Father Time

I was relaxing on the couch in the dark when Jordan came home. I listened to him kick off his boots and hang up his jacket. “Anna?” He called uncertainly as he walked further into the house, flipping on a light or two as he went.

“I’m in the living room,” I called out as I jumped off the couch to make my way out to the kitchen. “Or I was,” I laughed as I rounded the corner.

Jordan was in the middle of opening the oven door, “Hey!” He closed the door and tried to look innocent as he smiled at me. “What did you do today?”

I laughed, “I made stew.”

He groaned, “Oh thank God. I’m starving!” Jordan went to the cupboards and pulled out two bowls. “It’s going to be ready soon?”

I told him it was ready already as I grabbed the oven mitts to pull the roaster from the over. “I was just waiting for you to come home.”

While we eat he kept telling me stories about work no matter how hard I tried to get him to talk about Jenna. Finally I just gave up and let him talk. It was amazing how many stories he came up with during supper and the entire time we were doing the dishes. At one point I had to stop and ask him if everything he was saying actually happened.

“Of course it happened,” he smiled. “Do you think I would make this up to not tell you about Jenna?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed while I whacked him with the cup towel. He just laughed and continued to tell me work stories until we finished the dishes.

Once we were done the dishes, Jordan excused himself. “I stink,” he told me as he headed for his room.

“Jordy!” I ran after him, stopping him before he entered his room. “Come on, give me something! Please?”

He thought about his for a moment and then a slow smile started to cross his face. “Ok,” he leaned closer to me.

I raised a brow and waited to hear what he would say.

But he didn’t say anything, at the last moment he dropped his shoulder, pulling me over and picked me off the floor. “Jordy put me down!” I screamed as he carried me into his room.

When he reached his bed, he dropped me into it and climbed up next to me. “Babe, she’s so beautiful. And she knows who I am, she calls me daddy.”

“Really?” I gave him a hug. “What does Heather think about that?”

He shrugged, “I think she’s fine with it, I am Jenna’s father. But I don’t think Hank is too happy about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I sensed that there was something off while I was there.” He shrugged again, “Maybe it was just me.”

Maybe you sensed Heather’s anger towards Hank’s drinking last night, I thought. Jordan stared down at me, “What are you thinking?”

I wanted to tell him, I almost started to but then I wondered should I be the one to tell him. Or is that something Heather should tell him? “I was just wondering what could be off,” I lied.

“Oh really?” He questioned, I knew he wouldn’t believe me. “Well,” he slapped my butt. “I have to go shower so I suggest you leave,” he paused. “Unless you want to see what a real man looks like?”

I gasped, “You mean Josh is here?” I pretended to look around while he pretended he was hurt.

“You hurt my feeling.” He held his hand over his heart. “That’s right, you hurt on my and only feeling.”

“Oh Jordan!” I rolled my eyes and crawled off his bed.

While he was in the shower I went into my room and changed into my pjs. As I was brushing my hair to put it up, I spied my phone and almost grabbed for it to call Josh. I wonder what he’s doing now, I thought before I shook my head, you are focusing on Jordan tonight.

I made my way back out to the living room and turned on the TV while I waited for Jordan to be finished in the bathroom. During my channel surfing I found a rerun of ER; one of the shows from the 5th season, I was so engrossed in what was happening on the screen that I didn’t hear Jordan coming towards the living room until it was too late.

“Cannonball!” He yelled just before he hopped over the back of the couch and landed on me. “Hey babe!”

“Get off me!” I slapped his arm until he wiggled his way behind me. “Why do you do that?”

He laughed, “Because you love it when I jump you.”

We argued back and forth about whether I actually did like it for a good ten minutes before I told him I did just to shut him up. “Ah ha! I knew it!” He cried, “But babe, you have to control those urges for me. You have a boyfriend, remember? Big tall guy that would squish me like a bug if I happened to look at you the wrong way?”

I shook my head, “Josh isn’t that mean, he wouldn’t get rid of you. Unless I begged him too, of course.”

The harassment continued for a while, it was so much fun to lay there and bug him like we used to do. “I miss this,” I told him when there was a break in the conversation.

Jordan’s arms tightened around me, “I miss this too babe.”

Silence soon came over us as we both got lost in our own thoughts, ask him about Jenna!

I turned around to face him, “Jordan please tell me about your visit with Jenna.”

