"Miss. Thorn, Mr. Redford will be waiting for you in front of the fountain. It was a pleasure to drive you." He closed the door behind her and walked back to the driver's side. "Good day."
Ginger watched the driver pull away almost as fast as he pulled over. She looked up and saw the giant fountain. She had seen it many times on the opening credit of Married with Children. She knew exactly where she was, Grant Park.
Before she started to walk, she looked back over her shoulder and enjoyed the view of the sailboats on the lake. She filled her lungs with some well-needed oxygen and pulled out her lip-gloss. She freshened up her lips with her cherry flavored gloss this time.
She could see the fountain, but it was Sunday and there were tons of orange and blue shirts walking around. It was game day after all. She forced her wobbly legs to start walking. She tried to make sure she walked with a sexy catwalk stride. There was a good chance that he could see her at that point. He was waiting for her, and with her bright red hair she was easy to spot in a crowd.
As soon as she started up the stairs she was able to see the fountain very clearly and the people standing around it taking pictures. When she got to the top of the stairs she searched the faces of the people in the crowd.
Finally she spotted a man in a Bears jersey with silver hair. She knew as soon as she saw the man that it was him. The silver streaks along the sides of his head and the salt and pepper top was a dead giveaway. His broad shoulders were not lost in the jersey he had on by any means. As he turned to face her, his eyes lit up and his smile stretched so far it could have gone on for miles.
He was holding a large bouquet of orange and blue flowers. There were orange Roses and blue Calla Lilly's. He met her half way. He handed her the bouquet. She accepted them and lifted them to her nose.
"These are beautiful," she said.
"So are you." He stepped in closer to her and pulled her into him by the waist. "God I missed you so much. I couldn't stand it, yesterday was the longest day of my life."
"I know," she said before his soft lips collided with hers. The kiss was soft and seductive but not over done.
"Better than I remembered."
Ginger giggled.
"I can't believe I am here," she said.
"Believe it. I made a decision yesterday."
"Oh yeah, what kind of decision?" she asked him.
"I decided that I can never go to another Bears game without you by my side."
"Really? How?"
"How doesn't matter. That will work itself out. But I know that I want you to be with me. I knew that when I found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with that there would be no question in my mind. There is no way I am going to let anything stand in the way of us being together."
Ginger was blown away by what he was saying. She wasn't sure if that was a proposal or a promise. Her hands were slick with sweat.
"I don't mean to get too ahead of things, I just know when something feels right and this can't feel anymore right. I have something I wanted to show you today."
"Ok." Ginger was so nervous, as much as she thought it was beyond romantic the idea of him dropping down to one knee only footsteps away from Soldier Field, she wasn't sure she was ready for him to pop the question.
"How was the flight? Ok?" he asked and took her hand in his own.
"It was fast, I had a mimosa. Are we going to the game?"
"You better believe it. We have the luxury box all to ourselves today. After the game we can come down and walk around. There are so many things I want to show you." There was so much enthusiasm in his voice she thought he may have been almost as excited as she was.
They walked through an underground tunnel system to get to the stadium. As soon as they came out of the tunnel they walked along side a wall that was lined with bronze service medallions. One for each of the different armed forces. There was something amazingly peaceful about the sound of the water falling down over the wall against to noise of the crowd. The sight of the stadium in front of her nearly took her breath away.
She felt a part of her heart crushing inside of her chest. It was bittersweet having the opportunity to actually have made it to Chicago. She and her father were supposed to have made that walk together.
She choked back the sting in her eyes before Jack could notice. She said a little prayer in her head for her father and hoped that he was with her in spirit, he was definitely there in her heart.
It was still early, people were just starting to filter their way into the stadium. She was sure if they walked in closer to kickoff that it would have been an absolute mad house. They took a semi private escalator up to where the luxury boxes where located.
Jack stopped her and took her hands. "Listen I know how much this trip meant to your father. I have known him for quite a while. He was supposed to be here at this game with me. He told me that he was going to try to bring you here.
