by Beth Rinyu
“What do you think?” she asked as soon as the connection was made.
“I love it!” She had gotten her long blond hair that was down the middle of her back cut into a shoulder-length angled bob.
“Me too! I needed a change, so I told her to just go for it when I was at the salon today.” Truth was Kara could’ve shaved her head and she’d still be beautiful. Not just because she was my daughter either. She was blessed with all the best features, beautiful blue eyes, high cheekbones, and perfect skin. “So, I’ll be home on Tuesday after my exams. Oh, and I have someone I want you to meet.”
“Kara, he or she better only have two legs!”
She let out a loud laugh. “He does.”
“He?” I asked.
“Yeah, I was going to tell you—” She paused for a moment as Jack headed into the kitchen with the vacuum. “Is that the vacuum?”
I nodded.
“Well, if you’re on the phone with me, then who’s vacuuming? Did you get a cleaning lady or something?”
“I don’t know, depending on how good of a job he does, I might hire him.” I moved my phone so the camera was on Jack.
“Dad!” Kara shouted. “What’s he doing there, and why is he vacuuming?”
“Oh, do you really want to know what your dog did?” I put the camera back on me while Jack continued with his duties.
“Wait, Mom.” Kara seemed a little in a panic. “Don’t mention to Dad about me introducing you to someone.”
“Okay…but eventually if this person is really special, he’s going to have to meet him.”
“Yeah, I know…but just not yet. You know he may get all freaked out because of everything that’s going on and want to do some major background check on him.”
“Well, is he hiding something that he wouldn’t want to be found out?”
“What? No! I just don’t want him to get freaked out if Dad starts going all FBI on him.”
“Okay. I’ll keep quiet.”
“So you never answered my question. What’s Dad doing there?”
“Oh…umm.” I realized I was shouting just as Jack turned off the vacuum. “I had a leak under the kitchen sink that needed to be fixed,” I lied, not wanting to spoil the Christmas tree surprise.
“So you asked Dad? You’d always pay people to fix things because you refuse to have Dad help.” Sometimes she was too smart for her own good.
“Oh, show Dad your new hairdo.” I changed the subject immediately and angled the phone away so Kara couldn’t see me mouth to Jack, You’re here to fix a leak under the sink. He creased his eyebrows in confusion. It was obvious he was unable to read my lips.
“Wow, look at you!” Jack said when he shifted the phone in his direction.
“Do I look more sophisticated? Maybe I should be smoking one of those extra-long cigarettes like the women used to smoke.”
Jack laughed. “No. You still look like Kara, just with shorter hair.”
“Damn, I was going for chic and refined,” Kara teased. “So did you fix the leak?”
I widened my eyes at jack and vigorously nodded. “Yup, your shower is all fixed for when you get here.” My nod quickly turned into an equally vivacious shake of my head. Confusion washed over Jack’s face, so I stepped in and took over.
“Oh, Jack, thank you so much, I didn’t know the shower was leaking too. I just knew about the kitchen sink.”
“Oh, yeah.” Jack scratched his head. “I figured I’d check all the water outlets while I was here.”
“Okay…you guys are acting weird.”
I stepped back into the phone view to gauge the look on Kara’s face, and I sensed she wasn’t buying it one bit.
“I’m gonna get going. I have to plan out my last Saturday night here before Christmas break.”
“Well, have fun, and be careful.” Jack smiled into the phone.
“Of course she’ll be careful. She has an FBI agent tailing her,” I said to Jack after we disconnected with Kara. I wasn’t going to lie, I did take comfort in that fact, even if Kara hated it.
“Yeah, although you’d never know it, she actually quit bitching about it,” Jack added.
Max walked out of the laundry room and sat at my feet, staring up at me with those pitiful eyes that made your heart melt. “I know. I know. We didn’t go for our morning walk,” I said. “Do you mind if I take him for a stroll around the block? Then I’ll be right back to help you set up the tree.”
