DMV

The back of her was no less inviting as she had a very firm derriere that was connected to two very shapely legs and a tight waist that gave way to well, a very nice looking 'second floor' which he'd only briefly noticed when he leaned over to talk to her.

"Daddy? Can we go home now?" Katie asked, interrupting his lustful thoughts.

"Sorry, peanut. Not yet. Why? Are you bored already?"

"Yes, but just a little," she told her father.

"Can you hang in there for a few more minutes?"

"Of course. I'm four years old."

Kade managed not to laugh as he said, "Right. I almost forgot how big you are."

She slid off his lap then said, "See how big I am, Daddy?"

This time he laughed, and when he did, Merritt looked their way. She smiled, and when Katie saw it, she asked if she could go say 'hi'.

There was no use telling her she'd just seen her, so he said, "Okay. But then come straight back, okay?"

"I will!" his daughter said as she quickly walked over to the pretty woman who was all smiles.

Merritt scooped her up then smiled at her and then her father.

"Can I keep her?" she called out.

"For a minute or two!" Kade quietly called back.

Grace received her computer terminal assignment then walked over to it and entered the required information then hit 'start'. A minute or so later Merritt carried Katie back to her father and asked if she wanted to sit on his lap again or be put down.

"Can I sit on your lap?" she asked.

"Of course you can!" Merritt told her as she sat back down.

"You sure you don't want me to take her?" Kade asked.

"Oh, I'm sure," Merritt said, all smiles as she pulled Katie close and blew 'bubbles' on her neck.

The little girl shrieked with laughter causing most of the people waiting to look her way.

"Sorry!" Merritt said. "I just couldn't resist because you are SO cute!"

Once she stopped laughing, Katie said, "My daddy tells me that ALL the time."

"Well, he's right. You are just adorable!"

Katie reached up and hugged her the way she'd hugged her dad, then kissed this near-stranger right on the lips.

Kade was about to apologize when he saw Merritt start to tear up.

"You okay?" he very quietly asked.

"Yes. I'm fine. I always wanted another baby so bad, but my hus...my ex...wouldn't have it. I don't know why it just hit me so hard out of the blue."

"Stress does that to us sometimes," Kade offered.

She exhaled loudly then managed to smile.

"You have no idea how nice it's been talking to you, Kade. I'm sorry for complaining, but it really has been a difficult time for me. But you and Katie, with a 'K', have really made my day."

"Then I'm glad," Kade told her as Katie held her arms out indicating she was ready to come back to Daddy's lap.

While Grace was answering questions, so were Kade and Merritt who chatted about where they were from and how they ended up in Huntsville. Merritt's husband had been stationed there for three years when he worked as an instructor, and she'd always loved the town. Grace had been born there, so after her husband informed her that her services were no longer needed, she found herself pining for the best place she'd ever lived. Then after saving up enough money to move back, she'd made her dream come true.

"So may I ask where your new job is?" Kade inquired.

"I just got hired yesterday, as a matter of fact," she told him. "I got an administrative position with Raytheon, and I'm very excited about it."

"Uh-oh," Kade said with a smile.

"Why...uh-oh?" she asked.

"Well, Raytheon is the enemy," he told her so seriously it took her a second to figure out he was kidding.

"So...who do you work for?"

"DCS."

"DCS. Hmmm. I haven't heard of them. But that's not surprising. I only knew about Raytheon because they make Patriot missiles, and my ex-husband was ADA."

"No way! I was ADA," Kade told her.

"Patriot or THAAD?" she asked.

That acronym stood for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, an element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System or BMDS made by Lockheed Martin. Merritt was used to acronyms, even though she was still learning more of them every day.

"Patriot."

He was even more surprised to learn her husband was a Patriot guy, too. Then again, there were enough units in the Army that it was very easy to never run across any particular individual, even in the same career field, and Kade hadn't even heard of her former husband.

"Small world, huh?" Merritt said with another beautiful smile.

"Truly. And it just got smaller knowing you'll be at Redstone Arsenal with me."

"Well, not with you. Just near you," she replied, playfully correcting him.

Kade chuckled then agreed.

"No. Definitely not with me."

Merritt then made him laugh again when she said, "Hey! You make that sound like it would be terrible or something!"

Not to be outdone, Kade said, "Um, I believe you're the one who was adamant that we differentiate between 'with' and 'near' just moments ago."

