Chapter 4

Kate had called Jack right when he was getting off work around three. They agreed to have her come over around eight and they would go to dinner. Jack had called his mother to see if she would come baby sit. Not to his surprise she happily agreed. He fed his kids at five, helped them with their homework, and then went upstairs with Lacey in the crook of his arm to get changed. She was lying on his bed in a purple robe while she watched television. He had never really worried about what he wore in public. He was always confident in his looks, but tonight he was horrified. In his closet he found a pair of beige dress pants and a white button up shirt. He turned around to show Lacey.

"You look pretty daddy," she said in her little voice. He chuckled.

"I was going for handsome, but pretty will do Bug," he said as he kissed her neck. Bug had been her nickname for as long as he could remember.

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her downstairs. Margo was sitting on the couch next to Jackson as they watched television.

"My my, Mr. Shephard. Don't you look handsome," his mother said. "So, am I going to be able to meet this lucky girl?"

"Yeah, she's coming over then we're going," Jack told her as the doorbell rang. He walked over and answered the door. Kate was wearing a knee length baby blue cocktail dress. It was strapless and had a white ribbon around the waist that tied into a bow in the back. "Wow."

"Ha, thanks," Kate blushed. "You look quite good yourself."

Jack leaned his head down to kiss her cheek. Jackson groaned and sighed from the other room.

"They've been doing that a lot lately," he told his grandmother. When Jack pulled away he smirked at Kate.

"My mom wants to meet you," Jack told her. He grabbed her hand and walked with her into the living room. Margo stood up when the entered.

"Mom this Kate, Kate this is my mom Margo," Jack introduced the two women. Both smiled sincerely as they shook hands.

"It's nice to meet you Kate," Margo told her.

"It's nice to meet you too," Kate replied. When she pulled her hand away she noticed Jackson and Lacey sitting on the couch. "Hi kids."

"Hi," they said in cheerful unison.

"You ready to go?" Jack asked Kate. She nodded her head.

He bent down to his kids.

"You two behave," he told them. He kissed Lacey's hair and rubbed Jackson's head. Standing back up he grabbed Kate's hand as they left the house.

At dinner they sat across from each other in an expensive restaurant. The atmosphere was high class but cozy. Their fingers were entwined together on the side of the table. They discussed everything from their kids to hobbies. Very little did they discuss their jobs. Kate had tried to pull something about Jack's job out of him but she got very little. After they ate dessert, paid, and left they decided to go window shopping. Actually Kate had decided and while she wore that dress he was at her beckoning call. Jack had his hands in his pockets as one of Kate's arms was looped through his. The windows on either side of the street were illuminated with light and couples ranging from young to old strolled down the sidewalks.

"My god, that's horrible," Kate said astonished. Jack stopped next to her abruptly.

"What is it?" he asked concerned.

"I paid $300 for those exact same red pumps at another store. Here they're only $94," Kate said stupefied as she looked in through the window at different shoes.

"Why would you even pay $300 for a pair of shoes that kill your back?" Jack asked amused.

Kate turned her head to face him and she could only stare at him. She wasn't good at explaining her life with her boyfriend, so she would keep it short.

"My ex-boyfriend had a thing for red high heels," she said shortly. She tensed slightly at her harsh tone. "Jack…I'm sorry, I…"

"Forget it," he told her.

Did they seriously just fight over a dumb pair of shoes? She removed her hand from his arms and stepped away slightly from him. He never changed his pace. He kept his hands in his pockets as they continued walking down the street. It wasn't stupid to be pissed right? Kate tried telling herself that. Technically the two of them had just met a little over a week ago. They weren't going out really were they? What they were one was a date, but did it actually mean anything?

"What are you thinking?" Jack broke through her thoughts. She shook her head and lowered her head she that she was looking at the ground.

"It's nothing," she told him. She mentally kicked herself as she felt the threat of tears at the brim of her eyes.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked as he wrapped her in his arms. She shook her head as she cushioned it against his chest.

"I hate him," she managed to blurt out. But she didn't say anymore as they stood in the middle of the sidewalk and embraced each other. Jack rested his chin on the top of her head as she tried to regain control of her emotions. When she pulled away she saw the small mark from her ashamed tears stained into his shirt. She hastily dabbed at her eyes. "Gawd, my mascara is probably running and my eyes are swollen…"

"You still look great," he told her reassuringly as he traced a thumb under her eye. She smiled weakly up at him. "Oh…and just so that you know…I have a thing for brunettes in blue cocktail dresses."

She half snorted and half chuckled at his comment.

"Well men with buzz cuts wearing white dress shirts makes me weak in the knees," she told him as she clutched tightly onto his shirt.

He grinned like an idiot as he looked down into her eyes. She leaned up to briefly kiss his cheek before grabbing his hand and walking down the street once again. They walked like that for several minutes before Kate once again stopped them abruptly.

"Jack we have to get pictures taken," she said excitedly. She resembled an eager child in a toy store as she pointed to the photo booth like the ones in the malls and all but jumped up and down. He laughed and waved his hand to calm her.

"Alright," he said defeated as he placed money into the slot and held the curtain open so that Kate could walk through. The bench wasn't very big which resulted in Kate sitting on Jack's lap. Her arms went around his neck as they grinned like recently sacrificed virgins for the camera. Their smiles were so big their cheeks hurt. The second one was the almighty screwed up face shot. The third had Kate kissing Jack's cheek and his eyes looking over at her. The last picture was of the two of them kissing.

When the pictures slid through the slot Kate picked them up and giggled.

"We look like teenagers," she said.

"No wonder they have so much fun in these things," Jack said as his thumb scanned over the picture of them kissing. Kate clamped one hand over the pictures as she threw her arms to her sides and sighed.

"Well, are you ready to go boob?"

"Did you just call me a boob?" Jack asked stunned.

Kate chuckled and rolled her eyes as she just realized what she did.

"Yeah, it's what I call Amelia sometimes," she told him. Jack looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"I don't know about you sometimes," he told her. She smiled and threw her arms around his waist as they walked back to his car.