Sunday Evening
"Jack, what are you doing?" Hunter asked, giving Jack a strange look.
"Cleaning bud. You've seen me do this before."
"Yeah but not like this. You're acting weird. You alright?"
"I'm fine bud, don't you worry. I just want to get it done and have our house look nice before our dinner guest comes. Remember, best behavior tonight."
"Yeah, okay," he groaned.
"Hunter?" Out came his parental tone. Something Jack scared himself with how much he sounded like his dad.
"I will be good. Promise," Hunter said, giving a goofy smile.
"Thank you," he chuckled. He sat down on the arm of the couch, looking around the room. He was impressed by his handy work. Not a single sock, shoe or toy out of place. He didn't know why he felt nervous about all this. It was just dinner with a friend. Nothing more, right?
Thing was, it wasn't just dinner with some friend. It was dinner with Elizabeth. Jack didn't understand his feelings yet, he wasn't even sure he liked how ever he was feeling. All he knew was he felt something for Elizabeth. Something he thought was lost. It wasn't love obviously, not yet, but Elizabeth made him feel like life could be more than the bitter cards they'd been dealt.
He took a deep breath and got up and walked to the kitchen to start on dinner, feeling ready.
…
Elizabeth slipped her dress on, put mascara on, added sandals and her sweater. She grabbed Hunter's gift and the fruit salad she made for dessert.
"Wish me luck, Snowy." She left the house and walked to her SUV refusing to let herself overthink anything.
The ten minute drive was quiet, not much traffic so she got to Jack's without any trouble, arriving just before six.
She knocked on his door, chuckling when she heard Hunter yelling for Jack.
"Jack. Someone's at the door!"
"Ok, it's Miss Thatcher, remember? I saw her get out of her car. You can open the door."
She heard his little feet patter across the floor and then the door unlocked. Then she heard a little voice, "Who is it?"
"Miss Thatcher," she told him.
He opened the door and then ran back to the living room. She peeked in and smiled. "Jack?"
"Come in, Elizabeth. I'll be right down."
She closed the door behind herself, flipping the lock out of pure habit. She looked around, noticing the layout was the same as the house next door, but cosmetically, it looked different.
She smiled at the hooks by the door which held a tiny Batman hoodie and a larger leather jacket. It felt so homey. She was instantly more comfortable until she saw Jack coming down the stairs.
"Hey, you look nice," he told her with an almost imperceptible kiss to her cheek.
"You too." He smelled great and his dark blue button down and blue jeans looked amazing. "Um, I brought fruit salad for dessert."
He took the bowl and walked into the kitchen. "Thank you. Would you like something to drink? A glass of wine?"
"I'll just have some water."
As he got her drink, she wandered into the living room and found Hunter watching a cartoon. "Hi," she said quietly.
"Hi," he said, not looking at her.
"What are you watching?"
"Lego movie."
"Oh, I've never seen it. Do you mind if I watch it with you?"
He shrugged, sitting a bit more stiffly than when she first walked in. She set his gift bag on the coffee table, in plain sight, hoping he would ask about it.
Jack walked in and sat in the recliner next to the couch, handing her a glass of water. "Hey Hunter, maybe we can shut off the movie?"
He picked up the remote and pushed two buttons, turning off the movie and the TV.
"Thank you, bud."
"I'm hungry."
"Its almost done. Let's remember our manners and talk to our guest now."
"Are you going to take me away?" he asked her, boldly.
"No, of course not, Hunter. I'm only here because I want to be your and Jack's friend."
"I want to stay here. My mom isn't good at taking care of me and Jack is. I'm safe here!"
"Hunter, I will never take you away from Jack." She moved slightly closer to him and handed him his gift. "Let's start over. I brought this for you because I heard you like Batman."
Jack watched him wavering between looking in the bag and running upstairs. "Its ok, bud. It's a present that Miss Thatcher wanted to get for you. You can open it."
He slowly moved his hand toward the bag and lifted it to his lap. He put his hand in and found a book. "A book?"
"Yeah. Do you like to read?"
"I can't read that good yet but Jack reads to me." He ran his hand over the front of the Batman book. "Thank you," he said quietly.
"You're welcome," she told him.
