Perfect Timing

Summary: Lonely Reba keeps her newfound karaoke passion a secret, a secret she shares with no one. Until she discovers Jack Morgan in the audience one night.

"Once again, ladies and gentleman, please welcome Reba Hart! How would we live without her?"

The beginning notes of "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes began to play, and Reba let out a slow, steady breath as she climbed the stage. At her appearance, the audience broke into wild applause with even a few cat calls thrown in. This bar crowd knew her well. Their encouragement was the only reason she had courage to come back every week.

While she began to sing, her mind drifted back to how she ended up a secret karaoke singer. When Kyra went on tour with her band, Reba didn't take it so well. Of course she knew it was coming for months, since Kyra had been talking about it throughout the end of her senior year. But when the time came…Reba had a very hard time saying good-bye. The separation hurt almost as much as when Kyra had chosen to live with Brock, but a little less since at least she knew it wasn't an insult to her parenting.

However, while she wasn't mad, she was much more worried. Kyra, on the road, alone. Thank goodness Kyra was the mature adult of the family, or else Reba wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

Of course, there was Jake. Sweet, innocent, not-so-little-anymore Jake. While they were closer since they were the only two left in a big house, Jake developed a social life the last few months. Ever since summer vacation started, he was hanging out with his friends from morning 'til night. He didn't even need her for rides since he'd started riding his bike all over town. Though she loved that he embraced physical exercise, she almost wished he would ask her to drive him to his friend's house or the park every day, just so she'd be needed.

And that was the reason she was at a karaoke bar, belting out a country song from ten years ago. Singing had been her passion when she was younger, so taking to the stage had been at least a little familiar, even if the memory was faint.

When the crowd was receptive to her, she just…got addicted to the attention. But she didn't want to admit that she was lonely. That would be weak. She didn't want to see herself as someone who needed attention to be happy.

She did have to admit that she had much more free time than she would like. Sure, she could stop over Cheyenne and Van's house during the week after work, or even…reluctantly…let Barbra Jean talk her into going out for lunch. However, weekends were for parents to spend time with their children, and for couples to get romantic after the kids went to bed.

Frankly, she'd been in desperate need of a social life. At least this provided a fun night out every weekend. She'd even made friends with some of the regulars. And she could tell her family was relieved that she wasn't alone on Saturday nights anymore.

While she'd told them about the bar, she hadn't told them about her rekindled passion for singing. It just seemed…silly, for a woman her age to find satisfaction in singing along to old songs, pretending she was a country star.

She began to refocus on the song as she reached the final lines, reaching the song's climatic "glory note" that had the audience going wild again. Then she finished with a soft, emotion-filled "Oh, how do I live?" that was almost chilling. She did a little bow when the host, a handsome middle-aged man that had been flirting with her since she started singing, walked over to her again.

"Amazing as always, Reba," he said as he playfully kissed her cheek, which started up the audience's cat calls again. "Please tell me…I mean, us," he said with a sidelong glance and wink at the chuckling audience, "that's not your last song for the night."

"Oh, you know how much of an attention-hog I am, Matt. I can't stay away too long," Reba joked. Her confidence at its usual high, she strutted off the stage, down the stairs, and to her usual table in front.

She froze when she saw one person standing in the back of the audience, still clapping.

Dr. Jack Morgan.

Somehow she managed to choke out to her friends that she'd be right back and, as if in a trance, went over to his table. They silently stared at each other for a brief moment. "Hey, Reba," he finally said. "You're fantastic."

"Thanks." She paused. "And you are?"

He nodded. "Single."

The one word seemed to unlock every bit of inhibition she had. Aware of the crowd's amazed stares, she threw herself at Jack. Though she'd surprised him, they eased into the kiss, and only broke apart because they were in public. Somewhat red in the face since every last person in the bar was staring, she pulled him out the door to the parking lot.

"What…" she sputtered as she paced in front of him. He stood there, a little dazed by the unexpected kiss. She couldn't blame him, though. Her hormones were raging faster than the last time they'd kissed like that. "W-what are you doing here? How…"

It took him a second to find his voice. "I, uh, stopped in to get a drink last week and was shocked when you stepped up to the mike. I came back this week hoping you'd be here again. But…I was not expecting that."

"Yeah, sorry I kind of ambushed you there," Reba replied with a sheepish smile as she stopped her pacing in front of him. "I don't know what came over me. I swear I don't."

Jack chuckled. "Whatever it was, I'm glad it did." He then wrapped his arms around her from behind, his head on her shoulder. "Reba, I missed you. A lot. From that kiss, I know you missed me too. Now we can finally be together."