She laughed then said, "Yes. Yes, I did, huh?"

She saw Kade looking at something, then saw Grace wave.

"I'm done!"

"How you'd do?" her mom asked as she got up without saying a word to Kade.

"I aced it!"

The test was computerized and she got her results immediately.

Kade saw Merritt hug her daughter after a high five then watched them walk back over to the same window and wait.

Just as Grace was getting her picture taken for her learner's permit, his number was called.

"Finally," he mumbled as he stood up with Katie and walked over to Window #3.

On his way, he walked by the newest driver in Huntsville and congratulated Grace then told Merritt again how much he'd enjoyed her company.

"Yes! Same here, Kade..and Katie."

"I really do hope we bump into each other one day," Kade said sincerely.

"Me too, Kade. I'd like that very much. And if this little sweetie pie is with you, that'll be extra special!"

As Kade was explaining what he needed, Grace was holding her learner's permit. She saw Katie turn around and look at her, and when she did, Grace smiled. The little girl smiled back, and that gave Grace an idea. She pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper, scribbled something down, then walked over to Katie.

"Can you give this to your daddy for me?" Grace quietly asked so as not to disturb the girl's father.

"Okay," Katie agreed as she took the paper.

"Thank you, and have a nice day," Grace told her with a smile.

"Bye!" Katie said as she tried handing the note to her father who put her off.

"Just a minute, sweetie. Daddy's busy."

"But it's important!" his daughter insisted.

He continued talking with the DMV rep but took the paper and glanced at it. It said 'in case you ever need a babysitter' along with a phone number and the name Grace.

Kade smiled before putting the paper in his pocket as he got out his North Carolina license and birth certificate. Ten minutes later, he too, had authorization from the State of Alabama to drive there, the only difference being he didn't need anyone else to be with him when he did.

By the time he dropped Katie off at daycare and got to work, the entire morning was shot, but he was 'mission complete' on the drivers license. He knew this had to be taken care of, but he still felt extremely guilty. The only, um, saving 'grace' with a small 'g', was meeting Merritt and Grace with a capital 'G'. He smiled when he thought about them both then dove back into the pile of work waiting for him the moment he walked in.

And that's when he remembered the note. He pulled it out, read it again, then grabbed his phone and entered her number just in case.

On their way home, Grace was particularly chatty even though her mom didn't let her drive.

"Mom? Wasn't that little girl cute?"

"Katie? Yes. She's a little doll! Why?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking that her dad was really nice, too."

"Yes. I suppose he was," her mother said, knowing there was more to come.

Grace wasn't a matchmaker, and she wasn't about to start. But she was always looking for more money, and her mom had been letting her babysit since she turned 14.

"I was wondering if you might let me babysit her. Katie."

"What makes you think she needs a babysitter, honey?"

"I don't know. Don't all kids?"

"Yes. I suppose they do, but her father seems like the kind of person who stays home with his daughter when he's not working."

Grace hadn't thought of that, so now her brain was working overtime to find a way to make a few dollars to buy school clothes. Her mom had always paid for them, but this year she had to pay one-fourth of the cost. Next year would be half. By the time she was a senior, she'd have to buy all of her own clothes, and nothing was cheap. They didn't really know anyone yet, and she wasn't old enough to get a job waiting tables, so....

"Mom? How come you never go out?" Grace asked, only partially surprising her mother.

"I go out," her mom replied a little bit defensively. "But we just moved here, and I don't really know anyone yet."

"You know Katie's dad," her daughter replied as nicely as she could.

"Yes. That's true. And?"

"Well, you said he's really nice. And he's not married, either, so...."

"Oh. Okay. Now I see," her mom replied with a laugh.

"If you guys like...went out or something...then maybe I could babysit. For Katie."

"Except that we have no way of contacting each other," her mother reminded her.

"I...I kind of gave him my number," Grace said as she cringed a little.

Her mom looked over with wide eyes and said, "You did WHAT?"

"Not directly. I gave it to Katie to give to her dad. You know, in case he ever does need a babysitter."

Grace ventured a look at her mom then asked her if she was mad.

"Mad? No. I'm not mad. I just wish you'd have asked me first."

"I...I kind of just did it. I saw Katie, and it made me think about babysitting, and I was really happy about passing the test, and...."

