Jake gradually wakes up the next morning to find an empty space in the bed. He rubs his face repeatedly and then overhears Paulina on the baby monitor, "You are so lucky to have your daddy. He will do anything for you and your sister…" He is completely infatuated with Paulina's voice, but that has never changed. Her sound is like a river of molasses floating in a gorge deep in places and shallow in others.
"Good morning." Paulina appears in the same white shirt from last night under a robe she must have retrieved before entering the girls' room. "Can you finish getting them ready for breakfast? I need to make some calls."
"Absolutely." They make eye contact and smile.
Once in her room, she finishes getting ready for their hike and schedules the girls' doctor appointments. She follows up with more calls: Rachel to check on Dante, Sofia to touch base on the restaurant, and Cass.
Paulina discovers Jake and the girls finishing up their blueberry oatmeal. "The girls have appointments a week from today."
On their day hike, Paulina walks beside Jake pushing the double stroller on the paved trail. "You know… last night was amazing."
"Which part, Jake?" Paulina is fixated on the girls. "The conversation, the dance, the bath, the sleep…"
"All of it. I wouldn't change a thing." They trek in peace listening to the girls' banter and Jake finally speaks up. "You know, we obviously have history… tangled, complicated; however, you want to describe it… But."
Paulina picks up Michelle's mitten, "But, what?"
Jake stops the stroller and places a hand on her lower back, "…but, I will only jump off cliffs with you."
She lets that statement soak in before responding. "Same here… you know, I've missed you. I have missed so much about us. I miss the small things, the big things. I miss just talking to you." She grins happily, "The way it feels when you call out my name…" She puts the mitten back on Michelle's tiny hand and returns to face him. "The way it feels when we bicker..." She clears her throat. "The way you reach out for my hand in the night… I miss you every single day, Jake. You change everything. Having you in my life… being with you."
Paulina's honesty warms Jake's heart. He is genuinely beaming to not only be with her, but also listening to her feelings knowing he is not alone. Just like in the beginning, there are so many feelings sneaking up on him.
They reach a fork in the trail, "You pick – left or right?" She points to the left knowing from the map at the start, they are going in a figure-eight.
The rain creeps up in the afternoon and continues thru mid-morning the following day. Paulina wakes up in the guest room with a little hand tugging on hers. She sits Bridget on her lap, "How did you sleep, pumpkin?" The sweet girl carries on a conversation with Paulina as she fiddles with a little blue bow on her nightgown.
Jake places the last plate on the kitchen bar when he observes Paulina carrying Bridget on her hip. "Look who woke me up."
He smiles putting Bridget in the booster seat next to her sister. "She really does love you." Jake hands Paulina a perfect cup of coffee. "You sleep okay minus the tiny princess?"
"I had a great night sleep." Their eyes meet both having the same thought: I missed you. "Though my mind wouldn't stop working on overload." She takes a sip watching him move around so domestically.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Jake pours some maple syrup on their blueberry pancakes. "Tell me, whatever's on your mind."
Paulina brushes Michelle's hair after eating a pancake, "We both have changed." After kissing the top of Michelle's head, "It's hard for me to think about my life without you in it."
"Is that a bad thing?" He puts the dishes into the dishwasher not seeing her rolls her eyes, "Our friendship does hold true. We're human, Paulina, and we both strive for being better than we were." He turns to stand directly across from her, "But, we cannot have our lives be dictated by our past mistakes. We have learned, haven't we?"
She finishes Bridget's hair and looks into Jake's eyes, "I think so."
After walking along the perimeter of Bow River, the girls go down for a nap. Jake offers to play a game of pool with Paulina.
Jake breaks the rack shooting in the five, seven, and eleven. "I'm solids." His follow up shot is a bad hit. "Your turn."
Paulina takes off her black cardigan revealing a plain long sleeve red shirt. She walks around the table checking out the possible shots and pauses just after passing Jake. "Excuse me, McKinnon."
She shoots ball thirteen into the corner pocket bouncing the eight ball slightly closer to two solids. Before Paulina makes her next shot, she asks Jake a question. "What are your top three memories of us?"
