He was tempted to climb in the tub with her, but just then his stomach growled. Food. He needed food.
After he made breakfast, he went back to his bedroom. Jennifer was standing in the bathroom with the door wide open. She must have just gotten out of the bath because she was just starting to wrap a towel around her soapy body.
He cleared his throat to announce his presence. When she looked up, one corner of her mouth turned up and she dropped her towel on the bathroom floor.
“Oops.” Jennifer giggled.
He quickly moved towards her with a grin and she giggled again.
Screw my stomach. The food can wait.
*****
After they got back up, they re-heated the bacon and pancakes and ate together in his bed. As Adam watched Jennifer tear off a piece of her dry pancake and pop it in her mouth, he laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You.”
Jennifer seemed to be a cross of the same person he fell in love with so many years ago and a new version who was a mature, loving woman and an amazing mother. He couldn’t get enough of her and he couldn’t hold in how he felt any longer.
She gave him a pouty lip, looked down and said, “How am I funny?”
He reached over and tipped up her chin so she had to look at him.
“I just don’t understand how you can like pancakes with no syrup. You’ve always eaten them that way and it brings back so many memories. In some ways you haven’t changed and the person I loved back then is still there.” Adam paused and said, “But the person I love now is even better.”
Jennifer looked into his eyes and he could see her eyes well up with tears. In a whisper she asked, “What did you just say?”
“I love you.”
“You do?”
“I do.”
“Wow. I…just wow.”
He tried not to let his face fall, but had a hard time hiding his disappointment at her reaction. Of course, he was hoping she already felt that way about him too.
Maybe she doesn’t love me yet, but I’ll get her to.
Jennifer got up and dug through his drawers. She put on a pair of his sweat pants and an old t-shirt he had back in college. He laughed at how big they were on her.
“Do you need to go grab stuff from your house?”
Jennifer nodded, laughing. “I guess so.”
Adam went with her to pick up a change of clothes and her swimsuit. He wasn’t sure how far to push with this new stage of their relationship. He didn’t want to drive her away, but wanted her to know how he felt.
He cleared his throat and tried to sound confident. “Are you able to stay over again tonight?”
Jennifer looked at him with her head cocked to the side. “Aren’t you sick of me yet?”
Adam glanced over and looked into honey-colored eyes. “Not even close.”
Her lips curved up in a small smile. “Okay, sure, I’ll stay again.”
He grinned. “Good.”
“What do you feel like doing tonight?”
You, but I probably shouldn’t say that.
“I’m not sure. What about you?”
He originally planned to take her out for dinner and maybe a movie, but he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to go out anymore. He’d rather just keep her all to himself.
“Well… if you want, we can go out. Or, I’d be just fine with staying in and renting a couple movies. You choose,” she replied.
Adam stroked his chin, pretending to consider his choice. “Hmm, let me think. I choose...”
Jennifer smacked his arm lightly, laughing as his deep, sexy voice trailed off. “Come on, what’s it to be?”
“Stay in.”
“Ooooh, good. I was hoping you’d say that,” she told him. “What should we get?”
“How about Chinese?”
Jennifer she started licking her lips. “I love Chinese.”
He couldn’t help but stare at her sexy, full lips that were curved into a delicious smile. Adam grinned and reached over to grab her hand.
“And I love you.” He paused and said, “You might not love me yet, but I’m going to get you there someday.”
Jennifer gave him a confused look. “What are you talking about? Of course I love you.”
“When I told you I love you earlier today, you didn’t say it back. I guess I figured you weren’t quite there yet.”
“I never stopped loving you. I thought you’d have figured that out by now.”
She loves me.
He glanced back over to Jennifer, and gave her a wide smile. “In that case, you’ve just made me the happiest guy in the world.”
The tears gleaming in Jennifer’s eyes made his heart soar.
The rest of the day, they relaxed on his boat and soaked up the sun before heading out to rent movies and pick up their take-out.
It couldn’t have been more perfect.
*****
The next morning, they slept in. They didn’t get much sleep again, not that Adam was complaining, and they both were too wiped out to get up and make breakfast.
Around 10:45, he rolled over and looked at his clock. He let out a yell and turned back over to wake Jennifer up because they were due to pick up Amber at noon.
“Hon! Wake up. We have to get going, don’t we?”
Jennifer groaned. “What time is it?”
“It’s a quarter to 11:00.”
“Oh, whatever. Just five more minutes,” she replied sleepily.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” she said through a yawn.
A couple minutes later, through her light snoring, “Honey, really, we need to get up.”
“Okay, fine. What time is it?”
“5 minutes to 11:00.”
“What?” Jennifer bolted upright in bed. “Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?”
Adam laughed. “I did. You asked for five more minutes. I gave you ten. If you hurry, we can get out the door in a few minutes.”
“Ha! Says you. It takes me more than a few minutes to get ready.”
“You’ll be fine.”
They got up, dressed quickly and then took turns in the bathroom.
