Unexpected Love (Jo's Story)

by Nikki Williams

  I hear him take a deep breath. “Abby crawled into my lap and told me that she knows her daddy is never coming home and she would be ok with me staying with the three of you forever so you didn’t have to worry as much about them anymore.” My heart breaks instantly. “When she said that I realized that there is no way that I can leave. They have my heart and so do you. I'm happy, right here, being with you and them. The fear that I have had is gone. I know that I want this to work, and I want to be with you. I want to be here to protect you and to cuddle them to sleep when they wake up crying like Lizzy did last night.” He takes a small step back to look down at me, “Jo, you have me, heart and soul. If I could never leave your side I wouldn’t.” For the first time since I got home I feel the mood between us lighten a little. I realize that he is not being the asshole football player but trying to protect me from the hurt that my kids feel. I have so many emotions running through my brain right now I don’t know what to do. All I can do is stand there and look at the man that has turned my world upside down and make me see that no matter what there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

  “Mommy,” Abby’s voice makes me jump, “what are we going to do for supper? I'm getting hungry.”

  “What would you like?” I bend down so I am at her level.

  “Umm, chicken nuggets.” She smiles and looks up at me with those big brown eyes.

  “I'm sure we can get you some of those,” I stand up as she runs to the living room. “I have to feed the girls. You know I have no food here so I have to run to the store. Will you be here when I get back?”

  “How about I go?”

  “I'm just going to run and get a couple things, I won’t be long. I need a few more things.”

  “How about we all go?”

  I hesitate, “Do you think that is a good idea? I don’t want them getting involved in this mess.”

  “If we go to Donald’s across town there is no way anyone will know. Where do you think most of the team does their shopping? It’s sort of our exclusive grocery store. No press, no pictures.”

  I look up at him, “Yeah, that’s fine we can do that.”

  “Then I would like to go back to my place and get some clothes packed.”

  “Why?”

  “I’d like to stay here with you again tonight, and if you are still offering I would like to go down to the beach with you and the girls. I can even call my buddy Mark on the team and see if we can stay at his condo. It’s all private so no one would be around us and we would have complete access to the beach.” He takes his phone out of his pocket and goes back and sits on the edge of my bed and starts typing out a message. When he is done he looks up at me. I see that he has relaxed a little. I walk over to him.

  “Please don’t keep stuff from me. I thought you were going to leave me and I don’t know if I could handle that right now.” I stand between his legs and look down at him. “You have made me open my eyes and realize that things will be better. But they won’t be better if you are gone.”

  “I'm sorry; I didn’t know how to handle it. And I obviously did a very poor job. This is new to me; I have never had to deal with something like this before.”

  “That’s why we need to handle it together. They are going to say stuff like that. They say stuff to me all the time about Jarrod that rips my heart out but I deal with it because I have learned how to. I will help you understand what they are going through and together we will make this better,” I grab his chin. “Please don’t make me cry again like that, next time I don’t know if I can come back from it.” I look into his eyes and see that he is sorry. I bend down and kiss him.

  Chapter Nine

  Jake pulls up to his house and turns off the car. “I just have to run in and get some clothes should only take me a couple minutes,” he looks at me and smiles. He gets out of the car and walks to the front door. I just sit there staring at the door listening to the girls laugh in the back seat. They are playing with the new toys that Jake bribed them with at the store so they would be patient about eating so he could stop home quick. I hear my phone ping for a text message.

  Hey, how did your meeting go today?

  It is from Annie. I forgot that I was going to call her after I got done at my meeting this afternoon.

  It went really well. I have full control over the division and made some changes to make sure that everyone is going to be able to handle the work. I think it will go very well. Ryan actually understood every move that I made today and he says he is very happy to be working under me. I'm pretty sure he thought that he was going to be getting fired today. Of course Chief told him that it if was his choice he would no longer be working with me, but I didn’t want that. I just hope he is able to get things under control and gets his life back on track.

  I'm sure he will do fine. I know he loved Hailey, but honestly who needs someone like that in their lives. He is better off without her. I think you will be an amazing leader

  I smile. Apparently everyone thinks that I am going to rock my new role as the boss. I look back toward the door and see Jake coming back down the walkway with a duffle bag in hand. He throws it in the trunk and gets back in the car. “So girls are you hungry, should we go get some food?”

  “Yes,” they both say together.

  “You want to go back to your place, or do you want to stop and get something,” he looks at me.

  “Doesn’t matter to me. We can stop if you want, I'm sure the girls are hungry.”

  “Ok,” he smiles. “Where would you girls like to go?”

