Dropping The Bombs

“Have a seat,” Jordan motioned towards the couch as he guided me to the armchair. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

While Zach and I told him we were good, Mary gazed up at him in an almost wishful fashion as she asked him, “Were my eyes deceiving me, or do you really have Nestle Quik on your kitchen counter?”

“The syrup stuff?” He asked while making his way over to the kitchen’s entrance to check. “Yes,” he smiled. “We have both chocolate and strawberry – did you want one?”

“Yes!” Mary exclaimed with child-like excitement as she slapped her hands together in glee. “Both, please.” Her eyes lit up, “Oh! Do you have ice cream?” She went on to tell us how ‘yummy’ a chocolate/strawberry syrup milkshake would be. “Of course,” she sighed. “It would be better with chocolate chips and real strawberries in there as well….mmmmmm.”

“Do you really think all that sugar is…?”

Mary cut Zach off with just one look.

“Last night you said you couldn’t sleep because of all the sugar you ate…” He shrugged. “Have what you want.”

Jordan, who had been hovering in the doorway of the kitchen, took that as a sign to go ahead and make the shake for Mary. Ten minutes later, Jordan entered the living room with two large glasses full to the rim with milkshake.

“Looked really good,” he whispered to me as he lowered himself down onto the floor in front of my armchair and proceeded to take a mouthful of the shake before offering his glass to me. “Want some?”

Although I had to admit that the shake looked good, I wasn’t feeling that hot, I felt bloated and a little cranky. With a hand pressed gently against my stomach, I told him no. “But,” I turned my attention to my surly brother and his ice cream giddy wife. “I would like to know what brought you two here tonight? Were you in town for dinner or something?”

Mary shook her head as Zach said ‘no’.

“Worried I was corrupting your sister?” Jordan joked before adding. “She’s the corruptor, just so you know.”

“Whatever!”

Tilting his head back, he gave me one of his oh-so-sexy, extremely danger to my composure, grins. “You know it’s true Babe, you’ve turned my world upside down since the moment I met you.”

I was incapable of saying anything, his grin combined with his touching words tugged at my heart and he knew it. Normally it would bug me if a guy knew this but, like most things, I’ve been coming to realize I didn’t mind Jordan knowing anything about me. In fact, it made me feel all the more secure and happy in our relationship.

“That’s so sweet!” Mary gushed before slapping Zach on the leg and demanding to know why he never said stuff like that to her anymore.

“When do I get the chance?” Zach asked softly. “You shove me away whenever I try.”

“I wasn’t talking sex!” She hissed.

“Neither was I,” he replied. With a sigh he sunk back into the cushions on the couch, his eyes never once leaving Mary’s. “My life would be nothing without you, you know that.”

Silence settled around the living room. Zach and Mary sat locked in a staring contest of sorts while Jordan seemed oblivious to what was going on as he happily ate his shake. I, on the other hand, wanted to say something – anything – to make things right between my brother and his wife. But what could I say?

In the end, I would remain silent but it didn’t matter, Mary had it all under control. “Shake?” She moved her straw aside to stir the shake with the spoon Jordan provided for her before offering her glass to Zach.

At first he was hesitant, the look on his face wasn’t one of a man who wished to subject himself to a taste test, although, moments later he took a deep breath and the spoonful of shake Mary offered him. “Mmmm,” he nodded a fake smile on his face but he turned his head sideway, and cringed as he swallowed.

“Want more?” Mary asked eagerly.

“No, no.” Zach waved his hand. “Go ahead; I wouldn’t want to take from you and the baby.”

Mary didn’t argue, she shrugged and continued slurping back the shake. “Tell them why we are here.”

****

The pain I had felt earlier was exactly what I feared it would be and like every other time my period came, it hurt. Curled up in the fetal position on Jordan’s bed, I was waiting for him to finish his shower and join me. It had been an eventful day and Zach’s arrival at Jordan’s house that night proved to be the icing on the cake.

Movement on the bed behind me, alerted me to Jordan’s presence moments before his arm draped around my waist and his mouth pressed against my shoulder. “Hey Babe,” he murmured. “You know all this talk of….”

Frowning, I glanced over my shoulder to where he lay frozen with his hand covering mine as it rested on my belly. “Jordy?”

“No, no, no…” He shook his head, his fingers tapping on my hand. “Please tell me….”

“Tell you what?” I turned his way.