He smiled, “Heather was just about to give her a bath when I got there. I didn’t think she would let me watch that, and she didn’t.”

“What did you do?”

“She wouldn’t let me watch her give Jenna a bath, she made me give her a bath.”

I gasped, “She let you bathe Jenna?”

He nodded, “It was so weird at first. There Jenna was in all her glory, just giggling away and I was scared shitless! I worried that I had the water too warm, then I worried I would get soap in her eyes and if that wasn’t enough, I freaked when Heather told me I had to wash Jenna everywhere.” He blushed a little when he said that. “For that one brief moment, I wished she was a boy because I know how to clean…” his voice trailed off for a moment. “But she’s not, so I had to get Heather to tell me how. And that was creepy, I felt like such a pervert.”

I chuckled, “Jordan it’s different when it’s your daughter.”

He rolled his eyes, “I know! But it was still weird.”

“So then what?”

“Well after Jenna’s bath, I dried her and got her dressed. Heather even let me rock her and read her a bedtime story.” I watched Jordan’s expression through all this; he seemed to be in awe still. “After the story, I got to put her in bed and tuck her in. She gave me kisses Anna,” his voice broke. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

I stared up at him, “Don’t know if you can do what Jordy?”

He took a deep breath, “I don’t know if I can be the daddy that Jenna deserves.”

I'm Waiting For A Friend

I wasn’t leaving anything to chance; there was no way I was going to miss being home when Jordan got home. I was determined to show him that he was still very important to me so I stayed home, not leaving once. Not even when I started to get hungry and wanted to run to the store to grab something quick. No, instead I raided my fridge and found I had the all the ingredients to make stew.

As I was chopping up the vegetables to get them ready to go in I realized that Jordan may already have eaten by the time he gets home. Would Heather feed him? How would Hank react to having him around? I started to imagine the territorial vibes that both guys would be giving off. Thank God I don’t have to deal with that, I hope Heather can handle it.

It was hard for me to think of Heather as Hank’s girlfriend when most of the time I’ve known her, she’s been Jordan’s girlfriend. Of course she didn’t start out as that, in fact when Jordan and Heather first met, he wasn’t all that interested in her because he was too busy chasing after some chick that didn’t want him.

Heather was my friend first. I know that it doesn’t make sense now because of all the dislike between us at the moment, but it’s true. We met in the grocery store of all places, I wasn’t looking where I was going and I rammed into her cart. There were no injuries and we laughed about it before going our separate ways. It wasn’t until a few weeks later when I ran into her again, without hitting her with anything, that we actually spoke and made plans to hang out.

The first night Jordan met Heather; we were all at the pub hanging out. Jordan arrived late because he was running some errand for the chick he was trying to impress. I started to harass him about being that girl’s ‘bitch’ and soon I got Heather to join in. Before long, Jordan got upset and went over to the pool tables where Nick and Amy were, to sulk.

“I don’t think he likes me,” Heather said to me, looking upset.

I just laughed it off, telling her that Jordan loved the harassment. We waited a few minutes and then we went over to join them at the pool tables. At first Jordan tried to ignore us, or at least he tried to ignore me. He would say the odd thing to Heather but she would get all nervous and stammer when she tried to say something back. “What’s wrong with that girl?” Jordan asked me later when he took me aside.

I shrugged, “Maybe you make her nervous.”

“Yeah, right!” He shook his head.

“Yeah! That’s it, she’s hot for you and you make her so nervous when you give her a little attention.”

It’s funny now that I look back on it because that was exactly what the problem was; Heather did find Jordan very attractive and was nervous.

Of course, we didn’t find that out until a couple months later when I invited her over to his house. I was supposed to meet up with her there but I got sidetracked at work. When I finally got to the house, Heather and Jordan had worked through her shyness; they were making out on his couch!

At first I was excited that they were together, Jordan seemed really happy and he was actually talking about the future. It wasn’t until Heather seemed to try to come between us that I started to wonder if she was really the one for him. I tried to talk to him about it a few times but he would tell me I was jealous. Maybe I was he was never serious about anyone else before, so I wasn’t used to sharing him.

Just like he’s not used to sharing you now, I thought as I added the vegetables to the pot. But how will that change now that Heather is back? Will Jordan try to get back with her? Will he feel like he has to because of Jenna? I didn’t know the answers to those questions but I hoped that my evening with Jordan will clear some of them up. I just wish he was home already.

