Tag - You're It

If there’s anything worse than going to bed angry, it has to be waking up alone after going to bed angry. Ok, maybe he wasn’t completely angry but for sure, he was upset. Not that I didn’t understand why he would be, I just thought that he would be happy that I was getting things straight with Josh before he made a stupid move or thought he had a real chance with me.

Pushing back the mountain of blankets that Jordan piled on his bed every winter, I sat up and quickly pulled a pair of warm fuzzy socks on; I was determined to straighten things out with Jordan before either one of the girls woke up. I didn’t want to leave for work with things out of sorts.

As I made my way down the hallway towards the kitchen, I wondered if he would want to talk to me about it or if he would ignore me. In the past, if he didn’t want to talk about something he wouldn’t but I had hoped that things would be different now, we were in a relationship and knowing how he was feeling was important to me. If it comes down to it, I’ll just call Josh and tell him that I can’t go out to dinner with him. I’m not about to risk my relationship for him.

When I peeked into the kitchen, Jordan was standing with his back towards me as he adjusted the temperature of his grill. Instead of making my presence known right away, I did what I do every time I come upon him without him knowing, I watched him. Call me crazy, I don’t care but there was something about the way he moved when he didn’t think anyone was around. It was almost as if he were dancing, he moved with ease and purpose in the most fluid of motions. Of course, if I was to tell him that, he would roll his eyes and tell me that I was losing my mind. I’m not, well not totally. He’s always moved like that, I should know, I spent many hours watching him when he didn’t know I was around.

And yes, I know that sounds stalkerish of me. No, it IS stalkerish of me but we already knew that I had a thing for him for a long time, it’s only natural. Right?

With his left hand, Jordan reached for the glass bowl he had placed by the sink, while his right hand picked an egg from the opened carton that rested nearby. After a quick glance at the grill, he went to work, cracking eggs off the side of the bowl until half the carton was empty.

And then the music for his ‘breakfast’ dance began. It always starts with random whistling and then, he hums a little, breaking into soft whispered lines from various songs before settling on one. The lucky song that morning, I didn’t know at first, he wasn’t singing loud, it actually sounded like he was talking. I didn’t clue in until he grabbed two wooden spoons and started to play his ‘air’ drums.

“I want to love you but I better not touch. I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop. I want to kiss you but I want it too much. I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison…”

While he sang Alice Cooper’s ‘Poison’, in between the ‘air’ drums, Jordan poured milk into the bowl and whisked. When he was satisfied that it was whisked enough and placed the bowl down again, I thought it was about time I let him know I was there.

“I hear you calling and it’s needles and pins. I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name. Don’t want to touch you….” He paused, chuckled and as he spun around he said, “That’s a lie, I do want touch you, poison or not.”

I froze. He started to walk towards me; a lopsided grin appeared on his face. “You never think I know you are there,” he said when he stood in front of me. “I always know you are around Babe.”

“Uh huh,” I didn’t believe him. “Then how come you didn’t know last night?”

“Oh whatever,” he laughed, his hands slipping around my waist as he drew me near. “Babe,” he nuzzled my neck. “The room temperature shoots up twenty degrees when you are near.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “That’s why I caught you, on camera, shaking your ass to ‘Do you think I’m sexy’ last night!”

“Part of the plan Babe, just part of the plan.”

“Oh?” I grinned as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “What plan is that Babe?”

“The one that makes you all weak kneed when I do this!” His arms tightened around me as he buried his face against my neck, making me laugh and call out his name. “I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name,” he sang as he laughed with me.

****

“Come on, come on, come on.” Jordan yelled from the porch while slapping his hands together. “This train is leaving the station, anyone not out here in two seconds is walking this morning!”

Poking my head into the kitchen, I stuck out my tongue at him. “Lucky thing you aren’t the one driving us this morning!”

He gasped. “Improper tongue use!” He dropped his keys onto the bench, not caring that they fell onto the floor as he came towards me.