“Hand…belly….” He muttered ‘no, no, no’ again.

“Jor-“

“Damnit!” He cursed. “I’m too late, there’s no love for me tonight.”

Despite the sadness in his voice, I chuckled. “Sorry Babe, I can’t help it.”

“I know,” he sighed as he rolled away. “Mother Nature is a bitch some times.”

Laughing, I told him he could’ve had some loving the night before, “But you missed out.” Playing with the blankets I told him he shouldn’t have been so pissy.

“Pissy?” He scoffed and slipped out of bed.

“Jordan?” I called after him but he walked out of the bedroom without looking back.

If I wasn’t in so much pain, I would’ve been kicking myself in the ass but as it was, the mental ass kicking I was giving myself was almost as bad as the real thing. How could I have been so stupid? I wanted to know. Why did I have to bring up the night before? What did I think he would do? Laugh it off and tell me I was right, he was being an ass.

No, I lectured myself. You were the one being an ass.

Either way, it didn’t matter, Jordan was upset with me, once again and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I started to feel that I was destroying everything I held dear when the bed shifted under Jordan’s weight.

I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until something very warm brushed against my hand. “I’m sorry,” I blurted out as he leaned in over me.

“You don’t have to be sorry Anna,” he replied as he lifted my hand from my belly, pressed a hot water bottle against it and settled down behind me. “I knew it was going to happen soon, I just hoped I would have another night, that’s all.”

A single tear drop rolled from my eye. “You aren’t mad at me for what I said?”

“What?” He kissed my shoulder. “The pissy comment?” I nodded and he chuckled. “No Anna, I’m not mad about that. I’m angrier with myself than anything else right now.”

“Well, that’s –“

“Unless,” he cut me off. “You count Heather. I’m furious with her at the moment.”

“What??” I tried to turn towards him but he held me tight. “Why? You didn’t even speak to her tonight, did you?”

“No,” He admitted. “I was too pissed off after last night’s conversation to talk to her tonight.”
Once again, I asked him why. “What did she say Jordy?”

With a sigh, he told me that he believed it was time for him to find a lawyer. “I really didn’t want to do that but…” He groaned. “I may have to.”

It took little prompting for Jordan to tell me that Heather told him the night before that she would be home on Thursday so she would be picking up Jenna. “I told her that was fine, I knew she missed Jenna. I jokingly told her that it would be difficult for me to let her take Jenna but at least it wouldn’t be for too long, I would be picking her up on Friday at my normal time.”

“Right,” I nodded when he paused. “So what was the problem?”

“She told me that Jenna wasn’t going to come over this weekend because she wanted to spend time with her. I mentioned that it was my time, like we agreed months ago but she told me it was too bad because I had her all this time while they were visiting Hank’s family.” As he spoke, he became irate. “It’s not my fault Hank had to go home and they didn’t take Jenna. I told her this and she told me that she didn’t have to let me see Jenna at all!”

“What?” I managed to turn this time. “What is that supposed to mean? She would try to keep Jenna from you? That’s not right.”

“I know!” He exclaimed. “I’m her daddy and I have rights! I told Heather this but she said that my rights are whatever she says they are and she is keeping Jenna until next Friday – if she lets me take her then!”

I was too shocked to even speak.

“I told her she was wrong, she didn’t have the right to tell me when I could and couldn’t see my daughter because I have rights, damnit!” He went on to tell me that Heather started to freak out on him and somehow she brought up that if he wanted to see Jenna again he would shut up or the only way he would see her is in court. His whole body shook as he told me that Heather screamed Hank was a better daddy for Jenna and she would see to it that he never saw her again if that’s the way he wanted to be.

“I don’t want to go through a custody battle Anna, I just want to see my daughter but I’m afraid that won’t happen if I let Heather pick her up tomorrow.”

Completely blown away, that’s how I felt. I tried to make sense of everything he was saying but nothing seemed to come together. I didn’t understand how Heather could’ve done a complete turn around when it came to Jordan and Jenna, she seemed happy that they were spending time together. I asked if she said anything else but he shook his head. “She just told me to have her ready tomorrow.”

“What are you going to do?”

He sighed. “What choice do I have, really? Heather is Jenna’s legal guardian and I don’t have anything.”

“Are you going to change that?”

“I didn’t want to drag Jenna through that.”

“But?”