  “Let’s go to Daisy’s,” Lizzy gets excited. Jake looks at me in question. I'm sure he has never heard of Daisy’s.

  “It’s a little restaurant close to the house. Basically it is a little girls place to eat. You may not fit in very good,” I laugh. I remember the first time that Jarrod and I took Lizzy there. She loved it, and I enjoyed watching her interact with all the other little girls there, but Jarrod did not enjoy it very much. I remember him sitting in the booth playing a game on his phone because I'm pretty sure he was super embarrassed. He wasn’t the only one though, there were a couple other dads that were there that couldn’t bring themselves to interact with the girls. Jarrod made me promise to never make him go back there again. “We don’t have to go there if you don’t want to.”

  “Its fine, if that is where they want to go, then that is where we will go. How bad can it be?” He drives toward the restaurant after he puts the address in his GPS. We get there and I see the shock in his face when he sees the outside of the building. It is definitely not what he was expecting. It looks like a little princess castle. I just smile and hope that he can handle this after the day that we have already had. He parks the car in front of the restaurant and we go in.

  “You are brave, I will give you that,” I smile at him as he and I are sitting at the booth watching the girls play after we finish eating. “After Jarrod and I brought Lizzy here one time he made me promise to never bring him back here again,” I laugh.

  “It’s not that bad,” he smiles at me. I look around and notice that there are a lot of people watching us. “I just hope this doesn’t turn around and bite us in the butts by bringing the girls out together.”

  “At this point what is the worst that can happen Jake? So they see us together with the girls. We are happy how can they turn that bad? And why would any normal person want to turn it bad?”

  “I don’t think they would, I just don’t want their faces all over the news,” he grabs my hands from across the table where he is sitting. “You know I have no problems being seen with you, or the girls for that matter, I just want to make sure that you are ok with it.” He looks at me.

  “I'm fine with it. I just don’t want to make it a huge deal that’s all.” Maybe now would be a good time to ask him about the fire department appearance next weekend. “Hey, I have a question for you?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Do you think that you could go down to the Town
Street Fire Department on Saturday and sign some autographs? They are having a fundraiser on Saturday and I think if you went there they would draw a bigger crowd. They have a big corn roast every year to bring in some money to the department and I stopped by and saw Jarrod’s old chief Ed and he thought that if you were up to it maybe it would help them out?”

  “I think I could do that. I could get Joan on it and have her contact them. She can advertise that I would be there and that would help them get the word out.”

  I look at him, completely shocked by what he just said. “Really?”

  “Of course, did you expect me to say no?”

  “I didn’t expect you to say yes that quickly.”

  “Jo, you should know that I would do anything for you. I know how much they mean to you there and I would do anything to make sure that I am helping out. I bet I could get a couple of the guys to come too.”

  “You can do that?”

  He laughs, “Yes, just like the guys at the station, our team is a big family too. I am guessing most of them would not turn down the opportunity to help one of the local firehouses to raise money. Give me Ed’s email and I will have Joan contact him, she will get it all set up. And I will tell her to get a couple other guys involved if they want. I bet it will be a blast.”

  “I will email him and let him know to expect something from her. Thank you,” I smile at him. “This means a lot to me.”

  “I know, and I'm more then glad to do it. Speaking of the guys from the team I got a message back from Mark. He said that they are down there now and would love for us to join them. They own the entire condo but his mother-in-law stays on one side but the entire basement between them is opened and finished and he said we can stay there. He has two daughters that are eight and five I believe and I think they would get a long great with the girls. He said they can even stay upstairs with the girls and we can take the basement if we wanted to.”

  “I don’t want to intrude,” I feel a little uncomfortable staying with his friends. That is their home and I think that would be a little weird.

  “We wouldn’t be, trust me. His wife loves having company and you will have a blast with her. And they have a nanny so the girls would be in good hands if they wanted to go to the beach or the park if you don’t want to. I think it would be a lot of fun.” I can see the excitement in his face.

  I smile, “If you are this excited about it how could I possibly say no?”

  “Well I know that it would be more private then if we stay at one of the hotels. And the beach won’t be crowded because theirs is private.”

  “Alright, sounds good. I don’t want to deal with the big crowds anyways so that sounds good,” I think about four days of relaxation. And as much as I am looking forward to having this time with the girls I like the idea of them having other kids to play with too.

  “Perfect, I will text him back and tell him we will see him tomorrow sometime. What time did you want to leave?”

  “I was hoping to be on the road by 7:00. It is a four hour drive and the girls will probably fall asleep in the car. Then we can get some lunch before we go there.”

