Chapter 5
Jennie
After dinner, Mom bathed the girls for me while I cleaned up the kitchen. The guests succumbed to their food comas and retired to their rooms for the night, everyone except Ashley. She was sitting on the couch with Fred, who was watching the news closely. She looked bored out of her mind, picking at her fake fingernails and yawning. I was sure she was waiting around for Lisa, who mentioned going to take a shower.
"How's it looking?" One simple sentence in Lisa's voice as she entered the room sent shivers through my entire body.
Ashley perked up from her intense session of hair twirling and beamed at Lisa. She really was quite pretty and it pissed me off. She'd look great on Lisa's arm, I thought, letting out a heavy sigh.
"Not good, not good at all," Fred answered, running his hands through his salt and pepper hair and getting up from the couch. "Okay, you crazy kids, I'm off to bed. Gotta get up early and make sure the inn didn't float away."
Out the back door he went, making his way to his cozy apartment above the garage. I had been in it quite a few times. It smelled of cigars and was full of hot rod memorabilia. It was a comfortable place that fit Fred perfectly. I loved having him there.
"Wanna watch a movie, when she's done?" I heard Ashley whisper not-so-quietly to Lisa. I was instantly annoyed that I felt like a nuisance in my own home as I started rinsing the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher faster. The last thing I wanted to see was the two of them all snuggled up on the couch, watching TV together.
"We'll see, I'm pretty tired after today." Lisa smiled politely at her.
I looked up and saw her make that awful pouty face again. Someone should really tell her how unattractive she looked when she did that.
"Awww, come on. I'm not sleepy yet." She whined like a child.
"Sorry, Ashley. My girlfriend probably wouldn't be too happy with me spending the evening shacked up on the couch with a stranger either." She patted her on the shoulder and walked over, rifling through her duffel bag.
Girlfriend? She has a girlfriend? Bummer.
I wasn't really shocked though. She seemed charming and charismatic with the most infectious smile I had ever seen, not to mention hot as hell. I was immediately drawn to her, it's no surprise that others were as well.
"Mom, will you read us a bedtime story?" Ruby came into the kitchen, snapping me out of my thoughts. She was wearing her favorite Strawberry Shortcake pajamas and had an armful of books.
"I want Pinkalicious," pleaded Jane, following right behind her.
"Sure, I just have to finish the kitchen real quick," I answered, rinsing out the big chili pot.
"No! I want If You Give A Moose A Muffin," whined Ruby.
Jane squeezed her little hands into fists and tensed her arms down at her sides, ready for an argument, but I stepped in.
"Ok, I'll finish this later. How about we read both?" I tossed my sponge in the sink and turned to the girls, desperate to diffuse the potential argument in front of Ashley and Lisa.
I heard Ashley giggle from the couch, and I had to fight the urge to snatch the book out of Jane's hand and whip it at Ashley's forehead like a Frisbee.
"Yay!" Ruby and Jane both cheered, as we turned down the hall toward their bedroom.
About an hour later, I woke up in Ruby's bed with the girls snuggled up on either side of me, sound asleep. Their favorite book, Pinkalicious, was open and laying on my chest. We were all so warm and toasty, I was tempted to pull the blanket up and go to sleep right there with them. Remembering the mess I'd left in the kitchen, I forced myself out of her bed, tucking them in on my way out.
I walked to the end of the hall, turned toward the kitchen and stopped in my tracks. Not only was the dishwasher running, but the counters were clear, the table had been wiped down and all the leftovers had been put away. Jisoo's flowers were sitting perfectly in the center of the island. I looked around and the only person left downstairs was Lisa, who was sitting on the living room couch watching SportsCenter.
"Wow! It looks great in here," I called out. "Do I have you to thank for this?"
"Hey!" she said, getting up from the couch and coming over into the kitchen. "Yeah, I thought I would help out. It's the least I could do, ya know, as a thank you for letting me stay here." She leaned her hip against the edge of the island and folded her arms across her chest, giving me a sincere smile.
God, those smiles might be the death of me.
"Well, thank you for this," I said, waving toward the kitchen. "I was sure I'd be elbow deep in chili grease until midnight."
"No problem. It also gave me an excuse to blow off Ashley." She laughed, her eyes wide.
"She was laying it on pretty thick, huh?"
"Ugh," she groaned. "She was obnoxious. She's as intelligent as this countertop, and her laugh was really starting to get on my nerves."
"Did she back off once you told her about your girlfriend?" I tried to be coy when I asked, when really I wanted to know every disgusting detail about her relationship. How long had they been together? Were they serious? Was she going to marry her? Then I wanted her phone number so I could tastelessly call her and ask her what this sexy creature was like in bed.
"Yeah, she pouted … again and went up to bed." A mischievous grin crossed her face. "But … I don't have a girlfriend."
