The One who got Away_A Second Chance Romance

by Mia Ford

  Light snow started trickling from the sky as Darren pushed out into the wind. A blue blanket made of a strange fabric covered his baby’s head as he walked quickly down to the sidewalk. Sherry took it upon herself to step out of the car and take the baby from Darren. He then opened the backdoor and stood back as Sherry comforted Darren’s wrapped-up baby. The chill in the wind was getting sharper and there was no doubt such was irritating the baby. With her voice raised, she playfully talked to the baby about his rosy cheeks as she fastened him into the car seat.

  When Sherry stepped back, Darren looked inside and nodded his head in approval. There was a long second where they locked eyes then Darren rushed around to the other side of the car and climbed into the driver seat. Sherry jumped into her seat as well.

  For much of the ride across town to the address Sherry had given as where she lived, she turned and glanced back Darren’s baby numerous times. When the boy started to fuss, she would make just as loud of a whining noise. Every so often, she would readjust his blanket, in tune with whether or not he might be getting too hot. There was an instance where she caught herself staring off at the street as Darren drove, remembering the way she would do the same for her little nephew when she still lived at home with her mom and dad. Sherry turned her head more and gnawed on her bottom lip in thought. I wonder how they’re doing.

  Darren followed his GPS then pulled up in front of a different apartment than where he remembered Sherry living the night they hooked up. “Oh, I see you moved. This is nice. When you start, what will happen with your lease?”

  When I start? Sherry’s eyes darted around. Does that mean he’s hiring me? He hasn’t officially told me. “Um, well, it’s not actually my place. I’m just staying with a friend for now.”

  Darren looked at Sherry, still wondering what it could be she’d gone through that made her a bit more mature. The more he looked at her face as well as her eyes, the more he felt convinced. “Oh, I see,” he said.

  “Yes, well,” Sherry said, deciding she would end this strange, unconventional interview the best way she could. She never saw Darren again after the first time they met. This time could very well be no different. Finishing up a job interview on a good note then never hearing from the employer was nothing new. “First, I should thank you for the ride home. You really didn’t have to, but thank you. I enjoyed the interview today as well and hope that you’ll stronger consider considering me for the position.” She glanced back at Darren’s baby once again. “Your son certainly is a nice soul.”

  Darren smiled, glancing back at Gabriel. A nice soul? Darren found Sherry’s word choice to be so interesting. “If I consider considering you for the position.” He chuckled. “Well, I guess I’ll consider considering considering you for the job.”

  Sherry giggled, realizing how she must’ve sounded. This Darren guy was far more charming than she remembered. Maybe it was living in Ft. Wayne, or maybe it was being a single father to an adopted son. He seemed a little looser – a little more personal. “Thank you.”

  “When can you start, Sherry?” Darren came out and asked. “Look, I noticed the way you put him into the seat and how nurturing you seemed when taking him from me out in the snow. It was pretty clear you have experience taking care of a baby, and you clearly have the drive to be in this kind of role. If you would accept, we can definitely sit down and discuss a salary and whatnot. I just need to know when you can start.”

  Sherry smiled, excited that she got the job. She nearly broke out in laughter. This was one hell of an interview. Whoever heard of some stuff like this happening? A guy from Chicago I hooked up with from The Blue Ivy winds up hiring me to be his nanny? This is almost too hard to believe. “Oh, okay. Thank you, thank you.” She was gracious. “Um, I can start as soon as possible. Maybe give me a couple days to gather my things up here and all that and bring stuff over, I guess.”

  Darren nodded. “Tomorrow, I’ll arrange to bring the car over so you can go ahead and start using it. I’ll need to give information from you so I can put you on my insurance, but that won’t be a problem.”

