Jordan's Return (10 page)

“You'd be a cool boyfriend for Mom,” Jake said with a smile.

“Oh, yeah. You'd definitely be cool,” Joseph agreed.

“Do you want to be her boyfriend?” Jake asked.

“Shut up, stupid,” Joseph said as he rolled his eyes. “You don't ask somebody that!”

“I am not stupid! You are!”

“Am not.”

“
Rob
…” Jake whined, clearly hoping Rob would jump in and break up the fight.

Rob smiled at them both. In the short time he'd known them, he had learned it didn't take much to make them argue. He also learned they didn't hold grudges and they'd work out this particular fight soon enough. It was slightly amusing. Besides, he was too busy being fully satisfied with what he had learned.

Now the only problem he saw was convincing the lovely Ms. Manning that he wasn't some creepy jerk who had been spying on them and hope that she'd be in a better mood when they got home.

Home.

Maybe if luck was on his side, it wouldn't be long before he had a real home to go to at the end of the day where Jordan and the boys would be waiting for him. It wasn't such a far-off fantasy. They had been on the path to this once, and Rob had no doubt in his mind they could get back on that path again. He was still in love with Jordan—had probably never stopped loving her—and he was crazy about her kids. He now knew they liked him too. Maybe it wouldn't be too long at all.

He sighed with contentment and cast his line out to fish for more dinner.

The day seemed to drag on endlessly. Jordan definitely enjoyed the peace and quiet, but had to admit she missed the boys. Not only did she miss her boys, she missed Rob. He was jealous. That thought caused her to smile, but at the same time made her heart ache. He was involved with someone—someone with whom he'd spent the weekend. She couldn't get past that. She couldn't reconcile his jealousy about her being with another man while he was with another woman.

Maybe they were just never meant to be. Surely if two people were right for each other, there wouldn't be so many darn obstacles and misunderstandings. If Rob was going to continue coming around and spending time with her sons, they were going to need to clear the air. Parameters needed to be set, and it couldn't be put off any longer.

She was fine with the thought of being just friends with Rob; what she couldn't handle anymore was wondering if it was possible, and if he would be receptive to the idea. It was time to put into practice her commitment to letting go of the past and dealing with the present.

The sound of his truck pulling up in front of the house at two thirty interrupted her inner pep talk and had Jordan's heart skipping a beat. Was she prepared for this? Unfortunately, she had no choice; she had to be. Hearing her sons' laughter had her nearly ripping the front door off its hinges to get to them. She had missed them; for those few short hours, she had missed them all.

The boys were smelly, wet, and a little sunburned, but were bursting with excitement to tell their mother about their day.

“I promise I will listen to every detail about your day and hear all your fishing stories if you just go inside and wash up and put on clean clothes,” she said playfully. “You guys stink!”

“Aw, Mom,” they whined but did, indeed, go right into the house to do as they were told.

Rob climbed out of the truck and fetched her cooler. He walked casually past Jordan and placed it inside the front door, then went back to the truck to retrieve a larger cooler.

“We had a lot of success today,” he said as he shut the tailgate to the truck. “The boys are natural fishermen.” He stopped in front of her and smiled. “I hope you are in the mood for fish for dinner.” At her blank expression, he walked past her again and went directly into the house.

She wasn't prepared for him to come back and be in such a pleasant mood, nor was she prepared to have dinner with him. Jordan had just assumed he'd leave the boys with what they caught and be on his way. When she stepped inside and saw him setting up to clean the fish in her kitchen, she knew she had to express her feelings and clear the air.

“What's going on here?” she asked, hands planted firmly on her hips. She stood on the side of the breakfast nook opposite from where Rob was setting up a butcher block cutting board and sharpening a filleting knife.

“Well, Jordan, we've got to clean the fish before we can cook them,” he said as he waved the large knife around. He looked adorable. He, too, had gotten some sun and his skin was bronzed and glowing. He was still wearing that goofy fishing hat and he smelled just as bad as the boys had, possibly worse.

“That's not what I meant,” she said irritably. “What's going on here with us?”

Pretending to stay focused on setting up his butchering station, he asked without looking at her, “Why?”

“What was that all about this morning? You come here making all kinds of crazy accusations…and… What difference does it make to you if a man came to visit us?” She hated to sound desperate, as if she were trying to force him into admitting that he had feelings for her, but her heart couldn't help it.

