Author's Note: Hope you're enjoying the story! This is another long chapter. :) A little language, a little adult flirtation, but nothing graphic.

I hope you are having a happy and festive holiday season! I am just finishing up a semester of graduate school and am so relieved to be almost unstressed. LOL. Happy reading!

January 5, 1974, 8:20 PM

Flick's Tavern

"Down by one."

"Last shot!"

"You're up, Schwartz!"

Jane sat on a chair behind the shuffleboard table. She looked at Paul, who was downing the last of his beer, and her stomach tightened with nerves. He'd told her all about his bad luck in situations like this, and she could tell from the set of his jaw that he was both doubting himself and dreading another loss. Around them, Ralphie, his wife Sandy, and Lois encouraged him, but he didn't seem to hear them. She watched as he hesitated before standing up, and he looked at her.

She'd been a cheerleader in high school. Time to revisit that role, she figured.

She stood up, her best peppy smile on her face. "You can do it," she said. "I know you can." He gave a slight smile, but clearly, he wasn't convinced. She rose up slightly and kissed him, tender but with firm pressure so he really felt it. And she let it linger, even as the catcalls and laughter and whistles sounded around them When she pulled back, her heart skipped a beat at his smile, so sweet and somewhat surprised, and she squeezed his shoulders. "You can do it, Paul."

He nodded, his smile widened, and he turned to the table. Ralphie made room for her at the end closest to where Paul stood. She giggled as he shook his arms out in preparation, and he looked at her. She winked, and he chuckled, but then turned back to the table and frowned in concentration.

"For all the donuts, suckers," he said.

He sent the puck down the table. It seemed to Jane that it happened in slow motion, and that everyone held their breath. It crossed the first line, then the second, then the third. It slowed just enough to hang half-way off the edge of the table.

No one moved.

Neither did the puck.

Still no one moved.

And still, neither did the puck.

Someone said something quietly.

"That's thirty seconds."

"It ain't going nowhere."

And a roar went up around the table. Next to her, Ralphie yelped and started clapping wildly, as did Sandy. Jane watched Paul, who looked shocked to the point of losing all the color in his face. He looked at her, and she beamed. "I told you could do it," she said.

And his face broke out in that smile, that beautiful, sweet, joyful smile of his. His eyes were so bright, even in the bar's low light. He pulled her into his arms and nodded. "You're my good luck charm," he said, and before she could answer, kissed her and dipped her backwards.

She laughed as he pulled her back up. "Paul!"

"Sorry. I got carried away." He grinned, looking not at all sorry about it. In fact, he seemed altogether pleased both by her reaction and the hooting and hollaring all around them.

"Oh, well, if that's way you get carried away, get carried away more often."

He raised his eyebrows and did the whole thing again. But this time, when he brought her back up, he was immediately pulled away and hoisted up onto his partner Ron's shoulders. She watched, her heart full of joy for someone who so deserved this moment, as he was paraded around the bar. Ralphie came to stand next to her.

"Good to see, huh?" he said.

"Very good to see," she said. She glanced at Ralphie, who watched the commotion with a wide smile on his face. If only Paul could see how his joy made others so happy.

Ten minutes later, Jane sat at the end of the bar, Paul next to her, and Ralphie on the other side of him with Sandy. Lois stood on Jane's right side, and Flick was lining up shots for them all. "Everyone got one?" he said.

Ralphie held up his glass. "To Schwartz, hero of the shuffleboard."

"To Schwartz!" Everyone clinked their glasses together.

Paul beamed, and Jane recalled a time when they were kids. Probably fourth grade. Yes, because it was in Miss Shield's class. He'd been called up to the front of the class to read something, she couldn't remember what, maybe a book report. And, goofball that he was, he'd read it in a dramatic way. Miss Shield's had praised how he'd read with such expression, and he'd smiled just the way he did now. He'd flushed just the way did now. Jane thought it was just as adorable now as it had been then.

Paul squeezed her shoulder. "We should be toasting Janey," he said. "She's my lucky charm. And, she just moved into her new apartment, her job starts next week." He smiled at her, then kissed her cheek. "She's home. For good."

Flick grinned and held up his glass. "To Janey!"

"To Janey!"

She blushed, but enjoyed the smiles and accolades, enjoyed even more the way Paul stroked the back of her head. It had been so damn long since she'd felt this good, this worthwhile, this important to someone. And it was all because of him. She watched him as he laughed and joked with the others, hardly hearing anything they said because her mind was so caught up in the beauty of his smile and how his eyes were so bright with joy.

