Thanks all for reading and you continued support :)
Josh and Donna had been walking around for almost an hour, and Tilly was starting to get tired and irritable. After all, an hour walk was a long time for a four-year-old. Not to mention the topic of conversation wasn't all that stimulating for her. The grownups kept talking about politics and the good ole days.
When Josh stopped and showed them a playground he thought he was doing the right thing. Tilly could play with other kids and run around, and he and Donna could continue talking. But when Donna asked if Tilly wanted to go play, she near threw a tantrum.
"She's tired," Donna said apologising for Tilly's outburst. She very rarely got like this, so Donna usually took her seriously when she did.
"What do you want to do?" Josh asked, he was completely out of his comfort zone. In his mind they hadn't been walking that long, but then again Tilly had to take three steps for Josh's one. And although Josh and Donna weren't walking at the normal fast pace, it was still a bit quick for a child.
"I don't know," Donna said looking around. She was at a loss. Typically, a playground was a great idea. If they had been anywhere else when Tilly had started acting like this she would have suggested coming here. It was too early for lunch, and Tilly had finished all her breakfast, so she wouldn't have been hungry.
"My place is just around the corner," Josh said. He hadn't shown them his house yet, and wasn't even sure if he was going to, but if they needed a place to take a breather, then maybe that was the best option. What else was there? Donna and Tilly going back to the motel? That would mean the end of the day, and Josh was not ready to say goodbye yet, and he could tell Donna wasn't either.
"Do you want to go to Josh's house?" Donna asked crouching down to be eye level with her daughter. She found that worked best when Tilly was liked this. Tilly didn't say anything, just gave an unenthused shrug. "That's as good as a yes," Donna replied as she looked back up to Josh.
"Okay, should only take five minutes," Josh said.
"Do you want a piggyback?" Donna asked Tilly, knowing that there was no way Tilly was going to walk anymore.
"Sure," Josh answered, and Donna couldn't help but smirk up at him. He really was a doofus sometimes.
"Hop on," she said as she turned in place for Tilly and tapped her shoulder. Once she could feel Tilly securely around her neck, Donna tried to start rising up.
"Need help?" Josh asked holding out a hand for her.
Normally she could do this by herself, but she wasn't going to say 'no' to the chivalrous gesture. "Thanks," she said as she found her balance. The right thing to do was let go of Josh's hand. But how often had she wanted to just be able to walk around hand and hand with him. Oh, how her younger self would have found it hard to let go. But she did. Mostly because she needed the arm to support Tilly. And also, because they weren't 'there' anymore. They weren't really ever 'there', so she didn't know why she was thinking about it.
And then they were on their way. Donna was actually quite curious to see Josh's house. Was it a bachelor pad like she was so used to seeing from him? Or had he gone in a totally different direction in decorating. Did he live in a house, or an apartment? Was it big or small? Had he bought it planning for a future family or did he think that was not on the cards for him? She also wondered why he hadn't showed it to them yet. She assumed that was going to be the first stop on the tour.
But no, he had showed them the small stores that lined the streets, and what place had the best coffee or the place which had burgers that were actually cooked right. He showed her an elementary school that was nearby. She tried not to read too much into it, but was he thinking that she would be moving this close to him?
She didn't have any objections to that, but she hadn't really thought that was a possibility. Even in D.C. they had lived in opposite directions. They had never lived close to one another. It was usually because Josh could afford the nice places in the nice neighbourhoods, and Donna couldn't. And she assumed that still hadn't changed. After all he was a professor at Yale University, and she was out of a job.
"This is it," Josh said, as they came to a stop in front of a small but very nice house. It was not what she had been expecting. She wondered if he had help picking it out. He had mentioned he had a girlfriend. Was this girlfriend pre or post purchase of the house? Josh hadn't really talked all that much about her, and Donna wasn't sure why. Was it not all that serious between the two, or did he just not want to talk about her with Donna? She thought about when he had been dating Amy or Mandy, and if it had been good or bad between them, Donna usually heard about it.
