"And I know that you're solely behind the company now, but I have to say, I've listened to your work. You were doing some really amazing stuff, especially with that one girl…" the young artist kept rambling. This was supposed to be a business transaction, but Tom started to fail miserably when he looked out to the dance floor.
Fate kept screwing with him, it hurt to look at her, but he couldn't look away. She was on the dance floor, moving as smoothly as a charmed snake completely hypnotized by the music. Her and Sadie were dancing on the floor, having a good time. A guy came up behind her as a new song came over the speakers in the club, Buttons by The Pussycat Dolls. Her hips started to sway against him to the music. Tom swallowed hard, completely oblivious to the musician he was here with. He was powerless to do anything but watch Jude and some random stranger trying to get off on her. His grip tightened against the bar countertop in hopes to restrain himself from jumping up and attacking the guy she was with. The faceless man's hands started to wander and Jude stopped moving. When they dipped into the front of her jeans she slammed the heel of her shoe on his toes and he jumped back, his mouth moving wordlessly, probably stringing out a long line of profanities. Tom snapped out of his trance and chuckled. That was the Jude he knew, missed… loved.
"You okay over there?" Tom looked back at the person he was here with, "Yeah, sorry about that…thought I saw someone I knew…"
"Well, everyone looks like a cookie cut out here. All blonde, fake, and plastic. And the guys all look a little metro for my taste." Tom slowly nodded, not to agree, but just to not start anything. He finished off his drink, ready and needing to get out of there.
He couldn't stop thinking about what happened a few nights ago. He should have mustered up the courage to go and talk to her instead of acting like a scared school boy with a pathetic crush. Alas, business first now. Cora first, now. He was helping Sandra get everything ready for this afternoon, hanging streamers, and now currently blowing up balloons. It appeared that she had bought everything pink under the sun.
"I said some decorations, not the entire party store." Tom laughed and shook his head at the array of….stuff before him. Cora was his little princess though, spoiled, but he couldn't help it. He finished the list of tasks that Sandra had set out for him to do just as Cora skipped out of the hallway in an outfit she had picked out herself with a tiara on from her dress up clothes. Her smile was contagious and had Tom grinning from ear to ear. "Com'ere Corazon." He squatted down and put his arms out, she came running at him and was enveloped in a hug. "Happy birthday, Miss princess Cora. Why don't you go play for a little bit, you guests should be here soon, okay?"
"Okay!" She bounded away in excitement. Tom stood up and sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "What's wrong Papa Quincy?"
"She's getting so big, before you know it, I'll be interrogating her boyfriends, meeting her fiancé, becoming a grandfather…."
"Slow down racehorse, she just turned six today. Right now you need to summon the energy of the Greek Gods to deal with 30 six year olds running around and terrorizing your house." Tom screwed up his face at the thought. "No spills, that's all I ask of"
"HA! That's cute, you crack me up." Sandra laughed as she was finishing up her tasks. She busied herself with random straightening up and organizing, a nervous habit she had. She never actually got around to telling Tom that Jude was showing up and Cora (thank God) hadn't mentioned it. He would find out when she walked through the door, which speaking of rang a second later. "I'll get that" she told him, ready for any given excuse to occupy her time so she didn't feel so guilty about keeping this secret from him. There were two little girls with their mom's at the door. "Hi guys, come on in." from around the door, she called for Cora who came sprinting down the hall to greet her friends. "Why don't you show them outside hun."
"Come on guys!" The three girls trotted off giggling and laughing already. The two women were escorted into the living room where Tom gave them a small wave and thanked them for stopping by, telling them how much it meant to Cora, and to him.
A couple of hours had passed, and there was still no sign of Jude. Sandra began to worry if she was going to show up at all. Sneaking into the kitchen she pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and scrolled down to Kwest's number. Making sure no one was around, she brought the phone up to her ear. "Come on, pick up..pick up." And finally, on the fifth ring, there was a "Hello" From the other end. "Hey, Kwest, it's Sandra. Is she coming?" "Yeah, she left about 15 minutes ago, she should be there soon." As soon as he finished his sentence, the doorbell rang. "That's her, I gotta go!" She clapped her phone closed and called out for Tom. "Hey, can you get that, I'm busy in here."
"Yeah, sure. No problem." He wasn't sure who it was, he thought he saw everyone who was invited but they were all running around so he might have missed one or two. The door swung open and Tom didn't know what to do. Jude stood there, looking rather unsure of herself and shocked that Tommy had opened the door. "I…um. I was here for Cora, she asked me to stop by and…you know what. This was a bad idea." She started to turn around and leave.