“But I have no choice, if Heather tries to keep me from my daughter, I’ll fight her every step of the way. I will not miss a second more than I already have. I can’t, I love her too much to let her go.”

An uneasy silence settled over the bedroom as Jordan and I drifted off into our own thoughts. I was outraged for all the hurt that Heather managed to cause Jordan with just one simple phone call. All I could think was that she wasn’t going to get away with it, Jordan wouldn’t lose his little girl, not if I could help it. I went to tell him I would be there for him, no matter what when he broke the silence.

“I can’t believe your brother didn’t tell you about your inheritance before.”

“What?” I stared at him. “Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I was just thinking about character witnesses – people who could attest to me being a great daddy. Zach, having known me all my life and being a respectable member of society, would be a great character witness. Well, that got me thinking about why they were here tonight.” He gazed at me. “I can’t believe your brother kept your inheritance from you.”

Neither could I. When Zach handed me a bank cheque for $50,000 I told him there was no way I was taking his money. “We can do this on our own,” I insisted.

“I know,” he had replied. “But this money isn’t from me, it’s from your part of the money mom and dad left us.”

I gasped, “Mom and dad?” Glancing at Jordan, I couldn’t believe it. “How…?”

“They had insurance,” he told me. “Plus the money from the civil suit filed against the driver that killed them.” He ran a hand over his face and told me it wasn’t all the money. “There is still a little in trust for you for when you turn 25.”

“How much is a little?” Jordan asked as he drew the straw into his mouth.

“$250,000,” Zach stated.

“$250,000?” Jordan squeaked as his mouthful of shake went down the wrong way.

Zach nodded solemnly. “Yes.”

“Then…?” I motioned towards the cheque, not really sure what I was asking.

“I knew you had the money for your house, I just thought you might need a little something for minor reno or many even decorating.” He grinned. “I know how you love to decorate Anna.”

Time

The week after we went house hunting, Jordan decided that he would take the time off work so he can pack and clean his old house. “It’s time to get serious and move out of here,” he told me Monday night when I came home from work. “I’m so tired of living here now.” With a chuckle, he told me that he was too impatient to move onto our new life together.

I’m not exactly sure what he was doing during the day, but when I came home the first couple nights, it didn’t appear that he had really done too much to pack or clean. When I brought it up with him, he became upset and told me that I was being too judgemental. “I’ve been doing a lot,” he told me in a huff before stomping down the hallway with Jenna in his arms.

That night, in bed, was a lonely one. Despite the fact that he was next to me, it was like he was some where else. For the first time since I can remember, he didn’t make a move to hold me. I tried to talk to him, to see what was going on in his head but he refused to even acknowledge my presence.

In the early morning hours, I managed to fall asleep but was soon disrupted by my alarm going off. Crawling out of bed, I noticed Jordan wasn’t next to me. Neither was he anywhere else in the house. I left for work on Wednesday morning, wondering what I said that pissed him off so much that he would be up and gone when he didn’t have to be anywhere.

****

All day long, at work, my thoughts were weren’t where they needed to be. For the first time since I started working at the store, I didn’t really wish to be there and I tried my hardest to avoid customers. “What’s going on with you?” Linda demanded when she found me hiding in the horseshoe.

“I’m just having a bad day,” I tried to push off anymore of her questions but she wasn’t about to let it go.

“Anna, I’ve never known you to hide from customers. They’ve always seemed to be the highlight of your day. What’s going on?”

Staring down at my nails, I sighed. “Jordan and I had a fight – I think.”

“You think?” She sounded puzzled. “How can you not know?”

At her coaxing, I told her of the events that took place the night before and how he was gone when I woke up. “I don’t know what happened, I wasn’t being judgemental. I just asked how his day went and how much he got done.”

Linda was silent for so long, I thought for sure she was trying to think of a diplomatic way to tell me that I was the one in the wrong. I was so sure she was going to tell me that I overreacted and I should apologize to him – it was something I had been told for so many years, what else would I expect to be told?

“Anna,” she knelt down before me. “I don’t know what to tell you, I wish I did.”

Sighing, I told her I understood. “I just don’t want to do anything to ruin what Jordan and I have. I love him so much; I can’t imagine being without…” I trailed off as I realized what I was saying and who I was saying it to. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok,” she flashed me a smile but I knew she was thinking of her dead husband. “It’s difficult to lose the man you love with all your heart,” she admitted. “Although, I don’t believe Jordan is lost to you Anna.”