Without a word, Rob placed the knife on top of the cutting board and went over to the sink to wash his hands. Jordan watched and became increasingly agitated. He turned slowly toward Jordan as he dried them with a paper towel. “Because I'm concerned about the boys, that's why,” he said in a deep voice that sent chills throughout Jordan's body.

“Oh,” she whispered. “I see.” She felt the rejection pierce her heart as she stared at the floor.

He stopped in front of her and reached down to cup her face in his hands. “I'm concerned about their mom, too,” he said as he bent forward and placed a gentle, featherlight kiss on her cheek.

Jordan sighed and leaned in to him. She was no longer concerned with the smell of fish or what she was supposed to do. She just wanted to be near him, to touch him, and to feel him touch her. As his mouth moved toward hers, she remembered why they couldn't do this.

Friends, dammit, they were just going to be friends, she chanted in her head. She awkwardly cleared her throat. “What about Kelly?” she asked as she stepped back and nervously smoothed her hair.

“What about her?” he asked, confusion written all over his face as his brows furrowed together.

“You spent the weekend with her and now you're here like this with me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the exact same reason we broke up all those years ago, Rob? You were spreading yourself around a little too much?” Sure, it was a childish statement and totally went against her whole commitment to letting the past go, but she had to protect herself.

There were many responses she had expected.

Laughter was not one of them. His hearty amusement made her that much angrier.

“That's priceless, Jordan! Kelly is my cousin's fiancée. Why would you think she's my girlfriend?”

She wished a giant hole would open up in the floor and just swallow her. Her face must have been twenty-seven shades of red. “Well, like I, um…said, you…you went away with her for the weekend, so I just assumed…”

He chuckled again. “She and my cousin are getting married next month and I designed their new home. He's a builder, so we spent the weekend working on the house to get it done in time. Honest.” He reached out and pulled her into his arms, planting a kiss firmly on her lips. There was nothing romantic about it at all and as soon as it started, it was over. He released her and went back to working on the fish.

“So, should I wait to cut off the heads until the boys are here to watch?” he asked with a wicked grin.

* * *

Dinner was an early and boisterous affair. After Rob had cleaned and filleted all the fish, he set about frying them while Jordan prepared rice pilaf, salad, and biscuits. Jake and Joseph had watched, full of pride, as their day's work was being prepared. It was a real family effort.

Tall fishing tales were thrown at Jordan from every angle. Her boys, who had never fished before in their young lives, were suddenly little Hemingways. They talked and laughed throughout the meal. Rob sat back and realized this was what he wanted: to be part of a family.
This
family.

They were all so much at ease with each other, and the sounds of childish laughter and the look of pure joy on Jordan's face as she listened to her sons' stories caused his gut to clench. It filled him with happiness that he had contributed to the fun they were having tonight.

Jordan's comments from earlier in the day came back to haunt him.
“We were fine before you came along, and we'll continue to be fine after we leave.”
He frowned. He didn't want them to be fine when they left. Well, that wasn't completely true; he didn't wish them any ill will, but he didn't want them to leave.

Period. Time was going by too quickly as it was and he knew he hadn't had his fill of being with them yet. He doubted that he ever would.

As the boys rose to begin cleaning up, Joseph's voice brought Rob back into the present. “Hey, Mom? Do you think we can go to Kings Dominion this weekend?” The brown eyes that mirrored his mother's looked at her expectantly. “It's not that far from here and they're only open on the weekends. Maybe it won't be so crowded since the season is over.”

“Joe, we talked about this before we came here, remember? I'm just not up to it this year, baby. I'm sorry.” Rob noticed both pairs of brown eyes were brimming with tears.

“Yeah, I know.” Joseph sighed. “I'm sorry. I just thought now that we've been here a little while, maybe you were feeling better and might change your mind.” He slowly walked over to the sofa and quietly sat down.

Jordan sat at the kitchen table and placed her face in her hands and sighed wearily. She hated this. She hated how her boys had to suffer because of her. Before the accident, she could run around at an amusement park, or anyplace else for that matter, all day long. Now, even the task of walking around a supermarket could cause her extreme fatigue and muscle aches.

Though she was beginning to feel better, Jordan didn't want to take the risk of overdoing it and hampering her recovery.

Without looking up, she heard Rob murmur something to the boys and then heard the sound of footsteps heading down the hallway to their bedroom and the door closing. He came and sat next to Jordan and took both of her hands in his.

