Fifteen of Cheryl's closest friends crowd into the Roslin backyard to celebrate her 5th birthday. A bouncy house has been set up, and for kids that need to cool off, the neighbors have been kind enough to open their gate to allow the children to swim. Pizza, fresh summer fruit, lemonade, and a huge birthday cake in the shape of a fat, orange cat are served buffet style on a large table on the back patio.
Laura and Bill are supervising the bouncy house, taking turns with Saul and Ellen when Laura needs to get out of the sunlight. Her baby weight gain has been rapid and with the recent heat, the air conditioning in the house beckons her every 30 minutes. Sandra, JJ, and the neighbors monitor the swimmers while Dave watches after the food with Magnus, Sandra's new boyfriend.
Magnus is intelligent, analytical, and polite. He doesn't say much, making it difficult for Dave to get a read on him. When he has observed Sandra with him, she does all the talking while Magnus stands by quietly, occasionally smiling or nodding his head. Dave doesn't see what the attraction is between them, other than they're both single, similar in age, and looking for someone to date.
They met at a bookstore. Sandra was perusing the art history section when she turned the corner and accidentally wandered into the accounting and finance section where Magnus was engrossed in a book about Caprican tax code. After joking that he must be an insomniac because tax code is guaranteed to put anyone to sleep, a conversation followed, and then coffee at the brew house inside the store.
At the start of the fall semester in a few weeks, Magnus will be a junior accounting major at Pythia College, an elite, private, and expensive school that is highly competitive to get into. Most of the students that attend that college come from wealthy families, but Dave doesn't see evidence of that with the way Magnus dresses, usually in plain tan shorts, a blue button shirt, and leather sandals. He's generic and boring, the exact opposite of Sandra.
Most of their dates have consisted of dinner, then a show or a visit to an art gallery or museum. Sandra is never home late, and her clothes are never wrinkled, so Dave's pretty sure she isn't sleeping with him. JJ has spoken with her about her relationship with Magnus and while she hasn't filled Dave in on all the details, preferring to keep some things private that Sandra has confided in her, she assures him that they aren't serious, they aren't having sex, and he treats her well. They're just two young adults enjoying some time together before school starts again.
This year the theme of Cheryl's party is animals and in lieu of gifts, the birthday girl has asked that a donation be made to either the local animal shelter where she adopted Fletcher, or the bear sanctuary where Fernando lives. This was a suggestion by Dave when he saw the invite list and imagined her room overflowing with all sorts of things that she may show interest in for 10 minutes before tossing aside. Family members will give gifts after the party when her friends have gone home.
As the afternoon heat intensifies, many children abandon the bouncy house in favor of the swimming pool, allowing Laura to go indoors and put her feet up for the remainder of the day. Other than her weight gain, this pregnancy has been easier for her so far, maybe because she's not angry or upset about anything this time. Her biggest concern is her upcoming conversation with the principal to let her know of her pregnancy and due date, which will be the middle of the spring semester, and developing a plan to cover her duties as Vice Principal while she's gone.
After taking beginners swimming lessons earlier in the summer, Cheryl turned into a little fish who enjoys swimming along the bottom of the pool, seeing how far she can get on one breath. Recently she has started doing tricks in the water, handstands, both forward and backward somersaults, and flips off the side into the pool. After finally perfecting her form with some coaching from Sandra, she waves at JJ to join them so she can show off her skills.
JJ swims to them, standing next to Sandra in the pool, both about 6 feet from the edge. Cheryl closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, then focuses herself while she stands straight with her arms at her side. When she opens her eyes, she steps to the edge, and performs a perfect flip into the pool, splashing her sister and JJ in the process. Kicking off the bottom and swimming upwards, a huge smile adorns her face when she resurfaces.
Paddling the few feet to JJ, Cheryl happily flings her arms around her neck. "That was good, right? Did you like it, mommy?"
Hearing Cheryl address her this way causes JJ's heart to skip a beat. She had lost all hope of having children after her marriage dissolved. The overjoyed 5-year-old girl is grinning from ear to ear as she wriggles from excitement in her arms. Noticing how emotional JJ has become, Sandra rests a reassuring hand on her shoulder, offering a warm smile. The few tears that have slid down her cheeks are hidden among the droplets from the swimming pool, and after swiping them away, JJ clears the lump in her throat so she can respond. "That was perfect, sweetie. I don't think it can get any better than this."
The new sign on her office door reads "Vice Principal Dr. Laura Roslin-Adama". Principal Lindstrom jokes that if her name had two more letters in it, they'd need a bigger door to make it all fit. This year she won't teach unless it's as a substitute, allowing Laura to keep her feet up as much as possible during this pregnancy. The recliner that had been placed in her office last semester when she was pregnant with Emilee is still there and will be put to good use again.