  Sherry nodded, processing it all. The last year of agony she’d been through was finally looking up. She kept time in mind and climbed out of the car so she wouldn’t hold Darren up. Before stepping away from the curb, she leaned behind the front seat and stuck her finger out toward Darren’s son’s closed fist. The little baby snickered in his sleep. Memories reminiscent of when she watched her nieces and nephew as a baby flooded back into her heart. There was something about holding Darren’s baby that made her soul glow in a way it never had with another baby. After all, she had experienced this very same feeling in the delivery room when the obstetrician finally brought her brand new baby boy into the world and up to his mother’s arms. There’s something about this baby.

  “Okay, I’ll see you in a couple days little...” Sherry’s face scrunched up as she realized she still hadn’t been told the baby’s name. She wondered if Darren noticed her voice trail off. Would he be looking for her to remember because he perhaps had brought it up casually?

  “Gabriel,” Darren said. “His name is Gabriel.”

  Sherry’s stomach dropped; her heart skipped a beat. Her mouth hung open for a couple of seconds too long. Blinks were now few and far between. With a stiff neck, Sherry turned back to Darren’s baby – to Gabriel. She forced herself to finish her goodbyes with the baby as genuine as possible. She then backed up, she and Darren telling the other they would be in touch about her moving in, and watched Darren’s MKZ pull off and ride down the street. Sherry’s eyes followed Darren’s taillights until they were out of sight.

  There, on the snowy walkway with nothing but her thoughts and suddenly brought-up memories that punched the sides of her heart like a needle carefully stabbing a filled balloon, The wind picked up; it’s chill was unforgiving. Sherry’s had been so lost in thought that the stinging sides of her face went unnoticed for several seconds. Only when the wind picked up and threw a light snow drift up onto her legs, some of it blowing up into her face, did she finally turned around and head for the entrance. As she climbed the steps and approached Chrissy’s apartment door, she paused and stared down at the floor. The silence of the hallway did nothing to mask her thoughts as they rang out like yelling in a library. Her head dropped and she sobbed. My Gabriel… I wonder where he is now? Did somebody adopt him? What kind of life will he wind up having?

  ***

  When Darren pulled up back at home, he carried Gabriel into the house quickly. The snow had only gotten heavier during the drive back. The trees lining his street were heavy with a fresh layer of snow. Darren climbed his steps, thinking about some things, on his way to putting Gabriel back into his crib. At the first landing, the staircase faced a window with a built-in seat. Darren started to climb the second fleet of steps, but stopped and looked at the window for a moment. It looked out at the backyard of the house next door – a backyard so well-designed and manicured that a fresh layer of snow made it look like a winter wonderland masterpiece.

  “Come on, buddy,” he said to sleeping Gabriel. “Let’s sit here for a minute. Why not?

  Darren sat there, in the window, with his son. Gabriel’s head lay on the father’s shoulder while he looked out at the neighbor’s backyard. That was weird. Sherry had been on his mind for much of the ride. “This was just a strange day.”

  Darren reflected on the interview. Sherry answered the questions pretty professionally, even though I know she must’ve been thinking about that night. Wondered what happened at The Blue Ivy? Seemed like it was something out of the ordinary...not a run-of-the-mill getting fired. Her reaction to me having adopted a child was pretty mild… She didn’t ask a lot of the questions a lot of people so far.

  Gabriel started to wake up, pulling Darren’s train of thought off of its track. The father comforted the baby, hoping to ward off crying as he rose up and headed into the bedroom. Darren gently placed the Gabriel back down into his crib. He looke
d at him for a moment while standing at the doorway. Darren’s smiled as he thought about how his life had changed in ways he would’ve never imagined.

  After standing in Gabriel’s doorway for several moments more, Darren finally turned away. As he headed back downstairs, he thought more about Sherry. Why did she react that way when I told her Gabriel’s name?

  Darren went on with his evening, pushing today’s strange and very unconventional events to the side as he went on to answer emails and get in touch with the property management company.