"I really want this to be a fun day so I am sorry if I am stirring up your emotions but it is important to me to honor him. I truly believe that it is because of him that we are standing here together. Had he still been alive, I think that our paths would have crossed, all be it that it may not have been our time. He nourished a love for football and the Bears in you and I do think that it is part of our connection."
Ginger listened quietly. He was right about it all.
"Come with me over here." He led her a few steps in the direction of the closest luxury box in the corridor. "I had them make this for you, for him. It will hang on this wall for as long as my family and I have this box."
Ginger looked at the plaque hanging on the wall beside the door. It read:
In loving memory of Arthur Thorn
Ginger switched the flowers from one hand to the other and raised her hand over her mouth. Her eyes instantly filled. There was no point in fighting off the tears. It wasn't going to be a watershed.
"I don't know what to say." She looked at Jack and then back to the plaque. "This is so unbelievably touching. You have no idea how much this means to me, because of how much this would have meant to my dad."
"I know. He will always be a part of our experience here." Jack put his arm around her and pulled her in for a hug. "Hey, are you ok?"
"Yes, these tears are really joyful tears. I am sad that he never really made it here with me, but this is just so amazing. He would be beyond honored."
Jack kissed her on the forehead. She took a deep breath and wiped away the small trail of tears from her cheeks.
"I am more than ok. This day can't get any better," she said trying to laugh the tears away.
"How about this view?" Jack took Ginger by the hand and escorted her into the luxury suite.
Chapter Twenty-One
JASINDA'S CELL PHONE BUZZED IN her back pocket. She was hoping that it was Ginger. It had been a few days since they last spoke. She pulled out her phone and was surprised to see the name on the screen.
"Hello?" Jasinda answered as she put away clean glassware.
"Hi, it's Claudia." Jasinda could almost see her bouncing up and down she had so much energy in her voice.
"I know, how are you, sweetie?"
"I'm great. I am in charge of planning our Harvest meal. I know we usually wing it, but Seraphina asked that we all try to be together for the Harvest Moon circle. I will also be organizing Mabon for a little bit later in the month. I just love September don't you?" She spoke so fast there was no chance she came up for air.
"I do. This sounds great. Did she have something special in mind or are we doing pot luck?" Jasinda asked.
"I am going to make the menu with everyone's help. This way as people say what they are bringing I can make sure that all aspects of the meal are covered."
"Ok, so do you want me to bring a cocktail or a food item?" Jasinda asked, she would do whatever they wanted.
"It would be really great if you could make a fall cocktail. Your pumpkin mead was a big hit. I know the girls are dying to see what y
ou come up with this time. If you want to bring food too you can. There are thirteen of us all-together so I think we will have enough food. Oh but you know what, if you can bring some kind of paper product or silverware that would like totally rock."
"I can bring silverware, plates and glasses. I will just bring them in dish racks and throw them through the washing machine when we get back. I might need someone to help me transport everything. I don't have a ton of room in my bug. I am not even sure if we are going to use the same stuff when we re-open."
"Holy crap, I forgot. I saw a sign outside that said 'restaurant coming soon'. When did that happen?" Claudia didn't miss anything. She was young and could appear to be scatterbrained by her free spirited attitude but she was smart and always knew what was going on.
"I was going to tell everyone at the Harvest Moon circle, but since you did let me have your spot last month I feel that I owe you an early update." The truth was that Jasinda couldn't wait to tell her or anyone in the coven.
"You so do!" Claudia practically leaped through the phone.
"Ok, so let me break it down for you. I gave my friend Ginger the salt scrub the same night we made it. She loved it and the mug by the way.
"You know I just wanted her to have the opportunity to have an open heart. I wasn't really sure what she needed in her life, but I wanted her to be ready to let in what the universe had in store for her." Jasinda stopped cleaning up and sat down on a bar stool it was still early so she was the only one at the bar.
"And that is a beautiful thing, Jasinda. So many times people wish and pray for things that just aren't meant to be."
"True. But, let me tell you, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that the universe could have so much up their sleeve at once for someone."