Phone Calls

I didn’t know what to do, I wanted to go with Josh to his parents’ house for dinner but I didn’t want to cancel on Jordan. Since I left the school, that’s all that has been on my mind and I wasn’t getting any closer to a solution. So I did want I do every time I need help with an important decision, I called Mary.

On the third ring Zach answered the phone, “Hey sis what’s up?”

“I need to talk to Mary,” I told him. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him, I was still a little upset that he didn’t bring Hank home the other night.

“Sorry sis, she’s out for the day. Can I help you with something?”

“Nope,” I said quickly. “Bye.” I heard him call out my name as I went to hang up the phone. “What?” I asked after I brought the receiver back to my ear.

“Why are you mad at me?”

“You know damn well,” I snapped at him.

He scoffed, “Well you damn well better get over it. You knew that was going to happen when you called me, I’ve told you many times before that I would haul someone in if they’ve been driving drunk. You should understand that one.”

“I called you because you are my brother, not because you’re a cop Zach.”

“But Anna, I am a cop. I can’t change that anymore than you can change being my little sister and a pain in the ass. Now tell me what you wanted Mary for.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I needed to talk to her about something.”

“Well maybe I can help. I do know stuff you know.”

“I don’t know Zach,” I started to play with the cushion on the couch. How much could I tell him, how much should I tell him?

“Unless it’s about girl stuff, then you better wait for Mary, I can’t deal with girl stuff.” He almost sounded horrified.

I laughed, “It’s not girl stuff. Not exactly anyway, it’s got to do with boys.”

Zach breathed a sigh of relief. “Now guy stuff I can help with. I am a guy you know?” He joked before continuing. “Unless it’s about sex, and then the answer is no, never!”

“Zach! Come on be serious.” I shook my head. “Besides, I would never come to you for advice regarding sex any way. Mary is so much more realistic when it comes to the disappointments involved with that.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know my wife has no complaints in that department. She’s always satisfied.”

I groaned, “Why did I even say anything? I should know the difference by now.”

“Yes, you should.” Zach chuckled, “Now what is your boy issue?”

I told him everything that’s been going on, from the other night when Jordan found out he’s a father to this afternoon with Josh telling me to cancel my plans with Jordan. “But I don’t want to cancel with Jordan and I don’t want to disappoint Josh either. What am I going to do?”

“Doesn’t Jordan work until 6?”

“Yes, he does. But tonight, he’s hoping to see Jenna before she goes to sleep at 7. So he won’t be home until after 7.”

Zach was quiet for a moment. “You know it’s very easy to do both things. If dinner at the parents’ house is at 5 and Jordan isn’t home until after 7, you could easily go to dinner with Josh and then leave to spend time with Jordan. Of course, you’ll have to make sure his parents know you have a previous engagement so they don’t think you are rude leaving before the evening is over.”

I sighed, “I know I could do that but what if Heather doesn’t let Jordan see Jenna and he comes home before 7? I’ve already pushed him aside so many times to spend time with Josh; I don’t want to do that again.”

“You already told Josh that you weren’t going to his parents’ house?”

“Yes, I guess I did.”

“Well then I wouldn’t worry about it. Spend the evening with Jordan and catch up with Josh some other night.”

“But I don’t want him to be upset with me, he wasn’t happy when I told him no earlier.”

Zach sighed, “Anna listen to me. If Josh gets that upset over you having a life, then you need to evaluate your relationship with him. He doesn’t own you or have dibs on your time, you are in a relationship but there should be lots of space to be yourself. It’s the only way relationships work sis. If I demanded that Mary was by my side all the time, we wouldn’t be as happy as we are today. And she wouldn’t be out spending my hard earned money on a day at the spa.”

“That’s where she is?” I was jealous.

He laughed, “Yes, she was getting a little stressed so I told her to take the day for herself; she decided to go to the spa.”

“I guess that’s why she sticks around.”

“Yeah there’s that and the fact that she’s crazy about me.”

I shook my head, “Like you aren’t crazy about her.”

“Sis,” Zach’s voice was serious. “I’m head over heels in love with that woman, she’s everything to me.”

We spoke for a while longer; Zach wanted to know more about Jenna. When we finally hung up I noticed it was 4, I picked up the phone again and dialed Josh’s cell.

“Hey Josh,” I said when he answered.

