***Saturday***
Jennifer got up early, around 7. She had been so tired that she had slept through McKenna waking up both times, and Jonathan had done everything.
She found him in the kitchen, frying bacon with McKenna in his arms.
"Morning".
"Morning. I can't believe you didn't wake me up".
"You were tired, it's alright".
"Are the big kids still sleeping?"
"Yeah, I guess. I haven't heard them".
"Here, let me take her".
She took McKenna from him and he finished frying the bacon while she rocked her and put her in her swing.
"Waffles will be ready in about 10 minutes".
"Perfect".
She got the plates out and poured everyone some juice, and they decided to let the kids sleep and let them wake up on their own. It had been a hard couple of weeks, so they all needed their rest.
She and Jonathan sat and had breakfast together and then she cleaned up the kitchen.
"Ok, I'm going to go start on moving the furniture".
"No, I'll take care of that. You have a surprise".
"What kind of surprise?"
"You have been doing so much lately, and this fell into both our laps, we didn't ask for it. I get that. But you just jumped in with both feet. So, I want you to take the Mercedes, and head to the city."
He reached over and got a gift card out of his wallet.
"I bought this yesterday. It has enough on it for you to get a massage, facial, get your toes painted, and you get to have lunch and sit in a hot tub. The lady told me that was the best package they had. You do that, I've hired a decorator to come and start the moving out process. When you get back, she will be here and the room will be painted and you can talk to her and figure out the rest".
"What about the kids?"
"Abby and Mike are coming and taking them to the circus. And I hired the neighborhood girl across the street to help out with McKenna".
She leaned forward and hugged him.
"Thank you".
She went to shower and get dressed. When she came out, he was moving things around in the office.
The kids were up and eating breakfast.
"Hi kiddos".
She kissed both of them.
Jonathan came out then, and walked her to the door.
"Are you sure? You are the one that didn't sleep last night".
"I'm fine. It's ok. I'm positive. You deserve it".
She nodded and then headed out. It was strange driving Patrick's Mercedes, but she told herself it was Jonathan's, and tried to get past it.
After a day of relaxation, she felt like a new woman.
She came home and pulled into the garage, and went inside.
They were all in the nursery, and they were almost done.
"Hey, what do you think?"
"I love it! I can't believe you accomplished all this in a day".
"Well, we had a crew of 8 guys move the furniture out of the living room into the attic. And then they moved the furniture out of office into the living room. We didn't throw anything away or go through anything. We just moved it. And then we started painting. And she has 5 painters who did this superfast."
She and the decorator talked for a minute, and she told them they would be back Monday to put a second coat on.
After the decorator left, she went to the kitchen and found Jonathan heating up a bottle.
"Where are Luke and Savanna?"
"Abby and Mike took them to their hotel. They are spending the night and will be home in the morning".
"Great. What do you want for dinner? Anything at all, name it".
"Why don't we go out? We can take the baby, and we can go have a nice dinner somewhere".
"Great idea".
"How was your spa day?"
"Wonderful. I cannot thank you enough, that was amazing".
"Well, you deserve it".
She fed McKenna her bottle and he went to shower and change.
She went to change after he came out, and when she was done, they headed with McKenna to dinner.
He picked a hibachi place, and they went inside. McKenna slept through most of the dinner, and only woke up as they were finishing up.
Jennifer insisted on paying for it, and Jonathan finally let her.
They went home and she went to put her pajamas on. When she came back out, he was feeding McKenna a bottle.
"She's eating again?"
"Nothing else was working. She didn't need a diaper change, and she wasn't a fan of me singing to her, so I tried the bottle last and she took it".
"Hmm… I wonder if she's having a growth spurt".
"I don't know. How could we tell that?"
"I'm not sure. I guess we will just see if she keeps eating more and more often. I am taking her to the pediatrician next week for a checkup".
After he was done feeding, they put her in her bassinette.
"Ok, you are off duty. I'm taking all the feeding shifts till morning".
"Are you sure?"
She nodded.