  Chapter 8

  “Oh, Gabriel,” Sherry said, rocking the baby slightly as they walked back into the nursery from the bedroom. For the better part of the last thirty minutes, she’d been sitting at the side of the tub while giving Gabriel a bath. A couple of days ago had passed since she spoke with Darren about possibly needing to get a different kind of soap. Reddish rashes started popping up on Gabriel’s soft skin. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

  Sherry, now having been a live-in nanny for Gabriel for nearly a month, did as she always did when the baby would get into a fit after a bath. She would sing random melodies to him, rocking him gently at the side of the crib. The winter had come and gone with shivering, icy temperatures and a few snow storms. When Sherry officially started her job, she would walk Gabriel over to the window, open the curtains quickly, and the sudden burst of ice cycle-filtered lighting commanded the baby’s attention in a way Sherry had never seen before. Now, as Spring rolled up to the curb with premature warm temperatures, she simply rocked Gabriel until he relaxed enough to finally fall asleep. She checked his diaper before walking away from the crib.

  Shortly after pulling Gabriel’s door up to where it was ajar a few inches, the front door opened then closed downstairs. She leaned over the banister and saw the top of Darren’s head. He had been gone most of the day, supposedly going to meetings as usual. Sherry still hadn’t gotten a full gauge of what all this guy did, but she certainly felt it would be out of place to ask. Aside from this, she still wondered why this good-looking, seemingly accomplished guy would adopt a child and raise him alone. Sherry wasn’t sure if she’d ever even heard of such a thing. She’d gotten to know him even better over the last month or so and thought there was no way he would have a problem getting a wife.

  Sherry stopped by her bedroom to get her phone then headed downstairs. Her downtime was always a bit odd, as it was unpredictable to say the least. She figured she’d go ahead and finally have the snack that she was putting off since lunch time. As she headed into the kitchen, she heard Darren moving around in the kitchen. “Hello,” she said as she stepped over the threshold.

  Darren smiled and said, “Hello,” then watched Sherry put a lunch meat sandwich together on the kitchen island. He couldn’t help but to notice her how body had been getting in better shape consistently over the last several weeks. Sherry’s demeanor and spirit had obviously become more positive. Some of the glow she’d lost somewhere along the way since their one-night stand was slowly coming back. Still, since her moving into his house and officially taking the role as nanny, he wondered what she’d gone through. If he didn’t know any better – and with the sheltered, privileged life he’d had, he very well could not know better – he would’ve thought she was losing weight after having a child. Even if such were the case, it still wouldn’t explain the wear and tear in her face. Sherry’s eyes were still colder than Darren remembered...and he still looked for segways in conversations where he might be able to get a little more insight into how her life had really been before she got this job. A price couldn’t be put on her seemingly natural bond with Gabriel.

  “So, how was he today?” Darren asked.

  This question had become a regular occurrence for Darren to ask when he got home. And Sherry noticed this. “He was alright,” she answered, nodding her head. “You remember how I was mentioning a rash he’s getting now that I’m noticing when he gets out of the bath tub? I’m noticing that more and more...but mainly it only looks flared up when he gets out of the bath.”

  “The soap,” Darren said. He spoke with a pediatrician over the phone already who advised that if trading out the baby’s soap for something more sensitive could very well solve the problem. “Okay. Thanks for keeping me up to date on that. Can you just go and get something more sensitive for his skin?”

  Darren and Sherry went back and forth for a few moments more about Gabriel’s skin rash then the conversation fell flat. Sherry went back to putting her sandwich together. Darren, who had come into the kitchen to get a glass of lemonade, wandered over toward the French doors. He looked out for a moment then pulled one door open. A strong whisk of warm, humid wind whipped into the dining room then rushing into the kitchen. When it collided with Sherry’s shoulder, she closed her eyes. Literally the perfect temperature.

  Darren stepped out onto the terrace for a moment. He slipped his jacket off and tossed it over the back of a chair. His eyes fell on the grill shortly after looking up at the sky. This night was particularly warm for a night in early march. If that had been any other year, there could’ve very well still been snow on the ground. Smiling, Darren nodded his head. And he truly believed he had just what he needed in the refrigerator already.

