by Doreen Alsen
Beth sighed. “It turned into a total disaster. The kids didn’t get along and it didn’t help matters when I ran into his ex-wife while having lunch with some old friends.”
“Ouch. I gather it was unpleasant.”
“Katie went full on nuclear meltdown. Jeff hadn’t told her I would be there. So, yeah, Katie was pretty shocked to see me.” She felt bad about that. She’d had a clue even though she didn’t think she’d run into Katie at The End Zone.
Sally came and brought their lunch orders. “Lobster burger for you. It’s such a shame your handsome hunk of a husband is allergic to shellfish.” She put that plate in front of Jenna. “Smoked Salmon Reuben for you.” As she dropped Beth’s plate, she asked, “Do you need anything else right now?”
“No, we’re good. Thank you, Sally.” Jenna smiled.
“Yes, thank you.”
“Give me a yell if you need anything.”
Jenna took her fork and stabbed some sweet potato fries with it. “What happened?”
Beth sprinkled salt over her potato salad. “She ripped me a new one. After that, she took off and went to the park where Jeff was with the kids.”
Jenna raised her eyebrows. “And“
“She ripped Jeff a new one to match mine, grabbed her daughter and took off.”
“Poor guy.” Jenna shook her head.
“Jeff was pretty upset.” Beth picked up half of her sandwich. “Danny, too. He got himself so wound up, he got sick.”
Jenna pouted. “Poor kid.” She took a bite of her lobster burger.
Beth watched as Jenna moaned in lobster-induced ecstasy.
Jenna swallowed. “God that’s good. Why do I think there’s more to the story?” She took a sip of her water.
Beth had to tell someone. “We, uh, before Danny got sick and all, had a kind of, uh, romantic moment on the back steps of his mother’s house.” Beth’s face heated up.
“Romantic, eh?” Jenna grinned. “How romantic was it?”
“Amazing. Terrifying.” She leaned in and looked around to see if anyone was listening. “We were going at it like we were kids again in the back of his mother’s car. Then Danny came looking for me with a case of vomitus eruptus.”
Jenna eyebrows took a trip north on her forehead. “Did he see anything?”
Beth sat back. “No. Thank God I heard him before he could get to the back door.”
“Holy petunia! Do you think it was just a one-time thing or is there more coming up?” Jenna took a wistful look at her burger. “And I don’t mean Danny tossing his cookies and ruining the,” she fluttered her eyelashes, “moooooodddd.”
Beth had always thought Jenna to be a savvy woman. Right now she had her doubts.
“I want there to be more.” She wanted it so much her heart pounded and her body ached. “He pretty much said he wants more.”
“The awesomest of awesome, my girl!”
Beth rubbed a hand over her stomach. “Maybe. What if it doesn’t work out? What if we can’t make what we had ten years ago?”
“You’ll never know unless you try. But do you want to go back ten years? You know a whole lot more now.”
Beth hadn’t thought of that, but she really should have. “You’re right. I’m not the same person I was then. I’m free now. No,” Beth said as Jenna opened her mouth. “I will never go back there. Not ever again.”
“I don’t blame you.” Jenna took another bite of her burger and her eyes crossed. “Damn this is good.”
“I don’t want to tease Danny with the possibility of being a family if Jeff and I can’t make it work. That would just break his heart.”
Jenna swallowed. “There is that. Either way he’s going to be a fixture in Danny’s life. You can’t change that so why not go for it?”
“It might be too much, too soon. I don’t know.” She frowned. “I just don’t know.”
****
Jeff stood looking at the clipboard with his plans for today’s practice. White clouds dotted a brilliant blue sky and the green leaves of the trees had turned yellow, red, and orange. The wind was up, though. Should make for interesting conditions to work on throwing the ball around.
“Dad?”
“Yeah, Danny?” Jeff looked at his very penitent posture. “What’s up?”
Danny kicked his feet against the chair leg. “Cookie told me that it doesn’t matter that I’m a boy and I’m older. She says she counts more because you married her mom.”