"And it just...happened?" her mother asked.

Those were the very words her former husband used to describe how his affair began. It just happened.

She'd been amazingly calm after being told about his infidelity, and when he said that as a way of trying to mitigate the hurt, she'd quietly said, "Yeah. It's funny how that happens. Two people are just standing there when their clothes vaporize. And 'poof'! They find themselves transported to a bed and even more miraculously, on top of each other. The strangest thing is how the man's penis miraculously ends up in the woman's vagina, but that does happen."

After that, he had nothing left to say other than, "I'll go get my things."

But that was between her and her ex, and she wasn't about to make her daughter feel bad just because her father had been unable to keep it in his pants.

"Have you heard the saying, 'Good initiative, bad judgment'?" her mom asked.

"No. What does that mean?"

"Your idea was sound, Gracie. And giving your number to Katie was taking the initiative. But because we don't even know them, you didn't exactly exercise good judgment."

Her mom's facial expression and tone of voice were very friendly as she asked, "Make sense?"

"I guess," a slightly dejected Grace replied.

"No worries. We'll meet people and opportunities will come along, okay?" her mom said with a warm, friendly smile.

"I feel pretty foolish now," Grace told her mom.

"Lesson learned, right?" her mom replied as cheerfully as she could, knowing how hard this move had been on her daughter who'd had to leave her friends behind.

"So when can I drive?" Grace asked, making sure to smile.

"Soon, honey. I promise."

As Kade toiled away on developing a new surface-to-air missile or 'SAM' that could bring down the most sophisticated Russian or Chinese fighter jets, Merritt began her new job with Raytheon.

Both companies were located within Redstone Arsenal and were less than a mile apart, but neither Kade nor Merritt saw one another since that morning at the DMV. But two weeks later, Kade's boss let him know they were having an end-of-summer get together at his home that Saturday evening, and that's when he realized he needed a babysitter. He had daycare, but so far, he'd never spent a single night away from his daughter and the need had never arisen since leaving active duty.

But that evening, he recalled the note Katie handed him and pulled out his phone. He smiled when he recalled the pleasant conversation he'd had with Grace's mother, and that reminded him of how attractive she was for a woman her age.

"Or any age," he said to himself as he dialed the number.

"Hello?" he heard a younger female voice say.

"Grace?"

"Yes?"

"Hi. This is Kade Radliffe. Katie's father?"

Grace was so surprised she didn't say anything right away, so Kade said, "From the DMV?"

"Yes. Of course. How are you?" she asked, the butterflies zooming around in her tummy.

"Good. Listen, Katie gave me your note, and well, I kind of need a babysitter this Saturday, and I was wondering if maybe you could...."

"I'd love to!" and excited Grace said before he could finish.

She heard Kade laugh politely then say, "Well, okay. The party is from 8-10 or so, and I'd need you from about 7:45 until maybe 10:30 at the latest. Would that work for you?"

"Yes! Definitely! That's perfect!" the teen told him.

"Do you need to check with your mom first?" he tactfully asked.

"Oh. Right. I do, but I know it'll be okay. Can I text you back and let you know what she says?"

"Sure. That sounds great."

"Okay. Then...cool!" Grace told him.

Kade stifled a laugh then asked her if she'd been doing any driving yet.

"A little," he heard Grace say in a way that made him wonder how it was going. "I'm not so good at it yet, though."

"No worries. Practice makes perfect, right?"

"Ha! That's what my mom says."

Kade chuckled then used the 'great minds think alike' line which made Grace laugh, too.

"So I'll text you ASAP," she told him saying it as one word the way the military tended to do.

"Great. And it was nice talking to you again, Grace."

"You, too, Mr...."

"Radliffe. But you can call me Kade, okay?"

"Okay...Kade," the happy teenager told him.

Her mom had been walking by during the last couple of seconds and popped her head into her daughter's room and asked who it was.

"Mom! Guess what?" her very excited daughter asked.

"Um...did one of your friends ask to come visit?"

School would be starting soon, so that seemed very unlikely, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. Grace had been very popular and she had a ton of friends. Even so, most of them had already stopped staying in touch, so Merritt was hoping maybe one of them was going to be able to come and visit for a few days or even a weekend.

"What? No. I just got a babysitting job on Saturday!"

"Babysitting? For whom?" a puzzled Merritt asked.