“No, he’s not.”

“You will talk this out with him Anna. You’ll see that everything will be fine.”

“Yes,” I smiled. “Everything will be ok.”

“Good.” She patted my knee and stood. “I can’t have you falling to pieces when I’m gone – who would take care of you then?”

I didn’t want to think of Friday and Linda’s last day as one of my associates. “I’m going to miss you greatly,” I told her. “Are you sure you wish to leave us?”

“Yes,” she smiled. “My youngest is very excited that we’ll get to spend the days together at ‘school’.”

Even though I was sad that Linda was leaving, I understood her excitement about moving in on to something she had been working on for the last few years, being a child care worker. “I just can’t believe you’d leave all this,” I motioned around with a chuckle. “To go play with kids all day long.”

“Not just play,” she reminded me. “Teach them as well.”

I may have appeared to not want her to go but in actual fact, I envied her. She would get to spend so much more time with her youngest son now, instead of feeling guilty that she wasn’t around for him like she had been for his two older brothers.

****

After work, I just wanted to run home to talk to Jordan but, since it was Wednesday, I had to head over to the high school to supervise for the play. Before I made my way to the school though, I stopped by Jordan’s parents place to see if Jordan had dropped off Jenna and if I needed to pick her up.

“Anna?” Harriet seemed surprised to see me when she came to the door. “What are you doing here?”

I told her I wasn’t sure if Jordan dropped Jenna off with them this morning. “I thought I would stop by and see if I needed to pick her up.”

With a shake of her head, she told me that he did drop her off but already came back to pick her up. “You just missed him,” she informed me. “He came by about 10 minutes ago to get her.”

“Oh,” I tried not to seem too disappointed. “Sorry to have bothered you,” I mumbled as I turned to leave.

Once in my car, I tried to call Jordan but like the couple times I tried him earlier, my calls went directly to voice mail. “Hey Jordy, I just called to remind you that I’ll be at the school for a couple hours. I wouldn’t want you to worry when I didn’t come home. I’ll see you around 5:30. Love you.”

****

“See you later Anna!”

Glancing up from my notes, I smiled and waved at the last group of kids, besides my nieces, to leave. “Great job today,” I called after them. “See you all on Friday!”

When the door closed behind them, I sighed and decided it was time for me to get a move on as well. Gathering all my stuff together, I stood and made my way over to the stage where Cassie and Lindsay were seated with their homework spread out in front of them. “Why don’t you call your dad and tell him I’ll bring you home?”

“Dad wont’ be too long,” Cassie assured me. “Besides, I’m sure you have plans with Uncle Jordy. You know, with the moving and everything.”

“Yeah,” Lindsay jumped in. “Go home, relax and don’t worry about us.” Casting a glance across the stage, towards the back, she told me that Josh promised their dad that he would wait with them until he showed up. “I’m sure dad just has to finish up at work, he shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“Ok.” Hiking my bag up my shoulder, I told them I would see them later. “Tell your dad I’ll call him later, ok?”

The girls nodded but their attention had shifted from me and back to their books. “Have a good night,” I said to them as I turned to leave.

I was brushing a small amount of snow from my car when the double doors of the theatre opened. “Hey!” Josh exclaimed as he hurried over to me. “I was hoping I didn’t miss you.”

“You almost did,” I motioned to my car. “Had to let her warm up a little, other wise you would’ve.”

He made some comment about being happy it was cold. “I was hoping to talk to you.”

“Oh?” I raised a brow. “About what?”

“About…” He trailed off as he gave me a puzzled look. “About the house, of course!” He laughed. “I was talking to Zach yesterday and he told me that this weekend was successful for Jordan and you. I just wanted to know if you liked the house or not?”

“Well, you should’ve been here on Monday,“ I teased. “Then you would’ve heard all about it! The kids somehow found out and it was all they wanted to talk about!”

“Oh come on,” he groaned. “You know I had an appointment Monday, I would’ve been here if I could.” His appointment was with his lawyer, he didn’t really tell me too much about it and I didn’t ask. “So tell me now.”

“We found a house,” I told him.

“That’s it?” His smile disappeared. “You aren’t going to tell me which one? Or if you even liked the house I told you about?”