Josh unlocked the door, and then held it open for his guests. Donna didn't put Tilly down until they were inside. "It's nice," Donna said as she looked around the part she could see.
"I'll give you a tour, but it's not that big," Josh said. He wanted something small. He had been used to small. It was easier to clean small. There were no expectations with small. "Bedroom. Office. Bathroom. And kitchen and living room," he said as he walked them around the house.
"Can I put the tv on?" Donna asked.
"Yeah sure, make yourself at home," Josh said from the kitchen, as he was getting some glasses out the cupboard. Tilly jumped on the couch, and cuddled into the arm of the chair, as Donna tried to find something age appropriate, and yet wouldn't bore Josh, on the tv. That was actually a hard task to undertake. She didn't know Josh tastes anymore, though she guessed it was still CSPAN or CNN, but she knew Tilly would be completely bored watching a House vote or the Washington talking heads.
But then they were only here to accommodate to Tilly's needs, so shouldn't her programs win out. Though it was also Josh's TV, so she really felt like she was in between a rock and a hard place, and one really shouldn't feel like that when deciding on what television show to watch.
Luckily Josh had a movie channel that was playing a kid's film. The great thing about children's movies was that they were also made for the adults who would have to watch what the kid wanted to watch. It seemed like the best option. Tilly didn't care that it had already started, thankfully.
Donna sat down next to her daughter, and suddenly Tilly was no longer cuddling with the arm rest but with Donna. Donna didn't mind. She could have Tilly nuzzled up next to her forever, because she knew it wasn't going to last long. When Tilly was younger there was nothing Donna loved more than when she fell asleep in her arms. She really felt like a mother the first time that happened. It made her feel like she was doing something right, that things were going to work out. People say a mother's hug has healing qualities, but that's nothing compared to a hug from your child.
"What are we watching?" Josh asked as he came to sit down, passing a glass to Donna.
"Bolt, it came out last year," Donna explained.
"Haven't seen it," Josh replied.
"You, and almost fifty-year-old man, have not seen this child's movie?" Donna replied, again her voice seething with sarcasm.
"Please don't say that word," Josh requested.
"What? 'Child's movie'?" Donna asked not sure what he was referring to.
"No, the Five Oh word," he whispered, as if his age was some big secret.
"Alright. I promise I will not say the word 'fifty' in your company. Did you hear that, Tilly? Josh doesn't want you to say the word 'Fifty'," Donna said, loving that she could bait Josh on.
"Fifty?" Tilly asked, not understanding the joke.
"Yes, don't say 'fifty'. 'Fifty' is not a word we are allowed to say. So, we should refrain from saying 'fifty'. Do you understand? Don't say 'fifty', Josh doesn't like the word 'Fifty'," Donna said, putting extra emphasis on the word each time she said it.
"Oy vey," Josh said throwing his hands up in the air.
"Now Til, what word are you not allowed to say?" Donna asked, coaxing her child to say it.
"Fifty!" Tilly screamed, and Josh crumpled his head into his hands in mock exasperation.
"Watch the movie…both of you," Josh said. He actually really liked this. It felt familial. It felt like this was how things were meant to be. He couldn't believe that they'd only been back in each other's lives for less than a day. It was if no time had passed, and yet it obviously had. He had known it for the last five years. He should have fought harder for Donna to stay. How had he been so stupid?
"Momma," Tilly said after there was about a five-minute silence.
"Yeah bub," Donna asked.
"Can we have cookies?" Tilly asked.
"Um, I don't think Josh would have any cookies," Donna replied, sorry to disappoint her child.
"Sorry," Josh added, confirming Donna's suspicions.
"You could make them," Tilly said, not realising that would have been inappropriate, and actually a lot of effort.
"Well, if Josh doesn't have cookies, he certainly doesn't have the ingredients to make them," Donna laughed, trying to let Tilly down easily. Though next she'd probably be asking for them to run to shops to get them.
