey to you too," Bailey said, not bothering to hide his sarcasm.
    Chad looked up. "Oh, hey."
    "Where's Ginny?"
    "Right here," she answered, stepping into the door frame, purse and keys in hand. Striking as always in snug white jeans and navy shirt, she looked a little worse for wear around the eyes. She'd pulled her thick gold hair into a low ponytail and through the back of a red ball cap, and except for the dark sleep circles, looked all of twenty-one.
    "I see you're both ready to go," he said dryly.
    "Yep," Chad responded.
    "Got the list right here." She waved a long sheet of paper and walked quickly toward her car parked by the curb.
    "Bad day?" he asked under his breath.
    "Don't ask," she said.
    "We can take my car."
    She stopped and frowned slightly, considering his offer to drive.
    "More trunk space." He pointed to her list, then leaned close to her ear. "And remember how big the backseat is?"
    She jerked back as if she'd been shocked. "We'll take my car," she said firmly.
    "Want me to drive?" he offered. "You can navigate." She relented and handed him the keys. He ordered Chad from the front passenger seat to the back, then paused until everyone was buckled in. Heading down the highway, he noticed they looked every bit the upper-middle-class family: one kid in the backseat of a luxury sedan, headed for the mall. The thought rather pleased him that at least outwardly they looked like they belonged together.
    He followed them from store to store to buy furniture, a comforter, curtains, paint, wallpaper, clothes, tennis shoes, and last but not least, a bicycle. Chad seemed to be on his best behavior. Bailey argued with Ginny over paying for the items, then finally agreed to split things