Before I answered, I took a second to knock the snow off my snowbrush and toss it into the back seat. “Jordan and I really like the house you told me about Josh.”

“Yeah?” His grin was back in full force. “I knew you would like it.” He looked so pleased with himself that it made me wonder why it mattered so much to him, so I asked him.

“Why?” He shrugged. “No reason really, I just heard about it and you were the first person that jumped to mind.” His eyes narrowed, “Why? Did you think I had an ulterior motive?”

“No!” I exclaimed. “I didn’t.” But Jordan did, I thought. In fact, Jordan almost refused to even look at the house Josh told me about because he said that he wouldn’t feel ‘right’ in the house.

“Good, because I didn’t.”

“Good,” I grinned. “Because Jordan and I loved that house so much – we put an offer in on it!” I was so excited; I threw my arms out and hugged him tight. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was just what we were looking for! Just walking through the rooms I could see us there. Jenna also loved the house; she even picked out her own room!”

“That’s wonderful!” He squeezed me tight. “Really wonderful.”

****

When I pulled into the drive that night, I sat in my car for a few minutes, just listening to the radio and thinking. I guess, to be honest, I was bracing myself for a huge fight with Jordan because I knew that I wasn’t about to go another minute with him not speaking to me. I wasn’t naive enough to think that Jordan and I were immune to arguing because we’ve known each other for so long but, to be honest, it worried me that we have had little arguments more and more in the last couple months; I was afraid that it was a sign that, even though we were great as friends, being more wasn’t in the stars for us.

“Don’t be silly,” I said aloud. “Don’t over think this or you’ll end up seeing things that aren’t there.”

Gaining some confidence, I quickly shut off my car and hurried into the house, ready to face whatever it was I came across when I got in there. I hoped that Jordan would be in a good enough mood to at least speak to me but I was prepared to have to work for it. I was willing to work for it.

“Ahh-naa-naa!” I was in the middle of hanging up my jacket when Jenna came barrelling out into the porch, throwing herself at me with such force I never expected from her.

“Hey Jenna.” Scooping to swing her up in my arms, I stepped over the boots scattered over the floor and moved into the kitchen. “How have you been Sweetie?” Nuzzling her neck, I told her I missed her so much today. “And so did the rest of the kids at school.”

Jenna pointed towards the table where paper and crayons were spread out. “Oh! You were drawing?” As I scanned the multi colour papers on the table, I tried really hard not to stare at Jordan who was busy around the stove. Jenna wiggled to get down, so I placed her on her chair and she immediately picked up a blue crayon.

With Jenna settled down, drawing a picture, I finally turned my attention to her daddy. “You know,” I started as I made my way in his direction. “If she keeps drawing at this pace, you’ll have to get another fridge.”

Jordan nodded slightly and then paused, “Huh?” He shot me a confused glance over his shoulder.

Shaking my head, I told him it was nothing.

“Oh ok,” he turned back to the pots on the stove and stirred the contents of one with a wooden spoon.

“So?” I glanced around. “How was your day?”

“Good,” he replied as he moved from the stove to grab a large metal spoon from the cutlery drawer.

“That’s good to hear.” I started to ask him how Jenna was for him when he sighed. “Jordan what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” he stated as he turned towards me with one hand holding out the metal spoon and the other one cupped under it. “Taste this and tell me if it seems right to you – it seems to be missing something but I don’t know what.”

For a minute I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. I guess his response surprised me since I was talking about his mood and he was talking about the meat sauce he was apparently working on for supper. “You think there’s something wrong with the sauce?” I asked slowly.

“Yeah,” he gave me a funny look. “That’s what we were talking about…wasn’t it?”

“Well…” I was going to tell him no but I decided to leave it for now. “Sauce, right.” I leaned forward and accepted the sauce that he held out for me. “It doesn’t seem to be missing anything to me.”

“No?” He frowned and took another sample for himself. “Maybe I’m just off tonight.” He shrugged and tossed the spoon into the sink before reaching for me. “I made supper,” he told me as he pulled me close.

“I know,” I chuckled. “I could smell it when I walked in the door.”

“It’s ready,” he said in between the little kisses he pressed against my neck.

“Good, we just have to tell Jenna it’s time to put away her drawings.”
“What?” Jordan’s head snapped towards the table. With a chuckle, he told me that he was going to have to buy another fridge at the rate she was drawing.

****

7:30 that night, Jordan poked his head into the living room. “Anna, we are ready for you.”