“Hello Beautiful, how are you doing?” He sounded normal, he didn’t seem upset with me and that was a good thing.

“I’m good; I was just talking to Zach.”

“Oh? And how is Zach?”

“In love with his wife,” I chuckled. “So the same as always I guess.”

Josh laughed, “Yes that sounds about right for him.” I hesitated for a moment and then I asked him what he was doing. “I’m just leaving the school to head over to my parents’ house.”

“Oh, did you call your mom and tell her I wasn’t coming?”

“Yes, I did.” He chuckled, “She got mad at me.”

“What? Why?” That wasn’t what I wanted to hear, I didn’t want his mom to think I wasn’t in this relationship with Josh.

“I told her about your visit at lunch, about how I didn’t tell you about dinner and suggesting you cancel your plans,” he hesitated before continuing. “Mom started to ream me out for being insensitive and asked ‘since when do you own Anna?’ And then she ranted for a couple minutes about you needing your space and how that doesn’t mean that you don’t care about me. Then she calmed down a little and scolded me for not telling you about dinner earlier, ‘you can not assume that she will be free for when ever you call Joshua’.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing, “I’m sorry she wasn’t happy with you.”

“Honey don’t be. I needed that lecture.”

“You did?” I was surprised to say the least that he said that.

“Yes, I need someone to tell me when I’m out of line. And who better than my own mother?”

I laughed, “So you aren’t upset with me?”

“Not at all, I’m glad that you are spending some time with Jordan. He really needs a friend right now. Have fun with him and I’ll call you tomorrow to see if you’d like to do something with me.”

I was smiling when I got off the phone with him; I was glad that things worked out this time. Hopefully the next time we can fix the problems ourselves, I thought.

Welcome To The Sandwich Hour

The bell rang just as I opened the main door to walk into the building. It has been almost six years since I stepped foot on these ground, it all seemed so different now that I wasn’t a student.

I made my way down the long corridor to the common room and turned left. As I walked through the room I tried not to make eye contact with anyone but I couldn’t resist the urge to seek a peek around to see if I could see Cassie. It didn’t take long to spot her; all you had to do was look for the group with the most school jackets. She was sitting back on to me, so she didn’t see me but it helped to see her sitting there laughing with her friends.

I continued on my way towards the gym, which was just past the common room. The closer I got to it, the louder the calls and cheers from inside got. Once I stepped through those gym doors, I found that I wasn’t so upset anymore; it was weird that knowing I would see Josh in a few minutes helped make me feel better. I just hope he’s not mad I’m here.

A quick glance around the room was all it took to spot him, although I almost missed him. He was sitting halfway up one of the bleachers on the left. The reason I almost missed him was that he was among a couple students; he was talking about whatever was in the books that the kids had opened in their laps while he kept an eye on the kids playing on the floor.

Now that I could see him, I found I didn’t know if I wanted to bug him, was it really that important to have come here? I asked myself, it’s not like you won’t get to talk to him later tonight. If he sees you now, he’s only going to worry that there’s something wrong. I took one last look at him and I turned to leave.

“Aunt Anna, what are you doing here? Is everything ok?” Cassie stared up at me with concern written all over her face. Oh shit, I didn’t think she would see me.

I smiled, “Everything is fine Cass. I was…well…” I shrugged and pointed over my shoulder.

She went to look but then she stopped. “I don’t know why I need to look; you came to see Coach Baker, didn’t you?” I nodded, “Then why are you leaving so soon, the guys said you just got here. Is there something wrong Aunt Anna?”

“No,” I replied as I shook my head. “Josh is just busy; I didn’t think I should bother him after all.”

“I don’t think Coach would mind,” Cassie’s eyes flicked to something behind me. “Do you Coach?”

Josh chuckled as I half turned towards him, “Of course I don’t mind Cassie.” He smiled down at me, “hello Beautiful.”

Cassie quickly made some excuse to leave and after she was gone, Josh led me back to the bleachers where he was sitting before. All the students that were around him were now scattered throughout the bleachers, watching the guys on the court playing, so all that was left where he was sitting was a clipboard and his lunch.

“I wish I could take you into my office but I can’t leave the kids unsupervised.” He told me as we sat down. “I was kind of expecting to see you today. I looked towards the door so much; I think I was making the kids nervous.”