"Hey, I have basic baking needs," Josh replied, hurt that she would think so little of his kitchen stocking ability. But then he remembered he had once lived pretty scarce in the food department, and a majority of that time was when Donna had known him.
"You want to make cookies?" Donna whispered to Josh. She wanted to give him an out. She would think this was taking up too much of his hospitality.
"Sure, why not," Josh said. "I have no idea what's going on in this movie anyway."
"Do you actually know how to make cookies?" Donna asked still wrapping her head around the fact that he had the ingredients.
"Well, no, but how hard can it be, and you can help. Mom's are meant to know how to make cookies right?" Josh said. His own mother made the best snickerdoodles he'd ever tried, but he was sure he was a bit biased.
"I've known how to bake them since I was a teenager, it's not really a 'Mom' skill," Donna replied.
"Then let's see what you're made of," Josh said jumping up from the sofa, Donna quickly following him.
"Wait," Donna said, stopping not too far from where they had been sitting. "Tilly to get cookies, you must answer one question correctly." Donna waited for the girl to be paying attention. "How many states are there?"
"Fifty," she yelled with glee. Mostly because she was getting cookies, but also because she got the question right.
"You're an evil evil woman you know that?" Josh asked as he led Donna to the kitchen and began showing her where everything was. God, this felt so domestic, and he loved it. But then he knew this wasn't his to love. And it never would be. Of course, there was still time to have a child of his own, with someone else, but it wouldn't feel like this.
Donna started showing him step by step instructions on what to do. It was nice to teach him something for once. It had always felt like he was teaching her. Though she was sure in those six years they knew each other, she would have taught him a thing or two, even if nothing was coming to mind.
Josh had absolutely no culinary ability and was making a mess out of every step. It was a good laugh. Something Donna hadn't had in a long while. Her life had been so down for such a long time, it felt great to finally be able to let off some of that tension and enjoy herself again. The White House had been hard work, but they had always found a way to have fun with it. She missed that.
"This looks cosy," came a voice that Donna didn't recognise, but made Josh stand up straight. If Donna had to guess she could deduce that from how Josh was acting, and the fact that this woman had keys to Josh's place, she was the girlfriend. "I didn't mean to interrupt," she said.
"Rach," Josh said walking around the counter to get closer to her. He kissed her quickly in greeting. He tried to play down that he wasn't surprised to see her. "Rachel this is Donna, we used to work together at the White House. Donna, this is Rachel, my girlfriend," Josh smiled, he didn't think their meeting was going to happen so soon.
In fact, he hadn't even told Rachel about Donna. Well, that was a lie, of course he had. Donna came up in nearly every story he told about his time as Deputy Chief-of-Staff. He just hadn't had a chance to tell her that Donna was back in his life, after all, it had only happened yesterday. And it wasn't like he saw Rachel every day. He wasn't keeping Donna's reappearance secret or anything, there just hadn't been a chance.
"It's nice to meet you," Donna said as she brushed flour off of her hands and held out one in greeting.
"Josh has told me a lot about you, he didn't tell me you were back in his life though. So, someone's got some explaining to do," Rachel said, trying to get the surprise out of her voice.
"It only happened yesterday," both Josh and Donna said in unison.
"Ah, and you're already making cookies together, that was some reconciliation," Rachel said, she couldn't help but think they went from 0 to 60 at warp speed. She had heard a lot about Donna, and although she had only heard Josh's side of how things ended, she couldn't believe they put their differences aside so fast. Josh had told her he was near heartbroken when Donna left him, which she couldn't understand, she was only his assistant. The only way she would have been like that over a former co-worker was if their relationship wasn't solely professional. But Josh guaranteed they hadn't been sleeping together.
"Yeah, my daughter wanted a snack," Donna explained, she was trying not to make this awkward. She had been around enough of Josh's girlfriends in the past to know how jealous they could get over her and Josh's relationship.