An ugly thought started to break through this moment of bliss, of Ken, of her secret, of her lies, but she beat it back by turning to Paul and wrapping her arms around him.

Now was not the time to worry about it.

"Don't get me wrong. I love my mother-in-law. She's amazing. But she can also be...well...just a tad bit passive aggressive. I told you about the Scrabble incident, didn't I?"

Jane sat in a booth across from Sandy and Lois. Ralphie and Paul had gone off to have a pinball tournament the way they had in high school when Flick's father owned the Tavern, and Flick kept an eye on them as he continued to serve up the drinks.

"She's like that because you stole one of her babies." Lois said, raising her eyebrows. Lois was a really pretty woman, a bit older than the rest of them, a few years, and she often joked about robbing the cradle with Flick. "The trick to not having an annoying mother-in-law is to not have one at all. That's why Flick and I are never getting married. His mother won't ever be able to accuse me of taking him away from her." She grinned.

"I wonder what Mrs. Schwartz would be like as a mother-in-law," Jane said. "Not that...I mean, it's way too soon, but I'm just curious."

Lois nodded. "Oh, I think she'd be wonderful. For one thing, she's incredibly sweet. Not that Mrs. Parker isn't, she's just got a bit of an edge to her. And another thing..." Lois leaned forward. "She's been waiting FOREVER for her son to meet someone. FOR. EVER. She won't be picky." She frowned. "Oh, God, that did not come out right, Jane."

Jane laughed. "That's okay."

"Flick said that Schwartzy said his mother really likes you."

"I've only met her once so far, but she seems to."

Lois waves her hand. "You'll be fine then. Mrs. Schwartz is one of those types who instantly forms an opinion and then never changes her mind." She smiles. "You're in."

Sandy took a sip of her drink and leaned forward, looking at Jane. "How about your family? Think they'll like Schwartz?"

A bad question if ever there was one. Would they? Her parents weren't snobs, but they were enamored with Ken. He was his most charming with them. And so they'd been unable to believe her when she'd told him he hit her.

Unable or unwilling, and she wasn't sure which was worse.

"Jane? You okay?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I just..." She had to think fast to find words. "My parents and I aren't really close right now. I think they'd like him, but...they loved my ex-husband, and he is nothing like Paul, so I don't...I guess I just don't know." She looked down at the table. "It might not even matter." Because chances were good that she'd never speak to them again.

Sandy reached across the table and gave Jane's hand a quick squeeze. Jane looked up, and Sandy gave her such a soft and understanding smile. "I'm periodically on and off with my father," she said. "My parents got divorced when I was sixteen and my father remarried. His wife has never, ever liked me, so..." She sighs. "If you ever want to talk about it, I know what it's like."

Jane smiled and squeezed Sandy's hand back. "Thanks."

Lois glanced over her shoulder toward the front of the Tavern. "What do you say we go give our boys a run for their money?"

Jane nods, anxious for anything to distract her from the gnawing at her stomach from the mention of her parents. She slid out of the booth. "I am all for that."

Three hours later, Jane giggled as Paul finally managed to get the door to her new apartment open and they stumbled in. She fumbled around for the light switch on the wall. "Let there be light!"

"So bright," he said when she flipped the switch up. "Bright as the sun."

"Oh, like my yellow kitchen walls. Sunshine in the inside!"

"Sunshine in the..inside the inside!"

They were both laughing and not walking straight, and Jane figures they must have had far too much to drink, because everything was absolutely hysterical.

"I wanna see it. The sunshine inside the inside." She grabbed Paul's hand and pulled him into the kitchen. She found the light and turned it on and gazed at her walls. The cabinets only had paper plates and cups and plastic silverware, and the refrigerator wasn't all that well stocked, but she'd get there. What really mattered right now were these gorgeous yellow walls. "So. Pretty." She walked over to the counter and reached out to touch the wall. "So pretty."

"Not as pretty as you." Paul's arms wrapped around her waist from behind. His cheek rested against hers, and she closed her eyes in bliss. So warm. He was always so, so, so warm when he touched her. "Nothing I've ever seen is as pretty as you, Janey." His hands started sliding up her body, and she didn't stop him. Because it felt so very, very good. "All of you. So pretty. No. Not pretty. Beautiful. So beautiful. You're the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Are you trying to take advantage of me, Paul Sch...Sch...Paul?"