“No problem. I can actually do it while you’re gone.”
“Okay.” I nodded. Of course, he wanted to set up as quickly as possible. I had taken up his entire Saturday morning and was now encroaching into his afternoon.
I hooked Max’s leash onto his collar and we stepped outside with Jack right behind us. As I reached the edge of the driveway, coming in view of the street, a gray sedan that had been parked in front of my house quickly pulled away. Jack, who was standing by the pickup truck, zipped down the driveway, trying to get a glimpse of the vehicle, but it was too late, they were out of sight. I was hoping it was my own paranoia and nothing to do with the circumstances surrounding that day on the beach. When I saw the look of concern on Jack’s face, I knew it wasn’t just my own suspicion. He always had a sixth sense of oddities. I guess after so many years of working in law enforcement it was bred into him.
“Did you see what type of vehicle that was?” he asked, still staring in the direction it had sped off into.
“No. Just that it was gray.”
“Damn.” He let out a frustrated sigh and raked his hand through his hair. Taking a step away, he took his phone from his pocket. When the person on the other end answered, he held up his index finger and motioned for me to wait, then walked to the truck where I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I stood in place, patting Max on the head when he began to whine. “Okay, let’s go for a walk,” Jack said as he approached me after hanging up the phone.
“But I thought you were going to stay here and bring in the tree while I took Max for a walk.”
“Change of plans…let’s go.” He took Max’s leash from my hand and we began to walk. I knew Jack was here out of a sense of duty, but I had to admit it was nice to be able to coexist with him again, bordering on—do I dare say…friendship?
Chapter 17
“JACK, YOU REALLY don’t need to stay and babysit me,” I said as the afternoon turned into evening. “I’ve got the alarm. And Max.” I glanced down at Max curled up in a ball by my feet.
“I just want to see if I heard back from one of the guys at work about that vehicle.”
I wasn’t sure what he was expecting to hear. There must’ve been thousands upon thousands of gray sedans in the state of New Jersey. We didn’t even know the make of it.
“Well, at least let me make dinner. You must be starving.”
He didn’t protest, so I took that as an indication that I was correct. I handed him the remote control and he flicked on the television while I went into the kitchen to scrounge something up to cook. Tomorrow was my grocery shopping day, so it was slim pickings. I pulled out a box of spaghetti from the pantry along with a couple cans of diced tomatoes. I just needed to grab the olive oil, some garlic from the fridge, and I had my dinner dilemma all figured out.
A half hour later I was dishing out the spaghetti and pouring us each a glass of wine. “It may need more salt,” I said.
“It’s perfect,” Jack replied after eating a forkful. My culinary skills were always the way to Jack’s heart. I knew my strengths, and cooking was one of them. I often wondered where I got that talent. My mother was an excellent baker, but as hard as she tried, her cooking was always mediocre. Little did I know, but it wasn’t her who I would’ve inherited that skill set from anyway. Which got me wondering if the woman who had given birth to me was a good cook. Was that a trait that was passed down in the genes or something that’s learned just because you have a natural love of it?
Jack the bodyguard was much more domestic than Ja
ck the ex-husband as he helped me clean up the dishes after dinner. I didn’t protest and allowed him to help. Another thing I was finding was the new Stephanie was a lot more amenable at accepting help from Jack than the old Stephanie. I was certain he would be on his way once the kitchen was tidied up. After all, it was Saturday night. He more than likely had plans with a female half his age instead of spending it with someone who matched his years. When he followed me into the living room and took a seat on the couch opposite me, I started to rethink my assumption.
“Jack, I know you’ve got better things to do with your time on a Saturday night. Really, I’ll be fine.”
“Actually, I don’t.”
I raised an eyebrow in part disbelief and part sarcasm.
“Really, Steph. I think you have it in your mind that I go out partying every weekend like I’m twenty-something years old. You do realize I’m going to be fifty in a year and a half, right?”