“Ah!” I spun around quickly, looking for a place to run but the girls had blocked the hallway with their backpacks and Jenna was sitting in the way to the living room.

“Gotcha!” He yelled in victory as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me back against him. “Tonight,” he whispered against my ear. “I’ll teach you the proper way to use that tongue.”

Looking back at him, I grinned. “I never heard you complaining about my tongue use before.”

Heat flashed in his eyes. I swear, if Lindsay didn’t pick that moment to come out, see us and say, ‘ewww, in front of Jenna even? Can’t you two control yourselves?’ he would’ve shown me one of the many ways he loved to use his tongue.

“I’ll see you after work,” he murmured.

“I don’t –”

He sighed. “Ok, I’ll see you later tonight. Be good,” he kissed me.

I turned in his arms and kissed him. “I’m saving all my badness for you.”

Reluctantly and with a frustrated groan, Jordan released me and bent to pick up Jenna. “And you, no destroying nanny and poppy’s house.” He hugged her tight. “Give me kisses.” When Jenna gave him slobbery kisses, he grinned and handed her over to me. “I love you both very much.” With another kiss planted on each of our faces, Jordan turned and hurried out the door.

Heading towards the kitchen, I called out to Cassie. Borrowing Jordy’s words, I told her that this train was pulling out and if she didn’t hurry, she would be walking.

“You wouldn’t make me walk Aunt Anna,” she stated when she finally joined us in the car. “It’s almost -30; you wouldn’t want me to freeze to death.”

****

At work that morning, it seemed that I was playing more phone tag than actually working. It all started with me calling Josh to see if he had gotten a reservation at the Grillhouse or not. To be honest, I was hoping for not, even though Jordan told me that morning that he didn’t mind.

“It just took me by surprise that you would be having dinner with him,” he said when I asked him if he was sure. “I guess I thought that you would talk at the school yesterday and that would be the end of it.” I had started to tell him that I could tell Josh that I changed my mind but he wouldn’t hear it. “No, I’m not going to have him thinking that I’m worried about you having a meal with him Anna. I’m not worried about that, I trust you completely, I just don’t want you to be stressed because he’s being a jerk.”

So I called Josh, got his voice mail and left him this message. “Hey Josh, it’s Anna. I was calling to see if you made reservations or not. Call me and let me know what’s going on. Bye.” Nothing too friendly, just straight to the point.

An hour later, I realized that I had a voice mail from Josh. “Hey Beautiful, I’m glad you called. I did make the reservation; it’s for 8 tonight so I’ll pick you up around 7, at home…Zack’s. Can’t wait to see you. Lov – cough – talk to you later.”

There were so many things wrong with his message – too friendly, the fact he was going to say ‘love’, how he assumed that he was picking me up and that I would be at Zack’s.

I called him back. Message again. “Hey, it’s me. I’ll meet you at the Grillhouse by 8; I’m spending time with Jenna and Jordan before I go.”

After I left the message for Josh, I called Jordan’s cell on an unrelated issue. With all the missed messages from his coworkers the day before, Jordan asked me to just call his cell and leave a message. “I’ll get it faster that way,” he said. While I was leaving him a message, Josh called my cell and left me a message.

“Anna I don’t see the point in both of us leaving town in our own cars when we are going to the same place and leaving at the same time. Maybe in the middle of summer it wouldn’t be an issue but it’s the middle of winter honey, I don’t like the idea of you driving at night by yourself; I’d worry too much. I’ll pick you up at 7 from wherever you’ll be.”

I had to get back to work, so I didn’t bother calling him back at that moment. I had a message, from Jordan, waiting for me when I got back to my phone later.

“Hey Babe, so I checked my phone, saw there was a message from you and I got all excited. Of course, I was hoping for a detailed story on how you would use your tongue on me but I suppose knowing that Jenna went with mom and dad without too much trouble was ok. Love you Anna.”

I smiled as I listened to Jordan’s message and was half tempted to call and leave him a steamy voice mail but I saw I had another call from Josh, he didn’t leave a message but it didn’t matter, he ruined the moment.