My heart leapt into my throat.
"What? But … I thought I heard…"
"I just told her that so she'd leave me alone." She chuckled like she was pretty proud of herself.
"Oh, well, your secret is safe with me." I zipped my lip shut and smiled at her nervously. For some reason, I felt safer when I thought she had a girlfriend. Since Kai and I split, I had been so careful and precise about what type of person I was willing to allow myself to get close to. I wasn't about to throw that all away on one charming stranger with a smile that could melt glass.
"I was looking at the pictures your mom has out. There are lots of you and the girls. Are you an only child?" She walked over to the fridge, grabbed the orange juice and set it on the island.
"Yep, just me."
"I also noticed that there wasn't a guy in any of the pictures with you and the girls, and your mom mentioned you were single. Where's the girls' dad?" She poured juice into two glasses and slid one toward me.
I raised the glass to my lips slowly in a desperate attempt to stall answering her questions. I never talked about Kai with my best friend, let alone someone I had known for a handful of hours.
"Uh … he's gone." My plan was to use the vaguest answers I possibly could.
"Hmm." She looked down at her glass for a minute, contemplating her next question. "Was he ever around? Does he know the girls? Does he see them?"
My eyes widened as I took a deep breath, overwhelmed with the avalanche of personal questions she was dumping on me all at once.
She must have noticed the hesitation on my face and put her hands up in front of her. "Whoa, I'm so sorry. That was really pushy of me."
I looked down and smiled shyly, picking at an imaginary spot on the counter.
When I didn't respond, she continued, "Listen, I really am sorry. I don't normally turn into Dr. Phil when talking to a pretty girl. I guess I was just trying to find something to talk about so that you wouldn't turn around and go back down that hall to bed. Let's talk about something else." She looked around the room, scrambling for something new to talk about. "So, how about this weather?"
I looked back up at her and my stone heart cracked just a little bit at her adorable awkwardness as she tried to backpedal. I felt bad for being so standoffish and wondered if maybe talking to someone who I didn't have to see again would make me feel better. I took a deep breath and decided to go for it, hoping talking about my past, just a little, would feel therapeutic, not painful.
"No, he doesn't see them. He left right before their first birthday. I haven't seen him since. I don't even know where he is," I blurted out, one sentence right after the other.
"Wow, he left you?" She looked at me incredulously, shaking her head. "What an idiot."
Her comment embarrassed me slightly, but also made my heart soar. It had been a long time since someone had complimented me, and never someone as good-looking as Lisa. I didn't have time to respond before she continued her inquiry into my past.
"So, that was like four years ago, right? Have you dated since?"
I quickly thought about yawning or faking a sudden headache and going off to bed, but what I did next surprised even me. For once, I didn't feel like running. Talking to Lisa and looking into her sincere eyes was comfortable, like I had been friends with her for years.
"I've dated a little here and there, nothing serious. I'm pretty picky about who I go out with."
"Picky? How come?"
"My life isn't just about me anymore. I'm dragging two innocent little girls along on this ride, so I definitely have a pretty solid idea of what I want in a partner."
"Partner. Hmm, that sounds so … official. We'll get back to that—right now, though, I'm dying to know these qualities you're looking for."
She pulled the stool out, sat down and leaned in closer, anxious to hear what I was going to say next.
I pulled out the other stool and followed suit.
"Well … they has to be responsible, stable, grounded…"
Lisa's face was unreadable, as though she couldn't compute what I had just said.
"What?" I asked her defensively.
She didn't answer, she just dropped her head into her arms and pretended to snore, loudly.
I reached over and smacked her arm. "Knock it off!"
Her head snapped back up, and she looked bewildered. "Why the hell would you want that? They sounds like a total buzzkill."
"Its not a buzzkill, responsible. A good role model for the girls."
"No way! The girls are five. They have you to be their good role model. They want someone who will stomp around in the mud with them and let them stay up late and eat junk food when you're not home. They need someone fun. Sounds like you do too."
"I have fun!" I blurted out.
"Calm down, Killer, I wasn't being mean. I think all the qualities you want are … nice. I just think you also need someone who will show you how fun life can be. Ya know, make it exciting too. Don't you want that?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. That's not really a priority to me. I just need someone who is willing to take on the dad role and not bail when it gets tough."
Saying that sentence out loud made a huge lump form in my throat.
"Your own happiness isn't a priority?" Lisa looked at me with wide, shocked eyes. "Wow. That's incredible. How will your girls ever be happy if you aren't?"
"I don't know. I never really thought about that," I said quietly.
"Well, how about this … how about you let me come back up here in a week and show you a good time? Show you how fun life can be?" Her eyes danced with an excitement that made me want to get up off the stool and twirl around with them.