His arms felt so good around her. She wanted to stay there. Better yet, she wanted to take him home and…thank the Lord that Jake had been invited to a camp out in his friend's backyard that night. But as much as she really didn't want to ask the question, she knew she had to. "What happened with your wife, Jack?"

"It didn't work out," he said simply.

Unable to help herself, Reba rolled her eyes and reluctantly got out of his embrace. "You know full well what I meant, Dr. Morgan."

Jack sighed and lowered his eyes. "I can't lie, Reba. I couldn't get you out of my head. And she knew that."

"Oh my Lord," Reba whispered, horrified. She was suddenly so frustrated she wanted to cry. No matter how much she'd tried to prevent it, she'd still ruined another woman's marriage, just like hers had been. "Oh my Lord. I can't believe I…"

But Jack insistently shook his head and put his hands on her shoulders. "There were a lot of other issues, Reba, I swear. We had been fighting for a long time. She was just in denial when she went to see you. I promise if you called her right now, she'd tell you that our marriage was better off ended. We've been officially divorced for a month now. Even she started seeing someone else."

"Jack Morgan, don't you dare start making stuff up just to…"

Jack shook his head again. "I promise I'm telling the truth, Reba. Hell, go on her Facebook page. There's tons of pictures with her and…Dr. Handsome." There was real uneasiness there as he said the name.

"Oh come on, I'm sure he's not more handsome than you," Reba replied, a little awkwardly. "Look, if you're still on the rebound…"

"Oh no, that's his last name. Handsome," Jack assured her. He then gave her an aggravated glance. "First I can't be married, now I can't be on the rebound. What's it gonna take for you to go out with me?"

Surprised, Reba realized she didn't know why she was still hesitating. There really was no reason not to when his ex-wife was already dating someone else. "I don't know," she confessed as she began pacing again. "I guess…I guess it's because it's been so dang long since I've been in a real relationship! I mean, part of the reason you left your wife was for me! It's already serious!" She sighed. "This is just so different for me. And I don't handle change well. Ask Kyra."

Jack chuckled, then nodded. "Hey, I just got out of a marriage. My life is changing too. We can go as slow or as fast as you want."

"As long as we understand each other," she replied, surprised that he was on the same page. Maybe they could actually work this time. There was literally nothing standing in their way. They were both single, and could go at their own pace. And she was actually at a point in her life where she should be starting to date again.

After he'd given her a moment to think, he stepped close to her again. "So?"

Oh man, she forgot how good he smelled. "While it's not really fair of you to ask me that when you're in smelling range," she joked, but then she nodded. "But yeah, I think this could work. I did miss you."

He gave her another long kiss. "I missed you too. Want to grab some take out and back to my place? I could go for a late dinner."

"Me too. We can use my place though. It's empty for the night" Reba answered.

About to agree with that plan, he paused. "Wow, really? If I remember correctly your house was never empty."

"Yeah, I'll give you the update in the car ride there," she replied. She glanced back at the karaoke bar. "But I need to say good-bye to some people first. Would you mind waiting out here?"

Jack chuckled. "Ashamed to go back in with me after that public display of affection?"

"Yes," Reba teased.

"In that case, I'm going with you," he teased back as they headed back to the bar. "After all, got to warn that host that he's missed his chance."

Reba smirked. "I think he got the hint after that kiss. Besides, nothing was gonna happen with him anyway. It was all for the show." She then struck a playful, overdramatic pose. "Got to give the people what they want, you know. Fame can be so demanding."

They entered the bar, and much to their embarrassment, some of those who had seen the kiss started applauding and cat-calling. From where he was just finishing with another karaoke singer, Matt glanced at them and wiggled his eyebrows at them. "Well, if it isn't the lovebirds now. I'm sure you've got some…business to take care of…but Reba did say she would sing another song.

"Oh, Matt, we've got to get going…" Reba protested.

That only seemed to encourage the host, who laughed. "I'm sure you do."

"So we can get something to eat," Reba snapped. "I just came in to say good-bye. Come on, Jack…"

But he wasn't behind her. She turned around to find him looking through the song book. "Please, Reba?" he whined playfully. "I want to sing a song! It looks like fun, and we can do a duet!"

"You sing?" Reba asked in surprise.

"A little," He offered a hand to her as the first notes of the song he'd selected began to play. It was the Marvin Gaye version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." "Will you be my Tammi Terrell?"

Though she hesitated, she decided to throw caution to the wind, and nodded. Besides, as was proven in any given Disney movie, nothing said romance like a duet. "Of course, Marvin." They started to sing, and for a "first" date…it couldn't have been better.

Funny how Jack had come back into her life when she'd needed someone most. As she sang with him, Reba decided to take it as a sign. Even if they'd gotten off to a rocky start, they would be perfect in time.