“Yeah?” I immediately dropped the book I was reading and hurried down the hall after him, excited for what was to come.

When I arrived at Jenna’s bedroom door, Jordan was just settling down on one of the two bean bag chairs with Jenna’s favourite bedtime storybook and Jenna was waiting to crawl onto his lap. By the time I crossed the room they were both patiently waiting for me to lower myself onto the second bean bag so that he could start the story.

“Ahh-naa-naa, shhhh!” Jenna held a finger up to her mouth as Jordan spread the book open.

Laughing, Jordan told me that, during story time, he was the only one allowed to talk. “Ok,” he glanced down at Jenna. “Are you ready for your story?”

Her little eyes widened and she nodded so enthusiastically, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Good,” Jordan grinned. “Then let’s get started.”

As he began to read Jenna a story she has heard many, many times before I couldn’t help but feel elated that they had given me the chance to be a part of this moment. Every single night up to that point, Jordan and Jenna did their own little night time routine and I was never a part of it. The only thing I did was wait for them to come out of the bathroom to get my good night kiss from Jenna before Jordan took her into her room to read a story to her. I never complained though and I didn’t feel left out because I knew that they needed to bond and father and daughter. Plus, I had time with Jenna while Jordan was working.

I had no idea why they decided that night that I would be a part of story time, all I knew was that Jenna, instead of just giving me a kiss good night, asked me to ‘come for story’.

But I do know that Jenna had to be the luckiest little girl in the world because her daddy was the most amazing story teller ever. I swear that I was dreaming of prince charming and castles as he told the story. And, like Jenna, I didn’t really want him to ever stop reading.

Jordan ended up reading two books to us before Jenna was sleepy enough to put her in her bed for the night. “Night J-Roll,” he whispered as he leaned over to kiss her cheek.

****

Jordan and I were cleaning out the closet in the porch when someone came knocking on the front door. “Are you expecting anyone?” He asked as he climbed off his step stool and made the two steps it took to reach the door. I was shaking my head when he opened the door to see Zach and Mary standing on the front step. “Hey!” He grinned. “This is a surprise! What are you two doing here?” He peered around them and asked if the girls were with them.
“No,” Zach replied. “We left the girls at home – can we come in?”

“Sure, sure.” Jordan moved back and held the door open for them, repeating once again how much of a surprise it was to see them.

“Yeah, sorry for just showing up,” Zach glanced around the room and motioned towards the kitchen. “Do you think we could move into kitchen or living room? I need to talk to you both and Mary really needs to sit down.”

Mary shot Zach a dirty look. “I’ve been sitting all evening!”

“But you were running around all day,” Zach stated.

“Oh for the love of…” Mary rolled her eyes and shook her head before turning my way. “You’d think your brother has never been around a pregnant woman the way he’s acting lately.”

Zach turned to me as well. “And you’d think Mary has never dealt with me being overprotective before, the way she’s acting now.”

“Let’s go into the living room,” I suggested, trying hard not to laugh at the two of them.

Let's Play A Game

“I can’t believe it!” Zach slapped his fork down on the table, startling everyone seated around the table.

“What’s wrong?” Mary frowned as she stared at him. “Is it dinner?”

“No, of course not,” Zach replied as he shook his head. “Them!” He pointed, accusingly towards Jordan and me. “I can’t believe them!”

“What?” Jordan shot me a quick ‘wtf’ glance. “What did we do?”

Beside me, Chad chuckled. “Go ahead Zach, don’t hold back, tell them what you think.”

“About what?” Jordan was utterly confused – a feeling I completely understood at the moment.

Sitting back in his chair, Zack crossed his arms over his chest and seemed to go into ‘cop’ mode as his gaze locked onto us. “Both of you, your whole lives, we never could get you to keep quiet and now – the one time we want to know what’s going on – it’s like a damn cat got your tongue!”

“I’m sorry….?” Jordan spoke slowly and still seemed to be confused.

“It’s ok,” I slipped my hand over Jordan’s knee as I leaned forward to stare my brother down. “I don’t recall anyone asking how the house hunting was going.” I was purposely bratty and even stuck my tongue out at him.

“I just assumed they didn’t find anything suitable,” Susan piped up with a shrug. “Otherwise, Anna would’ve talked our ears off already.”

