"Isabelle, can you go and open up for your guests?" Harm shouted when he had heard someone knocking on the door. It was Isabelle's birthday and it was about time for the dinner guests to arrive.
"Coming," Isabelle shouted back from her room upstairs. Mac had never seen her so thrilled with a present ever before as she'd been with the guitar. Isabelle and Harm had spent most of the day trying to learn the first accords that you needed to know to play some simple songs. Isabelle had come running to the door as soon as Mac had come home from work to show her what she had learned. Mac's day at work had been tougher than normally and she had been dead when she returned home so she had been very glad that Harm had already prepared the lasagna, Isabelle's choice, so there really wasn't that much for her to do except to decorate the cake they were having for dessert.
Isabelle came running down the stairs and walked up to the door. Harm came with her incase it was Sandra and her mom and they needed to schedule when she was going to be picked up.
"Happy birthday, honey," Jack said when Isabelle opened the door and she sprung into his arms.
"Hi Dad," Isabelle got out and had her arms tightly around Jack's neck.
"Hey Jack. It's nice to see you again," Harm tried his best to be nice and polite so that this evening would be nice for Isabelle.
"Nice to see you too, Harm," Jack said. With one arm still holding Isabelle he got out his right hand to say hello to Harm with.
"Do you have something for me?" Isabelle asked looking curiously at the paper bag Jack had sat down right beside him.
"Yes, I do. Hold on a minute," Jack bent down to get the present out of the bag. "This is for you, Belle. I hope you'll like it."
"Thank you."
There was another knock on the door and Isabelle turned around to open up for Sandra. The two girls greeted each other and soon the two of them and the two men went into the living room. In a little while Mac joined them and she sat down beside Isabelle and watched her unwrapping the present from Jack. It was a new set of paper, pens and pencils with which Isabelle would be able further develop her artistic talents.
A few minutes later Harm went to check on the lasagna in the kitchen and soon returned to say that dinner was now served. They went out to sit at the table on the back porch. The atmosphere was a bit tense among the adults, but the fact that all of them were trying to have a pleasant time made it all seem a lot better. Isabelle enjoyed her birthday, especially being the center of attention and she seemed very happy about the fact that Mac, Harm and Jack were talking so friendly with each other. After they were finished eating dinner Mac went and got out the cake. Isabelle managed to blow out all of the candles and even managed to keep her wish a secret. When there was only a few pieces of the cake left and no one of them could get anything more down, Isabelle and Sandra disappeared up to Isabelle's room to play and the adults were left alone.
"So," Harm started.
"So," Mac agreed.
"So," Jack said "When are you going back to work, Harm?"
"In three weeks."
"It will be quite a transition, won't it?"
"Oh yeah. Definitely. So are you still flying sometimes?" Harm asked.
"Only in my spare time nowadays," Jack said and continued to tell Harm about his last deployment at sea. While Harm and Jack were talking more lively and friendly with each other, Mac started to put the plates together and carry them out to the kitchen. Jack paused in his talking and he and Harm asked if they should help her, but she declined stating that she was just going to carry it out to the kitchen and then call Trish to talk to her about them coming over for the weekend and Isabelle's party. After Mac had left the porch, Jack and Harm continued to talk and catch up. Even though their conversation never got to be very deep, they still both felt that the friendship they had once had was still in some ways there. Almost an hour later Isabelle and her friend came back down and wanted to play the song Harm had taught her earlier the same day. Sandra's father showed up at the time they had made up earlier and Jack then decided he'd better leave as well.
When they closed the door after their guests Isabelle looked pretty tired, but that didn't stop her from wanting to continue the day a bit longer.
"Can you teach me some more on the guitar?" she turned to ask Harm.
"Isn't it well past your bedtime now?"
"Please, Dad," she begged and then froze with her hand reached out towards him when she realized what she had said. Harm just looked at her in surprise and shock.
TBC