Much of the latter part of the summer was spent trying to find the perfect daycare for Emilee. Many were too crowded or had high staff turnover, some were too far away, and others too expensive. They finally decided to put her in the employee daycare at Campbell Elementary. It's not the fanciest place to be, but the staff is kind, and Laura can see her multiple times throughout the day. If she needs to work a little later than usual, then Emilee can sit in the portable playpen that fits nicely in the corner of her office.
With the promotion comes a substantial pay raise, bigger than Laura anticipated. She did such a tremendous job on reworking the curriculum last year that the principal was able to get the school district to approve the additional money. Laura decides to use some of it to take online coursework to get certified as an administrator so that she can be promoted to full principal someday.
Shortly before the fall semester begins, Sandra and Magnus part ways. They were both aware that it was just a summer romance, and they promise to remain friends, possibly getting together during semester break if neither one of them is involved with anyone else.
This semester is incredibly busy and challenging for Sandra. She's signed up for intermediate and advanced painting and drawing classes, a condensed business class which covers management, accounting, finance, and marketing, a cross-discipline independent study course between the art department and language department so she can earn credit for her children's book series, and another independent study course that will culminate in her own student art show near the end of the semester. It's an ambitious schedule that doesn't leave a lot of free time, but she's determined to make it work.
Friday nights are spent in the dorm with Willow, who has a single room again, no doubt due to Dave's friendship with the housing director. Willow has her own busy schedule, having declared digital design and media as her major.
Her dorm has a different RA this semester and he's just as likable and cute as Mason, her previous RA. Sandra barely gives Logan any attention, though, preferring not to get involved with anyone due to her demanding schedule, or at least that is what she has told Willow.
Six weeks into the semester, the two best friends make their way to the lounge in the dorm for the weekly party. When they step inside, it's completely dark and vacant.
"What? Where is everyone? Did they cancel and forget to tell us?" Sandra complains, sliding her hands on the wall trying to find the light switch. "Will, where's the damn light switch? Will?"
Sandra turns but Willow is gone. "What the hell?" she grumbles. "Is this like one of those horror movies where everyone disappears and I'm the dumb girl left behind that has no idea what's going on?"
"SURPRISE!" a chorus of voices shouts in response to her question as the lights switch on. The room is decorated with balloons, streamers, and a "Happy Birthday" banner which hangs over a table filled with pizza, cake, and soda.
"Oh my Gods, I totally fell for this!" Sandra giggles. "You just made my night!"
In addition to the usual board games and trivia contests, the evening features dancing with the birthday girl and a silly variation of spin the bottle where Sandra spins the bottle each time, then tells the person the bottle lands on who they get to kiss. This leads to all sorts of bribes, begging, and favors being offered to her so people can kiss who they want. Strangely enough, Sandra never chooses herself to receive a kiss.
"Why are you the only person who hasn't been kissed tonight?" Logan asks when he meets her in the hallway coming back from the restroom.
"Don't you think that would be kind of presumptuous of me?" she blushes.
"You are the birthday honoree. Seems like someone should be lucky enough to kiss you." Logan has this way of flirting that's very disarming. This isn't the first time he's hinted of his interest in her.
That interest would be mutual, it should be mutual, but the person she really wants to kiss is Jeff. Unless she can figure out a way to travel back in time and redo the events of their blind date and subsequent encounter in the parking lot, there's no way that will happen.
"I don't know. You really think anyone in there would wanna kiss me?" she asks, nodding in the direction of the lounge.
"Hmpf. Let's see. You're smart, talented, fun, and beautiful. They'd be crazy to turn you down," he says, staring directly into her eyes.
"You really think so?"
"I'm just saying I wouldn't turn you down and I'm sure at least 75 percent of the people in that lounge wouldn't either."
"Only 75 percent?" she feigns her disappointment.
"You're right, probably closer to 95 percent. And the only reason 5 percent would turn you down is because they're seeing someone already."
"Are you seeing someone?" The question leaves her mouth before she thinks about how it sounds. Impulsiveness is one of the things she has worked on in therapy, but apparently not enough.
"Are you asking me to kiss you?" he asks in a low and sexy tone that causes her heart rate to increase.
Why not? She'd weigh the options, but the truth is that there really aren't a lot of options to weigh. Logan is a little bit older like Jeff, both 21. He's also tall like Jeff and while he's cute, he's blond with blue eyes unlike Jeff who's brunette with brown eyes. Still, he's nice like Jeff, is interested, and she could definitely do much worse. "Sure."