"Oh," Rachel said, suddenly completely reassured that this was purely a friendship thing. Donna was still with the guy she left D.C. with, and they were happy. Her relationship with Josh was not in danger. "Well I really didn't mean to interrupt. I needed to pick up some paperwork I'd left here the other day," she explained. "Didn't even think you'd be home. Don't you have a class today?" Rachel asked.
"Nope," Josh replied, a little too quickly. The teacher had cancelled the class. Could he help it if he was the teacher? "Study day," he said. Josh knew that when he was a student sometimes you just needed a day off to catch up, so in his mind by not giving a lecture he was helping his students out. It really was a selfless act.
Donna saw through that an excuse almost instantly, and she smiled to herself. He took the day off for her. That was a very sweet thing for him to do. And the fact that he did it for her, meant so much. "Worked out well for me," Donna added, though she wasn't sure if she was doing damage to his lie or not.
"That was lucky," Rachel said as she found the files she was looking for. "Okay, I'll see you later," Rachel said, kissing Josh on the cheek. "Because we obviously have somethings to talk about," she laughed before walking back down the hall, and leaving.
Donna and Josh both waited until they heard the door close before saying a word. "You didn't have to cancel a lecture for me, we could have done this any other day," Donna said trying to not show how truly touched by the gesture she had been.
"Yeah, but I didn't want to wait to see you again," Josh said. He would cancel every lecture for the next week if he could replay this day again and again. There was silence as they mulled over what had just been said.
"So, that was the girlfriend," Donna asked. She was glad she had gotten to meet her sooner rather than later. Maybe now Josh would talk about her more.
"Yeah, Rachel. She's great," Josh replied, he didn't know why, but he didn't want to talk about Rachel with her. He wanted things to stay easy between him and Donna for the foreseeable future. They could talk about everything else when they were assured things were back to normal. And that wasn't going to happen in a day. That was barely going to be able to happen in a week.
"Where'd you met?" Donna asked pushing him to know more.
"Blind date," he replied, not giving her too much information. Did she really need to know all this? Did she really need to know that they had met after a colleague had set them up? And not because he had thought they would make a good couple, but because they both lived in Westport? Did she really need to know that they had been dating for a year, and he didn't feel so scared of commitment anymore and gave Rachel a key to prove that? Did she really need to know that he had considered asking Rachel to marry him, or that they'd been quite happy since they met?
What Josh liked about Rachel was she wasn't one of the Washington Elite. She voted, but that was where her interest in politics ended. She wasn't with him for the power he once wielded, or just to be seen with him. They were together because they were happy together. And wasn't that what you were meant to look for in a relationship?
Of course, all this was before Donna had showed up. He wasn't sure how Donna being back in his life was going to affect his relationship with Rachel, but from past experience he had a feeling it would. And he wasn't all that sure anymore if that was a bad thing. But he knew that was stupid to think about. If Donna had ever wanted a future with him, she would have stayed, and maybe that little girl she was raising would be theirs and not just hers.
"Really? You went on a blind date? You let somebody set you up? You're serious?" Donna asked. It was funny because Rachel looked like the type Josh normal went for, and yet someone else had picked her for him. What were the chances?
"Yeah, really," he said not really sure she was getting at, but whatever she was implying he didn't want to know. "So, what's next?" Josh said, coming back over to the where they had been working on the mixture. Donna banged her knuckles on the counter in reference to their old boss, which caused Josh to laugh, and let out the breath he was holding.
"We roll the dough in balls," Donna instructed, and they got underway. She could tell Josh was abrasive to talk about Rachel, she just didn't understand why. But if he didn't want to talk about it, then she wouldn't make him.
…
After the movie finished, and the cookies had been eaten, Tilly was in much happier and normal mood, Josh and Donna decided to get the show back on the road, quite literally, with a driving tour. They had to took Donna's car, because otherwise Tilly had nowhere to sit.