I watched Josh as he opened his lunch and pulled out the sandwich he had made for himself this morning along with the tomato slices he had put in a container so that they didn’t make the bread soggy. “Why were you expecting to see me?” I asked.

He spread his sandwich open to add the tomato to the lettuce, bacon and cheese that was already on the bread. Once he closed it back up, he held out half to me. “I figured you would go see what you could find out today, you did go see Jordan and Hank, right?”

“Thank you,” I took the half that he offered with a smile. “Yes, I did go see them. Jordan didn’t have much to say though; he enjoyed telling me very little too. But he is going to Heather’s after work to see if she’ll let him see Jenna before bed, so he’s happy.”

Josh nodded as he chewed on the piece it just bit off. For a brief moment, I swear I saw a little bit of jealousy in his eyes. “Is everything ok Josh?”

Again he nodded. “At first, I was worried that she wouldn’t let him see Jenna,” he told me after he swallowed what was in his mouth. “Now I’m jealous that he was able to without getting the legal system involved.”

“Thinking about Jesse?” I asked, knowing that it was a silly question.

He chuckled, “I never stop.”

I lifted my hand to his shoulder and rubbed it, “Josh I know you miss him but it won’t be much longer, he’s here this weekend, right?”

Josh leaned back against the bleacher behind him and stretched out. “Yeah, he should be here Saturday, unless Walter and Roy have some good news for me tonight when I meet with them.”

I was a little surprised at this; he didn’t mention that he was meeting with them to me before this. “Oh, I didn’t know you were meeting with them.”

He turned his head towards me, he was frowning. “Yeah, we were going over to my parents place for dinner, remember?”

I shook my head, “No Josh I don’t. You didn’t tell me and I already have plans for tonight.”

Josh sat back up, “You aren’t coming to my parents’ house for dinner?”

“No Josh, you didn’t tell me and I made plans with Jordan.”

“Well cancel them,” he told me.

“No!” I stared at him, “If you wanted me to go with you, you should’ve told me about it.” I turned away from him, “I can’t believe you would even suggest I drop everything.”

“I figured you would seeing you know how important getting my son is to me,” I felt his hand on the small of my back as he leaned in closer to me. “Anna, I thought it was important to you too.”

I looked at him; his face was so close to mine. “It is important to me Josh and so is helping Jordan.”

Josh sighed and sat back again, “Ok I’ll just call mom and tell her that you can’t make it. She’ll be disappointed though, and probably won’t understand why.”

“Look Josh, I told you I wasn’t dropping my plans with Jordan so don’t try to make me feel guilty.”

He glanced at me, “What were you doing with Jordan?”

“Something we haven’t done for a real long time, talk.”

Josh nodded, “So that’ll take the whole night?”

I sighed, “He’ll get home around 7 he said, if Heather lets him see Jenna.”

“Anna,” Josh turned back to me. “Dinner is at 5, you can still come for it, if you want. You don’t have to stick around afterwards, but I would really like you to be there with me.”

Let The Truth Set You Free

An alcoholic? I stood there frozen in place. Of all the things Hank could’ve admitted, that was the one thing that I was the least prepared for. So many thought were running through my mind, so many things I wanted to say and do but I couldn’t do anything but cling to Jenna. “You haven’t had a drink in a year?” I heard myself asking. Hank nodded. “Why did you stop?” I knew it was none of my business but I needed to know.

Heather returned to Hank’s side and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her tight before answering my question. “I was drunk when Heather went into labor, I got behind the wheel despite her objections and I drove us right into a ditch. Luckily no one was hurt and I promised Heather that I would get help.”

I could feel the room start to shift, I felt like I was about to faint but there was this voice inside my head that just kept screaming at me to yell at him, to tell him how stupid and irresponsible he was. It was also the same voice that told me that the outcome could’ve been a lot different that night; they could’ve all been killed. And Jordan would’ve never known he had a little girl.

“Anna?” I could hear Hank’s voice coming through the noise in my head. “Are you ok?” He asked me as I looked up at him.

Or I tried to look up at him but I found I couldn’t do it. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled as I held Jenna out to Heather. “I have to…” My voice trailed off as I spun around and grabbed my jacket on the way to the door.

“Anna! Wait!” Hank came up behind me; he placed his hand on the door so I couldn’t open it.

“Let me out,” I told him.

“Just tell me what’s wrong, please?”

I shook my head, “No I need to go.”

