Eight a.m.: Do the Gossards' regular grocery shopping and deliver their meal plan for the week.

Nine-thirty: Pick up the Raffertys' dry cleaning, drop off their little dust mop of a dog at the groomer's, then meet their pool restoration man at ten-fifteen. She could work on their weekly meal plan while she waited for him to finish his estimate.

She checked her watch and leaned out the car door. "Matthew! Hank! Let's get a move on!"

Back to her Palm Pilot.

Noon: A lunch meeting with the Jacobsens, potential new clients. The husband was an executive at Procter amp; Gamble and the wife was a tax attorney. They had two kids and zero time to manage their home life-ooh, how she loved people like that! They were the ideal clients for Multi-Tasker, Inc.

The van bounced as the children threw themselves into the backseats. Without looking up, Charlotte reeled off the usual checklist

"Seat belts?"

"Yep!"

She heard the click of metal. "Lunches?"

"Yep!"

"Backpacks?" "Yep!"

"Matt, do you have your volcano?"

"Uh-oh."

Charlotte's head snapped up and she looked at her watch. "You've got forty-five seconds, big guy. Do you need me to help you carry it?"

'^No. I got it."

Watching Matt run into the house, she recalled how they'd stayed up until eleven finishing the earth sciences project and pictured all that hard work crashing to the macadam. Charlotte set aside her Palm Pilot and ran after her son.

Matt bit his lip in concentration as he took tiny steps out of the garage. She reached him just before the creation slipped from its cardboard base.

Matt smiled up at her. "Thanks, Mama."

Charlotte kissed his cropped head, stiff with way too much hair gel, and smiled. "You're welcome, honey."

They were now precisely two minutes behind schedule.

"After school we've got playtime from three to four and homework from four fifteen to five." Charlotte turned the van into the William Howard Taft Elementary dropoff lane. "Then you've both got Little League from six to eight. We're having falafel for dinner."

"Awful falafel," Matt mumbled from the backseat

"I'd rather have monkey chowder," Hank said.

Charlotte reveled in the sound of her kids giggling. It didn't happen enough these days. "And, Hank, your coach called to say they've decided to move you up to the majors thisyear."

"All right," the girl breathed.

"The majors? " Mart's voice was high and squeaky. "But that's not fair! She's only eight! I didn't get in the majors until this year! That's totally messed up!"

"Dork butt," Hank whispered.

"Freak," Matt hissed back.

"That's enough." Charlotte was now third in line behind two other minivans. "Get your stuff together. Matt, do you need a hand?"

"Duh-uh! I'm not a total Dorkus maximus, Mother. I can carry one stupid little volcano!"

Seconds later, Charlotte slapped herself on the forehead. She'd just witnessed the painstakingly sculpted mountain of flour paste slide off the cardboard into a shapeless blob on the sidewalk. She bolted out of the van and knelt next to Matt, stroking his back as the car horns blared.

"I'm so sorry, Mama." Matt's entire face was clenched tight and his already ruddy cheeks were on fire with embarrassment.

"It's okay, Matt. Let's just scoop this up and-"

"I've got it, babe."

Jimmy Bettmyer nearly flattened Matt in his effort to get his hands on the ruined project. Then he stood, towering over them in his expensive real estate agent suit, grinning down in triumph. "Tough break, little buddy" Jimmy then scanned the crowd of teachers, parents, and kids that had assembled at the accident scene, making sure everyone noticed his gallantry.

"Everything's under control," he said to the crowd, offering Charlotte his free hand.

She rolled her eyes and helped Matt to his feet. "Go on in, honey. I'll call your teacher to explain."

Matt slinked off, his head hanging, his gaze riveted to his shoes. Charlotte felt the fury rise when some of the kids snickered as he walked past. She wanted to take them all by the shoulders and scream, "Hasn't he been through enough?"

Instead she felt Jimmy Bettmyer's breath on her neck and turned to find him dangerously close. The instant his hip made contact with her side she leaped back and headed for the van. He followed her.

"Maybe I could come over and help Matt rebuild this tonight He could probably use a little male engineering know-how."

Charlotte reached for the door handle as she scanned the crowd for Hank's bright red curls and shocking pink backpack. She was relieved to see her daughter chatting happily with a group of girls as she moved through the school's double doors.

Jimmy leaned into the van window. "Besides, we all know Matt's not the only member of the Tasker family who could use a little male companionship."

Charlotte turned to face him. Jimmy Bettmyer had been trying to get in her pants from the first day they'd moved to Hayden Heights, when his wife, LoriSue, had been six months pregnant with Justin. All these years later, he was still trying to get in her pants. In fact, Charlotte was sure the only reason Jimmy escorted Justin through the school doors every morning was to advertise his availability to the drop-off moms. The man was a predator.

And, apparently, a real slow learner.

"Jimmy, why don't you bless your own family with your male know-how and leave me the hell alone?"

When the driver behind her laid on the horn, Charlotte put her van in gear and pulled away from the curb. Jimmy jogged alongside, still holding the ruined school project.

"LoriSue and I are separated and you know it," he panted. "I'm only living with her because I refuse to give her possession of the house. It's the principle of the thing."

Charlotte said nothing but pushed the automatic window button and smiled as the pane of glass went up between them. Unfortunately, Jimmy stuck his arm in the window and had this to add: "You may be a vegetarian, but I bet a hot little number like you can't go too long without a nice piece of meat!"

That was it. She hit the brakes and got out of her van.

She raised her chin and looked up at him-a thirty-something former jock with thinning blond hair and a very unattractive smirk. "I'm not interested in you, Jimmy."

Charlotte was quite pleased that her voice sounded calm yet assertive-clearly the voice of a woman who had her act together. "In fact, I just plain don't like you. You basically ignore your kid. You cheat on your wife. You have no manners. And as far as your 'piece of meat' goes…"

Charlotte let her gaze drop below Jimmy's belt, then shook her head. "Meat makes me nauseous. Now back off or I'm calling LoriSue to tell her all about this little encounter;" -

Jimmy's eyes narrowed and he gave her a nasty smile. "You know, Charlotte, someday you're going to beg for it"

She got back in the van. As she drove away, she heard him shout after her, "What the hell am I supposed to do with this volcano?"

The carpooler behind Charlotte told him precisely what he could do with it, and Charlotte laughed all the way to the Kroger parking lot.

That night, she checked on Matt first. Her son lay on his side curled up in a ball, the long, thin index finger of his left hand hanging limply from his mouth. She reached out and gently pulled it away from his lips, aware that it was probably too late to avoid braces, but at least she. could go through the motions.

She watched Matt root around in sleep for the familiar comfort of his finger-the way he'd done all his life.

Charlotte remembered the ultrasound. She'd been just over five months pregnant when the indistinct gray and white image showed the tiny male human living inside her. He had a tiny head and tiny feet and a tiny penis- and his left index finger stuck in his mouth. She and Kurt had been fascinated by this first glimpse of the life they'd made-the first peek at their family.