Since Jennifer was due at her parent’s house by noon, they had to work fast and were running out the door together a couple minutes after eleven. It took an hour to get there from his house. Her parents were expecting them for lunch and she didn’t want to be late, especially because they didn’t know Adam would be coming with her.
On their way he took a few minutes to think. He tried to hide the concern he was feeling over seeing Jennifer’s parents again. His stomach was in knots.
Did Jennifer tell them how she thought he was Amber’s father and then how it turned out he wasn’t? Did they know he stormed out when they found out? Will they welcome him or do they hate him for hurting their daughter?
“Don’t worry, Adam. It’ll be fine.”
He glanced at her with wide eyes.
And now she’s reading my mind.
“A lot’s happened since the last time I saw them. I just want to be sure they know I have good intentions.”
He looked over at her so he could watch her expression.
“They know we’ve been hanging out, Adam.”
“It’s a little more than hanging out,” he told her with a bit of an edge to his voice.
She sighed and when she answered her tone was apologetic. “Yes and sorry, you’re right. It’s more than hanging out.”
“They don’t know about you to retaking the test, though. I haven’t told anyone about that.”
“Oh.”
No one else knows I’m retaking the test? What does that mean? Is she not as confident as she seems that I’m really Amber’s father?
Doubt poured through him. He mentally shook his head and tried to push the thoughts aside.
“Speaking of the test,” she paused and she scrunched up her nose. He watched her dig in her purse and pull out a package. “I got it in the mail
this week.”
“Good. I can take it when we get back so we can send it in tomorrow. I just want to get it out of the way.”
Jennifer nodded, but a hurt look crossed her features and her voice dropped in a soft response. “Me too. I already did the swab for Amber.”
“I want to get past it and move on, Jenn. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and get hurt if I’m not.”
She smiled, but he could still see the insecurity in her eyes. “Okay. I won’t.”
He was retaking the test for her, even though he didn’t really know how the result could be any different. He researched how often those tests were wrong, and it was rare. Most of the time it was due to human error.
He wasn’t sure how long it took to get results, but he was anxious to move on regardless of the test results.
Turned out he was worried about seeing Jennifer’s parents for nothing. It was hard to believe it had been so many years since he last saw them. They obviously held no hard feelings because they welcomed him with open arms.
Chapter Sixteen
Jennifer
Fun around Minnesota
The end of summer came before Jennifer was ready, although fall was her favorite time of the year. She wasn’t really looking forward to the long Minnesota winter, although Amber certainly couldn’t wait for snow.
It was hard for Jennifer to believe she’d been home for several months already, but she was glad she made the move for so many reasons.
Amber loved seeing her grandparents, she already earned the respect of her co-workers and she absolutely loved being close to her best friends again. She didn’t realize how much she missed Mandi and Cassandra until she had a chance to see them more often.
Most of all, she couldn’t be happier about how things were going with Adam. They’d been dating for a couple of months and it was almost like they’d never been apart. After his constant begging, Jennifer officially joined his softball team and became the backup pitcher. She couldn’t make it to every practice, but she managed every game and practices a couple times a month. She had to admit, having Adam on the team was the biggest reason she joined.
Adam had taken her and Amber to enjoy many of the Minnesota experiences over the last several months.
It was fun to think back on the fun they had. At the same time, if Adam decided he didn’t want her after all, her heart wouldn’t be the only one broken this time. The thought popped into her mind more often than she liked to admit.
One of the many things she loved about Adam was that Amber was always welcome, no matter what they did. They did manage to get time alone when Amber saw her grandparents and play dates with friends.
She couldn’t even count on her hand the number of times they went out fishing on his lake. Amber caught a large bass on her cute little Barbie pole, which of course Adam bought for her.
He was spoiling her rotten.
The delight on Amber’s face when she caught the fish was priceless; her eyes were sparkling, her mouth was wide open and she reeled as if her life depended on it. Once in the boat, Adam took a picture with Amber holding up the fish, still on the hook. Then, Adam showed her how to take the fish off the hook and she insisted on letting it back in the water on her own.
One week, they took a day off work and brought Amber to Valley Fair, a huge amusement park in Shakopee. They stayed where the rides were perfectly suited for Amber and her look of sheer joy made it well worth the money. They took photographs at the old time photo place, where Amber was sitting on a chair between Adam and Jennifer, all of them with a serious look wearing old-fashioned clothing.
The picture was framed in her house and there was also one up in Adam’s living room.
They ate ice cream, had funnel cakes and chowed down on corn dogs. Jennifer’s favorite thing, though, was how the caricature artist captured the three of them. Amber and Jennifer both had smiles that were too big for their faces and even bigger hair while Adam was staring at Jennifer in the photo with a heart bubble that read, “I’m in Love” in the middle. It couldn’t be more perfect.
In the middle of August, they went to pick raspberries at a local farm. Amber ate more raspberries than ended up in her little bucket. They had a ton of laughs that day. Jennifer brought home enough raspberries to eat, make jelly and a couple pies. Adam claimed he came over to help her make the goodies, but she suspected it was more so he could help them eat the treats.
