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Janet enjoyed preschool as much as the other children and now she was getting ready to start kindergarten. She made many friends and gave John a ton of pictures she drew at school. John hung up every single one, which covered the fridge. Janet was invited to several birthday parties during the year and John made sure to take her to all the parties to which she was invited. While Janet played with her friends during the party, John would socialize with the parents, who were kind enough not to mention Janet’s Down syndrome in front of him. John’s fears of Janet not making any friends soon went away and he hoped this would continue throughout her education.
John would continue going to AA meetings, which Janet only knew of them as meetings for grown-ups. Nancy would babysit while John attended his meetings then would have his usual cups of coffee with Mike. One night after their AA meeting, Mike and John were talking about Janet’s preschool graduation that had taken place yesterday.
“John, can I say how proud I am of you? When I first met you, you were a mess. Now that you are sober and have Janet in your life, I can tell the light has come back to you,” Mike said.
“Thank you, Mike. Janet really saved me, and I am a better person for making that move to adopt her,” John said.
When John got home, he thanked Nancy for watching her and John went up to Janet’s room to say goodnight. As usual, she was up waiting for him. He tucked her in and gave her a kiss goodnight.
“Da, I want to learn to play baketball,” Janet said.
“Oh really? Why is that?” John asked.
“Well at school we talked about teamwork and te teacher talked about a people called te Celtics and showed a video. It looks fun. Can you teach me?” Janet asked.
“I would love to. Would you like to be on a team this year?” John asked.
“Can I be a Celtics?” Janet asked.
“You can be anything you want to be, peanut. You must work hard and never take the effortless way out,” John said.
“Deal,” said Janet and she shook John’s hand.
“Deal. You know, I was a pretty good basketball player in high school. I will teach you some special tricks,” John said.
“Oooooo,” said Janet as she started to drift off to sleep.
“Goodnight, peanut,” John said.
“Goodnight, Da,” said Janet.
The next day, John took Janet to the park where they practiced basketball drills that John learned growing up. He taught her the rules of basketball, how to dribble, shoot, pass, and layups. For a six-year-old, Janet caught on quickly. John signed her up for a youth league that occurred on Saturdays. They would teach her more skills in basketball and Janet loved it. Janet and John would watch the Celtics play every game. Janet even inspired John to return to the adult basketball league at the YMCA. Janet would make signs with Nancy and go to his games to cheer him on. John would call Janet his number one fan and she would giggle.
Michelle would also come to Janet’s basketball practices. Michelle would check in on Janet on her own time, which John admired. Janet loved Michelle and was excited every time they saw each other. When Janet’s adoption was legalized, Michelle asked John if it was all right that she called Janet to say hi occasionally, which he agreed to. John told her about Janet playing basketball and invited her to watch. One day after Janet’s practice, Janet invited Michelle to come over for dinner, which was fine with John. They planned to have pizza that night.
Michelle came over a couple of hours after Janet’s basketball practice. Janet greeted her with a hug and Michelle embraced her as if it was her own child. John wondered if Michelle was as nervous as he was the first time, he came to visit Janet at her foster home. He then assumed that Michelle was like this with most of her cases, which he continued to admire. John could only hope that Michelle was not one of a kind in her field because Janet was one out of many more children who were placed in unfortunate situations like hers.
Michelle, John, and Janet enjoyed eating their pizza and they also played a board game. They played an intense game of Sorry which Janet won. After she won, she got up and did a little dance. Michelle and John laughed as Janet was shaking her legs and fist pumping in the air. John and Michelle then looked at each other as they were laughing, and Michelle looked down and combed back the right side of her blonde hair behind her ears. John smiled and looked back at Janet’s dance.
After John put Janet to bed and Michelle had the honor of reading Janet a story, it was time for Michelle to leave. Michelle grabbed her coat and John walked her to the door. He could not help but noticed there was some sort of attraction between them. John always thought Michelle was a beautiful woman and was surprised there was no ring on her finger. Michelle and John were a bit shy towards each other after their interaction during Janet’s victory dance. John looked at Michelle as she thanked him for having her over and he took a deep breath.
“Michelle, I was wondering if you would join me for a cup a coffee or maybe some left over pizza? I do not think I can finish this all myself,” John joked.
“Yes, I would love to,” Michelle said impatiently and then giggled at her foolishness.
“Great. I will put a pot on and heat up the pizza,” John said smiling.
Michelle smiled back and John took her coat and put it on the chair.
John and Michelle enjoyed each other’s company until a little after one in the morning. Michelle talked about how she always loved children and her passion was to help as many children as possible that she can, which is why she earned her Master’s in Social Work at Bridgewater State University and became a DCF worker. She talked about how the men she dated always felt second place to the children and she has not regretted it. She loved helping children out and dedicated her life to doing so. She worked at the Boys and Girls club all through her undergraduate and graduate school. She talked about how motivation that got her into this field was her mother, who was a manager at a program that served individuals with special needs. Her mother was dedicated to making their lives better and that inspired Michelle. She talked about her mother’s passing that occurred five years ago, which was tough for her. She was an only child, and her father was still alive, but had not been in her life since he left her mother when she was Janet’s age. She also talked about her running the Boston Marathon five times, which impressed John. She then mentioned that her friends always joked if Michelle was not running or gardening, she was collaborating with her clients.
John talked about his love for basketball, movies, and cars. He talked about his passion for law enforcement and since he could remember, he wanted to be a police officer. He talked about his father and how he was the reason that John always worked hard in school to further his education. John did not think it was the time to talk to her about Ashley and his alcoholism.
When Michelle noticed it was almost one in the morning, she decided it was time to leave. Just like John, she would have stayed all night talking. John walked her to the door and they both gave each other an awkward hug. Michelle opened the door as John was staring at her when it hit him.
“Michelle, I hope this doesn’t ruin your relationship with Janet and me, but I would really like to kiss you right now,” John said as his heart was pounding through his chest.
“I thought you would never ask,” Michelle said with a smile.
The two of them approached each other’s arms and their lips touched passionately. It was as if they planned this moment for a while. Then they planned a date for that Friday and said goodnight. Michelle left and they could not stop looking at each other. Michelle almost tripped because she could not focus on where she was walking. John made a joke about her coordination and they both laughed.
When Michelle drove away, John felt a sense of guilt. He knew that before this relationship could move forward that he needed to tell Michelle of his alcoholism. He really liked her and was hopeful that she would accept him. He also felt guilt about Ashley. He loved her so much and felt that he was betraying her, although he knew Ashley would want him to be happy. That night in his bed, John said a silent prayer to Ashley and hoped she understood and that he will always love her.