Just A Social Visit?

I was cleaning on the following Wednesday morning; well actually I was finishing what I started on the Friday morning when Josh called me to go to the school, when we ended up having lunch.

It was well into the afternoon when I finished vacuuming the living room while I was waiting for my last load of laundry to dry. When I went to put the vacuum away, I heard a knock on my door.

Dropping the cord of the vacuum I made my way to the door, wondering who could possibly be at the door. Standing on my front step was John, Jordan’s father.

“Ummm…” I stared at him, in the entire time I’ve lived with Jordan, his father had never once been to the house. I didn’t even know he knew where Jordan lived. “John,” I didn’t really know what to say to him.

“Can I come in?” He asked, looking pass me into the porch.

“Jordan isn’t home,” I blurted out.

He nodded and told me he knew that, “I came to talk to you.”

“Oh,” I moved aside and let him enter. I watched him as he removed his hat and gloves before he removed his jacket, putting the hat and gloves in the sleeve. After hanging up his jacket on one of the many hooks that Jordan had hung in the porch, he sat down on the bench and removed his boots.

“This is a nice piece,” he said as he ran his hands over cushion. “Where did you get it? I know Harriet would love something like this.”

“You can’t buy another like it; it was made especially for this house.” I smile as I looked down at the handmade bench. It was true, it was made especially for this house, Jordan made it a while ago when he couldn’t find one at any of the stores that gave him what he wanted.

John got off the bench and knelt down to inspect it further, “Smooth lines.” He ran his hand over the design that Jordan made in the sides of the bench. “Nice decorative panels.” He stood up and placed his hands on his hips, “Harriet would just go crazy over something like that; you have to tell me who made it. Our anniversary is coming up; maybe I can get one made for her.”

“John, I doubt it.”

“I’ll pay whatever the guy wants; I know Harriet would love one.”

“John, the thing is.” I sighed as he turned to me. “Jordan made it.”

His jaw dropped as he snapped his head back to the bench, “Jordan made that?” I waited for him to say something negative about the bench but he didn’t, he just ran his hand over his face and said, “Wow, I didn’t know he could build something like this.”

“There is a lot you don’t know about Jordan,” I told him. “If you took the time to get to know him, you’d know just how talented he is with his hands.”

John didn’t say anything else, he took a final look at the bench and he headed into the house. As he walked through, I could tell he was looking around, trying to find something wrong with the house, anything that he could hold against Jordan the next time he saw him. I asked him why he was here to stop his inspection of the house but he ignored me.

When he got to the living room, he turned to me. “I need you to talk to Jordan about bring the baby to see Harriet.”

“What do you mean?” If he wants Jordan to keep the baby away from her, then he’s going to have to tell him. I’m not getting involved!

John sat down on the couch before he answered my question. “Jordan told his mother that he would bring the baby to see her, it’s been a couple weeks since you guys were at the house for dinner and he still hasn’t brought her over to see his mother. I need you to talk to him, tell him that his mother is wondering why he hasn’t been around with her.”

I was surprised to say the least, Jordan gave me the impression that he already took Jenna over to see his mother. I shook my head, “No. I’m not getting involved in this one!”

“Anna you have too! Harriet is upset; she barely leaves the house because she doesn’t want to miss when he does decide to come over. She wants to see her granddaughter.”

“Then you tell him that! Why come to me and expect me to do it for you?”

“Because he listens to you, you have a way to get Jordan to do things no one else can. IF I even tried to talk to him, he would blow me off. And then Harriet would never see the baby.”

I laughed, “Jordan? Blow you off?” I shook my head, “John you don’t talk to Jordan, you never did! All you ever do is put him down or yell at him. If you want Jordan to bring Jenna over to your house, then you are going to have to swallow whatever it is that makes you hate him and ask him to do it. Otherwise, I suggest Harriet get off her ass, call him to see when he has Jenna and come over here to spend time with her.”

“I don’t hate Jordan!” John snapped at me.

“Well you have a funny way of showing you care John! In the entire time I’ve known you, I’ve never heard you ever say anything nice to Jordan. Nothing he did was ever good enough! Everything that went wrong was always his fault! You treat him like dirt and you expect him to suddenly forget all that and bring his daughter over so you can belittle him in front of her?” I jumped up. “I don’t blame Jordan for not wanting Jenna around you and I won’t be your go-between either!”

“Anna you don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t treat him like dirt. I have expectations for all my boys, and when they don’t meet them yeah I get a little upset. But I’m their father! Aren’t I allowed to expect them to achieve greatness?”

“John!” I grabbed the front of his shirt; he was really pissing me off. I wanted to slap him but I have a little more respect than that…I think. “Jordan has tried his whole life to live up to your expectations. He’s an amazing mechanic, a great friend and I know he’ll be a wonderful father once he stops worrying about being a prick like you.”

John grabbed my hands and ripped them away from his shirt. “I’ll have you know I’m a great father, my boys love me.”

I laughed, and I mean really laughed. “Sure Nick loves you, you’ve been nothing but supportive of his every failure. Great job there, Nick’s such a winner; he’s constantly in need of Jordan’s help to keep his head above water.”

John paled when I said that, “That’s not funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be funny. I was telling you the truth, Nick relies on Jordan so much, I don’t know if he’ll ever stand on his own two feet.” John sat down on the couch, he wasn’t looking at me, in fact he wasn’t looking at anything, he was staring off into space. “Why did you baby Nick so much and ignore Jordan when he needed your support.”

“It wasn’t always that way.” John blinked, his eyes slowly focused on me. “I love all my boys.”

“Then why do you treat Jordan like crap and Nick like he’s God’s gift?”

“Because he is,” John lowered his head. “Nick being here today is only because God was looking out for him.”

“What do you mean?” I didn’t recall any accidents; I was always around the boys.

“Harriet doesn’t know this but when the boys were smaller,” John made this funny noise in the back of his throat. “When she was visiting her mother one weekend, I took the boys to the park…”

“I wasn’t paying attention to Nick. I was helping Jordan tie his shoes, he had just learned how to do it and he was always untying his laces to tie them back up again, and he always wanted me to watch.” John slowly turned to look up at me, with a haunted look in his eyes. “I wasn’t paying attention to Nick…he wandered down by the lake, he was following the ducks…I wasn’t paying attention…Jordan wanted me to watch him tie his shoes…”

I sat down on the coffee table, almost afraid of what he was about to say even though I knew it turned out alright.

“…I wasn’t paying attention…Nick fell in the lake…”