Chapter Five
Happy Birthday, Jordan
This time Jordan did not find herself deposited back into her apartment. Instead Peter left her outside Woody's apartment building. "You've got to give those ghosts – or whatever they are – credit. They are efficient," she murmured as she opened the door to the building and took the elevator up to his floor. She wasn't sure what she was going to say…she just knew if Woody was getting ready to leave Boston, she had to stop him.
Her future…their future…depended on it.
She figured if she could somehow disengage her brain and let her heart talk for once, that might do the trick. Or at least she couldn't say she didn't try. The elevator was taking forever.
She finally found herself in front of his door. Hesitantly, she knocked. No answer. "Come on, come on…" she said. "Peter wouldn't have made me too late…he just wouldn't have." Then she heard his voice say from the other side.
"I'll give you a call tomorrow morning and set something definite up. Yeah, I'll have to give a two week notice. Okay…no, there's someone at my door….and it's midnight." He mumbled a good-bye and then the door popped open. "Jordan." She watched as his face fell. "I should have known only you wouldn't think that midnight is not an appropriate time for a social call."
"But a booty call?" she joked feebly.
"Stop joking. It's not funny."
She swallowed hard. He wasn't going to make this easy. "Can I come in?"
"Seeing that you're already here and it's late, and I'm still a Boy Scout at heart, yes."
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, she decided the direct approach might be best. "I've been thinking…"
"Nothing good ever happens to me after those three words."
She sighed. She should have expected this. He not only wasn't chasing her any longer, he was pushing her away. But the vision of three chestnut-haired children danced in her head…."Woody….I know you're angry with me. And you have every right to be…I wouldn't blame you if you threw me out of here and never spoke to me again. Never worked with me. Never had anything else to do with me…."
"So now you're going to try to justify your actions to me so that I'm the one that feels guilty?"
"No…no….nothing like that?"
"Then what?"
Taking a deep breath, she began. She was going to skip the ghost part. She had a feeling if she talked about that, he'd have down at the mental health department before you could say Patrick Swayze. "I was wrong."
Woody sat down on his couch, leaving her standing by herself. If he didn't know her better, he's swear he just heard Jordan Cavanaugh admit she was wrong. "Come again?" he asked.
"I was wrong. I've been wrong. I shouldn't have been leading you on like this….letting you think that maybe something could happen between us and then letting you down. That was wrong.
"But I've been scared, Woody. When I told you that I cared for you more than you knew, I was serious. I meant it. I mean it," she corrected herself. "Everyone that I've loved deeply has left me. And I'm afraid that might happen with us. You'd leave. You'd get to know me a little better and figure out how flawed I am and walk off. And my heart couldn't take it…." Her voice trailed off and she looked away, rapidly blinking back the tears.
"You've been scared of me?"
"I'm afraid of what you could do to me…what it would do to me….if you walked off."
"So…why are you admitting this now?"
"Because….I don't want you to leave Boston, Woody."
His jaw dropped. How in the hell did she know?
"I don't want you to leave because I love you. And I'd like to try…really try…to be more than friends. I'm not sure I know how exactly…and I'm not sure it will work…but I do care for you….deeply….
"But if you do decide to leave…and I wouldn't blame you if you did … I wanted you to know how I felt. Life is all about choices, Woody. I learned that tonight. The decisions that you and I make tonight not only affect tomorrow and next month, but the rest of our lives. If you leave Boston, we may never see each other again. Never know what could have been. Never…never….be together," she finished quietly, sitting down on the arm of chair across from where he was at on the couch.
He was silent for a long moment, looking down at the floor, thinking. Then he looked into her eyes that were bright with tears she was desperately trying not to cry. He wasn't sure what had happened to her tonight….but somehow her emotional wall was completely down. She was open and so vulnerable to what he was going to do. Standing, he walked over to where she was still sitting, towering over her. Gently he placed two fingers under her chin and raised her eyes to his. "Okay…." He blew a deep breath out. "This is what we're going to do, Cavanaugh. S-L-O-W. That's how we're going to take this. Not as slowly as it's been going…but we're not rushing things, either. One step at a time." He pulled her to her feet and took her in his arms.
"Are you sure?" she asked quietly.
"I am. Like you said. Life is all about choices…and this is one of the choices I've made. I'll stay in Boston….and I'll love you. And we'll work things out. And now, one more time, Jordan…this is your choice…what do you say?" He dug his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out the ring box and extended it to her.
This time, her fingers curled around the box, opening the lid. It was still just as beautiful. "Would you put it on?" she asked, somewhat shyly.
Gently he slipped the diamond friendship ring on her right hand. Then slowly lowered his lips to hers for a long kiss. When he finally broke it off, and both of their breathing returned to normal, he hugged her close. "How'd you find out about me leaving Boston? I mean, no one knew I was even thinking along those lines."
She smiled against his lips. "A friend of mine had a hunch….and told me I needed to make a choice." She pulled him down for another kiss.
"And you chose to take a chance with me?"
"I think…my future depends on it."
Woody pulled back and gave her a quizzical look. He'd get her to explain later…much later. But right now she was in his arms and his ring was on her finger. "Happy Birthday, Jordan," he murmured in her ear before he kissed her again.
