That Boy (That Boy Series Book 1)

by Jillian Dodd

  It is way too soon to have thoughts like this.

  Phillip gets back with the beer, and I don’t get to attack him again because people started showing up early.

  Damn them!

  What? I missed him.

  And surprisingly, no one notices my neon sign.

  This is amazing to me because every time I look at Phillip, I swear it flashes all the dirty little thoughts I’m having about him.

  I have fun catching up with Katie and her husband, Eric. They just bought a new house and are all excited about it. Lisa brought her new boyfriend, Parker. I like him a lot, and they seem really good together. Other than her big crush on Danny, she hasn’t always had the best taste in men.

  I’m happy for her.

  Hell, I’m happy for everyone today.

  I can’t seem to wipe the happy off of my face.

  Brandon, Joey, and Neil are here too, and a bunch of other old friends.

  I get the big spread of food out onto the kitchen island. While I’m doing that, I can’t help but watch Phillip. He’s talking and laughing. He’s got such an easy way about him. He makes everyone feel comfortable and welcome, and he’s so sweet and so handsome and so . . . everything I need.

  Pretty soon the game gets started.

  After getting everyone else situated, I realize that there is nowhere left to sit, except the floor. So I get brave and plop down across Phillip’s lap. He’s sitting in a big cushy chair, and I sit across the arms in the opposite direction. I figured this move would surely blow our cover, but no one seemed to think it was all that unusual.

  I am really worried about my friends.

  They are not very perceptive people.

  A little before halftime I run to the garage to get more ice out of the dreaded freezer. As I come around the corner I nearly collide with Phillip, whose hands are filled with bottles of beer. He sets the beer down, grabs me around the waist, and kisses me wildly.

  “Do you know how badly I've been wanting to do that?” he asks, when he finally stops kissing me.

  “Yeah, I think I do.”

  He caresses my cheek and declares, “I love you.”

  Shit. Those three little words have woken up my previously dormant brain.

  “Phillip, don’t say that. Okay?”

  “Why not? I mean it.”

  “Phillip, I know you love me. I love you too, but do me a favor.” He starts to roll his eyes at me, but I give him a stern look and say, “This is important to me. Please don’t tell me that you love me until you’ve spent some time with me, and we have a better idea of whether this will all work out.”

  A flash of irritation crosses his face. He thinks I’m looking for a way out, but I am so not.

  “Look, I just want you to wait until you can honestly tell me that you’re in love with me. And I’m not talking friend love, either.” Then chicken shit inside of me goes out onto a big and scary limb. I bite my lip and say, “I’m talking real love, like the forever kind.”

  He smiles at me and kisses me again, very sweetly.

  “I can live with that. Mostly because it means you’re serious about this, about us.”

  He kisses the tip of my nose.

  “It also tells me you’re actually thinking about forever with me. I really like the way that sounds.”

  “We should probably get back in there,” I tell him, but he ignores that.

  “So you were desperate to be with me last night, huh?” He teases, then flips my hair behind my shoulder, and kisses my exposed neck. He’s never gonna let me live this down.

  “Yeah, I was prepared to beg,” I say flatly, trying to keep my cool. But what I really want to do is kick everyone out of the house, drag him upstairs, and see if I can make him desperate.

  “You know, I think I definitely heard some begging last night.” He gives me a huge grin.

  I laugh at that, because I know exactly what he is referring to.

  And, uh, I was begging.

  He’s got his hands up the back of my Husker shirt, and I swear my skin is practically sizzling. I’m tempted to look over my shoulder to see if there is smoke, but instead I come back with, “Oh, really? Well, what I want to know is when you got so religious? I haven’t heard God’s name spoken that many times in church.”

  We laugh at each other and Phillip says, “You know, I keep wishing this game would just get over so all these people would go home. I couldn't care less if they win or lose.”

  Phillip doesn’t care if the Huskers win or lose?

  Wow!

  Now that’s saying something.