"I'm trying to seduce you, Janey Al..Al...Janey." He pressed slightly sloppy but still sweet and tender kisses on her neck.

Every atom in her body lit up, and she shivered from the sudden rush of heat in her blood.

"Mmm…same thing. And it's working." She turns around in his arms and stands up on her toes. "Keep going."

They both giggle as they try to keep kissing and at the same time leave the kitchen, but repeatedly bump into the counter and the wall.

"Bedroom's too far away," Paul mumbles against her lips.

"The kitchen floor is right here."

"Mmm-hmm. Kitchen floor works."

And it did.

January 6, 1973, 6:45 am

Jane's apartment

Hours later, after they'd made it to her bedroom, Jane lay unable to sleep, just as the sun was starting to come up. Paul slept soundly, but Jane's mind started to race. She lay on her side and watched him. He looked so innocent, so calm, just the hint of a smile curving his lips upward at the corners. His breathing was steady and easy. Her hand rested on his chest, and underneath her palm, she felt his heartbeat.

Her favorite heartbeat in the entire world.

Her own heart seemed to swell up. This was so different from everything that had come before, even when things were decent with Ken. This was pure, and sweet, and so, so warm. So, so safe. And so fun. Even without alcohol, she and Paul laughed together all the time. Enjoyed one another all the time.

This was love, she thought as she idly drew a heart on Paul's chest with her fingertip. And she'd never felt it before. Not this way, that made her feel it head to toe and all the time., that left her dizzy, that left her so happy. Crazy how deep it seemed already, so fast. And even crazier that that didn't scare her in the slightest bit.

She wanted to just savor it.

But something soured it.

The talk of her family had unwittingly pricked at a nerve inside of her. And now that nerve was exposed. Something was wrong. Something was going to go wrong. Soon. She knew it. Felt it in her bones.

She just didn't know what.

Just a few hours later, Jane found out. She sat in the living room, staring at the phone. She'd just hung up the receiver. Paul walked in from the bedroom, fresh out of the shower, his hair wet and a towel around his neck. He stopped and raised his eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

"My father called while you were in the shower."

"I didn't think he knew where you were."

"My sister told him. And gave him my number."

Hearing his voice had been jarring. Finding out that her sister, the one person she'd told about her return to Hohman, and whom she'd sworn to secrecy, had given him her phone number had been infuriating. And what he'd had to say had left her suspicious.

"What does he want?"

"He wants me to come to Florida. He and my mom…they want to patch things up, and apparently, they want to do it right now." A half-truth. They wanted to talk about Ken. About what she was doing. More accurately, what in the hell she was doing.

He'd gotten to them.

She stood up and began pacing.

"You don't have to go."

She stopped at the window and stared out at the street. It was a nice street, residential, and the trees looked so lovely with the snow clinging to their branches and piled at the bottoms of their trunks. The cars that ran up an down the street were so different from the ones that had been around the last time she lived her. She found herself wanting to see how they changed in ten years. Twenty years. Fifty years.

She had to make her family see the truth.

And then…

Then maybe she'd be able to tell Paul.

He stood behind her. She sensed him there, and then his hands came to rest on her hips.

"Janey, you don't have to go."

"I do. I have to go." She turned around and looked up into his eyes. "I know I haven't told you much about my family and what's happened with us, and I can't yet. I will, I promise. But…I have to go. Just for a few days." She did her best to smile.

He kissed her forehead. "Do you want me to come with you?"

She did. Desperately. But he couldn't. She couldn't let him. "I do. But...you need to be here when the shop calls to hire you," she said, keeping her voice light. "They said they'd let you know by Monday, right? Tomorrow?" Paul frowned. For the first time, she thought she saw suspicion in his eyes. It curdled her stomach, but she had to just press on. "It'll just be a few days and I'll be back. Maybe you might even like me more when I get back. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?"

He brushes his lips agains hers, then pulled back with a sweet smile. "My heart couldn't possibly be any fonder of you, Janey." He sighed. "But if you have to go, you have to go. And hey, it's probably good. To get things worked out with your family."

Ever the optimist, her sweet Paul.

As he left to go pick up some McDonalds for breakfast, she called a local travel agency who booked her on a flight to Florida that left that evening. Then she called Ralphie's mom's house to talk to Sandy. Sandy was going back to Chicago today with the kids, and Jane hoped she could catch a ride to Chicago with them. To her relief, Sandy was more than happy to have her tag along.

To her huge relief.

Because if Paul drove her, she wasn't sure she'd be able to get on the plane.