“Josh, I’m quite capable of driving at night in the winter; I’ve been doing it for almost eight years now and I haven’t had an accident yet. Maybe, if you are so worried, we should just meet somewhere in town and talk.”

“Hey honey, how about I tell you that show tonight – and show you the illustrations?” I chuckled but soon sighed. “I’m starting to regret agreeing to talk to Josh. He’s being too friendly and now he insists that he pick me up. Why can’t it be easier?” Sighing again, I told Jordan I had to get back to work. “Expect lots of hugs and kisses when you get home tonight Jordy.”

Later my cell told me I had two new messages.

Voice mail from Josh: “You said you would go to the Grillhouse Anna and I’ve twisted some arms to get in tonight. What’s so wrong about me picking you up? Is Jordan scared?”

Text from Jordan: “Babe just get it over with.”

My responses, both in text form.

“Jordan has nothing to be scared of Josh.”

“Hey Jordy, you know I can cancel this ‘talk’. It’s not really that big of a deal. Love you.”

Jordan was the first to respond. “Get it over with.”

From Josh: “Then you shouldn’t have a problem riding with me.”

I was getting frustrated by this time so I sent one final text to the two of them. “FINE!”

Family

Cassie and Lindsay sat at the coffee table in the living room with all their books spread out before them as they tackled their homework before going to bed. As I rested on the couch behind them, ready to help if they needed any, I couldn’t help but feel relived knowing that I didn’t have to deal with homework on a daily basis.

When I mentioned that to the girls, Cassie laughed. “Just wait until Jenna is in school Aunt Anna, you won’t escape it then.”

I sighed. It was true, what they said but that didn’t mean I had to like it one bit. I couldn’t even say that I wouldn’t be helping her because Jordan disliked homework more than I did. So, instead of saying anything, I went back to stretching out on the couch.

A page turn, the scribble of pen over paper and the odd sigh were the only sounds I heard as I closed my eyes and let my mind wander over the events of the day.

On the whole, it was a very productive day. Under Eric’s guidance the kids in charge of advertising were making progress. At the last meeting they couldn’t agree on anything at all but at the end of the meeting that afternoon, they had a rough idea of what the main posters for the theatre were going to be and they had a couple working ideas for the posters they were to post around town. Eric had even told them that the radio advertisement for the show was in their hands, so they were all a buzz about that one.

“Uncle Eric is so awesome,” Lindsay said for the millionth time as we ate dinner that night. “Not only does he have all these great ideas but he’s an amazing artist.” She went on to tell us how he did a rough sketch of their group while they were working. “We are so lucky to have his help.”

“I can’t believe he got us Fireball,” Cassie jumped in. “How cool is that? Now my friends and I won’t have to worry about getting music for our songs.”

Jordan’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Mmmpf?” He tried to talk with his mouth full of the spaghetti he made for dinner.

“Jordy please, where are your manners? You know not to talk with your mouth full.” I did it just to bug him and the dirty look he shot me, told me that he didn’t think I was funny. I still laughed though.

While Jordan chewed his food, the girls told him how Eric said Fireball heard about their show and wanted to help out because of the cause. At dinner, Jordan didn’t really say much about the band helping out, other than how cool it would be to get to work with them but once dinner was done and the girls were in the living room playing with Jenna, it was another story.

I was putting away the leftover spaghetti when he cornered me. “Babe, you have to introduce me to them.”

“I don’t even know them Jordan.”

“But you will,” he reasoned. “You’ll meet them when they come to help out and then when I come to pick you up, you can introduce me.”

“Pick me up?” I raised a brow. “Why would you be picking me up Jordy? You work until 6 everyday.”

“Well, I could get off early, you know, say there’s a house we have to look at and…”

I covered his mouth. “Honey, we went over this before, you know I’d love to introduce you to them and if the chance arises, I will. But to cut work and pretend you need to pick me up, just to meet them?” I went on to tell him that he’d meet them the night of the show but it was too late, he was already pouting.

