Hi! :-) Happy Friday!! Thanks for your reviews. I'm happy you're enjoying the story. Hope you like Chapter 7! :-)

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Chapter 7

A week later, Janet was sitting in her office, checking the inventory for her shop, when the phone rang. Engrossed in numbers and product listings, she thought about letting it go to the answering machine, but at the last moment, decided to pick up the receiver. Hearing Jack's pleasant voice in her ear was her reward.

"Hey, did you just get into town?"

"A little while ago. How are you?"

"I'm fine. How about you?"

"Doing better now that my feet are on the ground."

Janet shook her head. "I'm amazed you made it to Europe and back with the way you feel about flying."

"Well, when you're knocked out for most of the flight, it goes a lot better."

Janet chuckled. "I guess so. What's on your agenda?"

"I meet with Tim tomorrow. I plan to be here for a few days. I told him I would have an answer for him before I leave."

"How is it looking?" Janet couldn't help but ask.

"If I get the right answers to a few of my questions, I'd like to buy the restaurant."

"I wish you good luck, Jack. Really, I do."

Jack smiled into the phone. "Thanks, Janet. It's nice to be talking amicably again."

"Yeah," she had to admit, "it is."

"Would it be all right if I stopped by the flower shop for a short visit after my meeting tomorrow?"

"Sure," she said. "Come by. I may even be able to take a break."

"Sounds like you're working too hard," he gently chided. "I'll make sure you take that break."

"Okay, Mr. Tripper," she said good-naturedly.

Jack laughed. "See you tomorrow."

"Until tomorrow," she said, realizing their conversation had been too short as soon as she heard the soft click in her ear.

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Later that night, after Janet had helped Taylor with her spelling words for her test the next day and had gotten her snuggled in her bed, she told her daughter she needed to talk to her.

"Okay, Mommy."

Clutching her teddy bear, Mr. Thomas, tightly in her little arms, Taylor looked at her mother with serious eyes.

"I want to talk to you about the man who was here a few weeks ago."

"The one who made you cry?"

"Yes, only I need to correct that. He didn't make me cry, Taylor. At least, not in a bad way."

"You sounded sad," Taylor said, pulling Mr. Thomas even closer to her.

"I was sad, but it was because of something that happened a long time ago."

"What?"

"The man who was here, his name is Jack Tripper. He and I and Auntie Terri used to be roommates when I lived in Santa Monica."

"Before Daddy, right?"

"Yes, sweetheart," Janet said, brushing the hair from her daughter's eyes. "This was before I married your daddy."

"Did you like living with Jack?"

"Yes," Janet said, her voice softening as warm memories flooded her mind. "Very much. We were great friends."

"And then what happened?"

"Well, things changed. I met your daddy and moved here."

"And Auntie Terri moved to Haw'ii."

"Right."

"What about Jack?"

"He moved to Paris, France. In Europe."

"All the way over there?" she asked, sounding as though Jack had gone to the moon.

Janet laughed. "Yes, sweetheart. Jack moved far away."

"You never saw him?" she asked, shaking her head.

Janet's eyes clouded with emotion. "No, I didn't."

"Did Daddy know Jack?"

"Yes, he did."

"Did Daddy like him?"

"They weren't best friends or anything, like you and Danielle are, but I can tell you that Jack was very sad to hear that your father had died."

"What did he say?" Taylor asked, her voice quiet.

She didn't have any memory of her father, except for what her mother and others told her and the pictures she saw, but she knew her mother had been unhappy for a long time.

"He said that your father was a good man, and he was saddened to hear that he had left us. He sent his love to both of us, honey."

"He knew about me?"

"Yes, he did."

"How?"

"Auntie Terri told him."

"Was he in Paris when Daddy went to Heaven?"

Janet nodded. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she recalled that horrible time in her life. She forced her voice to sound upbeat as she continued to answer her daughter's questions.

"He talked about coming back to the United States, though."

"And he did, and he saw you."

"That's right. And now, he's here again."

"He is?"

Taylor scooted up a bit in her bed.

"Yes. And he wants to meet you. Won't that be nice?"

She shrugged her small shoulders and wrinkled her nose. "I guess so."

"He wants to take you and me to dinner soon."

"Okay," Taylor said.

Janet smiled and hugged her daughter. "I know you'll like him. He's funny. I bet he makes you laugh. A lot."

"What about Uncle Nick?" Taylor asked.

"What about him?"

"Will he be there, too?"

"No, honey. He knows that Jack has invited us to dinner. He wants us to go."

"Do Uncle Nick and Jack know each other?"

Janet shook her head. "They haven't met but, hopefully, one day, they will."

Taylor yawned; Janet knew she needed to get to sleep.

"We'll talk more tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay, Mommy. I love you."

"Goodnight, sweetheart. Mommy loves you, too."

Janet kissed her daughter's soft cheek, pulled the blankets tighter around her and watched her until she fell asleep.

As Janet walked to her own bedroom, she could only hope she was doing the right thing by letting Jack back into her life and into the life of her precious daughter.