It was a bit strange having Donna drive while Josh pointed things out, but it came easier as the day went on. Westport wasn't all that big and didn't have that many neighbourhoods, but they stayed close to his. He showed them the beach, and he even thought Donna would get a kick out of seeing the house he grew up in, she did.
By five o'clock they stopped for dinner, and it really felt like a blast from the past to be eating all the day's meals with Josh, and the fact that none of them were homemade, only cemented the feeling.
"So, what are you thinking?" Josh asked after their meals had been placed in front of them. He hoped she was going to say she loved Westport and she and Tilly were definitely going to move there. That they were going to start looking for a place tomorrow, and all that.
Donna was cutting up Tilly's chicken but knew exactly what Josh was talking about. That instinct had never gone away. "Isn't Westport, you know, expensive?" She knew for a fact that it was ranked in the top thirty cities of America's richest places, and she was not a top thirty type person. The place could be to die for, but that didn't mean she was going to die trying to afford it.
"Yeah, but we can find something in your price range," Josh said. He so little thought about money and had few expenses that he didn't even realise the toll it could take on people. It wasn't that he was a snob or was overly swimming in cash, he just lived on what he needed. "And I can help you out if you need it," he said.
"I've never asked for your money Josh, I'm not starting now," Donna said adamantly. She was not here for a hand out. She wanted to be able to respect herself and taking money from Josh was not the way to go about it.
"It'd be a loan, nothing big, just until you get back on your feet again," Josh pushed.
"Thanks, but no," she said rejecting his offer. "I wouldn't be able to look at myself," she said, and after everything that had happened there was no way she could do that to Josh. He had been so forgiving, that she was sure he didn't even know what she needed to apologise for.
"But aside from the price, you like Westport?" Josh asked. They had had a good day, he was sure that he had not misread that.
"Yeah it looks like a great town. Tilly would be lucky to grow up here. I mean you grew up here, and you turned out alright," Donna said.
"Just alright? I think you mean exceptional, exquisite, and downright brilliant," Josh added cockily, and his dimples started to show.
"You forgot modest," Donna replied quickly, but Josh was right he was all those things and more.
"We'll just have to look for a place in your budget, there's got to be somewhere. Go back to the motel, figure out how much you can afford, and then we'll look around and see if we can find anywhere that fits your needs. Don't give up on it before you need to," Josh said. He wondered what had happened to Donna in the last five years. She was once so optimistic and always willing to fight. Had she just gotten tired or had someone taken that spirit away from her?
"Okay," Donna replied. She really wanted this. It had only been her dream for the last day, but it was all she could think about. A great place for Tilly, and near Josh, nothing could be more perfect. But she also didn't want to get her hopes up, what if it didn't work out? What if there was nowhere that fit the descriptions of everything she needed? What if all this was too much to ask for?
"Excellent," Josh said. If he had known when he woke up yesterday, how much his life was going to change, he wouldn't have believed it. If you had told him Donna would be knocking on his office door, he would have called you a liar. If he knew he'd been eating dinner with Donna and her kid, he would have thought the world was ending. He would have bet the Cubs would win the World Series, before he saw Donna again, and now he was thinking it was time to put some money down. "Do you want to get lunch tomorrow?" Josh asked moving topics. He wasn't sure the next time he'd see Donna, so he wanted to get a plan in before leaving.
"Sure, where?" Donna answered.
"I have a two-hour break between classes tomorrow, so somewhere near campus," he said. He couldn't take multiple days off of teaching, it wasn't fair to his students, and the university wouldn't like it. He also had a lot more classes on tomorrow then he did today, it was easier to cancel just one, then say three or four.
"Yeah, sounds good," Donna replied.
Okay their first full day together is over, do you think they are getting their groove back? Did you like Rachel? How much of a problem do you think she will be? What do you think will happen next? Will Donna actually be able to move to Westport or will something happen to ruin that?
Let me know
Please Review :D