To round out the perfect summer, Adam was taking them to the Minnesota state fair on Labor Day weekend. It was ten or more years since she went to the fair, so she wanted to see every single booth.
She was most excited for the food.
The hour-long ride from Zimmerman to St. Paul went quickly since they sang along to songs on the oldies station. After a long walk from where they parked, they finally walked in the front gates to the fair.
As she breathed in, the familiar scents of the fair hit her. Ice cream, corn dogs, fries and freshly made cookies mixed with farm animals.
It gave Jennifer an immediate sense of déjà vu.
The memories poured through her as she looked around at the crowd of people. There had to be thousands just in the entrance alone.
She spent so many nights there with Adam and their friends when they were growing up; rides, concerts and lots of games where he would always try to win her the biggest stuffed animal.
She was lost in memories, so it made her jump when Adam spoke.
“What booth should we hit first?”
Jennifer looked up at Adam and saw him smiling down at Amber. She glanced at her daughter and laughed. Her eyes were wide open, her mouth was formed in a cute, toothless smile and she was clapping her hands together while jumping up and down.
“How about first we get some pronto pups, fries and chocolate covered bacon? Then we could hit the games and you can win Amber a big prize?” Jennifer glanced back up to Adam who was grinning.
He looked back up into her eyes, giving her a sexy wink. “That’s an interesting combination.”
“What’s a pronto pup?”
Amber’s sweet little voice interrupted their staring session, and it made Jennifer blush. He positively sizzled in his tight green t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts. The shirt highlighted his summer tan and his incredible body.
“It’s a corn dog, sweetie.”
“Oh, I like corn dogs,” she replied, rubbing her tummy.
“Let’s go, I’m starving,” Jennifer said, first grabbing Amber’s hand and then Adam’s, moving the three of them towards the food.
According to the map of the fair, the pronto pup and French fry booths were close together, and then they’d have to search for the chocolate covered bacon.
After filling up on foot-long pronto pups, they went in search of the chocolate-covered bacon. Jennifer was on a mission and nothing could stop her from getting that dessert.
*****
“Ummmm…” Amber carefully debated, tapping her cheek with her finger, “I think I’ll take the giant purple monkey, please.”
Adam spent over $50 to win a giant stuffed gorilla. Jennifer tried to convince him to give up, but he just wouldn’t leave without one. He apparently lost his touch.
“You got it, kiddo.”
Jennifer watched as the guy took down the giant purple monkey, which held a banana, and handed it over to Amber. She grabbed the monkey from him and gave it a huge hug. It was funny to watch her hug a stuffed animal that was just as big as she was.
“Oh, thank you, Adam! I love him!”
Adam looked up at Jennifer, eyes shining bright. “That was so worth the fifty bucks.”
“You’re spoiling her. You know that, right?”
Adam nodded and then shrugged his shoulders, looking entirely too pleased with himself, even as she scolded him.
“Okay, what’s next? Are you ready to head back home now or do you want to go on a few rides first?”
“Rides, rides, rides!” Amber squealed, clapping her han
ds together around the big monkey.
“Alright, just a little while longer, sweetie. It’s getting late and by the time we get home, it will be way past your bedtime,” she warned Amber, and then said, “Why don’t you give the monkey…”
Amber interrupted. “Mr. Jangles.”
Where did she come up with this stuff?
“Okay, give Mr. Jangles to Adam, and he can carry him for you while you go on rides. That way you won’t get him all dirty, either.”
Amber looked a little disappointed, but handed him over. “Okay.”
They started walking over to the rides and Jennifer bought tickets. Adam tried to argue with her, but she wouldn’t listen. He paid for the tickets to get in, the food and now $50 for a giant stuffed animal. She wasn’t about to let him pay for rides, too.
By the time Amber laughed her way through several spinning rides, some of which Jennifer went on too, it was already 7:00, and Amber was wiped out.
She carried Mr. Jangles and Adam gave Amber a piggyback all the way to where he parked his truck.
By the time they left the parking spot at 8:00, Amber was nodding off.
Adam looked at Jennifer and said, “You know I love you both, right?”
She gave him a small smile. “We love you, too.”
The day was a perfect way to end the summer, just a couple days before Amber would start Kindergarten.
Jennifer didn’t think anything could ruin what was the perfect day.
*****
Several more weeks passed and it was already mid-October.
Jennifer and Adam spent every possible minute together and they continued to get closer. On a gorgeous day in October, they went to the apple orchard near her parent’s house, right by Lake Sylvia. They enjoyed a hay ride through the apple trees where they got to stop and pick their favorite apples to bring home. They picked several Minnesota apple varieties and picked out some fresh-squeezed cider to bring home.
After they got back to Jennifer’s house late that evening, Amber asked if Adam could put her to bed. His mouth dropped open and then transformed into a gorgeous, swoon-worthy smile.
“Sure he can, sweetie. Come give me a kiss goodnight.”
“Okay, mommy.”
Amber ran over and gave Jennifer a hug and a kiss.
Second Look (A New Beginning Book 3) Page 17