"It's only fair".
He went to change clothes and she locked up the house and turned out the lights.
He was in the bed when she came back in, and she quietly put the bassinette at the foot of the bed.
He had the news on, and was sitting up watching it. She climbed in bed and got comfy.
He was scratching his head.
"Hey can you look and see what this is?"
"Sure".
She got the flashlight and shined it on his head while he moved his head to her chest.
"Just a bump, it looks like. Nothing too serious. Does it hurt?"
"No".
"Does it itch?"
"No. I just felt it up there and didn't know what it was".
"It's not a freckle, so you might want to have a dermatologist look at it".
She turned the flashlight off and put it on the nightstand.
"So what kind of massage did you get today?"
"A full body deep tissue. And they did a face massage that was out of this world".
"A face massage?"
"Yes. Here, put your head in my lap and I'll show you".
He put his head in her lap and she told him to close his eyes.
She used her thumbs to rub small circles on his forehead and down the sides of his face. She pressed hard in places and light in others. After about 15 minutes, he was totally asleep.
She eased him off her and moved him over and then turned the light out and went to sleep.
***Sunday***
Abby and Mike took the kids to breakfast and then dropped them off.
Jennifer told them they would talk later in the week, and thanked them for taking them for the night.
Savanna was so excited to play with the new toys that she had gotten. Luke ran upstairs to play his video games.
Jonathan was on the couch, holding the baby.
Savanna showed them the makeup palette that she had gotten and the new Barbie doll.
She turned to Jonathan.
"Want to play makeup with me?"
"No, Uncle Jonathan doesn't want to play makeup".
"Yes, he does".
"No, he doesn't".
"Yes, he does".
"Uncle Jonathan doesn't know how to play makeup".
"It's easy. We go to the bathroom, and look in the mirror and you put makeup on me".
"Jonathan, be a good sport. It's only for a few minutes".
He finally agreed and handed McKenna to Jennifer. He and Savanna went to the bathroom and a few minutes later, Jennifer was looking for McKenna's pacifier.
She looked all over the den and couldn't find it. She got up and headed to the bedroom and couldn't find it.
"Jonathan, do you know where her-"
She walked into the bathroom and burst into giggles.
"Jennifer this isn't funny".
"Yes it is".
She put McKenna in her swing and then came back.
Instead of Jonathan putting makeup on Savanna, Savanna had put makeup on him.
Blue eyeshadow. Dark black eyebrows. Red lipstick. White powder and red cheeks.
"Savanna, why don't you see if you can find McKenna a paci?"
"Ok".
Jennifer got out some of her makeup remover wipes.
"Ok, be still".
She was still laughing as she wiped his face off.
She had him lean forward, against her kind of, so she could wipe his hairline.
He started kissing her neck.
"Jonathan, what are you doing?"
"Just go with it".
She pushed him away from her.
"Jonathan! There are kids in the house".
"And?"
"And we are just friends".
"Jennifer, we share a bed every night. Don't tell me you haven't thought about it".
"I haven't. I would never do that with a baby in the room. And besides, we aren't together".
"Why don't we stop fighting it, and just let it happen?"
"No, that's a bad idea".
"Why?"
"Because there are children in the house, who aren't used to seeing us together and we don't need to confuse them. Or ourselves".
"I'm not confused at all. I know exactly what I want, and I want you".
"Jonathan, we can't. We are better off as friends".
"So what, after Abby and Mike take the kids full time, that's it? You and I never see each other again?"
"I wouldn't say ever, but not every day".
"Fine."
He got up and grabbed a washcloth and scrubbed his face. She went to get McKenna who was crying. Savanna had found her paci, and brought it to her.
They sat on the couch, and Jonathan stayed in the bedroom watching TV.
She made everyone potato soup and grilled cheese for lunch, and they all ate together at the table.
She did the dishes when they were finished, and he picked McKenna up. She was crying pretty hard, so she quickly made her a bottle and handed it to him.
"I can feed her if you don't want to".
"It's fine".
