A Day In The Life

I woke up early the next morning with a lot on my mind. I hated the way things went after we viewed the last house the day before. I hated that Jordan talked to me like that in front of the girls but most of all I hated that I let him.

But with all that said, I wasn’t upset with myself for not getting into a fight or whatever when he finally came home. It didn’t matter how much I hated what happened, I knew that we would talk about it and we would clear the air. That was always the way it worked with us. That was why we worked as well as we did.

In the early morning light, I could just make out Jordan’s features. That morning, just like every other time I gazed at him, my heart skipped a beat. Jordan was, without a doubt, a very handsome man and even though he knew this, it never made him an arrogant man. He was, by far, the sweetest, kindest guy I ever knew. There was never a moment when we were growing up that I wondered if he would have my back, or take my side or be there for me when I needed him. Just like he always knew that he could count on me to be there for him however he needed it.

It was that respect, understanding and love that kept us close throughout the years and eventually led to us taking the leap into a romantic relationship. Sure, it wasn’t easy all the time but for the most part it was perfect. He was perfect. We were perfect. Despite all of our flaws.

I couldn’t help by smile as I watched him sleep. Whenever he was really tired, he always ended up on his back with one arm crossed over his chest and the other thrown out as if he was offering an sleepy invite to me to cuddle up next to him. Many times I took him up on that offer, even when we weren’t dating. It was always wonderful to wake up pressed against him because, no matter what, he when he started to wake, he would roll towards me as much as he could and smother me in his arms. I always felt so loved when he did that, even if we were just friends.

Who am I kidding? I never really truly thought of Jordan as ‘just’ a friend in years. From the time he started to ‘mature’ and wanted to show me every new hair or tell me the ‘cool’ things that was happening with his body or the sexy whispering in my ear he attempted once his voice started to change, I was completely lost under his spell.

Nothing’s changed, I thought as my eyes travelled down over his bare chest. Sure, he’s not pulling up his shirt, all excited about new chest hair but he loves to remove his shirt and flex just for me. Shaking my head, I chuckled softly because I knew I was still under his spell. But at least, this time, he was under mine as well.

Leaning over him, I pressed my lips against his. There is no words to describe the feelings that flowed through me when, in his sleeping state, Jordan pulled me into his arms and sighed happily. “Love you,” he mumbled in his sleep.

“Love you too,” I whispered as I kissed his chest before settling down next to him.

It wasn’t long before I joined him in dreamland once again.

****

The next time I woke up, the sun was shining and the bed next to me was cold and empty.

Empty except for the note that was folded up and placed on Jordan’s pillow with my name written in his bold masculine, almost illegible handwriting.

Curious, I pushed up onto my elbow and reached out to grab the paper. Opening it up, I scanned it quickly and then fell back against the mattress, chuckling.

“I didn’t want to leave but Jenna made me! She was demanding p’nakes! Don’t move, I plan on taking advantage of you as soon as she turns her back!”

My man, he’s nothing if not romantic.

Of course, I moved, my stomach was growling and p’nakes (pancakes) sounded really good.

Crawling out of bed, I stopped by Jordan’s closet long enough to pull on a pair of my shorts and his high school grad sweatshirt before continuing on my way into the hall where I was immediately teased with the scent of pancakes as it drifted throughout the house.

My stomach growled louder.

“Good morning girls,” I stopped briefly to see if my nieces needed any help with the mountain of books that were spread open in front of them, ignored as they entertained, or were entertained, by Jenna and her ‘Doa’.

They told me they were fine, so I continued on my way and wandered into the kitchen were Jordan was spooning homemade pancake batter onto the hot griddle while he whistled.

“Morning Babe,” he smiled at me when I came to stand by his side. As he offered me his cheek, he asked how I slept.

“Great.” I kissed his cheek. “And you lied.”

“What?” He frowned. “When?”

“In this.” I held up the note he left me and glanced around the room. “Jenna’s back is turned and I was still laying there, not the least bit violated when I woke up.”

He laughed out loud. “I see.” He finished pouring the batter onto the griddle and then turned to me. “I can change that right now, if you like.” He lunged for me, grabbed my hips and yanking my body towards his as he lowered his head to my neck. In between his kisses and nibbling, he told me exactly what he wanted to do to me, no details spared.

“Jordan!” I gasped.