"Just three?" Paulina smiles nodding while pointing her stick to the corner pocket. Jake watches her make another shot, but misses. "Ok. Let me think…" He paces around the pool table, "One. Without a doubt, our wedding – the last one. From you walking down the isle, reciting our vows, kissing you the first time as Mrs. McKinnon."
"That's a good one; that would definitely be on my list." She leans back on the barstool awaiting Jake's turn. "We were so in love."
He responds promptly with this next favorite memory. "Two. Our Woodland Adventure." He makes a challenging shot kicking two solids, three and four, into the same middle pocket. "We locked horns, we cried, we saved each other's lives. In those days..." He scratches on his follow up shot. "We found each other again."
"Our little cabin was a safe haven for us." She says innocently with a grin.
"If I remember correctly, we shared some moments where toes curled, expletives screamed..." Jake smirks noticing Paulina blushing. She prepares her next shot, but Jake continues describing that night. "I took you first in the hot tub, right? Your amazingly smooth legs wrapped around me." He closes his eyes and sighs heavily. "We went all night once we reached the bed..."
"Jake..." she growls dropping her pool cue on the floor.
"I want to kiss you. I miss it. I miss those lips." He steps closer into her orbit, "I really like kissing you."
"I really like kissing you too." Their eyes are locked. "But we can't, Jake." She blocks him with her hand.
"You're right, we can't."
"I'm right?" She questions both of them.
"Yes, because if I do – I wouldn't stop." He grins stepping away.
"What are you doing to me, man?" She thinks to herself, but quickly regains her composure sinking the nine ball.
He quietly stands directly behind her amused by the view of her jeans, which accentuates her curves. She is bent over the table attempting another shot. He runs two fingers from behind her right thigh over her tight round bum. "I believe this move along with this," he kisses the base of her neck tracing back to the night at the cabin in the woods. "Kept you..."
She suddenly turns around keeping the stick between them, "Kept me? No, no, sir. You were the tiger that night." Paulina misses her follow up shot, thanks to her competitor.
They both laugh. "Your turn, hot stuff." Paulina returns back to the corner barstool pushing her sleeves up her arms. "What's your number three?"
"This is very difficult. On your turn, you have to come up with different memories." Paulina agrees. "I will go with the first time you were honest with yourself and told me you loved me. Hearing you say those words out loud made me beyond overjoyed." Jake finally decides on a challenging ambidextrous shot with two solids left on the table, but then the cue ball fell in the pocket. "Your turn on both fronts." He states sitting across from her.
Before returning to the game, Paulina stands between Jake's legs resting her hands on his thighs. "Okay McKinnon, I want to tell you this first memory looking directly into your eyes."
Jake moves his hands to her hips holding her in place. "Go ahead gorgeous." He has not touched her like this since their dance the other night.
"Okay. It was a night in bed at our townhouse. We had just announced our engagement day or so prior. I was half-asleep by the time you slid in on your side." She throws her arms on his shoulders, "We could always line up perfectly, you holding me just as you do. Anyways, the best part of this memory is you were talking out loud thinking I was out cold."
"What? Seriously, what did I say?" Jake inquires recalling parts of this particular night.
"I remember very clearly…. 'My dearest Paulina. I love you… You bring me a special kind of happiness and excitement with each day. We share a temperamental ecstasy that erupts with a single look. Every minute we are apart, I yearn for your touch, your taste…your racing heartbeat as you scream my name.'' Paulina tilts her head back taking a heavy breath.
Jake is on the edge of his seat, "There's more, right?" He sees the anguish in her body.
"Yes… but I will share the rest another time." She smiles and returns back to the game to make an astonishing shot from the 50 yard line sinking balls twelve, fourteen, and fifteen. "Look at that, I'm in the lead buttercup!" She attempts the ten ball, but no luck.
Paulina remains close to Jake as he aims for the seven ball. Then they both suddenly stop moving when they hear the girls over the baby monitor. "They're up. We can come back down later to finish the game."