“I wouldn’t get in the way,” he mumbled as he returned to the sink to wash the dishes. “I would do it for you.”

His pouting was short lived, not because I gave in or anything, but because he never seemed to stay that way for long with me. By the time we had put the last dish away, Jordan was carrying on as if the whole thing didn’t even happen.

I felt little fingers poking at my face and heard Jordan whisper for her to say what was said in the bathroom. “Go on,” he whispered. “Say ‘Anna’.” I smiled as I peeked out from under my lashes, Jordan had been trying to get Jenna to say my name for a while but she never could. Or maybe she just didn’t want to. “Come on J-Roll,” he continued. “You just said ‘Anna’ you can say it again.”

The girls stopped working on their homework to watch us. “Maybe she thinks Aunt Anna is sleeping Uncle Jordy.”

“Oh maybe,” Jordan said in his regular voice. “Babe? Show her you aren’t sleeping?”

Nodding, I opened my eyes fully and smiled at them. “How was bath time?”

Jenna gasped and lurched forward, towards me. “Ah-naa-naa!”

“Oh my god! Jenna!” I took her from Jordan and cuddle her. “You said my name!” As I held her tight, I felt so emotional. I don’t know if I could explain the feeling that came over me.

“Hey, I wanna cuddle too,” Jordan said, already halfway over me to lay behind me. My nieces were chuckling as his arms wrapped around Jenna and me. “Don’t you have homework?”

“You guys are so silly,” Cassie stated as Lindsay pulled out her camera to take a picture of the three of us. “It’s from hanging out with mom and dad too much, isn’t it?”

“No,” Jordan responded before I could. “It’s from being truly happy.”

Jordan must’ve spent a good half hour with his face pressed against the back of my neck; his every breath sending cold shivers down my back. It was perfect. I didn’t want it to end. But it had to; he just had to remember that he had to get Jenna to bed. “So I can get back to you,” he whispered as he crawled back over me.

Once he was standing, he reached for Jenna. “J-Roll, say good night to Anna.”

“Ni Ah-naa-naa.” Her tiny arms wrapped around my neck and she gave me a kiss on the lips.

When Jordan disappeared down the hallway, the girls turned to me. “Aunt Anna, why does he call Jenna ‘J-roll’?”

“Because her name is Jenna Rose,” I told them. The girls looked confused, probably as confused as I looked when he told me the same thing. I chuckled, “Girls, it’s Jordy; you can’t predict how his mind works. Her name is Jenna Rose and one day she tried to steal a jelly roll from him, so…”

Lindsay shook her head. “Uncle Jordan is so weird.”

Cassie agreed.

Me, while I think he’s weird, I loved him more for it. There wasn’t a man out there who could understand me and make me laugh like Jordan could.

“Hey Babe,” he settled into the space behind me on the couch again. His hand began to rub up and down over my arm. “Aren’t you tired?”

I nodded. “But they aren’t done their homework yet.”

“Ok,” his arms tightened around me. “We’ll wait.”

That was the last I knew until an hour later when I was woke by a gentle shake. Opening my eyes, all I could see was Jordan’s neck as he lifted me from the couch. Instead of saying anything, I just relaxed in his arms and closed my eyes again. I didn’t open them until he gently placed me on his bed and crawled in beside me.

“Babe?” I snuggled closer to him, he chuckled. “Babe, I want to ask you something.”

“About what?” I mumbled against his chest.

“About earlier, when you were at the mall with the girls, I wanted to know how it went with Josh. Did you tell him to back off?”

“Not exactly.”

“What?” Jordan held me back from him. “What do you mean, ‘not exactly’?”

I sighed, I knew I should’ve told him earlier but the moment I walked into the house and saw him shaking his ass, all thoughts of Josh disappeared. “We didn’t talk today, there wasn’t much time with Jenna and the kids around. I did tell him we needed to talk though and we are going to, tomorrow.”