“Anna please, you are the only friend I have in this town. If I’ve upset you, please tell me.”

“Hank just let her go.” Heather called from the kitchen and I glanced at her.

So did Hank. “I just want to know what’s wrong.”

“I can tell you,” Heather said as she made her way over to us. “Anna is freaked out by the accident and the fact that you were drunk when you were driving. Isn’t that right?”

I nodded, “You could’ve killed them.”

“I know Anna, that’s why I stopped drinking. I didn’t want to hurt them or anyone else.”

“But you drove last night,” I whispered.

He dropped his hand, “I wanted help.”

I gripped the door knob and turned it, pulling the door opened. “Yeah and I only wanted my parents to come home but they didn’t; a drunk driver killed them.” His jaw dropped, I could see the look of shock in his eyes, he went to say something but I stopped him. “I can’t be around you right now Hank.” I stepped though the doorway. “I’ll call you soon but for now, I need you to stay away.”

I ran down to my car and jumped in, I was so shaken by what he said. I knew that it shouldn’t upset me this much but Zach always told me I was over dramatic.

I drove around for a while, it was only 11 and I didn’t have anywhere that I needed to be. I found myself turning down a road that I didn’t think I would be traveling that day. Making a right, I pulled into the parking lot and got out of my car.

I fought my way through the snow, through the many rows of unknown people that shared a common resting place with my parents. Just over the tiny hill, I stopped and stared at the marker ahead of me. I didn’t come here that often, I found it hurt too much to be this close to them and not have them around to hug me and tell me that things would be ok. But today I felt that I needed to see them, to be there and hopefully gain some sort of grip on the emotions that Hank stirred up when he told me what he did.

Hey mom and dad, I thought as I ran my fingers over the cold marble that displayed for the entire world to see, the personal lives of the people I missed so much. Sure it only really held their names, dates of birth and death, and the words ‘and you shall remain so full of life in the hearts of your children’.

I stood there just touching their headstone; it was like I was unable to speak. I love you two and I miss you every day. Lately things seem so complicated and I don’t know what to do. I closed my eyes and rested my head against the stone. I cried, for what seemed like forever but when I lifted my head, I felt better than I had in a long time. I have to go mom and dad, I’ll be back to visit.

While I was leaning against the stone, I felt like there was somewhere that I was supposed to be, that there was somewhere I should go. So once again, I hopped in my car and found myself heading towards another place that I didn’t think I would end up that day.

When The Cat Is Away

“She said that?” I was shocked to say the least. It was a hard place for me to be actually. I didn’t want to see Hank hurt but I knew that in the back of Jordan’s mind he has always held onto the hope that Heather would be back and they would get back together. “Did she say she was still interested in Jordan?”

Hank shook his head, “No she didn’t say it. But you didn’t see her last night when she came home. At first she was really mad that I told him about Jenna. I tried to explain that I didn’t tell him, you did when you figured it out. That only seemed to make her madder though, hearing that you had some part in it. She asked me if you two were dating, when I told her that you were dating Josh, you should’ve seen the look on her face.” He looked so hurt. “I don’t think she’s over him as much as she claims to be.”

As he was saying this, the only thought going through my mind besides, if she hurts him again, I’ll kill her, was this doesn’t make any sense. She left him, why did she leave? I wanted to ask Hank about it but I could already see that he had his own issues to deal with when it came to Heather.

“So is she at work right now?”

He shook his head, “No she’s at her parents’ house. She stormed out when I asked her if she still loved him.”

We sat there in silence for a while, I wanted to ask him so many questions but I wasn’t sure if I should. Just ask him, if he doesn’t want you to know something, he will tell you. I glanced up at him; he was leaning against the back of the couch with his eyes closed. “Not falling asleep on me, are you?” I tried to lighten the mood and managed to get a smile out of him.

“No, I’m just thinking.”

“What are you thinking about?”

He didn’t move or say anything at first; his eyes remained closed so I figured he wasn’t going to tell me anything. Finally he sighed and opened his eyes, “I’m thinking about the past couple months, how Heather’s attitude towards me has changed since we decided to move back here. At first I thought it was because she was excited about the move and unsure of how everything would go. But now I’m starting to wonder if it wasn’t her way of putting some space between us, to make it easier to break away when she thought the time was right.”

“Hank I’m sure that’s not what she was doing.”

