Babies And Food

Josh called me later that night to tell me that Carol had delivered a healthy baby boy. “Jess was so excited to see his little brother; he tried to give the baby Mister Bear but realized that he would miss him when we went to leave. I promised him that we would go tomorrow to buy something for his brother.” Even though Josh tried not to let it show, I got the feeling that seeing Carol with a new baby made him wish he was a dad again.

Of course when I asked him about it, he denied it. “I don’t want to be a dad to anymore of her children!”

“Josh,” I said calmly. “I didn’t say you want to have more children with her, I just simply asked if you looked at the baby and wished that you were a dad again.”

“Oh, it sounded like you meant that I wanted to be Niles dad,” he made a face when he said the baby’s name. “Of course I want to be a dad again Anna; you know that I want more children. Yes I was a little jealous that Carol was holding her new baby in her arms; I wished so many times that it was you holding our…” he trailed off as he seemed to realize what he was saying. “But it’s not so there’s no point in thinking about that right now, I guess.”

“One day you’ll be a dad again Josh.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “I’m going to be such an old dad!” He chuckled. “I may not be able to play with any other kids by the time I become a dad again!”

I laughed, “Yes you will Josh, and you aren’t old.”

“I’m 32 Anna! I’ll soon be 33,” he groaned. “I feel older sometimes.”

“Oh hell I feel old some times too! And 32 isn’t old!”

“You are just bias,” he said jokingly.

“Maybe I am but I’m not the only one who thinks that you aren’t old.” When he just laughed, I told him that there were many women around him who would give anything to have just one night with him. He chuckled once again. “I’m serious Josh!”

He was quiet for a brief moment. “You know you have nothing to worry about, right?” When I didn’t say anything right away he told me that I had nothing to worry about. “If I wasn’t interested in anyone else before, why would I be now?”

I shrugged, even though I knew he couldn’t see me. “I don’t know Josh but one thing I’ve learnt, is not to take anything for granted.”

We talked for a little after that but soon the lack of sleep on both of our parts was catching up with us.

The next day, I couldn’t wait to get off work. I was both excited and a little weary about Jordan’s invitation to dinner; it seemed a little fishy.

Jordan had just pulled up as I got out of my car so I went over to see if he needed a hand with Jenna. “Hey,” he smiled at me as he opened the back door of his truck. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to stand us up or not!”

“When have I ever stood you up Jordan?” I asked as I grabbed the diaper bag he held up to me.

“Come on baby, are you hungry? Do you want to go and make a big mess on the clean restaurant floor?” Jenna giggled. “That’s what I thought!” Jordan pulled her from her car seat, gave her a kiss and then turned towards me. “I can think of a time or two where you stood me up.”

“Hmmm,” I shook my head. “But I’m sure you weren’t worried, since I’m always around.” I don’t know why I said that, well I guess I was a little upset by what Logan told me; not because it was Jordan’s excuse to not ask me out but because it seemed to be that he was taking me for granted back then. And had that really changed all that much since?

“Hey now,” Jordan grabbed my arm as I went to turn. “I get the feeling that was supposed to be a dig at me,” he frowned. “What did I do now?”

I sighed, “It’s nothing Jordan. I just found out about something you said about me a while ago and I didn’t like it too much. Let’s go inside.” I went to turn again.

“Wait a minute,” his hand was on my arm again. “So are you mad at me about it? Or are you just bugged about it?” He bounced Jenna as he gave me a worried look. “Whatever it is, please tell me, I don’t think I could handle knowing you were mad at me again. The last time it almost cost me our friendship!”

“We should get inside,” I told him but he told me the restaurant isn’t going anywhere. I sighed, “I went to see Brandy and Logan a couple days ago,” I told him and he nodded. “Well I was filling Brandy in on everything that happened in the last little while and Logan was there, half paying attention. We were talking about you,” he raised a brow. “And Logan jumped in; he wanted to know what we were talking about. When I told him, he seemed relieved because he thought that we were talking about you and me together….”

Jordan looked totally confused, “Why would he think that?”

“It doesn’t matter why he thought that, when I told him that we most definitely weren’t together he said it was a good thing because he didn’t like the attitude that you had towards me when we were in high school.”

I was watching his reaction to see if he knew what Logan was talking about and by the way he started to turn red, it was apparent that he did. “So I guess it was true then? You were a cocky bastard who didn’t bother to take a chance on me when you could’ve?”

Jordan nodded, “Yeah I was.”

“Huh,” I scoffed. “And here I thought I was so good at hiding my little crush on you!”

“Yeah, you sucked at it.”

“Shut up,” I stuck my tongue out at him and laughed. “Let’s go eat, jerk.”

I walked into the restaurant before Jordan did so I stopped to wait for someone to come seat us. “What are you doing?” He asked me, “Our table is this way.”

“What? We just got here Jordan,” I frowned as I followed him. “How do you know where…oh hell no!”

Wade smiled at me as he stood. “Hello Anna.”

I turned to Jordan who was in the middle of strapping Jenna into the highchair that was waiting for her. “Why do you hate me?” I asked him.

Bella rolled her eyes, “Oh Anna really?” She glanced at Jordan, “I told you this wasn’t a good idea.”

Once Jordan had finished with Jenna, he turned to me. “I don’t hate you and you know it!” He glanced at Bella, “And this has to be a good idea because I’m sick and tired of not being able to hang out with Anna and you without feeling like I’m committing some crime! You two were friends, so act like it!” After his little outburst, Jordan calmly sat down. “So did you all want to get some appetizers and share? Or what?”

I couldn’t help but laugh when Bella and I said, “Whatever you want Jordan,” at the same time.

Behind his menu, I could see the smile on Jordy’s face. “Good, we’ll order some and share then.”