“Oh,” he relaxed a little. “When? After he’s finished work? Because I was thinking about taking you and Jenna out for dinner tomorrow night but if you are going to be late, I could –”

“Jordy, I’m going to dinner with Josh tomorrow.” I told him how Josh mentioned meeting at work and then he changed his mind and wanted to meet at the Grillhouse for dinner. “I figured that it didn’t matter where we had the talk, as long as we had it.”

He pulled away from me, rolled onto his back and then onto his side, facing away. I knew he wouldn’t be too happy about it, but it was his idea that I talked to Josh so I didn’t expect him to react like that. I didn’t really want to go to sleep upset but he didn’t respond when I said his name.

With a sad sigh, I leaned towards him and pressed my lips against his bare shoulder. “Good night honey, I love you.”

I was comfortable and half asleep five minutes later when I felt him move up behind me. His arm wrapped around my waist as his body pressed against mine. “I love you too.”

Home Again

Never, in the time I spent with Josh, did I ever get the impression that he was an stupid man. So trying to figure out how he managed to jumped from talking to giving him another chance threw me for a loop. Was I giving off the wrong vibes? I wondered. Did something I do or say make him that that I was about to leave Jordan for him? I knew that couldn’t be it, I would know if I was doing that, right? I mean, a girl always knows. He’s just jumping to conclusions – going with a hope or something.

Whatever he was doing or thinking, it had to stop. Then and there.

“Josh.” Maybe it was the warning tone in my voice or the annoyed look in my eyes. Or maybe it was Jenna bouncing her Dora, accidentally clipping him on the chin. I honestly don’t know which it was but I was more than happy when Josh’s hand fell from my back.

Stepping back, he ran a hand through his hair and mumbled something about needing to call the Grillhouse about the reservation. “I’ll call you later with the time,” he threw over his shoulder as he hurried away from Jenna and me.

I was still shaking my head when Cassie and Lindsay appeared at my side a few minutes later. “Hey Aunt Anna, do you think Jordan will mind if we don’t go home right away?” Before I could reply, Cassie told me that there was a really nice pair of jeans on sale at Warehouse One in the mall. “Mom never feels like going out after we get home from school and dad has been working nights lately ­–”

“Dad thinks it dumb to spend $80 on a pair of jeans.” Lindsay stated as she reached for Jenna. “That’s why dad refuses to take you to the mall Cassie.”

Cassie rolled her eyes. “It’s my money Lindsay; I’m allowed to spend it on whatever I want. I want those jeans Aunt Anna.”

“I think it’s a waste -“

“Daddy’s little suck,” Cassie cut Lindsay off. “Why don’t you think for yourself instead of repeating everything daddy says?”

Before the hurt on Lindsay’s face verbalized itself, I stepped in. “Lindsay, Cassie is right, it is her money and she can spend it on whatever she wants.”

“But Aunt Anna she doesn’t need another pair of jeans, she has a whole closet full of them!”

I smiled. “Lindsay, when you go into the bookstore and buy an armful of books, does it matter that you have a wall of bookshelves already overflowing in your room?”

As Lindsay stammered that it wasn’t the same thing, Cassie smirked and told her to give it up.

“Both of you give it up.” I took Jenna back from Lindsay. “We’ll go to the mall. Cassie you can buy your ridiculously expensive jeans and Lindsay you can…” I shrugged. “Visit the bookstore?”

Lindsay’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Maybe my order is in.”

As my nieces hurried to gather all their things, I headed back to the seats where all Jenna’s and my stuff was spread out. I couldn’t believe that Jenna managed to pull most everything out of my jacket and bag while we were watching the kids perform. It took me some time to clean it up, it didn’t help that Jenna just tried to pull everything back out as I put it in.

“Would you please stop it?” I asked as I pulled my wallet from her hands for the third time. “We are never going to get home and see daddy if you keep that up.”

