Chapter 20
"Monday, I know you have a lunch break." Mark said softly, gently placing his hands on her shoulders, watching as she paused in doing the dishes. Bending down so his mouth was right next to her ear, not wanting those two nosy wenches overhearing, or the two nosy wenches in training for that matter. "You tell me what time and I'll pick you up for lunch."
Her shoulders were on fire from his touch as Jasina nodded, swallowing hard, trying not to sound shaky when she spoke. "Noon is when I usually take it." She said in barely above a whisper, also not wanting the girls overhearing, all four of them, slowly turning around to face him and stared into his green eyes. "I take it you know where it is, right?" She managed a half-joke, cracking a hesitant smile, trying to ease the tension between them.
"Considerin' I went there that time to work out a deal for repairs to your car...no." He said sarcastically, though he was grinning nonetheless. "So...it's a date?"
"That's my foot, Toni!"
"Ssshhhh."
Mark rolled his eyes.
"A date..." That sounded foreign to her, but it also was heaven to the ears. "Yeah a date." She smiled at him fully and took a deep breath before wrapping her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes, hugging him tightly against her. So much feeling and emotion went into that simple embrace as Jasina closed her eyes, burying her face in his neck before reluctantly pulling away. "Thank you." She whispered, sighing when Toni made another sound. "I'll make sure Arie gets to school on time on Monday." She said softly.
Mark nodded, stepping away and glanced around the corner. "Boo."
Screaming, they both ran back to their bedroom, shutting the door behind them. Soon the sounds of their giggling came floating back out to them.
"Have fun with that." He grinned.
"Oh yeah loads." Jasina rolled her eyes and walked him to the door, opening it as he stepped out. "See you on Monday." She said with a smile and watched him walk off, closing the door behind her and turned around, only to see a grinning Trish with baby Stevie, Lashonna with Toni and her daughter, shaking her head. "I took the first step, are you happy now?" She demanded and laughed when Arielle ran over to her, jumping into her arms and she caught her surprisingly. "Don't get your hopes up, Arie. I don't know how your father feels yet." She cautioned gently.
"He was nervous." Arie said confidently. "Just wait and see, you two will be back together in no time."
"I'm with the Little Mermaid on this." Trish agreed, unable to keep the grin from her face. "Maybe we can have a double wedding!"
"Whoa, let them get past their date first."
"Can I be a bridesmaid?"
"Me too!"
"Whoa wait a minute!" Jasina set her daughter down and crossed her arms in front of her chest, a stern expression on her face. "YOU were Little Mermaid, the one who wrote me that question about your father being unhappy?" She remembered that clearly and glared at Trish's sheepish look, not believing this. "I really don't like you right now." She walked over and hugged her best friend, kissing Little Stevie on the cheek. 'Thank you.' She mouthed to Trish, tears in her eyes, and walked back over to her daughter. "So, what do you want to do today?"
"Wait, you don't like me? What'd I do?"
"I think she meant me."
"What'd you do?"
"Toni, get your things honey, we have to go and make sure our savings account hasn't been drained."
After the girls left and it was just Arie and Jasina, they spent the day shopping with Arielle forcing her to pick out a new outfit for Monday. "This really isn't-" She sighed when her daughter waved her off dismissively, shaking her head, and stared in the mirror.
Trish had decided to give Jasina the day off, though she was still going to meet Mark at the Houston Journal at noon. She just didn't have to be back to work until Tuesday morning. After picking out an outfit, the girls decided to go see a movie before heading back.
They ate leftovers before Jasina sent Arielle to bed after her shower. She stayed up that night in her bed wondering how her talk would go with Mark and couldn't stop worrying. She got up and paced, trying to exhaust herself. When five A.M. finally rolled around, Jasina was asleep, knowing she had to get up in less than two hours to send Arielle off to school.
~!~
Mark was up bright and early Monday morning, at the garage of course.
"You're a little dressed up to be working." Steve commented, taking in the blue jeans and white tank top underneath a dark green button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. "What the hell?"
"I'm taking Jasi out to lunch."
"So THAT'S why you smell like a whore."
