Saturday morning Elizabeth woke up feeling like all was right in the world. The night before had been the most memorable she could remember in a long time. The whole night she'd felt like a precious gem with Jack. He was attentive, caring, and very affectionate; yet not in a way that made her feel uncomfortable.

It was clear that Jack was progressing further along in his feelings than she was. Or at least more than she was ready to admit. The more she thought about Jack the night before, the weaker her restraint to not fall head over heels for him was.

Would it be so bad, she thought. To let myself love Jack, and be loved by him?

Rolling over she checked the time on her phone. She had a couple hours till she picked Dylan up at her parent's place. She also had a text from Jack.

"If you get this, I have time before I get H from my parents. Breakfast?"

"If you still have time I can be ready in 20."

"I'll pick you up. See you soon."

Elizabeth quickly hopped out of bed and jumped into the shower. When she got out she pulled on a pair of form fitting jeans and a light blue flowing knit top.

She had just enough time for a bit of makeup and a little hair fussing before Jack knocked on the door downstairs.

She opened the door then turned to grab her jacket off the hook. "Good morning, Jack!"

"Good morning to you." He stepped inside and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling in her close for a kiss. It was supposed to be short and sweet, but it quickly became deep and moving.

"Wow," she gasped as he pulled back, clearly happy with the kiss herself.

"Sorry. You just look so great this morning and I… I just had to."

"No need to apologize. That was… great."

Jack held out his hand. "Shall we?"

After some discussion, they decided on a cute little restaurant right on the water. They held hands the whole drive there. Elizabeth sang along to the song playing on the radio.

"I've missed listening to you sing."

"I was better back then."

"From where I'm listening, you still sound amazing. The times we've met and sang on the beach lately, you sounded perfect."

They pulled into the busy little restaurant and managed to get a small table by the window. As soon as they were seated, Jack stretched out his hand to take hers, wasting no time. They talked about the weather and the week ahead until after they'd placed their orders.

Elizabeth noticed Jack staring at her, causing butterflies to flutter like mad in her stomach.

"What?"

"Just looking at you." He smiled. "I've been thinking a lot about our date last night."

"Me too."

"I'm so happy we're doing this." He lifted her hand to his lips.

"So am I. I want this Jack. For you and I to have a shot. I want you to know that without any doubts."

"I feel the same." He leaned back, taking her all in. She was beautiful, sweet, everything he wanted right now and would ever want. "I know we need to tread lightly. We have the kids to think about."

"Right. I don't want to hurt either of them like they were with our previous marriages."

"Exactly. Harper's still navigating it but she's a good kid. I have hope that in time she'll understand."

"What might help us is not throwing this in her face a lot."

Jack sighed, "You're probably right. So, we'll go out when we can. Talk on the phone and skype in the evenings after the kids are all set." Jack scratched the side of his head. "But I want us to do things together too. With the kids. If we're going to have a future together, we need to see what that looks like."

"I want that too. This is a new start. For all of us. Let's just be patient."

"And take our time."

With a sweet, flirty smile she added, "And enjoy the time we take?"

He nodded. "I'm all about enjoying things."

After their breakfast date, Jack dropped Elizabeth back off at her cottage and then headed to his parents house to see Harper. His baby girl had been acting so strange lately. She had always been a kid who could hold onto her soft demeanor even under the rough circumstances of their family life. Now, she was a rolling dark cloud of teenage angst. It was unnerving for a single father.

"Hey, Dad. How was she?"

"An angel as always, son."

"Really?" Jack whispered. "That's great."

"She and your mother watched movies and ate cookie dough or something like that. I asked if they wanted me to cook it for them and they looked at me like I had three heads, go figure. They're eating raw cookie dough and I'm the crazy one?"

Jack laughed. "You're not female, Dad. That's all."

"Don't I know that!" Tom chuckled. "They went out for a walk, should be back soon."

"Great."

Jack had a great talk with his dad about life and how things were going with Elizabeth and Harper's apparent feelings toward it all. Tom suggested they do exactly what it was they were doing. Take their time, and put the kids first.