Shrugging, he gave me a half grin. “You are just trying to make me feel better.”

I smiled, “Well yes, I don’t want you to feel like crap. Listen Hank, why don’t we get out of here and go do something? Maybe a change in scenery will cheer you up.”

“No,” He sighed. “I think I’ll just watch some TV. Wait and see if Heather is going to come home before her shift starts today.”

Folding my arms across my chest, I gave him my most stern looking look. “Listen here Mister; you aren’t going to sit around feeling sorry for yourself!” I jumped up and stood in front of him, holding out my hands. “Come on, get up.” He just laughed at me. I rolled my eyes, “I said come on!” When he didn’t move, I grabbed his hands and pulled. “One of two things is going to happen right now,” I told him as I tugged again. “You are either going to get up or I’m going to hurt myself trying to pull you up.”

“Anna, I said I didn’t want too go out.” He tried to get his hands from mine but I held tight.

“Come on Hank. If you won’t do it for you, do it for me. I have nothing to do today and I’ve decided you are going to be blessed with my presence.” I laughed, I was kidding.

“Oh really?” He lifted a brow slightly. “You don’t give up, do you?”

I shook my head, “No I’m just that annoying. Now come on!” I tugged hard on the ‘on’ and he got up. “Oh wow, I’m stronger than I – ahhh!” When he stood up, because we were so close, he smacked against me and bounced backwards. He fell onto the couch and pulled me down with him.

I tried to get off him and he tried to help me but we were laughing so hard and that made it difficult. We tried to calm down and then move but we would glance at each other and bust out laughing again.

“Oh…ok, ok.” I tried to calm myself again. “I’m going to slide off, right now.” He went to say something and I covered his mouth. “Shhhhh, I’m getting off right now.” I went to move but found I didn’t have to put much effort into it; the hand on my arm was helping a lot.

“What the hell is going on here?” Heather shrieked as she pushed me to the floor. “Keep your slutty paws off my boyfriend!”

I tried to get up and I made the mistake of looking up at Heather, just having her standing over me, with her hands on her hips was bad enough but when I saw Jenna out of the corner of my eye, standing the same way, I started laughing all over again.

Heather glared at me, “What is she doing here Hank? Why is she in my house?”

Hank glanced at me, I was rolling on the floor laughing at Jenna still, she was now staring at me with this amused look on her tiny face, she looks so much like Jordy. I held out my hand to her and she came running over. “Anna was worried about me, so she came to see if I was ok after last night.”

Heather turned to him, “Why? What happened last night?” She closed the distance between them; her hands went to his chest. “Are you ok?”

He nodded, “Anna and her boyfriend made sure I got home safely.”

Concern was written all over Heather’s face, I wasn’t sure why but that surprised me. In fact, I half expected her to start yelling at him for me being there. I was starting to wonder if Hank was telling me the truth about her or if he was up to something. “Safely? Why wouldn’t you get home safely?”

Hank turned away from her and walked out into the kitchen. “No reason,” he muttered.

Heather stood there as if she was trying to figure out what was going on. She turned to me, “Tell me what happened last night.”

I looked passed her at Hank, he was leaning against the counter watching us. “Hank showed up at work and wanted to talk. When Josh came down, he said to forget it and walked away, we went after him because he wasn’t in any shape to drive.”

When I said that Heather went white, she turned to Hank. “You were drinking?” She said it slowly, as if she didn’t believe she was asking the question. Hank just nodded and Heather ran out to him and started to punch him in the chest and arms. “You promised me you wouldn’t! You promised you quit! You lied!”

I was frozen in place, I found myself staring at them. What the hell?

It wasn’t until Jenna started to cry that I snapped out of it. “Guys!” I held Jenna close and went out in the kitchen. “Heather stop it!” I grabbed her arm and ripped her away from Hank.

“You lied to me!” Heather kept repeating over and over again.

‘Are you two crazy? You have a little girl here who doesn’t need to see this!” Jenna was holding on to me tightly. “Now what the hell is going on?”

Hank, who didn’t try to defend himself against Heather’s attack, was studying the floor tiles. “I haven’t had a drink since the night before Jenna was born.” He looked up at me, “I’m an alcoholic Anna.”

Chatting Away The Morning

I was in the middle of sitting down when Hank uttered that statement. Shocked, I missed the chair completely and fell onto the floor. “Damn it that hurt!” I laughed.