Jeff mentally counted to ten. “I love both you and her the same, no matter who your moms are. I don’t know where Cookie got the idea that I love her more, but it’s not true.” Actually, he knew exactly where she learned that little tidbit. “It’s not a contest and it never will be. Can you forgive her? She’s only six, so I hope you can.”
He changed his position so he could look Danny straight in the eyes. “You’re my boy, champ. My son. I loved you from the minute I heard you were coming.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He remembered the day Beth told him she was pregnant. He’d cried then, right along with Beth. He’d been scared shitless, but ready to man up and do the right thing.
“I wish you had married my mom.”
Jeff’s heart jumped. “What would you think if I started to date your mom?”
“For real? Like real dates, like buying her flowers and taking her out to fancy places for dinner?”
“Of course real dates. Are you okay with that?”
Danny looked away and went to his thinking place. After a couple of minutes, he turned his gaze to Jeff’s. “My mom hasn’t ever dated anybody ever.” He scrunched his nose as he thought about it. “You gotta be romantic.”
Jeff wanted to hug this truth teller, his amazing son. “I can do romantic.”
“I mean not just flowers. I mean all that gross stuff girls like.”
“What does that mean?” He loved the way this kid looked out for his mother.
Danny scrunched his face again. “Go someplace special, where she has to get dressed up and all, give her some flowers to wear. Like taking her to a ball, like in Cinderella.” Then Danny got down to business and grimaced in clear disgust. “You might have to kiss her.”
Jeff laughed out loud. The joy just burst out of him. “Kissing her doesn’t sound like a punishment. Gotta tell you…” He leaned in close to Danny. “I really like kissing your mom. A lot.”
Danny shut up for a second or two, again a rare occurrence. “Maybe she likes to kiss you. She’s never kissed anybody else for as long as I’ve been around.”
Jeff’s chest expanded with pride. Beth had never even kissed anyone other than him. He’d known that in his head, but now he had confirmation.
Beth was his. No one else’s.
“I’m gonna grow up someday and leave her, but I don’t wanna leave her alone.” Danny met Jeff’s gaze, man to man. “She needs someone to take care of.”
“I don’t know. Your mom is pretty tough. She has to be to take care of you, right?” That didn’t stop Jeff aching from wanting to be the one Beth counted on.
The one she took care of.
Danny dropped his head and studied the ground beneath his feet. “All I wanted to say is that if you wanted to take her out on a date I’d be cool with it.”
Jeff smiled.
Hallelujah! Just the words he’d been longing to hear.
****
Beth’s nerves jumped and skittered around as she waited for Jeff to bring Danny home from practice. She’d put the meatloaf she’d just pulled out of the oven into the freezer and a tray of ice cubes into the microwave. She was losing her ever lovin’ mind.
Danny would want Jeff to stay for dinner and Beth agreed with him, so she’d made man food. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy along with frozen peas. If there was one thing she knew about man food, it meant meat, mashed potatoes and gravy.
Lots of gravy. Boatloads of it. Enough gravy to sink the Spanish Armada. The frozen peas? Not so much
, at least in Danny’s case.
Damn. She didn’t even know if Jeff liked peas, never mind frozen ones. They’d created a child but still had so much to learn about each other. She fretted over the table settings, wondering if her choice of the good dishes and silver was too much. Maybe more casual would be better.
Especially if she was wrong about that kiss last weekend.
She’d replayed every minute, every second of those kisses, of the thrilling ways he’d touched her, right up to the point when Danny had gotten sick. Pursing her lips, she lightly touched them with her fingertips. Maybe she should put some lipstick on.
She looked down at her plain pink cotton button-down blouse. Maybe she should change into something a little tighter. Did she own anything tighter? Too late! She heard Danny’s typical clatter up the front stairs.
“Mom! Can Dad stay for dinner?” Danny did his usual fling the backpack onto the sofa, drop his jacket where he stood, and rush into the kitchen.
