For two days, Drew walked on a Jenna cloud. The woman had turned him upside-down and inside-out the way she always did. He couldn’t wait to see her again. It was nearly a week until their date at the Thanksgiving Feast, but his wait was over thanks to the deadbolt lock Jenna desperately needed, sitting on the bench seat beside him. He’d showered, dressed and climbed into his truck before he even dialed the phone.
In only two rings, she answered, “Hi there.”
“Hi. I wanted to stop by if that’s okay. I have something that I wanted to take care of at the house. Would now work?”
“Sure.”
“Great. See you in a few.” He drove to her house and pulled into the driveway. He knew Jenna was worried about Sadie getting out of the house or answering the front door to strangers. He just hoped his solution did the trick.
Sadie ran out the front door and he captured her. “Hey, you. Where do you think you’re going?”
“See you!” Sadie tightened her little arms around his neck and his heart soared, truly captured by the little one. She gave love so freely.
Jenna raced out. “Sadie, what am I going to do with you?”
“I might have a temporary solution for that.” He held up the plastic bag with the lock inside. “I thought we could secure the front door with this key lock. You can keep the key over the door where Sadie can’t reach it. It’s temporary, though. If you’re okay with it, I’m going to have an alarm system installed that’ll at least alert you if she tries to get out of the house at night or while you're busy doing something else. I figured you’d need it before school started anyway. From my limited knowledge, and from what I’ve seen of Mr. Rogers’s child, you’re going to need the alarm.”
Jenna took Sadie from him and they walked up to the front porch. “That's such a relief, but I can’t ask you to pay for it.”
“Don’t worry. One of your new client’s father is donating his time and giving all the parts at cost. He owns a security company.”
Jenna sat Sadie down inside and closed the front door. His old class ring swung on a chain around her neck. He captured it. “Looks good on you.”
She nodded. “I agree.”
Sadie skipped into the room next to the kitchen.
He retrieved the knife from his duffle and opened the plastic cover of the deadbolt. “Hey, I’d kind of like to know what elicited that kiss, so I can repeat it.”
She snuggled into him. “It might sound silly.”
“Silly is okay, as long as I can win another kiss like that one.” His toes still twitched at the thought of her taking hold of him and laying one on him before he even knew what was coming.
“Well, I saw the books in your duffle.”
The muscles in his arms tightened. “I hope you’re not mad. I wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything that would upset Sadie.”
Jenna pulled away, and a chill hit him. He dipped his head to hide his disappointment, but she grabbed his chin and turned him to face her.
“Are you kidding? That's the nicest thing a man has ever done for Sadie, and for me. I can’t believe how well she’s taken to you. She never even touched her father.”
A sadness crept into Jenna’s eyes and he wanted to chase it away. “You don’t have to talk about it, but if you decide you want to, I’m here.”
“That’s it. You’re here. He never was. Don’t get me wrong, it was good in the beginning. But once Sadie was born, he withdrew. I guess he couldn’t handle having a daughter that wasn’t perfect.”
“You know not all men are like that. I don’t know your ex-husband, so I won’t judge him. But the short time I’ve spent with Sadie, I can’t imagine any father not being proud of that little girl. She's courageous and loving and beautiful, all qualities I love about her mother.”
He held his breath, worried the word love would send her running from the room, but to his surprise she kissed him. His body welcomed the excitement and joy as they took over his senses. This kiss satisfied the longing, yet provoked more. He wanted to be with Jenna, forever. No other woman would ever make him happy the way she did. Lord knew he tried to find one, but there never was and never would be another woman for him than Jenna.
Sadie’s skips sounded from behind, so he reluctantly took a step back from Jenna. His heart was pattering faster than Sadie’s little feet.
He set to work installing the lock while Jenna and Sadie worked on some sort of puzzle in the front room. It took less than twenty minutes, and good thing since Sadie appeared at his side once more.
“Play with me?” Sadie snagged his hand led him to the front room where the toys were.
“How about I make us all some popcorn and we can watch a movie.”
The thought of staying for hours filled him with warmth. “I’d love that.”
Sadie released his hands and ran to the kitchen. “I help.”
He followed them both into the back of the house and watched them get out popcorn kernels and saucepan. “Oh, good. I like the real stuff. I only make microwave popcorn at my place.”
“Yuck.” Sadie held her nose.
Jenna poured the popcorn in and covered the pot with a lid. “Sadie doesn’t like microwave popcorn.”
“I’ll make note of that. Hey, do you need help unpacking these boxes. I don’t mind helping set up some stuff tomorrow after work.”
“We’d love that, but those couple of boxes on top are for Maverick. He’ll be coming by on Saturday to fix the electrical.”
Drew eyed the small appliance plugs all stuck into the one outlet. “I guess he didn’t think about kitchen outlets when he renovated. He probably never cooked here.”
Jenna shook the pot. “That’s what he said.”
“I’ll be glad when he gets that worked out. What else needs to be done? I’m working tomorrow and Friday, but I have good news.”