“Are you ok?” Hank had dropped the egger he had in his hand and came around to kneel beside me.

“Oh, I’m peachy. I fell on my pride, so all’s good.”

“Well, if that’s all you hurt…” Hank held out his hand to help me up.

“So? What did Josh say when you said that?”

Hank laughed, “He told me I was drunk so he was going to pretend I didn’t say that but if I put one finger on you, he would kick my ass.”

“But you wouldn’t do that, so there’s nothing to worry about.” I said confidently but when he looked away and didn’t say anything, my confidence wavered. “Hank?”

He glanced up at me and shrugged. “I’m not at stupid man Anna but I won’t deny that I think you are very pretty and from the first moment I met you, I felt I could talk to you. You know?”

I knew what he was talking about, I was surprised at how comfortable I felt around him from the first moment but I wasn’t even thinking about anyone for boyfriend material since I met up with Josh again. “Hank,” I started, not knowing what I was going to say.

“No,” he held up his hand. “You don’t need to say anything. I’m not going to make a move or anything.”

I stared at him for a moment and then said, “Bacon, sausage or ham?”

He frowned, “What?”

“Bacon, sausage or ham?” I picked up one of each of the eggers as I said the type. “What’ll it be?”

He reached for the bacon one, “That’s ok?”

I nodded, “I like the sausage ones better anyway.” When he grinned, I realized what I said. “And get your mind out of the gutter mister!”

We had a good laugh about that, maybe a little too much of a laugh. As we ate breakfast, we talked about little things, like my work. It wasn’t until he got up to throw away the remains of the garbage and asked if I wanted to move into the living room, where it was more comfortable, that we started on the subject that was on both of our minds.

“I’m sorry about the other night, at the pub. I didn’t have a good day and to see your friend there. I lost it.” He sat on one end of the couch and pulled his feet up in front of him, he reminded me of a little kid sitting like that.

“I’m more worried about you than what happened that night. It was a shock to everyone you know. Jordan didn’t know about Jenna.”

Hank nodded, “I know I asked Heather about it and she told me she lied.”

“Why would she do that?”

“She said she thought he wouldn’t care. Heather said Jordan didn’t want to be a father; he always said that it would be a mistake if he had kids.”

“Jordan might have said that, but deep down he really didn’t mean it. He loves kids Hank, he’s amazing with my nieces and nephews and he is looking forward to being an uncle for real.” I chuckled, “And you should see him now that he knows about Jenna. Just last night he -”

“Anna,” Hank cut me off. “What is your relationship with him? Are you in love with him?” I shot him a confused look and he continued. “You seem to have a lot to say about him and Heather said you were one of the main reasons they broke up.”

I shook my head, “She left town! She didn’t even have the guts to break up with him. I don’t know what her problem is with me but if she cared about Jordan at all she wouldn’t have treated him like this.” I glared at him; I could feel the anger building in me. “Jordan and I have been friends out entire lives, we know everything there is to know about each other and we are always there for each other. I never once did anything to jeopardize his relationship with her, in fact I stepped back as much as I could so that I wouldn’t be ‘in the way’. She’s the one who would come to me for advice on how to handle something with him, she’s the one who would ask me to come along on some of their ‘dates’.” I took a deep breath and sighed. “I know you love her and you think she’s great but she’s lied to you, and she lets everyone in her family treat you like crap. Sounds like a real winner if you ask me.” I pushed myself off the couch and stood not knowing where I was going to go but I knew I couldn’t sit there right now.

“Hey,” Hank jumped up. “I didn’t mean to upset you, I was just asking.” He tried to get me to sit down again and finally I gave in. “I don’t know what I should tell you or ask, I don’t want to upset you.”

Closing my eyes, I sighed. “Hank, I’m a little too close to Jordan not to feel anger towards Heather right now. She denied him his daughter for almost a year. He didn’t do anything to deserve that and she didn’t seem to care.” Shifting in his spot Hank looked uncomfortable, “Is there something wrong?”

Shrugging, he looked away. “I didn’t want to move here, I knew her parents didn’t like me and they wanted her to get in contact with her,” he paused and looked at me. “I might as well call him by name now that I know it. They wanted her to call him. I know that they are now hoping that they get back together.”

“And what does Heather say about that?”

Hank scooted down the couch towards me, “I believe it won’t be long before I’m a single guy in a town with no friends.”