“Hi, buddy.” Beth returned Danny’s quick hug and looked over his head to see Jeff standing in the doorway.
He gave her a little lopsided smile. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Her heart thumped a little at the sight of him. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”
He glanced at the table, saw the three table settings and chairs. “Are you sure I’m not imposing?”
Her mouth went dry. “Absolutely not. “Not imposing I mean. I made meatloaf.”
“Smells great. Can I help?”
“Nope, I’ve got it all covered. Danny?” She rubbed the hair on top of his head. “Why don’t you take Jeff’s coat and then go wash up.”
“‘Kay.” He grabbed Jeff’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Beth felt weightless as she made quick work of getting the food onto the table and was pouring Danny a glass of milk when he dragged Jeff back in. “You’re right on time.”
“Dad, you can sit right there, ’cause Mom sits there and I sit here.”
“I’ll wait until your mom sits, champ.”
Oh, the thrill. “What can I get you to drink? I’ve got milk, juice, or water.”
“Water sounds great.” She moved to the fridge to pull out the pitcher.
He took it from her. “For you, too?”
“Please.”
Oh, she could hardly grab a breath. He’d eaten with them before, but they’d been at odds.
What a difference one kiss made.
****
“This is really good, Beth.” Jeff forked up some potatoes drenched in gravy. “I don’t cook, so most nights I’m grabbing takeout from Maggie’s.”
“He could come here every night for dinner, couldn’t he, Mom?” Danny said around a bite of meatloaf.
“He might have plans for other nights, buddy.”
Jeff tried to catch Beth’s gaze as she looked at Danny. He couldn’t quite make it. “And I eat a lot, champ. Let’s just see how it goes.”
Beth glanced at him then. “You’re welcome anytime,” she said, her mouth curved in a warm smile.
Danny wiped his mouth with his napkin. The kid managed to smear most of the food across his face anyway. “Now’d be a good time to ask Mom on a date.”
Jeff coughed.
“Danny!” Beth’s face turned a very pretty shade of pink.
“Well, he asked if he could take you on dates and I said yes. So…” Danny nudged Jeff with his elbow. “Go ahead.”
Jeff cleared his throat. “I think I can handle that on my own.”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay. Can I be excused, Mom?”
“Yes, go ahead. Take your plate to the sink and rinse it, then go practice piano.”
“Do I have to?”
“What do you think?” Beth tilted her head and gave him one of those faces moms made when you didn’t stand a chance getting out of what they wanted you to do.
“Dad?” He turned those big puppy dog eyes at him.
“Outta luck, kid. Go tickle the ivories.”
Danny slinked out of the kitchen, the entire weight of the world on his over-burdened shoulders.
“Can I get you anything else? Some coffee or something?” Beth winced as Danny attacked the piano. “He’s still playing everything wrong on purpose.” She sighed. “I hope this phase passes soon. So, coffee?”
“No thanks. I’ll help you clean up though.” He had so much work to get done tonight, but he didn’t want to leave yet. “I haven’t asked you about that date yet.”
She blushed. “You don’t have to do that. I’m sorry Danny put you on the spot like that.”
“He didn’t. When I asked about dating you, ,he gave me a checklist.”
“A checklist?” She squeaked. “Oh, God.” Her face turned an even brighter shade of red.
“Didn’t you have a good time when we went to the Cliffside?”
“I had a wonderful time.” Her eyes turned dreamy. It got him all jazzed up.
“I’m going to make sure you have a lot of wonderful times.” He would do his damnedest to make it so. “What do you want to do?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She tilted her head to one side. “Surprise me.”
“Surprise you, eh? Are you sure you trust me?”
Her face turned somber. “I think I do.”
Something loosened inside him. He stood, crossed to her chair, pulled her up, and banded his arms lightly around her. “I won’t hurt you ever again, Bethy. I promise it.” He bent his head and kissed her.
“Ewww! Yuck!” Danny sounded truly disgusted.