“I do. I wasn’t sure if you did.” I grinned. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I just don’t want you feeling like you have something to prove to me by doing this because of—” I stopped myself before I could get the rest of it out. Seventeen years had passed, and I still couldn’t think about it, let alone say it.
“Because?” Jack coaxed, his eyes begging me to finally talk about it.
“I’m going to get another glass of wine. Did you want some?” I did my best to create a distraction.
“Sure,” Jack mumbled.
I sprang from my seat and went into the kitchen. When I entered the living room once again with two glasses of wine in hand, I was hoping the air had been cleared and we could move on to another subject. “The tree looks great,” I said, handing Jack his wineglass while focusing on the tree in the stand.
“Stephanie,” Jack murmured.
“I guess I have to remember to keep watering it.” I continued yammering on about the tree as if I didn’t even hear him say my name.
“Steph,” he said a little louder and sterner. I turned around to face him. “I know I’m the last person you want to talk to about your feelings, but when it comes to that, I think I’m the one person who can relate the most.” He wasn’t letting up.
“It’s fine, Jack.” I shook my head a little too vivaciously to be believable. “Hey, do you feel like helping me get the ornaments down from the attic while you’re here? I always get a little creeped out going up there.” I sensed the disappointment on his face when I switched the topic, but he reluctantly nodded anyway.
I had forgotten how many Christmas tree ornaments I had accumulated over the years, and Jack and I carried down every box of them. He helped me string the lights on the tree, and after we were done, I felt like I’d run a marathon. “The rest is up to Kara.” I let out an exhausting breath and plopped down on the couch. “Can I ask you something?”
Jack finished playing with the lights and took a seat next to me on the couch. “What’s up?”
“Was that the first time you had ever been unfaithful?” It was a question I had been dying to know the answer to, and after all these years I was finally okay with not falling apart with hearing the answer. He gazed at me thoughtfully. “It’s okay to tell me the truth, Jack. I promise I won’t throw my glass of wine at you.”
His face clouded over with emotion and he blinked hard. “That was the first and only time, and I’ve regretted it every day of my life since then. And that’s the truth.” I knew it was. There was something in his eyes that told me so. “I don’t know why I did it…”
“I do,” I whispered, taking him off guard. “Because I blamed you for something that wasn’t your fault, and I let it fester and chip away at our marriage with each passing year. I’m sorry to have done that. I know you were hurting over it just as much as me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. It was my fault. If I had just—”
“It wasn’t, and I’m sorry for making you feel like you needed to bear that burden all these years because of it. And I especially don’t want you to feel like you have to put your life on hold right now to play bodyguard to me because you’re afraid something like that will happen again.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” His head inched closer to mine, skimming my lips with his. Was it possible to still get butterflies in your stomach at forty-eight years old, kissing a man you’ve kissed a thousand times before? The answer was yes. My stomach fluttered out of control when we finally connected into a full-blown kiss. I closed my eyes and every single memory we shared together played through my mind at warp speed—the good, the bad, the happy and sad. I had shared so much of myself with this man. I knew him better than almost anyone and vice versa, yet as we sat there together lost in our embrace, everything seemed so new.
I pulled away first and rested my forehead against his. “We’re finally at a good place. I don’t want to mess that up because as much as I hate to admit it, I kind of enjoy being able to have civilized conversations with you again.”
He let out a frustrated sigh and hesitantly nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“You really should get going. You have to drop the truck off at your parents’ house and then you’ve got to still drive home. I promise I’ll arm the alarm as soon as you leave, and I have the fearless paper towel eater to protect me.” I glanced at Max curled up on his bed in front of the fireplace. I sensed Jack was reluctant to leave me alone, but he finally gave in and stood up. We walked to the front door and there was an awkward pause. “I promise I’ll call if there are any more strange cars creeping around in the area.” I finally spoke to kill the silence. “Thank you so much again for taking up your whole day to do this.” I motioned to the tree. “Kara is going to be so surprised.” I paused for a moment. “She’ll be home Tuesday night if you want to come over and help her decorate it. I mean…no pressure. I just thought—”
“Sounds like a plan.” He cut me off. “Don’t forget to set the alarm.”
