Closer

When we arrived at Jordan’s home, he quickly turned off the engine and came around to help me out of his truck before opening the back door to remove Jenna’s sleeping body from the car seat. “Can you open the door for me?” He held out his keys to me as he closed the truck door with his foot.

Before I got even two feet from him, he called out and asked me to lock his truck. “I forgot,” he said when I turned around.

“Which was is it?” I stared at the well worn remote in my hand, all the writing was long gone and the buttons looked the same.

“It’s the one on the right,” he stood next to me - the masculine scent of him combining with the powdery softness from Jenna was enough to make my body ache for his touch and my heart to ache for a baby of my own. I started to wonder if things would’ve been different for us if we had gotten our act together years before. Would we be together and have a family? Or would we have split up and gone our separate ways?

“Babe?” Jordan called out from the front door. “Are you coming?” He chuckled, “Or did you change your mind about spending the night?”

“No,” I started up the driveway. “I’ve been looking forward to this night for a whole month!”

His arm wrapped around my waist. “I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life.”

“Sweet talker,” I joked as I moved to unlock the door for him. “I’m already spending the night, you know.”

“I know,” he motioned me inside and then followed me. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop sweet talking you though,” leaning in, he whispered, “I’ll need to stay ahead of the other guys.”

“Other guys?” I laughed. “There’s no one else but you Babe.” Closing the door, I leaned back against it and grinned.

“Whatcha grinning for?” He shifted Jenna higher in his arms.

Instead of saying anything, I shoved off the door and went to him. Tilting my head, I gazed up at him and slid my hand over his chest. My hand continued to move until my fingers buried themselves deep in his hair. “You make me happy.”

“Babe,” he groaned, taking a step to bring him as close as he could get with Jenna in his arms. “Have I told you…” his eyes dropped from my eyes to my neck and then came to rest on my chest. “You in that dress…” he bit his lip.

Jenna suddenly moved in Jordan’s arms, she didn’t wake up but it was enough to snap me out of the little spell I was under. I dropped my hand to his on my shoulder, before I spoke, I wet my lips.

“Ahha,” he moved to kiss me but I turned my head so he caught my cheek. “Babe why -?”

With a smile, I stroked Jenna’s blonde curls, “I think we should put this little girl to bed and then…” I rocked up on my toes, my hand pressing against his chest. “Then we can talk about me and my dress.”

“Deal!” He kissed my cheek before kicking off his shoes. I chuckled to myself as he hurried down the hallway.

A few minutes later, I walked down the same hallway on my way to his room to grab my bag and start washing the make up off my face. When a search of his room didn’t turn up my bag, I wandered to the bathroom where Jordy was attempting to clean Jenna up before putting her to bed; he was struggling.

Leaning against the doorframe, I asked him how he was doing; he told me that Jenna wasn’t cooperating. “She’s sleeping,” I said with a chuckle. “Here,” I made my way over to them. “Why don’t I remove her clothes, take her and then you can do whatever it is you were trying to do here.”

“That would be great,” he flashed me a grateful smile.

I reached to undo the bottom on the back of her dress and then started to remove it. “Wow,” I chuckled as I held her arm in my hand. “She really got into her ice cream, didn’t she? She’s all sticky.”

“Yeah,” he kissed the top of Jenna’s head. “I didn’t have the heart to stop her, she was having so much fun and I figured I would clean her up after - I guess I didn’t clean her very well.”

“Oh it’s ok,” I placed the dress of the counter and motioned for him to lift her so I could finish. “Jenna didn’t mind, that’s all that mattered.”

Once Jenna was ready, Jordan handed her to me and turned to get a washcloth for her. It probably wouldn’t seem like a big deal to anyone else but this moment, helping Jordan with Jenna was probably the best moment of my life - I don’t think I could’ve ever been closer to him than I felt at that moment.

“There we go,” Jordan said with finality as he set the dirty washcloth on the vanity. “Come to dad-” he stopped when I held her close to my chest. “Oh,” he chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s my daughter, you know.”

I turned away from him, “I know,” I threw over my shoulder as I watched out of the bathroom.

“Wait, wait!” Jordan came after me. “Where are you going?”

Instead of replying, I turned into Jenna’s room and headed over to the dresser; once there I waited for Jordan to join us. “I thought I would hold her while you started to slip her pjs on her and then you’d take her and I’ll do her up. What do you think?”

He stood there staring at me for a few minutes and then finally, he laughed. “I think you wanted to be a part of our bedtime routine.” Opening the top drawer, he pulled out a pair of pink pjs with little white ducks on them. “All you had to do was ask,” he smiled at me. “I would’ve let you - I want you to be a part of this - a part of everything Babe?”

“Really?” I couldn’t hide my surprise.

“Of course,” he kissed me. “Even if you weren’t my girlfriend Anna, I would want you to be a part of this.”

“Why is that Jordy? If I was just your best friend, why would you want me involved with some of the most intimate moments between you and Jenna?”

“Why?” He laughed, a deep one that shook his body. “I don’t think you realize just how bad I have it for you Anna. You are the only person in my life who’s ever been there for me. You loved me, cared about me and have watched my back from the moment you were able to talk back.” He paused, gave me a look, as if daring me to argue that last point. I didn’t. “Babe….” I finished buttoning Jenna up and he moved towards her crib.

Holding Jenna up, Jordan kissed her and then carefully placed her in her crib. When he finished covering her up, he spun around with a look in his eyes that excited me. Even more so when he charged towards me, pausing only long enough to grab me by the hand and drag me out of the room.

The moment we got outside Jenna’s room, Jordan backed me up against the wall.