When I came to my cell, I realized that I had a number of missed calls. “I wonder who called us.” I glanced at Jenna but she wasn’t the least bit curious, she was elbow deep into my bag again. As I reached out to take my bag away from her, I opened my phone and saw that all 4 of my missed calls were from Jordan.

There were messages.

“Hey Babe, it’s me. Been crazy here today, sorry I didn’t get to call you back until now. Call me when you get this. Tony mentioned something about a ‘big surprise’?” His voice lowered to just above a whisper. “Gonna have your way with me tonight? Call me; let me know what’s going on.”

I watched Jenna pull my wallet open while Jordan’s voice came over my phone again.

“Hey Babe, it’s me again, where are you? Umm, I don’t know what’s going on. I had a few messages from Heather and you but I can’t get a hold of either of you. I know you are probably at the school but Heather?” He let out a frustrated sigh. “Why couldn’t you two leave more detailed messages? I’m starting to freak. Call me; let me know everything is ok.”

There was one more but he didn’t say anything, there was just a sigh and the ‘click’ to let me know he hung up. His last call came in about ten minutes before we ended the meeting.

The girls appeared at my side. “We’re ready Aunt Anna.”

I nodded, indicating the phone.

“Oh, right.” Cassie knelt down next to Jenna and took my wallet away from her – without a fight. “Letting Jordan know what’s going on?” She didn’t wait for my reply. “We’ll get Jenna ready.”

Returning Jordan’s call only got me to Tony, who, once again, told me that Jordan was extremely busy but he would tell him I called. A half hour later, as I was entering Playful Forest – a small play area in the mall – I finally got to talk to my boyfriend.

“It’s been a fun day,” he sounded so tired. “But enough about work tell me how the meeting went.”

I told him that the meeting went great. “You should’ve seen the look on the kids faces when Eric told them that they’ll get a chance to meet and work with Fireball; you couldn’t hear yourself think!”

“I bet. So…?”

“So what?” I raised a brow and then laughed as Jenna climbed up onto a plastic rock only to get ‘stuck’. Pushing off the cushioned seat that surrounded the play area, I went to her ‘rescue’. “What are you doing?” I chuckled. “Are you being silly again?”

“Being silly?” Jordan sounded offended. “No, I just wanted to know how it went with Josh. If you think –“

“Honey, I was talking to Jenna, she’s stuck on top of the plastic rock at Playful Forest.”

“Jenna?” Jordan stammered as he asked what I was doing with Jenna.

“Short story,” I reached for Jenna, wrapping my hands around her before lifting her off and onto the ground. “Hank’s grandmother is dying and Hank didn’t think that it would be a good environment for Jenna, so he asked Heather to see if you would mind picking Jenna up a few days earlier.” Taking a breath, I shrugged, not that he could see it. “When Heather couldn’t get a hold of you, she called me and now I’m at the mall with my nieces and Jenna. Cassie wanted a new pair of expensive jeans and Lindsay is book buying again.”

“What about you?” He asked. “Were you buying anything?”

“Nope, just hanging out in the Forest with Jenna; waiting for the girls to finish up.”

We talked for a couple more minutes. Jordan told me, at the end of our conversation, that he was heading home right away. “I’ll put something on for supper – unless you want to pick something up.”

I told him I would rather if he pulled something for supper. “You know I love it when you cook for me Jordy.”

“Ok,” he chuckled. “Alphagetti here we come!”

It was dark by the time I pulled into Jordan’s driveway. I couldn’t wait to get the girls into the house and settle down onto the couch with Jordan. When we walked up the front steps, I had a feeling the evening wasn’t going to be quiet – music blared from behind the door.

Giving the girls a look, I slowly opened the door and was confronted with Rod Stewart’s ‘Do you think I’m sexy’. We were able to enter the house, take off our coats and boots without Jordan hearing us. It wasn’t until I walked into the kitchen, I realized why he didn’t hear us – he was singing into a wooden spoon and shaking his ass while he stood at the stove.

“I gotta get this on video.” Pulling out my camera, I quickly set it up to film all of his moves. “God he’s so sexy.”