“We did find something,” Jordan beamed as his hand slipped over mine under the table. His eyes seemed to light up even more when he told them that we found the perfect house. “I can not wait to move in!”

“For the love of….” Zach groaned as he glanced upwards and mumbled something that sounded like he was asking why he even bothered.

“Oh Zach…” Mary shook her head and rolled her eyes before asking Jordan to tell them more about the houses we viewed. “There were three of them, right?” Suddenly, she seemed to be more excited than normal about the whole thing. “Oh. Oh. OH!” She bounced excitedly in her chair. “Do it like they do on tv!”

Across the table, my nieces seemed to groan in unison but Lindsay was the only one who spoke. “Mom, this isn’t HGTV.”

Mary’s smile faltered a little as she told Lindsay that she knew that. “But that doesn’t mean Anna or Jordy can’t humour me.” There was a moment where she seemed like she was uncomfortable and she did lean back in her chair to rub her belly but it was over before Zach could even react. “Tell me what they looked like – all the pros and cons – I want to see if I guess which one you picked.”

Even though we were a little hesitant and no one else seemed to share Mary’s excitement, despite wanting to know, Zach insisted that we all head into the living room to ‘get comfortable’. Mary started to protest but he wouldn’t listen. “You haven’t stopped since you’ve come back from your mom’s and, knowing you, you didn’t stop while you were there either. I want you to head into the living room, put your feet up and relax.”

****

“I don’t know what you want us to tell you Mary.” I was becoming more and more frustrated with every minute that passed. My whole family cleared out of the dining room almost an hour before to relax in the living room and in that time, Jordan and I tried to tell everyone how our house hunting went but Mary kept interrupting, asking us to explain it more like the TV show she apparently was hooked on.

“Just walk us through the main points of each house - number of rooms, where they were located, size – you know. Then, when you told us the basics, we’ll review the pros and cons and then you’ll let me guess which one you picked.” She seemed so excited about whole idea but everyone else appeared to wish they were elsewhere.

I glanced at Zach; he shrugged and motioned for me to go along with her. “Ok,” I said slowly as I tried to gather my thoughts and present the first house – again – in a way that would make her happy. “The first house, the one that we found while scoping out the one Josh told me about, was a 5 bedroom, 2 bath, 1120 sqft bungalow built in the 70s.”

Pausing briefly, I smiled at Jordy as his hand closed over mine. “It needs some work,” I admitted. “The outside doesn’t look like it’s changed much since it was built besides new coats of paint over the years.”

“But,” Jordan jumped in. “It seemed to be in good repair.”

“Yeah,” I smiled. “Besides needing an update out front, it appeared to be pretty solid.”

Clearing his throat, Chad took all attention away from us. “Appearances can be deceiving; you’ll have to get an inspector in to look it over before you buy.”

Jordan nodded in agreement. “We were hoping that you knew someone.”

Chad told us that he did and he would have him call us as soon as possible, “Since you did choose a house, right?”

“We did,” I confirmed before turning back to Mary. I explained to her how the front door opened up into a long, narrow living room with olive green walls and a huge window at the far end. “From the living room you could walk, to your right, down a hallway to the two small bedrooms and a bathroom or go through the living room to the really small dining room and kitchen.” I went on to tell her that this house also had an ‘in-law suite’ in the basement and a laundry/furnace room. “There is a detached, one car garage with some space for storage.”

“What about land size?”

“The house is on a three acre, mainly treed lot.” I told them how much they were asking and then went on to the second house.

The second house was one Wanda set up for us to view. Situated on almost two acres, the second house was the smallest in land size that we viewed. “It was awesome! And a lot newer than the first house.” Jordan exclaimed, cutting me off, effectively taking over the description of the second house. “We drove up a tree lined driveway towards a huge house with a three car garage attached. Once again, when we walked through the double front doors, we entered the living room. The living room was a half decent size, with hardwood floors, a huge window facing the front yard.”

He told them about the stairs at the far end of the living room that went down into the basement where there were two large, separate rooms that Wanda said were the downstairs living room and a games room. “There were two large sized bedrooms there as well.”

“Upstairs, off the living room, the kitchen had amazing cabinetry –“

“The kitchen was awesome!” It was my turn to cut him off. “Oh my God, I couldn’t believe it. The kitchen was so spacious, with dark cabinets, and black appliances that just made my day. But,” I sighed. “The dining area wasn’t as big as I hoped, given the size of the house.”