They broke apart. Beth stepped away, her color in the neighborhood of hot pink. “What’s up?” Beth ran her hand through her hair.
“I’m done practicing. Can I go read now?”
“That was no half hour, but never mind this time. What’s for homework?”
He grimaced. “Math.”
“Better get at it. Help me clear the table and you can do it in here.”
“It’s hard.” He wrinkled his nose.
“How about this?” Jeff just couldn’t tear himself away. “I’ll help your mom clean up and if you get stuck, I’ll help you out.”
“I guess.” Danny tromped out to get his homework.
“You don’t have to do this. It’s common core and all. It makes zero sense to me.”
“I want to. He’s a great kid and I look forward to every second I get to spend with him.” With you, too, he added mentally. “I also happen to be a math whiz.” He kissed her again.
“Ugh! Are you going to be doing that all the time now?”
Jeff smiled down at his son. “Better get used to it, kid.”
“Totally barfalicious!”
Jeff noticed that Danny didn’t look as disgusted as he let on.
Good kid.
Chapter Thirty
“So, you’ll do a guy a favor, please, Evelyn, and set me up with all of that?” If Jeff needed to drop down on both knees and beg, he would.
Evelyn ran a gourmet take out business in Bar Harbor. Jeff was her biggest fan. Her food made world famous master chef Lucien Durand’s food look like McDonalds.
“For you sweetie? Anything.”
He wanted to give Beth the perfect evening and a moonlit picnic sounded like just the thing. Yeah, it was October and getting a little cold at night, but he could work around that. He’d take her to his condo, but apart from the fact that his place was furniture challenged, the idea was to go out.
Like on a date.
Their love had always been cloaked in secret. He wanted, needed it to fly out into the open.
No more backseats in Volvos because of psychotic fathers. Or jealous best friends who called the cops on them.
So while he wanted to take her back to his cave and have his way with her, she needed some romance. Only sunshine from here on in. He smiled at the thought of it.
Sunshine. His sunshine, bringing warmth and light into his life.
Well, shit. How sappy could he be?
When it came to Beth? As s
appy as he had to be. Back in the day, he could have gotten a girl like Beth with a snap of his fingers. Back in the day, Beth hadn’t been a jock groupie. She’d been all about the music. But he’d missed the part of her life when her father jerked all that away from her. He’d missed how brave she was to stand up to her father to be a mother to Danny. She’d raised him on her own with no help.
Well, she had help now.
“Hello, Coach? You in there?”
Evelyn stood there looking at him. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“When do you want to pick this up?”
“Saturday? Around four?”
“Saturday at four.” She pulled out a pencil and jotted that down on a piece of her restaurant’s stationery. “You got it.”
“Thanks, Evelyn! You’re a lifesaver.”
“No problem. The Sharks going to win on Friday night?”
“We’ll give it our best shot.” He grinned at her.
With the luck he was having lately, how could they lose?
****
Beth stared at her reflection in her bathroom mirror and fussed with her hair. Should she leave it down or put it up? Curl it?
Arrrgghhh! She tortured it into a French braid.
Jeff had said to dress warmly, so she had on her favorite pair of jeans and an azure colored angora sweater over a white T-shirt. On a whim, she’d splurged on some lace and silk lingerie. It was the first time she’d worn something like that, ever.
And it was about damn time.
The doorbell rang. She opened it to find Jeff smiling at her and, just like that, every cell in her brain short-circuited. “Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” he said, his eyes warm and avid. “You ready to go?”
Dear Lord, the man had everything going on. Sandy hair, those eyes holding all those flecks of green, blue and gray, those shoulders filling out his jacket. Who could resist him?
Beth couldn’t. “Yes. Just let me get my jacket.”
He stepped over the threshold, took the coat from her, and held it for her to slip into. “Let me help you.”
A first. No one had ever helped her into her coat. “Thank you.” She slipped a glance at him under her eyelashes.
“Let’s go.” He took hold of her elbow and started to lead her out of the house.
“Let me get my purse and my keys.”
