Father Time

I was relaxing on the couch in the dark when Jordan came home. I listened to him kick off his boots and hang up his jacket. “Anna?” He called uncertainly as he walked further into the house, flipping on a light or two as he went.

“I’m in the living room,” I called out as I jumped off the couch to make my way out to the kitchen. “Or I was,” I laughed as I rounded the corner.

Jordan was in the middle of opening the oven door, “Hey!” He closed the door and tried to look innocent as he smiled at me. “What did you do today?”

I laughed, “I made stew.”

He groaned, “Oh thank God. I’m starving!” Jordan went to the cupboards and pulled out two bowls. “It’s going to be ready soon?”

I told him it was ready already as I grabbed the oven mitts to pull the roaster from the over. “I was just waiting for you to come home.”

While we eat he kept telling me stories about work no matter how hard I tried to get him to talk about Jenna. Finally I just gave up and let him talk. It was amazing how many stories he came up with during supper and the entire time we were doing the dishes. At one point I had to stop and ask him if everything he was saying actually happened.

“Of course it happened,” he smiled. “Do you think I would make this up to not tell you about Jenna?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed while I whacked him with the cup towel. He just laughed and continued to tell me work stories until we finished the dishes.

Once we were done the dishes, Jordan excused himself. “I stink,” he told me as he headed for his room.

“Jordy!” I ran after him, stopping him before he entered his room. “Come on, give me something! Please?”

He thought about his for a moment and then a slow smile started to cross his face. “Ok,” he leaned closer to me.

I raised a brow and waited to hear what he would say.

But he didn’t say anything, at the last moment he dropped his shoulder, pulling me over and picked me off the floor. “Jordy put me down!” I screamed as he carried me into his room.

When he reached his bed, he dropped me into it and climbed up next to me. “Babe, she’s so beautiful. And she knows who I am, she calls me daddy.”

“Really?” I gave him a hug. “What does Heather think about that?”

He shrugged, “I think she’s fine with it, I am Jenna’s father. But I don’t think Hank is too happy about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I sensed that there was something off while I was there.” He shrugged again, “Maybe it was just me.”

Maybe you sensed Heather’s anger towards Hank’s drinking last night, I thought. Jordan stared down at me, “What are you thinking?”

I wanted to tell him, I almost started to but then I wondered should I be the one to tell him. Or is that something Heather should tell him? “I was just wondering what could be off,” I lied.

“Oh really?” He questioned, I knew he wouldn’t believe me. “Well,” he slapped my butt. “I have to go shower so I suggest you leave,” he paused. “Unless you want to see what a real man looks like?”

I gasped, “You mean Josh is here?” I pretended to look around while he pretended he was hurt.

“You hurt my feeling.” He held his hand over his heart. “That’s right, you hurt on my and only feeling.”

“Oh Jordan!” I rolled my eyes and crawled off his bed.

While he was in the shower I went into my room and changed into my pjs. As I was brushing my hair to put it up, I spied my phone and almost grabbed for it to call Josh. I wonder what he’s doing now, I thought before I shook my head, you are focusing on Jordan tonight.

I made my way back out to the living room and turned on the TV while I waited for Jordan to be finished in the bathroom. During my channel surfing I found a rerun of ER; one of the shows from the 5th season, I was so engrossed in what was happening on the screen that I didn’t hear Jordan coming towards the living room until it was too late.

“Cannonball!” He yelled just before he hopped over the back of the couch and landed on me. “Hey babe!”

“Get off me!” I slapped his arm until he wiggled his way behind me. “Why do you do that?”

He laughed, “Because you love it when I jump you.”

We argued back and forth about whether I actually did like it for a good ten minutes before I told him I did just to shut him up. “Ah ha! I knew it!” He cried, “But babe, you have to control those urges for me. You have a boyfriend, remember? Big tall guy that would squish me like a bug if I happened to look at you the wrong way?”

I shook my head, “Josh isn’t that mean, he wouldn’t get rid of you. Unless I begged him too, of course.”

The harassment continued for a while, it was so much fun to lay there and bug him like we used to do. “I miss this,” I told him when there was a break in the conversation.

Jordan’s arms tightened around me, “I miss this too babe.”

Silence soon came over us as we both got lost in our own thoughts, ask him about Jenna!

I turned around to face him, “Jordan please tell me about your visit with Jenna.”

He smiled, “Heather was just about to give her a bath when I got there. I didn’t think she would let me watch that, and she didn’t.”

“What did you do?”

“She wouldn’t let me watch her give Jenna a bath, she made me give her a bath.”

I gasped, “She let you bathe Jenna?”

He nodded, “It was so weird at first. There Jenna was in all her glory, just giggling away and I was scared shitless! I worried that I had the water too warm, then I worried I would get soap in her eyes and if that wasn’t enough, I freaked when Heather told me I had to wash Jenna everywhere.” He blushed a little when he said that. “For that one brief moment, I wished she was a boy because I know how to clean…” his voice trailed off for a moment. “But she’s not, so I had to get Heather to tell me how. And that was creepy, I felt like such a pervert.”

I chuckled, “Jordan it’s different when it’s your daughter.”

He rolled his eyes, “I know! But it was still weird.”

“So then what?”

“Well after Jenna’s bath, I dried her and got her dressed. Heather even let me rock her and read her a bedtime story.” I watched Jordan’s expression through all this; he seemed to be in awe still. “After the story, I got to put her in bed and tuck her in. She gave me kisses Anna,” his voice broke. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

I stared up at him, “Don’t know if you can do what Jordy?”

He took a deep breath, “I don’t know if I can be the daddy that Jenna deserves.”