"Happy birthday, Sandra," he murmurs, leaning in close until their lips touch. His mouth lingers on hers for a split second longer than would be considered appropriate for a friendly birthday peck on the lips.
"Um," she stammers with a small smile pulling back from him. "Thank you, Logan." Her eyes drop to his mouth and without hesitation, he kisses her again, this time parting her lips with his tongue. Her arms slip around his neck when she lets him in, their bodies pressed together as the birthday kiss becomes something more, something deeper.
"Well, well, well, don't let me interrupt," Willow says when she turns the corner toward the restroom and finds her best friend in a passionate lip lock with her RA.
They immediately pull back from each other, Sandra thoroughly mesmerized from the kiss.
"I, um, I should get back to supervising the party," Logan says. Gently cupping Sandra's cheek with his right hand, he gazes into her sparkling eyes. "See you in a few minutes?"
"Yeah, sure," she replies in a whisper, letting her hand brush down his chest.
After Logan's out of earshot, Willow turns to her friend with a smirk. "We are going to have a very interesting conversation in my room tonight, aren't we?"
"Maybe," Sandra coyly replies. "I'm going back to my party now, Will. Don't disappear on me again."
Logan has Sandra on his mind the rest of the evening. He glances at her numerous times, catches her eye, smiles, and offers to refill her soda or bring her another piece of pizza.
"Someone's smitten with you," Willow whispers in her friend's ear, bringing a knowing smile to Sandra's face.
"Mmm-hmm," she murmurs back. "I'm gonna talk with him when the party's over. I shouldn't be long."
"Take your time. He's a good one. You've known him for over a month now, so if you don't come back to my room tonight, I want you to know I approve."
"Will, I don't think-"
"San, you really have no excuse," Willow quickly replies, cutting her friend off. "You told me yourself he's hot. And he's smart, nice, and completely into you. He asks me about you every week. At least give him a chance."
"I'll think about it."
"You've got 10 more minutes until midnight. Think fast."
Dave spent most of the night getting a tutorial from Cheryl on game development on the new computer she got for her birthday. The entire family had pitched in to buy it, and she wasted no time in learning a new coding language and creating games with better quality graphics than she had done in the past.
The computer was a suggestion from Jason during a conversation with Dave late one afternoon at daycare. It was one of those "let's touch base" appointments that left Dave wondering if Cheryl had gotten into some sort of trouble that needed to be addressed in person rather than on the phone. To his surprise, there wasn't any trouble at all. Instead, Jason informed him that Cheryl was learning by leaps and bounds and would exhaust many of the things the daycare and school had to offer before reaching the age of 18. Her mind is like a little computer. Once she figures out the basics, her knowledge grows exponentially in very little time.
The topic of conversation was what to do with her when she finishes HS years ahead of schedule. Her education can be supplemented with online college courses and a few in person courses, but it's important to keep her around children her own age for social interaction and emotional development. Being the oddly intelligent child taking an upper-level computer programming course at the university won't earn her any friends. Kids like that are oftentimes targets of jealousy by their adult classmates, especially when they earn better grades than everyone else. The goal is to meet her educational needs but keep her as normal a child as possible, one that has friends her age and healthy relationships.
Because of her interest and creativity in developing computer games, Jason suggested a better computer for her with expanded memory and graphics. The entire family pooled their money and made it happen, with some helpful advice from Dave's contacts in the computer engineering department at the university.
Friday evening while JJ was at the restaurant, Cheryl walked her father through her latest endeavors, growing very excited about certain aspects of these games and explaining how she hopes to learn even more advanced coding to make her ideas come to life. It was just over a year ago that he was nervously anticipating her starting school at age 4. Now he can barely keep up with her rapid-fire explanations of her ideas. Her creativity level is above average, and he can see that she is very much a blend of both him and his late wife.
He tucked her into bed at 10 p.m., promising her that mom would check on her after she returns home from the restaurant. Now he's resting comfortably in his bed making some edits to the draft manuscript of his next book, which will be released at the end of the semester. Jeff has made significant contributions to this book, not only in doing research, but also writing sections of several chapters, and one full chapter himself. It will be a nice surprise when Dave informs him that he will be getting a coauthor credit.
The garage door closes and a few minutes later Jen enters the bedroom looking exhausted.
"Did you happen to check on Cheryl?"
"Yes. She'd kicked the covers off, so I pulled them back up and gave her a kiss."
"Thank you. How was work?"
Jen gives him a weary look, then huffs.