“What’s that?”
“Jimmy said that I can have the night off for the Thanksgiving Feast. We have a new guy that’ll be on duty. Jimmy and I will both be on call, but we’ll cover the feast in plain clothes.”
Jenna poured the popped corn into a large bowl Sadie was holding up for her. “Too bad. I was looking forward to seeing you in uniform.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to stop by tomorrow after work. That is, if that’s okay with Sadie.”
“Aha, aha, aha.” Sadie walked flatfooted over to the couch, balancing the large bowl between her arms.
“Hmm, interesting.” Jenna eyed Sadie.
“What?”
She laughed. “Nothing, just the therapist inside me thinking of new modalities. I guess I better be careful. I don’t want to turn my daughter into a Freudian child for my scientific curiosity.”
“I doubt we need to be concerned with that. I can tell how much you love your daughter. But then, what’s not to love.”
Jenna slid her hand into the crook of his arm and they settled onto the couch. Sadie climbed up, popcorn spilling over the sides of the large bowl, and promptly wiggled her way in between them.
“What are we watching?” he asked.
“Lilo and Stitch.”
He wrapped his arm around Sadie and rested his hand on Jenna’s neck, who leaned into his touch. “What’s it about?”
“You’ve never seen Lilo and Stitch?” Jenna asked.
He chuckled. “I’m afraid not.”
“Well, Sadie, I think we’ll have to watch the whole thing. Guess you can stay up late tonight.”
“Yay, yay, yay” Sadie balanced the large bowl in her lap and shoved a hand full of popcorn into her mouth. After several chews, she said, “Ohana means family.”
Jenna patted her head. “That’s right, honey.”
They snuggled under a large blanket and Jenna turned off the side lamp. It was dark and cozy, like when they used to watch movies on her couch at night. Of course, they'd watched old horror flicks back then. Now they were watching a kid's flick. It didn’t matter though, he still had Jenna, almost alone in the dark.
By the end of the movie, the popcorn bowl was empty, Sadie slept, and he knew what Ohana meant. “That was a great movie,” he whispered.
Jenna carefully rose and reached for Sadie, but he lifted the little girl and carried her upstairs to bed. Watching Jenna tuck her in, he made note of which stuffed animals occupied space on the bed and which night light she left on.
After he kissed Sadie on the head, he made his way downstairs, knowing this would be goodnight. Part of him wanted to never leave, but he knew she still needed time.
Her phone on the hallway table buzzed and he noticed five missed calls. “Is that your mother?”
“I’m afraid so.” Jenna sighed.
“You know, I’m still mad at her, too, but she is your mother. Someday you’ll have to speak to her again.”
“I know, but right now I’m trying to remember who I am and not what failures I’ve made in my life. My mother was married to my father until he passed,” she said, her voice hitching a little with sadness.
He couldn’t help but reach out to comfort her. “I know. They were married a long time.”
“My mother believes that marriage should never end. That once you marry someone, it’s a lifetime commitment. She doesn’t understand how hard I tried to make it work. If he would’ve tried at all, I know I could have stuck it out longer.”
“Stuck it out? That doesn’t sound like a good marriage. Divorce happens. I know it’s sad, and I know if I was to get married I’d do everything I could to make it work. I’d be in a hundred percent, but it takes two. If for some reason the marriage reached a point where we were both unhappy, I wouldn’t torture my wife. That being said, I wouldn't throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble either.”
Jenna ran her thumb back and forth over his hand, distracting him.
“I believe you.” Jenna let him go, retrieved the key, and unlocked the front door. “Thanks for doing this. I can actually take a shower now and not worry about Sadie running out the front door. I’m not sure why she never goes out the back, but if there's one thing about Sadie, she’s consistent.”
He stood in the doorway with heavy feet. “She’s amazing, just like her mother.”
She squeezed his hand but didn’t kiss him goodnight.
“Don’t worry. Everything's going to work out. You're going to get the money and support of the county. Your daughter's going to continue growing and I’m going to be here if you need anything.”
Jenna squeezed his hand again, and he noticed the tears in her eyes. “I don’t deserve you. I left because I was scared of forever. ”
His heart cracked, yet it bled hope. “What are you talking about? You left because your mother lied to you.”
She took a stuttered breath. “Did I?”
“Let me guess. This came from Cathy?”
“No, Judy told me to analyze why I really left, why I didn’t face you.”
He forced himself to remain calm. Hearing she left because her mother lied was something he could get over, but leaving because she decided he wasn’t the right one would demolish him. “What are you saying?”
Jenna wiped the tears from her eyes. “I don’t know. That’s what I’m saying. Maybe Judy was right. You told me to be honest. And honestly, I don’t know if I left because of what my mother said. Did I leave because I wanted more and I used what happened as an excuse to leave, or did I truly believe it? I don’t know the answer and you deserve better than that.”
He stepped back and raked his hand through his hair. “You're right. I do.”