They stayed for lunch at Charlotte's pleading. Jack didn't mind. He had the day off and all he had planned was to spend it with Harper. After enjoying burgers on the grill and potato salad, Jack grabbed his daughters overnight pack and placed it in the bed of the truck.

"Sounds like you had a great time with Nana, huh, Honey Bee?"

"Yeah. It was fun." She looked over at her dad. He looked happy. Ridiculously happy. For some reason, that annoyed her. "Do I want to know how last night went?" Harper's tone was dripping with attitude. Much more than she had expected. Being a stubborn young teen, and feeling like she couldn't take it back, she held her ground with a face that echoed her emotions.

"Wow, Harper. If you check your tone maybe I'll tell you."

"That's okay. I don't need to hear about you making-out with my principal and best friend's mom." She put her sneaker clad feet up on the dash. Jack tapped her leg immediately to put them down.

"Is this how its always going to be? You mad at me?"

"I'm not mad."

"You aren't?"

"I don't know. I'm just cranky alright? Aren't I allowed to be? Why do I need a reason?"

"Okay. We don't need to talk about this anymore then. Not until your ready. But I'd like you to try Harp, at some point."

Harper looked at her dad. He now seemed discouraged and a lot less happy. "I'm sorry. You can tell me a little, I guess. Not the kissing part though. Did you guys have a good time?"

"You sure you want me to answer?"

"Yeah."

"We did. She's a special person and really great to talk to. It was nice."

"You care a lot about her?"

"Yeah I do. She was my best friend once, and is again. I'm very lucky."

"Sorry, Dad. I'll try more."

"I get it, Harper. I do. Change is hard."

….

Things at Elizabeth's house had gotten a little more exciting. When William dropped him back off at the cottage from his weekend visit, he had something special packed away in the back of his SUV.

Now she sat on the couch having a cup of coffee with her Dad as they listened to the sound of Dylan upstairs with his new gift.

"A drum set, Dad? Really?"

"He's a drummer! He needed one eventually."

"A little heads up would have been nice."

"If I had given you a heads up would you have let me get it or even let him keep it?"

She smirked, "Probably not, no."

"Now you know why I didn't."

"You are such a pain, Dad!"

"Maybe so but you're smiling."

This was true. Dylan wailed on the drums some more and she winced. "I don't suppose lessons came with the drums, did they?"

"Of course they did! You think I'd make you listen to that forever?" He laughed pointing up the stairs. "Once a week, at the man's studio in town. His name is Alec Flynn."

She winced again as Dylan hit the cymbals hard. "I guess he can only get better from here right?"

"I guess so," William laughed. "By the way, there are earplugs and Tylenol on the kitchen counter."

"Smart, Dad. Thank you."

…..

For the next few days things seemed to be pretty normal. Jack and Harper spent time together when she wasn't busy with soccer or homework and him with work. Jack and Dylan exchanged emails and a few secret phone calls about Elizabeth's surprise birthday party.

Elizabeth spent a number of hours outside, bundled up with her book while Dylan alternated between pounding on his new drum set and fiddling with her old guitar. Neither sounded all that pleasant. Finally surrendering, she went upstairs, waving her hands to get his son's attention.

"Here's the deal, you want to play guitar, let's learn something. Pick a song, find chords online and I'll work on it with you."

"For real?"

"Oh yeah. My ears need saving, love." She laughed as Dylan rushed to the computer to find chords for his favorite songs.

Every evening after the kids were in their rooms asleep, Jack and Elizabeth would find a quiet place to sit and skype together. It wasn't the same as physically being together, but it was something.

"I need a vacation. Or better yet, my ears do."

"How's our future rock star?"

"Don't ever let him hear you say that." She laughed. "He's fast asleep and I can still hear him in my head."

"I remember what that was like with Tom. It got better once Dad built him a soundproof room in the garage."

"Is that room still there?"

"It is… It's crammed with stuff from where when we moved but I could clean it out if you wanted."

"No, I won't do that to you. Dylan would probably live there if I did that."

"Come visit all the time and I won't mind one bit."

"Your daughter might."

"She's coming around. I think."

"I hope so. I don't want this to be hard for her. She's a sweet girl."

"She is. Something's still going on though. Her mood swings, my gosh. Almost reminds me of her mother."