"That bad, huh?" he asks. "Come here. You look like you need a massage."
"I really do but I'm going to shower first because I reek like restaurant. Will you stay awake for me, hun? There's something I want to talk about."
"Sure. Is it a good something or a bad something?"
"Good, I think."
Willow answers the knock at her door at 12:40 a.m. to find Sandra standing before her.
"Did you come back for you overnight bag?" she teasingly asks.
"No, I'm spending the night with you, remember?" Sandra replies, pretending to be annoyed at her best friend's insistence that she hook up with Logan.
Stepping aside so Sandra can enter, she then closes the door behind her and gives her a curious look. "Tell me."
"There's not a whole lot to tell. I'm tired. I'd like to go to sleep now."
"Did you already-"
"No, I did not have sex with him."
"You're not going to sleep until you tell me what you did for the past 40 minutes. And I want details."
Knowing that her friend won't leave her alone until she tells her story, Sandra sighs and decides to get it over with. For the first several minutes, she and Logan made out, neither one of them making a move to take it to the next level. Eventually, Logan hinted she could spend the night with him, but he didn't want to pressure her.
"I thought about it but then I decided against it."
"So what did you do the rest of the time? Because that couldn't have taken 40 minutes," Willow presses.
"We talked. Then we made out again for a while. Then I came back here."
"You're being evasive. Logan's as frakkable as any guy on this campus, and he's decent and he likes you. What's the problem?"
Closing her eyes so that she doesn't have to witness the eyeroll that's about to take place, Sandra answers, "The problem is that while I was kissing Logan, I was only thinking of Jeff. And I know what you're going to say, so please don't. No matter how hard I try to put him out of my mind, he's still there. I'm not over him. Maybe I just don't wanna accept it, I don't know. But I didn't think it was fair to lead Logan on, so after we made out, I told him there's someone I'm not over yet and I don't want him to get hurt because he thinks I'm into him. I'm trying to be better at communicating my feelings and making sure I'm not taking advantage of someone. We talked for a while after that, and you know what? Logan's a great guy and I feel kinda crazy for not being into him. He understood. We tried making out again to see if I could put Jeff out of my head, but it didn't work. He told me if I ever need a guy's perspective, to let him know. I think he's gonna turn out to be a pretty good friend."
"You friend-zoned Logan?"
"Not yet."
Lecturing Sandra has never been successful, so Willow tries to reason with her. "Why don't you just talk to Jeff? It's been months. It's not like he relocated to Aerilon, his desk is right outside your dad's office. Maybe it's time you tried apologizing again."
"I've thought about it. But he's the one that walked away from me, so I kinda feel like he's the one that has to make the first move. And I really don't want my dad to get stuck in the middle of this. Jeff does great work for him, and I don't wanna do anything to jeopardize that."
"So you need to figure out a way to make him come to you."
"Yup, and I'm not sure how to do that."
After considering several options, Willow offers a suggestion. "Maybe you should hang out in your dad's office a few afternoons each week to see if he's friendly toward you now."
"I've tried that. He always finds an excuse to leave."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh. It's deflating. We used to be such good friends and now he can barely look at me."
"If he's not looking at you then he's not over you either."
"Maybe," Sandra replies, her eyes downcast from the hollowness she feels over Jeff being absent from her life.
Watching her friend struggle over losing Jeff has been difficult for Willow to witness. The good thing to come from their split is that it resulted in Sandra making tremendous strides in her therapy. It's like a light bulb suddenly came on in her head, one that shined the way along the path through the dark tunnel of her grief.
Willow debates revealing some information about Jeff, then decides she can't bear to keep it from her any longer. "Maybe I shouldn't tell you this, but I'm going to anyway. Brad told Jeff about your surprise party, you know, just in case he might like to come tonight."
"The fact that he wasn't here speaks volumes," Sandra sighs in disappointment. A year ago, he went out of his way to gift her drawing pencils even though technically they weren't friends yet. Now he can't be bothered to wish her a happy birthday.
"He thought about it. He really did. But when Brad asked him again last night, he said he's still not over you, so he wasn't ready to see you again."
The anguished look on Sandra's face prompts Willow try to point out something positive. "Sandra, he's not over you. You're not over him. Why don't you two just talk? You're in such a different place now that you've started letting your therapist help you. You've made amazing progress. Please, just try talking to him."
"I'll think about it. I'm going to bed now."
Dave's fingers expertly work the knots out of Jen's back as she lies face-down in their bed. There's a particularly big one up by her neck that he spends extra time on, first applying pressure with his fingers, then working his way back out in a circular motion.
"You're so good at this," she groans. "I don't know what I ever did before you."