  In fact, that may be the best compliment I’ve gotten in my entire life.

  Sunday morning, Phillip and I are awoken around ten by my loudly ringing phone. Yeah, it’s unusual for Phillip to sleep in, but I did keep him up late last night.

  I grope around for the handset and can’t find it, so I hit the speaker button on the base.

  “Hello,” I say groggily.

  “JADE!” Lori’s screaming voice echoes into my room.

  My God, she can’t possibly know about Phillip and me already.

  Can she?

  “You don’t sound awake. Are you still in bed?”

  “Uh, yeah, but that’s okay. What’s up?”

  “AAAHHHH. I AM SOOOO EXCITED!!!!!! OHHHH. I JUST CAN’T BELIEVE IT. YOU’RE. NEVER. GOING. TO. BELIEVE. IT!!!!!”

  “Believe what?”

  “I. AM. PREGNANT!!!!!!”

  “Oh, Lori, that is so awesome!” I look at Phillip, who just rolled over toward me when he heard the news. He has a great expression on his face, and I’m so excited I start to say, “Phil—.” Then I stop quickly.

  Because I am not in bed with Phillip right now, as far as my friends know.

  “What did you say, Jade? Did you say . . . ?”

  I interrupt her. “I said that’s awesome, filipping awesome.”

  “No, you didn’t, you said Fil . . . Oh my God! Is Phillip there? Am I on speakerphone? Phillip, if you’re there, you’d better answer me.”

  I shake my head no at Phillip, but he doesn’t do as I say.

  Sure, now he’s a rebel.

  “Yeah, I’m here, Lori,” Phillip confesses. “Congratulations, this is so great. I bet Danny is just ecstatic.”

  “Um, well, he doesn’t exactly know yet.”

  “He doesn’t?” I ask surprised.

  “No!” she says, and starts talking very fast. “I know I should have told him first, but after he left for the game this morning, I was getting ready and realized it’s been a long time since I’ve had my period, and I looked at the date and saw I am like two weeks late! I’ve been so busy trying to get this house all painted and decorated that I hadn’t even noticed. So I ran to the drug store and bought a home pregnancy test. I was standing here alone when it said “pregnant”, and I just had to tell someone! And I didn’t want to call Danny right before his game and just tell him on the phone, like I was asking him about the traffic or something. I mean, I want to do something special.” She pauses for a moment. “Hey, wait a minute! Did you say you were still in bed?”

  Damn!

  I am so busted.

  “Uh, yeah,” I admit sheepishly.

  Shit.

  “Finally! It’s about time! Phillip, how did you finally talk her into it? I told you it would work out. She is just so stubborn.”

  “Hey! You’re on speakerphone. I can hear you.”

  Phillip kisses me and says teasingly, “I didn’t have to do anything, Lori. She just couldn’t resist me any longer and begged for me.”

  Uh, that’s not exactly right.

  So I stand up for myself and say, “I probably shouldn’t bring this up now that you’re pregnant and stuck with him, but you should know your wonderful husband is a manipulative liar.”

  An evil laugh fills my room. “You mean the little Monica exaggeration? Oh, Jadyn, honey, that was all me.”

  Phillip laughs. He thinks this is just hysterical
.

  I shake my head. “So you’re both liars. It’s no wonder you’re perfect for each other.”

  I see I’m not going to win this one. It’s a rare thing, but I know when I’m beat.

  I give up.

  Where’s the white flag?

  Lori sighs peacefully. “This is almost the perfect day. I’m pregnant. You guys are together. Now, if Mark Conway could just get bonked on the head again, Danny could . . . Oh. My. Gosh. I can’t even believe I just said that, or even thought it! I’m so awful. That is just awful!”

  She sounds like she’s going to cry.

  And then she does.

  She’s an emotional wreck. She’s never like this.

  “I would never want that to happen to anyone. Oh my God, what is wrong with me? Can hormones mess with your brain like this? Please forget I said that.” She takes a big loud breath. She is in control and businesslike again.