Elizabeth laughed. "Like I've been saying, she's a young girl. Changes are happening. Not just in her life but to her…"

"Nope!" Not hearing it."

"Jack…"

"Let me ride down the sea of denial a little longer, alright?"

"Aye aye, captain, but you may not have much time left on this one."

"I might need some help."

"You have me. As much as Harper is willing to allow."

He stared at her beautiful face through the screen. The desire to tell her he loved her was almost overpowering.

"You're really something, Blue Eyes. I'm so happy you're in my life again."

"So am I, Jack."

On Wednesday Elizabeth had a district meeting after school. Jack offered to pick up Dylan and take him with him to Harper's soccer game in the next town. She appreciated it. Even though they'd hadn't heard from Ray for a little while, she was nervous of Dylan being alone in the cottage.

Harper was riding to the game with her team, so that left Jack and Dylan with some guy time in the truck. This was the first time the two of them had been together since everything changed. For the first 10 miles of their drive, they sat silently staring at the road.

"You want some music on?" Jack asked.

"Sure."

"Passenger's choice. There's an old iPod in the glove compartment. See if there's anything on there you like."

"Okay." Dylan reached it and took the iPod out and plugged it into the dash and began scrolling through its contents. "Wow, you've got a lot of stuff on here."

"Yeah, I've had it for a while."

"I take it some of this stuff is Harper's and not yours?"

"What was your first clue?" Jack laughed.

"I don't know. You don't really look like a Katy Perry kind of guy. Not that I'm sure what that kind of guy would look like."

"Ah yeah. Those songs are definitely Harper's."

Dylan snorted and kept scrolling. "What's this playlist? ET Songs?"

"Oh, that… um."

"Is ET my mom?"

Jack glanced over seeing the narrow eyed look Dylan was giving him. It was unnerving until he noticed something special. Dylan looked so much like Elizabeth. He had her angry teacher face down pat. When they were younger, Jack would refer to it as her "angry camp counselor face."

"Two things, yes that's a playlist of songs that have always reminded me of your mom and of our time growing up."

"And the second thing?"

"You look like your mom when you make that face."

Dylan's face softened. "Yeah? I was afraid I looked just like my dad."

"You look a little like him, but you're more like your mom. You definitely act like your mom and not him."

"Good. I don't wanna be anything like him. I want to be… I don't know. Maybe like you." Curiosity took over and Dylan hit play on the ET playlist. He recognized a number of the songs. "So do these songs bring up good memories for you?"

"Some of my best. Outside of the thousands I have with Harper. She has a playlist named for her too."

Dylan nodded. "I think these songs mean a lot to my mom too. Maybe that's why she's plays them."

"She does?"

He nodded. "I recognize a lot of them from her Spotify playlist. She has a bunch but these are on the ones she goes to a lot. Has as long as I can remember. I think it's called "Sunshine" or something."

Jack didn't know what to say, so he simply nodded.

"I know the answer to this I think, but I wanna ask. Is that okay?"

"Go for it, bud."

"You're not going to turn out to be a class A jerk are you? I mean, Harper says you're great and I like you. Mom's the happiest I've ever seen her but… it's my job to protect her. I didn't do it before and I feel like dirt about that, but I will from now on. Even from you if I have to."

Jack pulled the truck off on a small look out point to the right. With the truck in park, he turned to Dylan and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'll be honest with you, Dylan. Always. I'm not perfect, but I care about you and your mom so much. I don't want you to have to worry about your mom when it comes to me. I can't say that we won't fight now and then, we are human after all. But I will never, ever treat her with anything less than respect and love. She deserves that, and so do you."

Dylan felt a little emotional at Jack's heartfelt answer. He cleared his throat and mustered out a, "Cool. Thanks."

"Anytime."

They showed up at the game with 15 minutes to spare. Jack took two camp chairs out of the back of the truck and handed one to Dylan. Once they found a perfect spot they settled in for the game.

"Here." Jack handed Dylan a thermos. "Hot chocolate."

"Nice. Thanks, Mr. Thornton." He opened the thermos and took in the warmth. "Hey, did Mom tell you I got a drum set?"

Jack laughed, "Yeah, you got lessons too?"