Behind me the girls chuckled, telling me I could have him.

So I did.

Saving the video I took, I handed my bag and Jenna over to the girls and crossed the room to him. I scared him, when I took advantage of him stopping to stir what was in the pot. I wrapped my arms around his waist, he jumped.

“Anna!”

“Hey,” I smiled. “I think you’re sexy – now what are you going to do about it?”

Was It A Mistake?

Maybe I should’ve agreed to talk to Josh earlier; it would’ve saved me a whole lot of trouble! It was amazing how, when he gets his own way, Josh stopped acting like a baby. He didn’t try to pick a fight with me, he didn’t make any sarcastic remarks about Jordan or anyone in his family and he actually focused his energies on the task at hand.

“What’s that about?” Cassie whispered as she stared across the room.

The kids had been briefed on what was on the schedule for the meeting that day and had scattered throughout the theatre to ‘rehearse’ a number for the ‘audition’ we were going to hold. It sucked, having to tell the kids that there was still too many people wanting to perform. I didn’t really want to tell anyone that they couldn’t but if I didn’t, the show would last more than the allotted three hours (plus an hour for ‘’breaks’).

“What’s what about?” I glanced at Cassie before looking around the room, afraid of what I’d see.

“Coach Baker,” Cassie sort of pointed off to the far right hand side of the room where Josh was deep in conversation with Eric.

“I don’t….” I trailed off as I watched an animated Josh run a hand through his hair – a move he normally did whenever he was nervous.

“Are they…?” Cassie’s eyes widened when Eric laughed and brushed his hand against Josh’s arm. “Oh my god!” She turned to stare at me. “Are they flirting?” I went to tell her ‘no’ but she didn’t give me time because at the moment, Josh moved to stand beside Eric and they both leaned over his clipboard. “I think they are!”

“They aren’t.” I told her finally but to tell the truth, I wasn’t so sure. They were deep in conversation, heads close together as they bent over Josh’s clipboard and if that wasn’t enough, both of their body language seemed to be screaming ‘flirting’!

“Hey maybe that’s why it didn’t work out with Coach,” Cassie joked. “He can’t decide which team he’s playing for!”

“Cassie!” I glared at her. “Don’t you dare say anything like that again! You don’t know what’s being said or anything, don’t start rumours!”

“Sorry,” she backed away from me. “I was just joking around; I know Coach isn’t interested in men – even if Eric is so hot!”

Rolling my eyes, I told her to get back to her group. “We are going to be starting soon.”

When Cassie left, I knelt down to tell Jenna that I had to go start the ‘auditions’. “I’ll just be over there,” I said when she slid down off the chair she was sitting in. “Just one minute.” I held up a finger to show her ‘one’ and asked her if she would be a good girl and wait there for me.

She wasn’t having any of that, she shook her head and held out her arms to me.

“It’s just one minute,” I tried to reason with her.

Her bottom lip turned out as she gave me a sad look, her hands still in the air, waiting for me to pick her up.

“Oh ok,” I scooped her up – her sad face disappearing the moment my hands curled around her sides.

With Jenna in my arms, I made my way over to where Josh and Eric, catching the end of their conversation.

“Mike is always talking about wanting to get back out on the court but he can’t seem to find anyone to play one on one with; everyone we know are into working out than anything else.”

“You don’t play?” Josh made it sound like it was the biggest crime that Eric didn’t play.

Shaking his head, Eric told him he preferred to watch sports, rather than play them. “It irritates Mike because I won’t get out on the court with him.”

Josh was nodding, as if he understood Mike’s irritation. Then he told Eric, if Mike needed someone to play ball with, he could give him a call some time. While he was telling Eric that he would enjoy going one on one with a former basketball star of the school, Josh spotted me and smiled. “Hey Beautiful, are you ready to get this show on the road?”