“Will do.” I nodded.
“Night, Steph.”
“Good night.” I stood in the doorway until he got into his dad’s truck and started it. This night could’ve ended so differently. If I had allowed that kiss to go further, would I be standing here watching him leave? Just like so many other times in my life, that was another what-if moment.
Chapter 18
THERE WAS SOMETHING deafening about a classroom void of twenty-plus third graders. It was as if the pandemonium they’d bring each day became a fabric of that room. As I sat there entering grades into the computer at the end of the school day, I was finding it difficult to concentrate without the disorder or constant interruptions I’d become so accustomed to. The knock on my door broke what little concentration I’d managed to muster. I had been doing a good job of avoiding Michael since our date, and I almost thought he had been avoiding me as well, until I saw him standing in the doorway. “Hey, what’s up?” I managed a smile.
“Not much, just wanted to pop in and see what you’ve been up to.”
“Nothing really.” I’d spare him all the real details like, I had found out I was adopted…I kissed my ex-husband. I’m sure since none of it focused on him, he wouldn’t care less anyway. “You know, same old boring stuff.”
“Yeah, sorry I haven’t been in touch. I’ve been busy looking at property at the beach. I figure if I have to stay here until retirement, why not enjoy a beach house.” He boasted.
“Why not?” I said with a cynicism that he was too arrogant to catch on to. “Where at? My parents have a house on Long Beach Island right on the beach. It’s absolutely beautiful.” Two could play at his little bragging game.
“Oh well, I was looking a little more at the beaches up north, possibly new construction. You know, it’s a little bit more old money up there. The people who own property there don’t need to rent out their homes in the summer to out-of-towners to be able to afford them.”
“Actually, my parents never rented out their home. My father was a very successful su
rgeon, so he was able to afford it just fine. You know, not like a lot of people who like to talk the talk, but when it comes to walking the walk, it’s a whole different story.” Take that, you boasting windbag.
“Well, I really don’t care to live in an old house.” He carried on as if he hadn’t even heard a word I just said. Given how self-involved he was, he probably hadn’t. “But my realtor says there’s not much new construction going on around there, so I may be forced to do a resale.”
“Which towns?” I wasn’t letting up.
“Excuse me?” I could sense he was getting flustered.
“Which towns are you looking in?”
“Oh, I looked in so many different little beach towns up there, I don’t even remember. They all seem to run into one another after a while.”
“Oh, yeah, for sure.” I nodded, trying to hold back my laughter.
“I was wondering what you were doing this weekend?”
Was he kidding? It was Monday afternoon. I didn’t even know what my plans were for dinner that night let alone the weekend. One thing I did know for certain, none of those plans involved him. “My daughter is actually coming home tomorrow from college, so more than likely something with her.”
“Rick and Cheryl are getting everyone together for drinks on Friday night. I was thinking maybe dinner afterward.” He continued on as if he took precedence over the plans I had just told him about.
“Umm…I don’t think I’ll be able to make it.”
“Surely your daughter will understand if you go out one night.”
Oh yeah, I’d much rather spend my Friday night buying you dinner and listening to you yammer on instead of with my daughter. This guy just wasn’t taking the hint. I tried being nice, but he was too much of a narcissist to get it, so now I had to step it up a bit. “Look, Michael—” I stopped myself mid-sentence, becoming entrapped in a pure state of confusion when I saw Jack standing in the doorway of my classroom. I’d figure out the reason for Jack’s visit later, but for the time being, I was going to use it to my advantage. “I can’t go out with you this weekend because my boyfriend and I”—I motioned to Jack—“we’re back together.” I knew even Michael’s super ego couldn’t withstand the thought of being dumped for another man. Jack cinched his eyebrows and quickly disguised his smirk.
