Made-To-Order Wife. Judith McWilliams

can’t go back to work for months yet. The company she works for says she’s gotta be outta work for six months before she can get disability, and the government takes months and months to get welfare. And what’s m’little brothers supposed to eat till then….” Luis gulped as if trying to slow down the torrent of words pouring out of him. “I went to the food pantry over at the church, and they gave me some stuff, but they said they ain’t got enough for everybody who needs it. What they did give me ain’t nothing like what that nurse said Ma was supposed to be eating.”

      Max winced as he saw the stark fear that momentarily peeped out from behind Luis’s tough-guy facade. He didn’t bother to ask where Luis’s father was. He knew the statistics.

      For a moment Max remembered how he’d felt at seventeen, scared and defiant with no place to go and no one to turn to for help. But at least he hadn’t been responsible for anyone else.

      “Then my friend Stuts told me ’bout how Jessie was having this thing tonight, so I came.”

      “What kind of skills do you have?” Max asked.

      “Whatcha mean?”

      “What can you do that an employer would be willing to pay you money for?” Max rephrased.

      “I do anything. Ain’t particular. Just don’t want to get caught,” Luis said.

      “Come by my office first thing tomorrow morning and we’ll fix you up with something.” Max heard the words emerge from his mouth with a feeling of disbelief.

      “Really, man?” Luis eyed him with hope heavily tinged with suspicion.

      “Really.” Max squashed his doubts with a monumental effort. Hiring one of Jessie’s social misfits wouldn’t be that big a deal, he told himself. Human Resources would find him something to do in a quiet corner, and Max would never hear from or about him again.

      Max reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his wallet. He took out a business card, jotted a note to his Human Resources manager on it and then handed it and a folded hundred-dollar bill to Luis.

      “The money is an advance on your salary,” Max told him. “It will be deducted from your first paycheck. Take the card to Human Resources, and they’ll find you a job.”

      Luis snatched up the card and the bill almost as if he was afraid that Max might try to take it back. Jumping to his feet, he backed toward the door. “Thanks, man. Thanks, Jessie.” He ducked his head as if embarrassed and then bolted through the door.

      “Why did you do that?” she asked uncertainly. “You didn’t offer a job to the other kids you interviewed and without a doubt, Luis is the most hopeless one of the lot.”

      “Maybe he’s got hidden qualities.” Max rubbed the back of his neck, not wanting to admit that he’d done it because, for an instant, he’d seen his own youthful self in Luis’s panicked eyes. If Jessie thought he was a soft touch, she’d be after him to employ more of her lame ducks.

      He watched as Jessie headed to the desk in the front of the room to get her notes. She had the most graceful walk, he thought. As if she were moving to music that only she could hear.

      “How often do you volunteer down here?” he asked, using words to try to quell his instinctive reaction to her. “Most of the kids seem to know you by name.”

      “I’m here three to four times a week. Mostly I tutor in the after-school program for the younger kids. There’s never enough money to pay for staff.

       “Tell me, where do you visualize Luis fitting into your organization?” she asked.

      “Fortunately, that’s not my problem. It’s for Human Resources. But I’m warning you right now, whether or not he keeps the job is up to him.”

      Jessie grimaced. “I hope Luis is up to the challenge. He doesn’t have much experience to call on, and he certainly doesn’t have any role models at home.”

      “If Luis wants to keep the job, he’ll learn fast. If he doesn’t, he won’t, and he’ll be history,” Max said flatly. “I’m willing to give him a hand up, but I won’t give him a handout.”

      Jessie studied Max’s eyes, looking for signs of softness, but she couldn’t find any. He appeared to mean exactly what he said. But he had given Luis that hundred-dollar bill, and he had to know that there was a good chance he’d never see either Luis or his hundred dollars again. So Max couldn’t be as hard as he was trying to appear. He had to have a softer side. He just kept it very well hidden.

      “Are we done here?” Max’s voice broke into her thoughts.

      “Yes. Luis was the last.”

      Pulling his pager out of his pocket, Max summoned Fred and then took her arm, steering her toward the center’s front entrance.

      Jessie felt the warmth from his fingers through the thin material of the jacket she was wearing, and she shivered. What was it about this man’s touch that affected her so? she wondered uneasily.

      “What time should I pick you up tomorrow morning?” Max’s deep voice broke into her muddled thoughts.

      “Tomorrow?” she repeated blankly.

      Max looked down into her confused features, feeling a flash of annoyance at her preoccupied expression. For what he was paying her she would damn well keep her attention firmly focused on him.

      “We’re scheduled to acquire my casual wardrobe and then to inspect the townhouse I own.”

      “That’s right. The one you don’t know the address of.”

      “Didn’t. My lawyer sent a key and the location over to my office late this afternoon.”

      “Good,” Jessie said. “Where shall I meet you?”

      “I’ll pick you up at your apartment. Say, ten o’clock?”

      “Ten is fine,” Jessie said as she followed him out of the youth center. By tomorrow she should have regained her sense of equilibrium and would be able to view Max Sheridan as just one more client. At least, she certainly hoped so.

      Jessie’s first sight of Max as she emerged from her apartment building the following morning shattered her hopes. He was wearing a pair of worn black jeans that molded his flat hips and muscular thighs like a second skin. After one covetous glance that sent her body temperature skyrocketing, Jessie jerked her gaze up past the black T-shirt stretched across his broad chest to land on his face.