Ignoring his term of endearment, I informed him that the kids were ready to ‘audition’. “Oh and Eric,” I reached for Eric’s hand to get his attention away from Josh – he looked too awestruck for my liking. “Come with me, I think it is best if you tell the kids about –”

Eric gave his head a tiny shake, as if he was trying to focus on the task at hand and not Josh’s bright blue eyes, or his sparkling smile. Looking guilty, he turned to me. “Oh right the surprise for the kids.”

“What surprise?” I heard Josh ask as Eric and I made our way towards the stage.

With Jenna in my arms and Eric to my left, I pulled the microphone from its stand and waited for the kids to stop talking and for Josh to come around and stand on my right. “What surprise?” He repeated as he leaned in close to me. “Don’t you think I should be included in all aspects of the show?”

Tilting my head back, I smiled sweetly up at him. “Trust me Josh,” was all I said to him before turning back towards the kids while bringing the mic to my mouth. “Good afternoon everyone, it’s so good to see all your excited faces. On behalf of Coach Baker and myself, I would like to take this moment to thank all of you for volunteering to be a part of this show - it’s going to be a lot of work but I know that along the way we are going to have so much –“

“Iiiiiiii….”

The students laughed. I glanced downward to see Jenna angling to grab the mic out of my hand. I chuckled, “Guys, I would like you to meet Jenna, she’ll be our talent advisor today. Turning the mic towards Jenna, I asked her if she had any words of advice for the kids. As quickly as she could, Jenna shook her head and face planted against my chest.

“Lucky girl,” Josh mumbled beside me.

Ignoring that comment, I gave the kids my attention again. “Also joining us today is Mr Eric Fox from 102.5 FM.” After a brief pause for applause for Eric, I went on to tell the kids that Eric will be lending the advertising group a hand and then turned the mic over to him so he could give the kids a run down on his experience in advertising.

At the end of his little speech, Eric told the kids that besides being a wealth of advertising knowledge, he also had a little surprise for them. “What would you say,” he asked them. “If I told you that Fireball has volunteered their talents for this show? They have –“

The room erupted into screams of excitement and a million questions. The noise level was insane. I knew the kids would be thrilled about the announcement seeing that Fireball was the band around our area and they were very popular with the high school kids. I guess I never thought it would get that loud. Even Jenna had to cover her ears with her hands.

“Josh, could you ­–” I didn’t have the words out of my mouth before the whistle was between his lips and the shrill sound filled the room.

“Thank you Coach,” Eric flashed Josh a smile. “Like I was saying, Fireball heard about the show and offered to play all the music for your show!”

After Eric finished, I told the kids that we were starting ‘auditions’ right away. “When we all your names, please proceed to the stage immediately and wow us with your talents!”

Two hours later, I returned to the stage with a cranky Jenna in my arms. “Wow everyone that was great! Give yourselves a big round of applause!”
Jenna batted at the mic as the kids were applauding their efforts; she was tired and hungry. I figured that she would be ok for the couple minutes it would take me to finish up with the kids and send them on their way but I was wrong. Every time I tried to say something to them, Jenna would bat at the mic and whine loudly. At one point, she actually knocked the mic from my hands. Finally, I had enough and held the mic out to Josh.

“Someone’s cranky,” he commented. “I think that’s a sign that it’s time to get out of here. Anna and I have had a difficult job here today, it’s never easy when you have to cut someone, trust me.” Holding up a sheet of paper where I wrote the acts that we decided on, Josh told them that we would like it if everyone who didn’t make it on the stage for the show, helped us out behind the scenes.

I swayed back and forth with Jenna, trying to calm her down as Josh walked to the front of the stage and knelt down. Clipping the list to the clipboard we’ve been keeping the sign up sheets on, Josh told the kids that he was proud of them all.

The moment his hand left the list, the lids swarmed the front of the stage, everyone trying to see if they made it on the show. With a chuckle, Josh fill back to stand beside me. “You were great today.” His hand slid to the small of my back. Leaning in close, he whispered, “Thanks for giving me another chance, you won’t regret it.”