Work Friends - What Is Work Without Them?

I couldn’t help myself, I had to know. It was the first time I ever saw Josh smile when he was talking to or about Carol, so the insane woman in me needed to know what she said. “She told you something good?”

“What?” Josh looked up from coloring grass blue like Jesse had asked him.

I smiled, “You seemed a little happy at the beginning of that call. I was wondering if she told you something good.” He didn’t say anything at first so I was waiting for him to tell me it was none of my business but then he smiled.

“It seems that Phil is running late with whatever they are doing today. She asked if it was ok with me if they don’t pick Jesse up until after dinner; around 7 or so.”

“Oh my! That’s great Josh!” I gave him a hug, “Is it wrong to be so happy about a few extra hours?”

He shook his head and laughed, “No, it’s perfectly understandable.” He was smiling brighter than I seen him smile in a while. “I have a couple more hours with my son!” he said it as if he didn’t believe it was actually happening.

“I no go mommy,” Jess piped up as he continued to color. “I stay daddy forever!” He changed the color he was using and continued to color, without ever looking up once. Josh and I looked at each other over Jesse’s head and smiled.

I didn’t stay too much longer after that or I would’ve been late for work. I gave Josh and Jesse lots of kisses and hugs before I left and I told them both to behave. Josh had asked me to come back after work and I promised I would.

My night at work went surprisingly fast considering how slow it was. I spent a lot of time over by the fitting rooms talking to one of the ladies who had just started at the store before Josh came back into my life. Isabella was my age; she just recently was dumped by her boyfriend of three years, so she was always making these male-bashing comments but deep down she was still looking for Mr. Right. The first time I met her, she told me to call her ‘Bella’. “Isabella is my grandmother!” We had become close since that moment, so she knew some of the details of my relationship with Josh; she liked to call him Mr. Wonderful because she said he sounded too good to be true.

When I came into work smiling still from Josh having extra time with Jesse, she took one look at me and shook her head, “I take it you were just with Mr. Wonderful?”

I nodded, “Yes. I spent all morning with Josh, his son and all of his family.”

“All 100 of them?” She joked, “Sounds like a zoo.”

“It was actually really nice,” besides when I flipped out on Josh. “I didn’t want to come to work tonight!”

“You wouldn’t call in sick and leave me to deal with your hordes of infant admirers, you love them all too much for that,” she smiled. “So tell me about lunch? Does Mr. Wonderful have a single brother?”

“Sorry Bella, all of his brothers and his oldest nephew are married.” I went on to tell her about my morning, the flipping out and all, she didn’t seem too surprised that I reacted the way I did. Once I was finished, I asked her what she did.

“I sat around in my bathrobe, staring at the peeling paint on my walls while I ate 2 liters of Smartie Ice cream.” She shrugged, “Not everyone has the excitement you do Anna.”

“Sometimes I wish I didn’t have anything going on,” I told her. “Lately it seems like there has been one thing after another. The excitement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

A few women came to try on some clothes, so I let Bella do her job and I wandered back over to my department to see if someone needed any help.

I was walking through the diaper section, pulling all the bags of diapers to the front so that it looked full until I got up and pulled down the stock that was on the rise, when I felt someone tap my shoulder. “Excuse me miss,” came this lame obviously fake British accent. “I’m trying to find a diaper to fit this stinky bum.” I turned to find a baby’s clothed bottom blocking my line of vision. “She’s quite rank, isn’t she?” The baby started to giggle as she was wiggled in front of my nose.

“Jordy!” I grabbed Jenna out of his hands and glared at him. “You have to be careful with her, doesn’t he sweetie?”

“Oh come on Anna, I had her held tight, I wouldn’t have hurt her!” Jordan held out his hands to his daughter and she leaned into them. “You loved it didn’t you baby?” Jordan raised her above his head and wiggled her bum in the air, Jenna giggled up at storm but the best part was when she drooled right in Jordan’s face. “Ewwww,” he bought her down to his chest. “Baby slobbers!” He screwed up his face at her, she just stared at him for a second and then grabbed for his cheeks. “Yeah! That’s right I said ‘baby slobbers’.” He shook his head, until one of her hands was free in the air, then he growled softly as he went after it with his mouth.

As I watched my best friend - the man that said he would never had kids because he didn’t know if he would be a good father – play with his little girl, I started to feel the raw emotions build up inside of me. I was so proud of him at that moment, tears spilled from my eyes. “Oh Jordy!” I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight.

“I knew it was the kids that did it for you,” Jordan joked as he slipped one arm around my waist and pressed his lips against my forehead. I looked up at him and smiled; he leaned down and kissed me on the lips. “Don’t cry Anna, I’m not sure if Jenna will join in or not,” he gazed at his daughter with so much love, I bawled harder. “Oh Lord,” Jordan groaned as he pulled me against his chest, “Whatever you do Jenna, don’t be emotional like your Aunt Anna.”

I laughed, pulling back slightly from him, “You should be praying she uses me for a role model, I’ve stuck by you for how long now?”

Jordan gazed down at me, “Long enough for me to know just how important you are to me. I don’t ever want to lose you Anna.”

“Anna!” Bella came up behind me, just smiling. “Is this Mr. Won-?”

I laughed, “No Bella,” I slipped out from Jordan’s embrace. “This is my best friend, Jordan.”

Bella have me this funny look as she shook Jordan’s outstretched hand, “It’s nice to meet you.” As soon as she released Jordan’s hand, she grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Jordan and Jenna. “You have to fill me in on him!” She almost squealed when she said ‘him’.