"Yup. Had one yesterday. The guy's cool. He has this awesome home studio and a couple different drum sets. He can even record us."

"Nice, glad you're enjoying it."

When the game started, Jack realized how much fun it was to have another loud person in the Harper cheering section. There was no calming down Dylan as the game went on.

"Go, Harp! Go!" Dylan cheered loudly now standing on the sidelines. When she scored, Dylan leaped in the air. "Way to go! Yeah!"

After the game Dylan ran up and gave Harper a high-five. Jack smiled as he waited back. The kids walked over and were already deeply engaged in conversation about the game.

"Dad, did you see? I got 2 goals today!"

"I did! You were awesome!" He hugged her tight, lifting her off the ground.

"Since we won can we stop at Taco Bell on the way home? I saw one on the bus ride here."

"I think that can be arranged." He tossed his phone to Dylan. "Call your mom and see if it's okay. We can pick her something up if she wants."

"Cool. I'll do that."

Dylan called as they all walked back to the truck. "Hey, Mr. Thornton. Mom wants to talk to you."

"Alright. You kids get in." He walked a few paces away to take the call more privately. "Hey, Blue Eyes. How was your meeting?"

"Not too bad. Way too long. Dylan said you wanted to stop for food on the way?"

"Yeah, just the drive thru."

"So the kids are getting along?"

"Yeah. Whatever anxiety they have over us doesn't seem to be affecting their friendship. To tell you the truth they act like siblings already sometimes. Though they probably get along better than if they were."

"Probably," she laughed. "Well, if you've got Dylan's dinner covered I'll go grab a quick bite and do some stuff around the house."

"Perfect. See you when I drop him off."

"Alright. Be safe."

"I will."

The conversation on the drive home started out with the kids recapping the game play-by-play over tacos and burritos. Jack didn't mind. He had always wanted more kids. Ashley insisted one was more than enough, and he never pushed it. This was giving him a glimpse of what it would be like, and he loved it.

When there was a break in conversation, Jack decided to bring up Elizabeth's birthday party. Hoping it wouldn't be a sore spot for Harper. He wanted her to be involved, but only if she was ready and willing.

"So Dyl, any more thoughts about your mom's birthday?"

"I don't know. I'm not really sure what I'm doing. My aunt Vi is taking her out for the afternoon though and bringing her back to the house around 5 o'clock. Some girl thing."

"Good plan. I ordered a cake from that old bakery I was telling you about."

"They had a cannoli cake?"

"Oh yeah. It's amazing too."

"Great. That's one of Mom's favorites. Grandma would get it for her all the time, but it's been forever since we've been with them for her birthday."

"Well, she'll have it this year." Jack grinned back at the boy from the driver seat. "Do you know what you want us to cook for dinner?"

"No. I know I said I'd think of something but I have no idea."

Harper sat silent in the front passenger seat of the truck. She wanted to be angry and annoyed at the conversation and the changes happening in her life, but she couldn't. This was a nice thing Dylan, her best friend, was trying to do for his mom. After all she'd gone through, she deserved to feel special for once. Besides, it wasn't that she didn't like Ms. Thatcher. She actually really liked her. It was just the change her presence represented she wasn't sure about.

"What if you made Greek food?" she suggested.

"Greek?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. Dylan told me a while ago Ms. Thatcher's always wanted to go to Greece. Wasn't there a Greek restaurant near your house in DC she loved?"

"Yes!" Dylan practically bounced in his seat. "I don't remember what it was she ordered all the time though."

"Dad, may I use your phone?"

"Sure, Honey Bee."

She took his cell and download an app to it. A few minutes later she spoke, "Okay, Dad. You now have a Pinterest account."

"I have a what now?"

"It's like a search engine where you can organize all your ideas and thoughts and there's pictures and stuff."

"And you know about this how?"

"Mom loves it."

"Ah, okay. And why do I have it?"

"Dylan, look up Greek food and save anything that looks like what your mom ordered or if it just looks good. Then we'll have ideas to go off of."

"Awesome! Thanks, Harp!"

Jack gave his daughter a wink, he wanted her to know he appreciated the olive branch she was extending. Now they just needed to keep that olive branch around. He was much more comfortable with this Harper than the moody one.