  Man, pregnancy must be an emotional roller coaster ride, because she has gone through like four moods in less than two minutes.

  “Anyway, so does this mean you two can share a room next Monday night after the game? That would be great, because then I’ll only have to get one guest room done. These construction workers are just moving so slow.”

  “Sure,” I say, “and if we’re not still together by then, Phillip will gladly sleep on the floor.”

  “You guys are going to watch the game today, aren’t you?” she asks.

  “Yeah, you know we wouldn’t miss it. And you know Phillip, he always spoils me, so we’re going to Hooters.” I laugh.

  Phillip grabs me because he thinks I am a naughty girl for saying that. And when he starts kissing my stomach, I have a hard time thinking, but I do hear Lori say, “Cool. Maybe you’ll see me on TV. I’ll wave to you. And when Danny calls to tell you the good news . . . ”

  “We’ll act surprised,” Phillip and I say at the same time.

  Phillip and I go to Hooters and get a table right in front of the big screen. We order a bucket of beers and drummies, hot and extra crispy.

  I know most women hate Hooters, but they really do have good wings.

  The Chiefs aren’t playing very well, even though they have most of their starting players in for this last preseason game.

  About three minutes into the second quarter, the Chiefs’ defense intercepts a Broncos’ pass, and the offense rushes back out onto the field. On the first down, the play gets totally blown up and the quarterback, Mark Conway, gets sacked.

  He goes down, hard.

  And doesn’t get up.

  Lori must be going crazy. She’ll be convinced that she somehow caused this.

  While the trainers are out on the field, the camera shows Danny warming up on the sideline. They go back to the picture of the quarterback on the field. He tries to sit up, looks like he doesn’t know where he is, and is laid back down.

  The game announcers say it looks like He got his bell rung. Again.

  Evidently, he has a history of concussions.

  Danny runs out onto the field and stands with the rest of the team.

  It takes a few minutes for the trainers to look at the quarterback and get him carted off the field.

  During this time, the commentators talk about Danny’s career at Nebraska, and then they flash on Lori. His wife, they announce.

  Lori waves.

  At us, I know!

  I stand up and wave back.

  On TV, we see her grab a sign from a lady next to her, flip it over, and furiously write on it.

  The commentator starts to say, “I wonder . . . ”

  But before he can finish, she holds up the sign. It says, I’M PREGNANT!

  The announcers love this, and you can see that she is now up on the jumbo screen in the stadium.

  The crowd is clapping and screaming.

  The TV cameras flash back to Danny in the huddle, and we watch as one of the big linemen pats Danny on the back and points up to the screen. Danny looks up at it.

  Unfortunately, we can’t see the look on his face, but I just know he is smiling at that!

  The ref blows the whistle, and play resumes. Danny claps his hands once, and everyone takes their formation. Danny immediately throws a beautiful, deep, 52-yard pass straight into the end zone.

  Touchdown, Chiefs!

  The crowd goes wild. So do Phillip and I, and pretty much everyone in Hooters. All of a sudden, many Husker fans are now Chiefs fans.

  Everyone loves a winner.

  The Chiefs’ defense is pumped and is feeding off the noisy crowd, who feel hopeful about the 17-7 score. They cause a fumble, and Danny is back on the field. He leads the team sixty yards straight down the field, where the running back takes it in from the 6-yard line.

  Broncos 17. Chiefs 14.

  The game is very exciting and ends with the Chiefs winning, 17-28.

  Danny played brilliantly.

  After the game, the media is all over him. They tell him what a great game he had and want him to speculate on whether he should be the starting quarterback.

  Danny takes it all in stride and says very appropriately, “Mark Conway is the Chiefs’ starting quarterback. He’s our team leader, and I just went out there today and tried my best to fill his shoes. I really have to give all the credit to the offensive line. They took care of me and made my job very easy. I had all day to throw the ball.”

  “So how do you like KC so far?” a reporter asks.