"Glad my skills as a masseuse are appreciated," he says, working his way down her back and switching his attention to her legs. Her calves are also knotted up, which has been happening a lot lately. The restaurant has been incredibly busy, often demanding both hers and KC's time in the evenings. "I guess you wouldn't be walking away from it entirely."
"No. KC's very capable of managing the place without me, and if I hire two more assistant managers for day and evening shifts, that will allow him to take time off and have a life outside of work. I can still help if they need it, but I like the idea of just being an owner and handing off the manager responsibilities to someone else."
Dave continues to work on her calves, silently wondering if he has inadvertently hinted that she should spend more time at home. If he did, it wasn't his intention, but he questions why she would want to relinquish managerial duties at this point in her life. "I'm a little surprised that you'd want to give up control over something you created. You must have a lot of trust in KC."
"I do, and part of the reason I hired him was so I could take time off and do things I've always dreamed of doing before I'm too old. Now I have a family. I want to travel with you, take Cheryl to pyramid practice, go to museums with Sandra, and babysit for Bill and Laura. I don't want to spend my days and nights dealing with grumpy customers and broken kitchen equipment. As far as income, I'll still earn money as the owner, plus I have the rental income from the duplex. It won't be what I'm used to, but it's more than enough. And I've been smart with investing ever since my divorce so I'm already in great shape for retirement."
While her explanation makes perfect sense to him, he still feels the need to question her about other possible motivations. "Are you doing this because I've said or done something to make you think I want you here more often?"
Jen rolls to her side, her arm propping her face up so she can look directly at him. When she addresses his question, a playful smirk forms on her lips. "Am I the type of woman that would let a man talk me into staying home if I didn't want to? Hmmm?"
"No. You aren't," he chuckles, feeling silly for questioning such a thing.
"That's right. I'm a business owner, landlord, investor, and a manager. Maybe I'll even become a history major if I have any spare time – I hear there's an excellent department at CCU," she winks. "I've done all these amazing things in my professional life. Now I'm ready to be an amazing wife and mom. I'll still be all those other things except for the manager part."
Toaster pastries and coffee are what's for breakfast Saturday morning at the dorm. Mid-morning, Sandra packs her pajamas and toothbrush in her overnight bag, gives Willow a hug, and walks to the lobby. Logan is coming in from the parking lot and offers to carry her bag to her SUV.
"I had a great time last night, Sandra," he says, placing the bag in her backseat. "And I appreciate your honesty."
"Thanks, I'm trying to be more open with people. You're a fantastic guy, Logan, and any other time in my life I'd love to go out with you, but I'm not over Jeff yet. We were such great friends and I really miss that. That's what I really need – friendship."
"Then I'll be your friend. Do friends hug?"
"You're damn right they do," she says, stepping into his outstretched arms.
She doesn't have any plans for the rest of Saturday other than to think about which paintings and sketches might be part of her art show, and what she could create for new artwork that might be included. When she gets home, she unpacks her overnight bag, starts a load of laundry, and sits at her desk staring at a blank sheet of drawing paper. On the corner of her desk are her drawing pencils, including the set Jeff gifted her a year ago, a set she hasn't used nearly enough.
Seeing reminders of Jeff is an everyday occurrence for her. When she reads something interesting, she'll have the urge to text him about it. Other times she'll hear a good joke and he's the first person she wants to tell it to. This morning when Logan hugged her, she compared him to Jeff. Logan's arms are more muscular, and he used his strength to hold her tight, whereas Jeff has longer arms that wrap all the way around her. Both are excellent huggers. The drawing pencils are the latest reminder of him and what they had together.
An idea forms in her mind, a way to reminisce about Jeff and possibly prompt him to contact her. Thumbing through the photos on her phone, she stops at the one he texted her nearly a year ago when his team won the intramural pyramid championship. She crops it to just his face, then sends it to her printer. Before long, she's reaching for his drawing pencils and beginning a rough outline of his portrait.
Over the next two weeks she sketches him, remembers him, misses him. The squareness of his jaw that she smooths so it doesn't look sharp, the wave in his hair when he hasn't had time to get a haircut, the dimples on his cheeks that draw her in when he smiles. His lips – she focuses a lot of her time making them perfect, sometimes sitting and rubbing her fingers along them, wishing she had kissed him the night of their date. She'd give anything to kiss him now.
Willow approves of her idea to gift Jeff the sketch, helping her shop for a frame when the portrait is finished. The hard part is what to write in the note that will be attached to the wrapped gift that she will leave at his desk. Sandra finally settles on something simple and honest. "I miss you."