"Wait- Jude, she's in the backyard. She'll be disappointed if you don't go and see her."
"Are you sure?" She wanted so badly to be mad at him, but his daughter was an obvious weakness. "Yeah, she's out back with 30 other yelling, running, and jumping six year olds."
"Ah, so you only have an affinity for your yelling, running, jumping but might I say extremely polite six year old." Small talk didn't really suit them. "Well, um, I brought her something." She held out a pink bag with different Disney princesses decorating it.
"You didn't have to do that." She just shrugged "oh well, I did anyways. I'm gonna go..." She pointed towards the living room, and he stepped aside to let her in. Closing the door behind her, he leaned against it for support. He knew this was Sandra, and he was going to kill her when he got the chance. Or maybe kiss her. He couldn't figure out what to do next.
For the next hour or so, he stayed inside the house occasionally peering outside windows to catch a glance at Cora, or Jude. "You could always go and talk to her instead of playing voyeur."
Tom sighed, "And what am I supposed to say to her?"
"You could start with asking her how she's doing, how she's been the past, oh, you know, THREE YEARS you were gone. She might appreciate your interest."
"She might hate me too." He turned around to face Sandra.
"Well, if she does, it wouldn't matter then would it. But at least you could get on with your life. Either way, please, for your sake, talk to her." Sandra walked out to announce cake and present time to everyone, and no sooner than sweet confections were mentioned the miniature battalion traipsed into the dining area. Jude walked into the kitchen to grab some plates and utensils before Tommy started to talk. "Jude, I just wanted you to know that I wanted to tell you."
"Really?" She looked and sounded genuinely surprised. Tommy was relieved at her response.
"Yeah, wow, I'm so glad you don't hate me for that and everything."
She laughed maliciously. "I never said I didn't hate you, but there are 30 kids within earshot and I don't think their mommy's and daddy's would appreciate a few new vocabulary words in their repertoire. Now if you'll excuse me." She walked out with the plates and forks without giving him a chance to respond.
Happy birthday was sung, presents opened and slowly the tired children left one by one, Tom thanking them all at the door. Jude stayed behind to help Sandra clean up, and Cora had wound up napping on the couch. Several large trashbags later, the house was almost back to normal and the two women sat down to take a small break before they finished.
"You didn't have to stay and help, I could have managed."
"Yeah, well I would have felt bad if I didn't. You did a hell of a job, pulling all of this together. All of it." Sandra felt slightly guilty picking up on the implied meaning of her words.
"Jude, he never meant to hurt you."
"But he did. He should have trusted me, but he didn't. So what can you do?"
Though he heard every word, he pretended to not notice them and scooped a sleeping Cora off of the couch to bring her to her bed. Jude couldn't deny that he did the right thing by being the father that he needed to be, but why did she get shut out like that?
"He showed up on the doorstep 24, scared, confused, and clueless. Please, Jude, if for no one else, go and get coffee or a drink with him for me, or better yet, for Cora. Let him tell you their story."
She was such a sucker for the girl- his daughter and the mention of 'their' story. "…okay." She got up off of her seat and navigated her way though the hallway to Cora's room. She leaned against the doorframe and watched him tuck her into bed silently. He took off her shoes and pulled the covers up over her body. Leaning down he kissed on the forehead and whispered 'mi corazon'. Straightening up, he turned around to see Jude standing there.
"Hi." She said meekly.
He furrowed his brow and advanced towards the door "If you're going to chew me out, I don't want to hear it." She held out her hand, pressing against his chest to stop him.
"No, listen. I'm still mad at what you did, or more so how you did it. But I want to know the story. I kind of think I deserve it." He just nodded "fine." Words were failing him right now. She wasn't going to bite his head off or start beating on him. Progress. Progress was good.
"Do you want to go now, or whenever you have free time…" She didn't want to be so forward about this. "Now, I need to tell you what happened. Let me grab my keys and we'll go."
She followed him to the entrance of the house while continued to his bedroom to grab his keys and wallet. The two of them left the house wordlessly. Sandra heard the door close behind the two. When no one reappeared, only then did she let out the breath she had been holding. With a huge sigh of relief, she sunk down into the closest chair finally able to relax. There was nothing more she could do right now; the rest was up to them.