  “Well, I came here from the University of Nebraska, home of the greatest fans in college football. So I feel right at home here in KC, home of the greatest fans in the NFL.”

  What a suck up, I think. Of course, I know he’s serious.

  Another reporter says, “And this is quite a day for you personally, as well. Congratulations. So what did you think when you saw your wife on the big screen?”

  “Well, it certainly took my mind off how nervous I was,” Danny replies simply.

  Now there’s an understatement if I ever heard one.

  Phillip has been staying at my house all week. We’ve been getting along very well and managed to fly under everyone’s radar, except for Danny, Lori, and Phillip’s parents. I mean, I’ve always been comfortable around him, but Danny’s right. This way has many benefits, and I am really liking them. Phillip has been good and hasn’t told me he loves me, and I haven’t been letting my mind screw things up.

  So far, so good.

  We’re sitting on the floor in front of the TV on Wednesday night when Phillip says, “Princess, let’s go on a real date this Saturday. You free?”

  “I don’t know,” I say, but then he grabs me and tickles, so I scream, “Yes! Yes! I’m free!”

  When he finally lets me up from tickling and kissing me I say, “So where are you taking me?”

  “Somewhere nice,” he says, not really answering. “Well, a little nicer than Hooters anyway.”

  “Phillip,” I whine.

  But he just sits there with his arms crossed in front of him.

  “Fine. No more kisses for you until you tell me.”

  “Oh, okay. I thought The View Room. So do I get a kiss now?”

  The View Room is our city’s nicest and most romantic restaurant. It sits at the top of a local hotel and overlooks Omaha and the Missouri River, which from that far up actually looks pretty instead of yucky and muddy.

  “Yes, that sounds perfect,” I say and kiss him, “and romantic.”

  “That’s kind of the idea.”

  When I wake up Saturday morning, Phillip’s not in bed, but there’s a little note laying on my nightstand.

  I can’t wait either!

  I should also mention that I’m very proud of the fact that I don’t freak out and try to analyze or interpret all the possible meanings of the heart.

  Because it just doesn’t matter.

  I lie in bed staring at Phillip’s note. It makes my heart feel warm. I close my eyes and relive our week together. I’ve had such a wonderful time with hi
m. I really could picture myself marrying him. And evidently the chicken shit in me has flown the coop, because it’s not even that scary of a thought any more. I probably should get up. I think I’ll pamper myself and spend most of the day getting ready. I really want to look great tonight. So I get up, have a bowl of Frosted Flakes, and decide to start by giving myself a pedicure.

  I’m digging through my bathroom closet for pedicure supplies, when my doorbell rings.

  I run to the door and look out the window. I see a huge bouquet of roses with two legs. I open the door and the deliveryman, who does have more to his body than just two legs, hands me a massive bouquet.

  Wow!

  There are three, yes three, dozen beautiful, long-stemmed red roses in a huge vase.

  I just stand there for a minute and breathe in. They smell wonderful!

  Gosh, I wonder who they’re from?

  Actually, I’m just teasing, I have a pretty good idea who they’re from.

  Phillip.

  Wow! He’s really getting into this whole first date thing.

  I mean, no one ever sends flowers like this before a first date. But I guess this isn’t your typical first date. I mean, we have had an amazing week together.

  And rarely do you get them after the first date because the guy would be all afraid to look like he was crazy about you, even if he is.

  Guys would think that’s not cool.

  But Phillip knows I love flowers, and knowing him, he probably knows exactly how many times and from whom I have gotten flowers in the past. My record is two dozen pink roses from Jason O’Connor. Jason was from a very wealthy family, so Phillip irritatingly called him Richie Rich. Jason was adorable, but he could be a bit arrogant and tended to drink a lot. Bad combination. He got wasted at my winter formal, got mouthy, and started a fight. I’d had enough, so I left him at the dance. The next day, he sent me the flowers as an apology. I accepted the roses, but not his apology. One of the few times I have actually followed Phillip’s advice on boys.