"Hunter, why don't you wash your hands for dinner?"
"Ok." He ran upstairs leaving Jack and Elizabeth alone for a few moments.
"Thank you for that book. I'm sorry about his little outburst."
"Don't be. It might take awhile for him to trust me." The fact she wanted to gain his trust meant so much to Jack.
"Um…I hope you're hungry. I made spinach and feta stuffed chicken and risotto."
"You made that? Hunter eats that?"
"Yes and it's one of his favorite meals."
"I'm impressed."
She continued to be impressed throughout dinner. The food was amazing and she felt very comfortable with them.
"Can we watch a movie, Jack?"
"As long as it's not the Lego movie."
"Please? It's my favorite!"
"I wouldn't mind watching it," Elizabeth mentioned.
"Yeah! Miss Thatcher hasn't seen it. We should let her choose. She's a guest."
Elizabeth giggled, covering her mouth quickly.
"Ok, but as soon as it's nine, it's bedtime. School tomorrow."
"Aww man."
"You two go get started and I'll clean the kitchen."
Hunter ran ahead and turned the movie on from the beginning. "Come on, Miss Thatcher, you're gonna miss it," Hunter called from the couch.
Elizabeth stood up. "Coming, Hunter." She walked over to Jack and touched his arm. "You don't like this movie?"
"I have seen it at least a dozen times. I know the words by heart."
"Thank you for dinner, Jack." She moved her hand off his arm and he immediately wanted it back. He broke their eye contact and walked back to the table, fighting his attraction to her with every bit of strength he had.
"Thank you for coming, Elizabeth."
She nodded and went to join Hunter who was singing "Everything is AWESOME!" at the top of his lungs.
The movie was enjoyable. Jack joined them after a bit, sitting on the other side of Hunter. Hunter fell asleep before it was done so Jack took him up to bed.
When he came back down, Elizabeth was standing at the mantle looking at his and Brenna's wedding picture.
"She was beautiful," Elizabeth told him, tears in her eyes.
"She was."
"Life isn't fair."
"No, sometimes it's not," he agreed. "We just need to remember to keep the people we care about close. Make sure they know we care."
She nodded, her fingers finding the engagement ring on her necklace.
"You having a rough time, Elizabeth?"
"Yes. It's so hard. I broke down at the mall yesterday. My sister was with me, thank goodness."
"Before we talked?"
"After. I changed from my uniform into this dress and when I looked at myself, I felt….I felt like a different person. For eighteen months I've been by myself, just missing Trevor. Now, I'm trying to move on because I know I need to. I saw myself and I didn't see me. The me I'm used to. It felt like I was losing him again because I was planning my life without him."
"After I lost Brenna, I took a leave of absence from my job and I stayed here, alone, all day, every day. One day I found her scrapbook. It showed me what she wanted this house to look like. We bought it with plans to fix it up together. She even planned the details of what she wanted our foster children's room to look like. So I did it. Every page and every room that she planned, I finished."
"It looks great."
"The problem is, she never finished. I have no idea what she wanted the kitchen or our bedroom to look like. It frustrates me because I did this for her and she can't tell me that she likes it or what I did wrong. She's not here and she can't tell me how to finish it. What am I supposed to do?" She heard the helplessness in his voice and saw a tear fall down his cheek. It hurt her to know he was hurting. Was this what friends felt for friends? She wanted to make it better somehow.
She slipped her fingers into his hand and squeezed, just for a moment. "You do understand," she whispered.
"I do. I've been through it and I still miss her everyday but I'm ok without her. I know that with Hunter and my parents and my friends, I will make it." In addition to all those things, he wanted to love again and he wanted to love Elizabeth. He was willing to wait for her to be ready, though.
"I haven't realized that yet. I'm hoping with this house, if I get it, I will be able to move forward and get to a better place."
As if by magic, as if the universe was finally working in her favor for once, her phone rang and it was Flo. "Its my agent. Do you mind if I answer it?"
"No, go ahead."
"Hello?"
"Elizabeth? It's Flo. I have some news."
"Yes?"
"Your offer was accepted. Congratulations!"
"It was? That's great."
"There's a two week waiting period, but after that, the keys are yours."
"Thank you, Flo. Thank you so much."