“Whaaat?” He asked as innocently as he could.

“The girls are –”

I heard the sound of tiny feet running moments before I heard Jenna asked, “P’nakes?”

“This isn’t over,” Jordan growled as he reluctantly released me.

****

Later that afternoon, Zack swung by on his way home from work to pick up his daughters. Despite having spent the afternoon watching Jenna play, doing their homework and relaxing with Jordan and me, the girls didn’t really want to leave.

“Why can’t we stay another night?” Cassie asked Zach. “We barely get to see Aunt Anna anymore.”

“Barely?” Zach laughed. “More like you barely see your mom and your sister anymore. Go get your stuff together; I want to get home before your mom starts worrying.”

“It’s not fair,” Cassie whined as she stomped pass Zach, pulling Lindsay down the hallway with her to pack up their stuff. “I’m almost 18, and I’m not allowed to go anywhere!”

“Keep that up and you won’t be going anywhere!” Zach called after her. Turning to me, he asked if I could be less fun the next time the girls spend the night. “Lately, being here is all they talk about.”

“It’s not like we are partying or anything Zach.” I told him that we didn’t do anything all day but laze around. “They did their homework and played with Jenna, it’s not the most thrilling day by no means.”

He stood there for the longest time, just staring at Jordan and me as we sat together on the couch before shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know what it is but they don’t seem to want to be home and it’s upsetting Mary; she’s afraid that the girls are upset about the baby. She’s worrying about it and it’s not doing her any good.”

“They aren’t upset about the baby Zach. Why Cassie told me yesterday that she was looking forward to having a new brother or sister.”

“Then why don’t they want to be home?”

I shrugged. “They are teenagers?”

“You were one once and I couldn’t get you to leave the house!”

Jordan, who was quietly playing with Jenna as Zach and I spoke, now chuckled. “That’s because Nick and I always wanted to be at your house.” He glanced up at Zach, “Being home sucked.”

“But the girls…” Zach groaned. “I don’t understand my girls, they have everything they could want at home but they don’t seem to want to be there.”

I really didn’t have an answer for him. I knew that I loved being home when I was a teenager and maybe that was because the boys were always over, I can’t really say. The only thing I could tell him was to talk to the girls about it.

****

After supper, while I did the dishes, Jordan wandered off into bathroom with Jenna to start his nightly bedtime routine. Most nights, he would ask me to come and sit with him as he bathed Jenna but the odd night, I would busy myself with dishes or some other sort of house work just to give him some time alone with her.

From my spot in front of the kitchen sink, I could hear Jordan talking silly and Jenna’s squealing laughter. It made me smile and it made me feel like the happiest woman in the world. It also made me hope that Heather and Hank took their time coming back from Hank’s grandmother’s place.

I was in the middle of hoping that Jordan has lots of ‘daddy and Jenna’ nights like this when his home phone rang. I wandered into the living room to answer the phone, pausing briefly to call down the hallway to Jordan to let him know he didn’t have to worry about getting it.

“Thanks Babe,” he called back as I brought the receiver to my face and said ‘hello’.

“I guess that answers my question. Hey Trouble.”

I smiled. “Nick, how are you? Did you need to speak to Jordy?” I paused, glancing down the hallway before telling Nick that Jordan was giving Jenna a bath.

Nick told me not to worry about it. “I was just calling to see how things went after Jordan left here last night.”

“Jordan was there?” I’ll admit, I was curious where he went after he sped away the day before.

“Yup, showed up here all worried with a crying Jenna. I didn’t know what the hell happened for the longest time, he just kept repeating that he fucked up.”

“He told you what happened?”

“Yeah,” Nick replied but didn’t elaborate any more than that.

“Ok,” I played with the dish cloth I was still holding, unsure of what to really say.

After a long silence, Nick asked me if Jordan told me why he didn’t come home until after midnight. When I said no, that we hadn’t talked about what happened yet, that we would when Jenna was asleep, Nick just said, ‘oh’.

“Was there something I should know?”

“No, nothing really.”

“Oh,” I frowned. “Then why did you ask that Nick?”

“Just wanted to know if he told you how crazy he is, that’s all.”

Jordan came wandering down the hallway with Jenna bundled up in a towel. I raised a brow in his direction. “Crazy? What do you mean Nick?”