“I'm sorry, Jordan. I'm afraid that was my fault,” he confessed as he ran his thumbs over her knuckles. “We were talking while out on the boat today and they mentioned wanting to go to the park. I told them how great it was and I got them all wound up about it. I really had no idea this was a topic you and the boys had already discussed. I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry.”

“It's not your fault, Rob. You'd think by staying close to the park that we'd go, but there never seems to be the time.” She smiled weakly at him, reveling in the feel of his strong hands wrapped around hers. She wanted to draw on that strength, have it fill her and take all her pain away.

That thought nearly stopped her breath; if just having him touch her hands gave her such a strong reaction, how was she ever going to come to grips with just being friends? Who was she kidding—now that she knew Kelly wasn't a threat, the thought of being just friends with Rob was completely unappealing.

She looked at his face and saw he was waiting for her to continue. “The thing is, I get tired so easily still and I just can't do all the things they want me to. Believe it or not, up until about six weeks ago, I was still using a cane to get around.”

Rob dropped her hands and kicked the chair out from under him. He paced the length of the kitchen with a scowl on his face. Jordan eyed him hesitantly. She had never in all her life seen Rob when he was angry. She remembered Eric's anger well. He had directed it at her often enough during their marriage and even well into their divorce. She silently prayed what she was about to witness wouldn't be anything like what she'd experienced in the past.

“Jordan,” he snapped but then caught himself. He took a moment to breathe and calm himself down before beginning again. “Jordan, I am just sick inside when I think about what you and the boys have gone through. I know I can't erase any of it, but dammit, it breaks my heart to see them look at you that way!”

Jordan finally let the tears she was fighting back fall. She knew exactly what he meant. “It's not easy for me either, Rob,” she sobbed. “I have to live with the bad decisions I've made every day, and unfortunately, my children have to pay the price for them. A normal woman would have taken her children someplace fun for a vacation, but because of what I am now, we have to take quiet vacations where they have to look after me!” As her tears freely flowed, Rob stopped his pacing and came to kneel down beside her.

“Look,” he said as he reached up and wiped the tears from her face with his thumbs. “Let me do this for them. Please.”

“Do what?” She sniffled.

“I want to take us all away for the weekend.” He stopped and waited for her refusal. When she stared at him with wide eyes and a watery grin, he went on. “We'll leave on Friday night and drive up. We'll get a hotel room or a suite someplace, and we'll spend all day Saturday at Kings Dominion and then spend part of the day Sunday relaxing around the hotel before coming home.”

Home. Oh, how he would love to have a home with Jordan and the boys that they all could come back to and live in together.

Calm down there, Romeo. You're going all soft and emotional and getting way ahead of yourself. Get a grip!

“Rob,” she began, “I can't. I—”

“Shh. You can go at your own pace. I'll do all the running around. You can take as many breaks as you like—sit down in the shade and enjoy the view, have a snack, whatever you want. The boys will get to enjoy the rides, and you can sit back knowing they are having a good time.” Rob let that scenario play through Jordan's mind for a moment before asking, “What do you think?”

“That's far too much, Rob,” she said and reached up to touch his face. The fact that this man wanted to do something nice for her and the boys touched her more than anything else in the world could have. It had been so long since she'd known this type of kindness—no, tenderness from someone, and she wasn't sure how to respond.

“It's not too much, Jordan. I
want
to do this for you and the boys. Trust me. It'll be fun. Come on. What do you say?” His eyes were sweet and pleading, and Jordan would have given him anything in that moment. Staring deeply into his eyes, she knew she was lost.

“I say you are the sweetest man I've ever known.” She leaned in and kissed him briefly on the lips, only meaning to express gratitude, but at the initial contact, she realized it wasn't enough.

Rob still held her face in his hands and Jordan reached up to do the same to his as they tasted and teased each other's lips with shy remembrance. They nipped at each other, both painfully holding back.

Jordan sighed and leaned in to him, and all Rob's restraint left.

He slanted his mouth over hers again and again, and when he gently probed at her soft lips with his tongue, she willingly opened for him and let out a soft cry of pleasure.

And then found herself alone. Rob stood and released her while he caught his breath. She feared she had disappointed him in some way. Maybe she had misread the signals, but she thought he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Placing her face in her hands, she cringed with embarrassment. And then he was back at her side.