  Sherry had just turned toward the French doors. With her sandwich in hand, she’d just been about to take a bite when she noticed Darren rush back into the dining area. He zigzagged around the furniture then made a beeline for the refrigerator. Sherry smiled. This guy is really a character...in his own kind of way.

  Darren ransacked the refrigerator then worked his way to the freezer. Seconds after he got a glimpse of the box, he repeated “yes” at least twenty times as he pulled the box of Omaha steaks out of the back of the freezer than grabbed a bag of jumbo, deveined shrimp he’d picked up a couple of weeks ago. It only took him seconds to pull at least a dozen seasonings and marinades out. By the time he’d gotten peppers, tomatoes, and an onion out of the fridge and bunched them on the table with everything else, he noticed Sherry. She’d been standing at the other end of the kitchen island.

  Darren smiled, feeling a bit silly. “Tonight would be a great night to grill out,” he said. “Why not? I caught up on just about everything I had to do today. Don’t anticipate much going on tonight. It’s so warm outside for march.”

  Sherry smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I sat out back with Gabriel for a little bit earlier. It’s totally warm for this time of the night. I got a glimpse of the news earlier and I think that maybe a storm might be coming, but I really wasn’t paying attention.” She looked past Darren and out at the backyard then up toward the clouds. The clouds did look heavy and gray; however, anything severe looked a little far off at the moment.

  “You want some?” Darren asked. “I’m going to grill these steaks, some shrimp. Vegetables. Back in Chicago, I used to grill out a lot while I was in college. Something about grilling all your food...it just seems healthier.”

  Since about a month before starting the job, Sherry had been working more adamantly about losing the baby weight. And she was seeing success. In just six months, she lost twenty pounds and it showed. She’d been eating lighter foods as well as drinking more water. She looked down at her sandwich and figured she could go ahead and have some grilled steak and shrimp. I can’t turn something like this down.

  Sherry shrugged her shoulders then set her sandwich down on the counter. “Sure,” she said.

  Darren chuckled under his breath and looked into Sherry’s eyes for a couple of seconds too long. “Okay, let’s see.”

  Sherry poured a glass of lemonade then walked over to the dining area. She sat at a dining room chair and watched as Darren boiled, then seasoned or marinated the meat. Giggles sporadically slipped out of her mouth. Darren was a good businessman who clearly had been working his way up in the world in his new city. The fun part of him seeped out at times – at times where maybe he felt a little freer to be himself and not have to represent a cer
tain look to be taken serious.

  “So, I can’t take any part in this?” Sherry asked, raising her eyebrows.

  Darren had gotten so carried away. He paused and looked down at the vegetables. He’d been waiting on the gas grill to warm up. Sherry cooked for herself as well as small things for Gabriel; however, Darren really hadn’t seen her do anything major.

  “Do you grill?” Darren asked, playfully squinting his eyes.

  Sherry walked back into the kitchen and stepped up to the other side of the kitchen island. “Did it all the time growing up,” she said. The words came out so naturally – effortlessly – however, it came with a bit of a sting. As the days had gone on and she was more and more used to caring for a baby, she found her family on the line. “I was the princess of barbecue in my family. People would come to family events at our house because they knew I was going to be grilling.”

  Darren’s head leaned back as a playful gesture of disbelief. He then looked at Sherry for a good, long moment, up and down. This chick looks like she’s telling the truth. “Oh, yeah?”

  Sherry nodded and came around to the other side of the island. “Yeah, seriously. I always liked my meat grilled, so my dad would do it for me all the time. Then, when we started having hard times when I was a teenager, he had to work a lot more. Well, he was a trucker, so he gone at a lot longer times than usual. So, I learned how to do it and liked doing it. The men in my family hated my guts.”

  Darren nodded his head, trying to not smile. “Okay.” He set one steak in front of her then pulled grilling supplies out of the cabinets. “Let’s see whose steak comes out better.”