"You are killing me, just spill it. I know it's going to be so good!" Claudia interrupted.
"So much happened, I hope I can give you a short version and squeeze in all the details. As far as Ginger's love life, it turns out that the she was pretending to be her father in an online chat with some guy named Jack. She then sort of almost met a guy at Dunkin' who bought her a coffee, turned out that he was the guy we hired to do our restaurant consulting."
"Really?"
"That is only half of it. Ginger decided at the same time as Steve and I that we should all work on the restaurant together so she was here at our meeting with him and he was excited to see her again.
"She had dinner with him, but it got interrupted so she had to cut is short, that night guess who showed up at her house?
"Jack, the guy from the online chat, who was also none other than the consultant."
"Shut the front door! How is that even possible?"
"I know! The universe fought hard to make sure they connected. They actually more than connected. They completely hit it off in every way possible." Jasinda was sweating she was so excited.
"That is so great, and makes me feel even better about giving my spell time to someone else who needed it most." It was the first thing that Claudia said that wasn't at rapid speed.
"So it gets better all around. They are both Bears fans, as was Ginger's father and Jack is apparently loaded, so he bought a plaque dedicated to Ginger's father at Soldier Field."
"I am seriously going to cry."
Jasinda could picture Claudia waving her hand in front of her face.
"I was afraid that when Ginger told me that she would be moving to Chicago that she was no longer going to be interested in working on the restaurant with us."
"Oh why, Jack is from Chicago?"
"Yes he is. That is where his business and family are. Ginger didn't have any here."
"Oh, bummer."
"No, quite the opposite, Jack was so into our ideas and or that many of them were Ginger's ideas that he has decided to invest in our expansion. So not only do we have Ginger still on board, now we have Jack too. We are naming the place after Ginger's father. He really brought all of us together and we felt like it would be a nice way to honor him."
"Awe."
"I know, you could cry? I have because it is so amazing. Jack is actually working on the details for us to franchise if everything goes as planned. The second location will be in Chicago. They are keeping Ginger's condo here so they can travel back and forth."
"Jasinda this is beyond outstanding news. I am so happy for all of you."
"I am always grateful for the blessings in my life, but I can't even find a way to express the gratitude I have for what the goddess has bestowed upon me at this time."
"The sisters are going to flip when they hear this story. This might be our biggest success story yet." Claudia might have been right, at least it felt like it to Jasinda.
"I will tell you more of the details when I see you. I am really looking forward to all of this month's festivities." Jasinda was going to be beyond busy, but it felt great.
"Me too. I better keep calling the rest of the sisters. Blessed be."
"Blessed be."
Acknowledgments
A special thank you to those that helped to support me though the writing of this book. They are people that inspire me on a daily basis. Matt Powell, Leigha Marie Fiebelkorn, Becca Vincenza, Venus Turosky, Laura Hidalgo, Sabina Bundgaard, Simone Nicole, and Davis Wilson. I must also honor and give many thanks to my Guruji, Rev. Jaganath Carrera, for keeping me spiritually grounded and helping me think about what is beyond me.
About the Author
Author Felicia Starr lives five miles from her favorite Jersey Shore destination with her amazingly supportive family. She loves to spend time creating special memories with her husband and two young boys. Everyone expected her first publication to be a cookbook, but her love for writing has surpassed her love for cooking. Felicia graduated magna cum laude from Kean University with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a post baccalaureate in elementary education. She is a licensed real estate sales person, a certified yoga instructor, and most importantly, a stay-at-home mom.
Always thinking and dreaming in scenes...
Visit me at my website www.feliciastarr.com
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Other Books by Felicia Starr
Breaking the Darkness Series
(New Adult Paranormal Romantic Suspense)
Taken
Marked 1.5
Betrayed
Sacred Hearts Coven
(Steamy Contemporary Romance with a touch of magic.)
Dark and Stormy
Light and Sweet
Jack and Ginger
Hawk Creek Novel
(Psychological Romance Suspense/Thriller)
The Beauty in Deception
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