Lunch Viewing

Cheryl told me she’d see me in the lunchroom before she disappeared again. A minute later, I finished with the order and as I stood up, I called out to Linda. “I’m going for lunch.” She came around the corner as I dropped my gun and printer on the horseshoe counter.

“No problem,” she told me after I gave her a couple things I wished for her to do while I was on lunch. “Enjoy,” she called after me.

I planned on it. I had leftover pork steak, mang and potato in my lunch.

But as we all know, sometimes life has other plans for you.

I was walking along by the car/booster seat displays, making a list in my head of the seats I would need to stock when I got back from lunch when I came up solid against someone.

Lifting my head, I opened my mouth to apologize for not watching where I was going but that’s not what came out of me at all.

“What are you doing here?”

Before the words were out of my mouth, his hands curled around my hips. “Hey,” he smiled as he tugged me towards his hard body. “You look good enough to eat.” Lowering his head, he buried his face in the crook of my neck.

“Jordy!” I couldn’t help but chuckle as he nibbled. “Not here.”

“No?” He lifted his head, his lips brushing against my ear. “Wanna go in the backroom and make out?”

Behind me, I heard Linda laugh. When Jordan lifted his head further, she came over to us. “I take it you are Jordan?” She glanced at me and then said, “Well you better be him or Anna’s got some explaining to do!”

Chuckling, Jordan slipped a hand from around me to take Linda’s outstretched hand. “Yes, I’m Jordan and you must be Linda – Anna never stops talking about you and Sara – she thinks you two hung the moon.”

Linda’s cheeks took on a bright shade of red. Through her embarrassed stammering, she told us that she had work to do. “It was nice meeting you Jordan.” As she turned away she told Jordan that she had never seen me as happy as I have been since we started to date. “Enjoy your lunch Anna,” she threw over her shoulder.

“Lunch?” Jordan raised a brow as he slid his hand up and down my back. “Is it my lucky day?”

“No,” I shook my head, taking his hand in mine, I led him out of the department. “It’s my lucky day, you never get have lunch the same time as me. How did I get so lucky?”

He grinned. “You told me you loved me?”

“Yeah,” I flashed him a grin of my own. “I admitted to being crazy.”

“Ha!” His hand tightened around mine but he didn’t say anything else, he just smiled.

When we got to the doors leading into the back, I told him that I would just be a minute, “The girls are waiting for me, I have to tell them that I can’t join them for lunch.”

He kissed my cheek. “Hurry Babe.”

In the lunch room the girls were disappointed when I told them that I couldn’t have lunch with them, until I told them that Jordan was the reason I was skipping. “Oh,” Cheryl stood up, saying she was done lunch.

“No way,” I laughed. “You guys leave him alone!”

“We just want to meet him.” She disappeared out the door, followed closely by Jamie. “Take your time!”

“Yeah, right!” I hurried into the locker room to grab my phone and wallet.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” I heard Cheryl say as I neared the double swinging doors. “You and your daughter are all Anna ever talks about –”

“Yes,” Jamie cut in with a chuckle. “All she ever talks about. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard the story of how you and Anna started dating.”

It was Cheryl’s turn to cut in. “We can’t tell you how happy we were to hear – I don’t think I’ve ever seen Anna as happy as she been in the last couple month.” Peeking through the small window, I saw Cheryl reach out and squeeze Jordan’s shoulder. “You have been so good for her.”

Jordan shook his head as he shrugged her hand off. “It has nothing to do with me.” They started to protest but he wouldn’t hear it. “The Anna I’ve known all my life has always been happy – when she stops trying to be what everyone wants her to be, that is.” He went on to tell them that I was his best friend and it was the best day of his life when he overheard me talking out my feelings with Jenna. “Anna made me the happiest man in the world that day.”

No one had a chance to make a comment about his statement; I came out from the back. “Ready?” He asked me as he held out his hand for mine. Slipping my hand into his, I told the girls I would see them in an hour.

****

“Well, that was a waste of time.” Jordan helped me up into the passenger seat of his truck. “I was hoping, when Wanda called to let me know she had a new house to show us, that it would be something to look forward to but –” He shook his head. “I think that one the worst out of them all so far.”

Agreeing, I let out a huge sigh.

“Oh don’t worry Babe, we’ll find something. Something great, I just know it.”

“Yeah,” I flashed him a weary smile. “But if the sale of your house goes through first –“

“Then we won’t have to worry about where the money comes from,” he joked.

“Not funny,” I told him. “Seriously. What will you do if the sale of your house goes through before we find something?”

He shrugged, closing my door before rushing around to his side. When he was seated comfortably, he told me that he hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Mom told me I could stay there but…” he screwed up his face. “I really don’t want to go back there – moving home just isn’t in my plans – even if it’s only temporarily.”

“You could –“

Jordan raised a brow. “Don’t you think there are enough people living at your brother’s house?”

Lowering my head, I told him I just thought that it would be a better option than going home. “We would be together.”

“Babe, you know I would love to say yes to that but I don’t think I could bring myself to ask your brother if I could stay there.”

“But he wouldn’t mind,” I insisted. “Jordy you know Zach would do anything he could to help us out.”

“I know.” He slipped his key into the ignition. “But, you know me, I don’t –“

“Want to owe anyone,” I finished for him.

He nodded. “I know you don’t understand it Babe but ­–”

“You’ve been on your own for so long.”

He laughed. “You think you know everything, don’t you Sweetheart.”

“Yes,” I grinned confidently. “That’s the best thing about dating your best friend -“

“There isn’t much we don’t know about each other?” He cut in, smiling. “See? I can do it too Babe.”

Shaking my head slightly, I gazed at him. “You know, despite you being a pain in the ass - most of the time - I can’t help loving you.”

His reply? “I can’t help loving you too Babe.”

****

Later that night, as we spooned after making love, Jordan asked me to turn towards him. “I’ve been thinking.” He said as I moved.

“Oh?” I glanced towards the window. “It’s going to storm really bad now,” I joked.

“Ha, ha!” He pulled me into his arms once again. “I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday and ­–“

“You’ve been thinking about holding me?”

“Well…yeah….” He kissed my forehead. “But that’s not the thought I was talking about…”

Raising a brow, I stared up at him. “What were you thinking?”

“I think…” he took a deep breath. “I know you say you don’t need too, but I think you should have that conversation with Josh.”

“What?” I pushed away from him. “No, I don’t have anything to say to him.”

“Anna…”

“No Jordan,” I sat up. “You know he doesn’t want to have a real conversation, he just wants to tell me that he believes he loves me still and that he would stop at nothing until we are back together and no! I don’t want that at all!”

“Calm down,” he said softly as he sat up. “I know you don’t want him back but Babe, if you leave this, he’ll make your time on the show, hell.” He stroked my arm gently. “I don’t want anything to upset you right now.”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t expect him to want me to talk to Josh at all. “I – I…” I stammered.

“You don’t have too Anna but I think it would be good for you if you deal with him now.”

I watched him as he fell back against his mattress. “What if I don’t want to talk to him at all?”

“Then you don’t have too,” he smiled at me. “It was just a suggestion Babe.”

“Ok.” I moved to my favourite position – curled up next to him. “I’ll think about it.”

I didn’t want to do it but I knew Jordan had a point; I had to stop Josh from trying to go any further with his little ‘I still love you’ admission. “Jordy?”

“Hmm?” He turned his head my way but his eyes remained closed. “What is it Anna?”

“I’ll do it. I’ll go see Josh tomorrow to deal with this.”