She went back to the dishes and finished cleaning the kitchen.
She and Savanna went to go watch a movie in the bedroom and he went upstairs to play a game with Luke.
She sent Savanna upstairs to ask him if he wanted tacos or lasagna for dinner.
"Aunt Jeffer says tacos or lasghetti".
"What is lasghetti?"
"I don't know".
"Can you go ask her?"
"Ok".
She came running back downstairs.
"He said what is lasghetti?"
Jennifer was confused, so she got a piece of paper and a pen and wrote tacos and lasagna.
"Take this to him and tell him to circle which one he wants".
Savanna ran back upstairs and took it to him.
He circled both.
"Either is fine with me", he wrote at the bottom.
She decided on tacos, and let Savanna help as much as she could.
McKenna started crying so Jennifer put her in the swing, and then sent Savanna to ask Jonathan to come downstairs.
She was finished with the taco meat and was working on homemade salsa when he came down.
"Can you change her diaper or see if she wants to eat, please? She's fussy for some reason".
He picked her up and went to change her diaper, while Jennifer finished the salsa.
He came out of the bedroom holding McKenna on his shoulder.
"She was wet".
"Thank you for changing her".
He tried to put her in her swing, but she screamed.
He tried to put her in her high chair, but she screamed.
Finally, they put her in a bumbo at the end of the table and Jennifer gave her a mesh teether with frozen chunks of mango in it.
"Maybe she's teething".
They all ate their tacos, and Jonathan volunteered to do dishes.
Jennifer put the leftovers away and then took McKenna to the couch and sat with her.
Jonathan came and sat next to them and turned the TV on.
Jennifer scooted next to him.
"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings".
He sighed.
"It's ok. Let's just forget it".
"Jonathan, I don't want to forget it. I appreciate that you want something more between us, but we don't have the best track record together or separately, and the last thing this situation needs is us breaking up and fighting".
"I don't think we will do that. I know I will do everything in my power to keep us together".
"I just think it's best to start things after the situation changes, if we both want to".
"Well, I said I would do whatever you want, so if that's what you want, then I guess that's what we are doing".
"What are you doing about your apartment?"
"I am putting stuff in storage. I am meeting with the movers this week to do it, actually. But I'm keeping the apartment".
"I should probably do the same. I need to find a unit, I guess, and hire some movers. I'll probably let mine go".
"Why don't we share a unit? I don't have that much stuff".
She nodded.
"My movers can move you too. I'll take care of everything".
"Thank you".
She and Jonathan sat there a little longer playing with McKenna and making her laugh.
She loved Jonathan and kept clapping her hands for him.
"I think you have an admirer".
"Well, at least someone in the house loves me".
She swatted him.
"I was kidding".
She got up and got the kids to bed, and then came back down.
Jonathan had just gotten McKenna to sleep and was putting her in the bassinette.
Jennifer got the baby teething gel and put it by the bed, and then she got the mesh teether and put it in the freezer and made sure they had plenty of frozen fruit.
She went into the bathroom and changed into her pajamas, while he went and locked the house and turned the lights off.
"Jonathan, at some point this week, we need to go pay for the layaway items that they put away for the kids."
"Well, what if we make a night of it? We can get a sitter, and you and I can go shopping, and maybe grab dinner, and then come back home".
"I'd like that".
She was putting on lotion when he came in to the room, and he could see she was struggling to get her back.
He walked over to her and started rubbing it in for her.
"Thank you".
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, go ahead".
"You said you didn't want to be a couple and do couple things with a baby in the room. What about when she moves to her own room?"
"I haven't thought that far ahead. Unless we get a monitor of some kind, I think she should stay here until she is sleeping through the night".
"We can definitely get a monitor if you want".
"I guess we need to make a list".
She climbed into bed and he climbed in the other side.
He watched TV while she fell asleep.
He wanted so bad to lean over and kiss her and hold her, but he was trying to respect her boundaries.
Instead, he just pulled the covers up around her and made her as comfortable as he could.