"For K...Mr. Radliffe. You know, Katie's dad."

Her mom's eyebrows rose up just as her head tilted slightly to one side.

"I see. Well, it looks like your little ploy worked."

There was no accusation in the words, and Merritt was actually happy for her daughter.

A still-excited Grace rattled off what Kade said, and her mother told her she thought that was wonderful. She'd been doing things around home to earn money for school clothes, but it wasn't adding up very fast. Three hours of babysitting wouldn't make too much difference, but just the thought of getting out of the house and doing something different seemed pretty fantastic to Grace. And she couldn't wait to see that sweet little girl again, either.

"Okay. Just let me know when and where to drop you off and pick you up," her mom said before leaving her room.

"I will!" she called out before texting Kade.

"My mom said it's okay, so we just need to know when and where!" Grace typed.

Kade replied immediately and said, "Let's make it 7:30 to 10:30 and we live at...."

"Perfect! I can't wait to see Katie again!" Grace texted back.

"She'll be very excited, too. We haven't used a babysitter since we moved here, and she'll be thrilled to know it's you, Grace."

Grace sent some happy faces back along with, "Okay! See you Saturday!"

Kade smiled then went to let his daughter know the plan.

"Grace? From the driving place?" his daughter asked, her eyes open wide in happy anticipation.

"Yep. That's the one."

"Yay!" Katie said as she nearly jumped into her father's arms.

Kade was ready to go by 7pm on Saturday and had snacks and drinks ready for both Katie and Grace. She already had his number, and he would only be about three miles away in case he needed to go home for any reason. He wasn't the least bit concerned about leaving his daughter because of Grace, but like anything else, he was a planner down to the last detail, and this was no exception.

Kade saw a car pull into his driveway at 7:28 and went to the door with Katie to let Grace in. As the door opened, he saw Merritt in the car and waved at her. She waved back, and Kade could tell she was smiling just before backing out to leave.

He welcomed Grace then let Katie get everything out he knew she'd need to say about her room, her toys, and the snacks before even trying to say anything else. Grace was both friendly and patient, and Kade felt even better about their babysitter as Katie asked Grace to pick her up when they got to the kitchen.

"Wow! You thought of everything, huh?" Grace told her after getting the lowdown on popcorn, chips, and soft drinks.

"My daddy is SO smart!" Katie informed her very seriously.

Grace smiled at the handsome man who looked even nicer than she remembered and told him so without any hint of blushing.

"Oh, gosh. Thank you, Grace. That's very kind of you," he told her.

Katie wanted down again, and once she was on the floor, Grace said, "Oh. My mom said to tell you 'hello'."

"How is she, by the way?" Kade asked.

"She's good. She's really busy at work, though."

"Does she like her new job?"

"Oh, definitely. She said everyone's really nice. Especially her new boss."

"That's great. I'm really happy for her. Please tell her I said 'hello', too."

Unable not to, Kade went over everything with Grace then asked her if she had any questions.

"No, I think I got it!" she told him with a smile.

"Okay. Then I'm gonna get going and see if I can help set anything up before everyone else gets there," he told Grace.

Katie had run to her room and came back holding her two favorite dolls.

"Grace? You want to play with me?" she asked very excitedly.

"I would love to play with you!" the pretty teen told her.

"Can I get a hug and a kiss first?" Katie's dad asked as he bent down.

His daughter was so excited about having Grace there she barely even kissed him but she did at least squeeze his neck before grabbing Grace's hand and saying, "Come on! Let's go to my room!"

Kade smiled as he watched Grace let herself be dragged along and her ask, "What are their names?" about the dolls.

By now, Kade knew everyone at work, and for the most part, he liked everyone there. The only exception was another engineer who was a little older than him who felt like Kade had stepped in and taken over. That wasn't the case, but the truth was Kade had a lot of sound ideas, and management had taken several of them and ran with them. As a result, his fellow team member didn't care too much for the 'young upstart' even though he was only 30 years old himself.

Not really a 'schmoozer', Kade had to force himself to 'work the room'. He preferred finding someone he enjoyed talking to and hanging out with them, but he knew that he needed to make the rounds, and that included chatting up senior management.

His immediate supervisor, Wes Clemons, introduced Kade to the vice president of DCS, a retired Air Force three-star general who said, "Radliffe. I've heard good things about you."