~!~
"Arie, come on sweetie!" She called through the bathroom door, wearing just a pair of black cotton shorts with a tank top. She still needed a shower before going to see Mark. Arielle walked out a few minutes later and Jasina lead her out the door to her car, driving her to school. "Be good, you know the drill." She grinned at her daughter, kissing her forehead. "I love you."
She winked before driving off, Arielle wishing her luck with her father. Sighing, Jasina drove back home, taking the long route, trying to get her nerves under control. Running on an hour and a half of sleep, she wasn't tired in the slightest, her adrenaline rippling through her.
~!~
"So...I noticed you didn't bring the truck." Steve grunted, not too happy he was doing all the manual labor while Mark did the office work. "How you planning on picking her up? Your back?"
"I rode my Harley today."
"You NEVER ride that anymore."
Mark just shrugged, glancing at the clock.
~!~
Jasina took one final look in the mirror, deciding on a denim skirt that went two inches above the knee with a pale blue halter top, her hair down, having recently gotten it trimmed. Arielle insisted she keep the length of it, so now it was riding her waistline barely. Jasina had dark blue eyeliner on with clear gloss, a glittering blue cross she'd gotten from Kohl's around her neck and white Skechers on her feet. Taking a deep breath, Jasina said a quick prayer of hope before walking out of her apartment, slipping her blue sunglasses on and got in her car, driving to the Houston Journal. Now if she could just get rid of these butterflies.
Mark was waiting when she pulled into the parking lot, sitting astride his pride and joy -besides Arielle- his custom 1980 Harley. He watched as she got out of her car, green eyes instantly taking in the skirt and hid a smirk, his own long legs splayed out on either side of him, bracing himself and the bike up. "Might want to tie back your hair, darlin'." He suggested.
"We're taking the bike?" Jasina mentally cursed, wishing she had worn her blue jeans, sighing. There was no turning back now as she nodded, pulling her shades from her face and pulled her hair up in a quick messy bun before sliding her shades back on, walking over to him. "Trish gave me the day off, that's why I wasn't here." She explained, seeing the smirk on his face, and smacked him on the arm playfully. "So where are we going?" She asked, holding onto his shoulders as she mounted the bike, her skirt riding up a half inch and pulled it down as much as she could. At least her ass wasn't showing, that was the last thing she needed.
Mark kicked the stand to brace the bike and got off, moving to stand behind her, taking in the bun. How she had managed to pull waist length hair up was beyond him, but it looked a bit like a beehive on the back of her head. Not to mention it would come undone the minute he made a turn. It was too heavy.
"Hold on." He murmured, undoing it and began braiding her hair, his fingers moving deftly.
She smiled back at him while he braided her hair, knowing the bun wouldn't have lasted too long, and shook her head when he was done. "It's been ages since I've had it back like that." She commented as he chuckled. "You look nice today."
Jasina noticed he was a little dressed up and had to smile at that, knowing it was because of her. Though the butterflies were still fluttering from both nervousness and anxiety. She had to breathe.
"What the hell are you talkin' bout woman? I look good every day." Mark replied with a grin, his eyes raking her over, taking in the skirt and how it rode up, shaking his head. "So...what color panties you wearing today?" He asked, straddling the bike once more, reaching back to guide her arms around his waist. Not a necessity, but...he liked the feel.
"You're never going to let me live that down are you?" She muttered good-naturedly, scooting closer as her head pressed against his back, heart pounding in her ears. This felt so wonderful, Jasina never wanted it to end and they hadn't even left yet. "Blue." She whispered in his ear before he fired the bike up, giggling as he growled before pulling out of there.
The warm Texas wind blew through her hair, glad Mark had put it in a braid or else it would've fallen out. He was so smart, she sighed, wondering where he was taking them and honestly didn't care. Jasina was going to enjoy this alone time with him.
Knowing she had the day for whatever, Mark decided to take her across town to a nice, little restaurant. Something he wouldn't have been able to afford back when they were married, but could now. It was a bit of an ironic bitch. All the things he had wanted to give or do for her when they were married he couldn't. Now that they were divorced, he was fairly well off.
