Just for Now by Rosalind James Page B

it in the basket, and I’ll wash it.
Because that’s going to leave a mark.”
    “No worries,” Finn told her with a smile, giving a cursory
wipe to the spot and tossing the towel in the bin. “Nice show you put on for us
there. What’re you making?”
    “Carrot cake. Would you guys like some?”
    Finn raised an eyebrow at Ben. “I would,” the younger man
agreed. “Please.”
    “Couple cups of tea, too, then. This cake requires that.”
Jenna pushed the button on the electric jug and got out three mugs, putting a
teabag into each and pouring in the water that had boiled within seconds.
    “Where’re the kids?” Finn asked.
    “Sophie has soccer, and Harry has kapa haka. New Wednesday
schedule, remember? I’m leaving to get them in about twenty minutes. How was
practice?”
    “Gym day, mostly,” Finn told her. “As it was so wet. Did a
bit of work outdoors as well, though. It’s good to practice in the wet
sometimes. We play in it often enough.”
    “That must have been unpleasant.” She cut two generous
slices of cake and put them on plates, adding a fork to each. “Milk and sugar,
Ben?”
    “Both, please,” he said. She added them to his mug, poured a
splash of milk into Finn’s tea, and handed them their tea and cake. Fixed her
own mug and sat down with them at the big table.
    “This is yum,” Ben told her after his first bite of cake.
“What’s in the icing?”
    “Fresh ginger,” she explained. “That’s the secret. What did
you guys work on today?” She listened attentively as Finn and Ben began to fill
her in.
    “Ben was having trouble with his boots,” Finn told her with
a smile. “Least that’s what he told us. He came a real greaser, fell bang on
his face during a running drill. While the newsies were out there, too, doing a
piece about our being the form team. Cameras and all.”
    “Oh, no,” Jenna commiserated in laughing sympathy. “Poor
you. I’m sure they won’t show that, though. You must have got good and muddy,
Ben.”
    “And I don’t have anyone to do my washing,” he sighed
piteously. “Have to go home and put it in the machine myself. Nobody to fix my
tea, either. My work day’s just beginning.”
    “Rough,” she agreed, a smile quirking the corner of her
mouth. “You may have to get a takeaway. The horror. And you may want to work on
your story as well. I know the team takes care of your kit for you, remember? But
speaking of work, I need to go get the kids.”
    “I’ll walk you, or drive you if you’d rather.” Ben bounded
up and went with her to the entryway. “That’s why I came in, to say hi to the
kids. Didn’t know I’d be getting cake too. That was choice. Thanks.”
    “So you’re a nanny, eh,” he said to her as they crossed the
main road on their way to the primary school.
    She nodded. “Just for now. I’m a teacher, normally.”
    “Yeh, Finn said. And a cook, obviously. Is it hard work?”
    She laughed. “No. Finn isn’t a very exacting employer.”
    “He gives you days off, then?”
    She looked at him in surprise. “Of course he does. Once the
game’s over, and he’s back from wherever.”
    “So your days off are the same as ours, more or less,” Ben
said musingly. “Sunday, I reckon.”
    “Unless you’re in South Africa or Perth, slow getting back.”
    “Maybe you’d like to have dinner with me this Sunday, then,”
he suggested. “Have somebody else do the cooking.”
    She thought about offering an excuse, decided to keep it
simple. “Sorry, but I can’t.”
    “Monday?” he persisted.
    “Sorry.” She smiled up at him apologetically. “I’m not
available. For dating, I mean.”
    She saw with relief that Harry and Sophie were waiting
outside the school gates. Harry ran to her with his usual enthusiastic hug,
Sophie following behind.
    “You guys know Ben, right?” Jenna asked them. “He’s keeping
me company today.”
    Sophie looked at him suspiciously. “Why?”
    “Sophie!” Jenna exclaimed, shocked.