“It’s not that small,” Jordan insisted. “Besides, who cares, just off the dining area, there are doors leading out onto a covered, enclosed back deck that overlooked the large back yard.” Grinning, he told my family that there was a fire pit. “Made me wish for summer and barbeques.”

“Sounds like a nice house,” Susan commented. “What about the last house? The one that Josh told you about a few days ago.”

The third house was situated on a 5 acre lot about 10 minutes from town and approximately 5 minutes from Zach’s house. “The house is owned by friends of friends of Josh’s parents, they are older and their kids have all grown up so they no longer see the need for the four bedroom, three bathroom house renovated within the last ten years.”

“When she says renovated, she’s not doing it justice – it looks like a brand new house!”

“Wow,” I laughed as I watched his face light up. “All this talk of houses and you are like a kid at Christmas Jordy.”

“Can you blame me Babe? Today, we found the house that will be our home.”

“Tell us about the third house,” Mary urged. “So we can guess which one you two picked.”

“Ok.” I paused, trying to recall where I left off. “So, the house has been renovated – very nicely I nice admit. The front door, instead of leading into the living room, like the rest, it opened to reveal a stair case, a closet and two other doors. One door, the one of the right of the entrance, led into a two car garage. The door across from the front door and to the right of the stairs led to stairs to the finished basement.”

“The basement,” Jordan jumped in. “Contained a bedroom, bathroom, under stair storage, laundry room, furnace room and a playroom.”

“Up the main stairs,” I picked up when Jordan stopped. “To the right was a huge open living room that overlooked the front yard. To the left was a fair sized living room with French doors that opened onto a deck that ran the front of the left side of the house, ending under the kitchen window at the end. The kitchen itself was just as amazing as the second house, if not more. It boasted of maple cabinets and granite countertops with a matching island in the middle. The fridge, stove, built in microwave and dishwasher were all black – and we all know how much I love that!”

Jordan chuckled, “And lucky you, two of the three houses had black appliances.”

“I know!” I exclaimed. “How cool was that?”

“Very,” he replied. Turning to everyone, he told them he had to damn near drag me out of both kitchens to see the rest of the house. “The rest of the floor consisted of two regular sized bedrooms, a main bathroom and the master bedroom.”

Having described all three houses, we sat back and watched Mary recap all three houses and then she asked us what we thought were pros and cons of all houses. So we told her.

“House #1 was in need of many repairs and most of the rooms were smaller than we really hoped but it does have potential and we could work on it together – make it what we want. Plus the price tag was really low so we’d have no problem buying it and doing the renovations that we feel it needs.”

“House #2 was awesome and move in ready. We didn’t have much that we would change or want to change but it was further from town than we really wanted and the price tag was the highest of all three.”

“House #3 was just as awesome as the second house but still a little pricey.”

“But,” Jordan added as he stared across the room at Zach. “It’s way too close to family, they would be over all the time!”

Zack snorted. “More likely you two would be here all the time!”

“Whatever,” I laughed as Mary shushed us all.

“I’m thinking here.”

****

It was very late when Jordan and I said ‘good night’ to Zach and Mary. “We should’ve left earlier,” he commented as he jumped into his seat after securing Jenna into her car seat.

“Yeah,” I sighed as I stared out the windshield at the blanket of new snow that had fallen with the last couple hours. “Zach did say we could spend the night here, if you weren’t up to driving home.”

“We should be able to get home Anna; it’s not that bad out.”

I didn’t agree with him but since he was the driving, I didn’t want to argue or take his attention away from the highway. Thankfully, it only took him a couple kilometres to admit to himself that it wasn’t such a great idea to be driving around in the snowstorm. “It’s crazy for us to bother driving home,” he told me. “Zach did say that Jenna and I were welcome to stay.”

Relief washed over me when he slowed down and turned his truck around. “I’m too tired to drive anymore, anyway.”

Whatever reasons he gave, I didn’t care, all I cared about was getting back to Zach’s where it was warm and cozy. And my bed! It may have seemed strange but I was excited about the prospect of sleeping in my bed again, it was the most comfortable bed I’d ever been in – I was hoping to talk Jordan into using my bed when we moved, instead of his. It seemed that Jordan shared that same thought, for he told me that he couldn’t wait to go to bed. “We haven’t been in your bed together since we started our relationship.”