Jasina was a little confused considering she wanted to talk to him about what happened between them, but figured he was also hungry. She felt the bike stop and dismounted with ease, it was like riding a bike and she had the biggest smile on her face as she pushed her shades up to rest on top of her head. "I haven't rode one of those in years." Jasina felt Mark take her hand and allowed him to guide her into the restaurant, looking around, and was lead to a booth. "Thank you." She said when her menu was handed to her, flipping it open, and scanned it while Mark did the same thing.
"My name is Cindy and I'll be your waitress today. Can I get you somethin' to drink to start off with?"
"Iced tea."
"Water." Mark said, skimming the menu. "Order whatever you want. And yer eatin' today." He added, nodding when the waitress returned with their drinks. Damn that was fast service. He cleared his throat, ordering a steak well done, baked potato loaded with all the trimmings and some kind of pasta that sounded pretty damn good, glancing across the table at Jasina.
"Crispy chicken salad, no tomato, extra honey mustard sauce." She ordered, knowing she couldn't handle anything more than that right now.
When Mark just raised an eyebrow, Jasina sighed and added a chicken strip dinner to go with it, shaking her head as the waitress walked away. If he only knew how nervous she was, which he didn't. She didn't even know what to say to him, it'd been so long since was out on an actual date. The last time had been with Mark, celebrating their three year anniversary, and that's when she told him she was pregnant with Arielle. Sighing, Jasina took her shades off of her head and set them beside her before sipping more of her iced tea.
Considering she had been the one who wanted to discuss the bedroom incident, Mark found Jasina's hesitation a bit amusing. He stared out the window for a few minutes before looking at her, arching an eyebrow. "This is just stupid. We're sittin' here like we ain't got a damn thing to say." He said bluntly, tired of beating around the bush. "You wanted to talk about what happened so let's talk."
"Here?" She seen him nod and sighed, knowing she really didn't have a choice, and wondered where the hell she wanted to begin. How was she supposed to say what she felt when her stomach felt like it was going to implode on her? Her heart was thundering against her chest and she felt a little lightheaded. "You know what I wrote in the letter." She seen him nod, deciding that was a good place to start. "I just want to know why you kissed me." He was acting as if he didn't want to talk about this and Jasina was becoming even more nervous. "Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it...more than I'm probably willing to admit right now." She was protecting herself damn it! "I just want to know what you feel, if you feel anything, which is perfectly understandable if you don't."
"Right this very minute I'm feeling hungry." He commented, offering her a warm smile to lessen her anxiety. "I kissed you because I woke up on top of you and you look very kissable. Look, Jasi, I'm not sayin' I'm ready to just jump back into a relationship with you." Mark wasn't about to lie to her, reaching across the table to take her hand and squeeze it. "But I am willing to...date, I guess would be the word. Just take things slow and see what happens."
"I don't blame you for that, honestly. I wasn't expecting anything, Mark. I just...I don't want it being awkward between us, especially with Arielle. Dating sounds fine." She smiled back at him, squeezing his hand in return, and suddenly felt a huge weight lifted from her shoulders. She felt light again and her stomach immediately calmed down. "Hopefully we can leave the past behind us and move on to a bright future with our daughter." She knew Arielle was going to be thrilled to hear about them dating, which still sounded foreign, but Jasina was willing to go through almost anything to be with Mark again.
Mark nodded, understanding the awkwardness all too well. Hell, ever since he had found out who she was, it'd been nothing, but awkwardness. "Let's just...keep this to us, not Arielle." He said after a moment, not entirely sure if he could live with Arielle if she knew about this. She'd be scheming and going out of her way to make sure things went how she wanted them. "I don't want to get her hopes up, just in case things don't work out."
"Alright." Jasina quietly replied as their food arrived and nothing more was said.
They ate in silence, each in their own thoughts, and the food was delicious. Jasina managed to finish her chicken salad and part of her chicken strips before she had to call it quits, not able to eat anymore. When Mark was finished and paid for the meal, Jasina let him guide her out of the diner and to his bike, mounting it after he was on.
Her heart ached, knowing she would have to lie to her daughter about them, but knew it was really for the best. She also didn't want to hurt Arielle and knew the little girl's hopes were already up. Sighing, Jasina knew she would have to crush her daughter's hopes until Mark figured out if he wanted to be with her or not.