  “Ok, I will let him know,” he pulls his phone out. I look over toward the play area and see the girls still playing with a set of twins that are about Abby’s age. I see their mom close to them and smile. I can tell she is protective of them. She sure isn’t getting far from them. I look around the room and still see a lot of the moms in there looking in mine and Jake’s direction. I'm not sure if they recognize him or if they just think he is good looking. I take a glance at him and see that he has put his phone on the table and is looking at the girls. He really does care about them, and that makes me so happy.

  “Mommy,” Lizzy comes up to me. “Our new friends wanted to know if we could do a play date someday,” she is all excited.

  I smile. “Sure, honey, I will come over and talk to their mom.” I stand up, “I will be back, have to make a play date.” He smiles and nods. I walk across the restaurant knowing that Jake’s eyes have not left me the entire time and smile.

  “Thank you for taking us to Daisy’s Jake,” Lizzy and Abby both give him a hug when we get back to the house.

  “Anything for my two favorite girls,” he is down on one knee squeezing them both together. I hear them giggle and start to squirm away from him.

  “Ok girls, you need baths then bad, we have a long drive down to the beach in the morning.” I say and head to their bathroom to run a bath for Lizzy. After I have hers going I get one going for Abby in my bathroom. By the time I get them washed up and jammies on they are both exhausted and ready for bed.

  “Mommy, can Jake read us a book before bed?” Abby asks as we are sitting on my bed brushing out her hair.

  “You will have to ask him,” I smile. He is downstairs on the phone with his mom. She called just as I was getting the girls out of their baths. From what I have heard she is trying to talk him into going home next weekend and he keeps declining because he has plans already. That was when I came to the bedroom with the girls so he could have privacy.

  “Can I go ask him mom?” Lizzy gets off the bed.

  “No, he is on a phone call right now, so you will have to wait until he is done. Why don’t you crawl in my bed and cuddle up until he is done.” Lizzy smiles then jumps up on the bed and under the covers. They love laying in my bed for some reason. We are laying there watching one of the movies that is on and they are both just about asleep when Jake walks in the room.

  “Hey,” he smiles and walks up next to the bed. I smile back at him and look at Abby. Her eyes are closed. He grabs her out of bed and carries her to her bed and I pick Lizzy up who is fighting to keep her eyes open.

  “Mommy, is Jake gonna read to me?” She asks.

  “No honey, I think it is time to just go to sleep. Maybe tomorrow night how does that sound?”

  “Ok,” she says as I lay her down in her bed and pull her covers up.

  “Good night, I love you,” I kiss her cheek.

  “Night mommy, love you.”

  I walk out of her room and close the door. I see Jake closing Abby’s door. “Out like a light,” he smiles at me.

  “Good, now my turn,” I walk into my bedroom and grab my pajamas and go to the bathroom. I wash my face and brush my teeth after putting on my pajamas and head back to the bedroom. Jake is lying in bed waiting for me. He smiles when I walk in the room.

  “You look good in everything don’t you?”

  I just shake my head at him and hope that I don’t blush. I think I manage to control it this time, which I am very thankful for. “I could say the same about you. Did you see all the moms at the restaurant checking you out tonight?”

  “I don’t think they were checking me out, I think they were jealous of you,” he smirks. “I don’t pay attention to that stuff Jo; I get looked at all the time. I have women drooling over me on a daily basis. Two years ago I was all about that, but that doesn’t affect me anymore.” He pats the bed next to him telling me to crawl in. “You are the only one that I pay attention to right now. Well you and the girls obviously.”

  I just smile, “So what did your mom want?” I try to change the subject.

  “Oh, she wanted to see if I was coming home next weekend. I told her that I would have to come back for just a couple days once coach gives us some time off again. But that probably won’t be until our bye week which is in October.”

  “That sucks, I bet she was upset.”

  “Yeah, but they are used to it. They know that this time of the year they won’t see a whole lot of me. I try to go home once every few weeks even if it is only for one night, but with all the stuff going on right now with dad, and me meeting you it just isn’t ideal.” I look at him and feel guilty.

  “Why don’t you go home the rest of the week?”

  “Because I'm spending time with you.”

  “Jake you haven’t seen your family in how long, I don’t want me to be the reason that you do
n’t go home when you have the chance to.”

  “Hey, I told my mom that I met someone, and let me tell you, she is more than excited for the fact that I am not going home to spend more time with you. She cannot wait to meet you.” He grabs my hand and kisses it. “And I'm more than happy to be spending the time with you. Jo, I'm so glad that you yelled at me earlier today and made me realize that I need to be open with you. I don’t know what I would have done if you would have told me not to come back ever again. When you started crying it broke my heart.” He turns and faces me. “I can’t handle seeing you hurting and I think that is why I was avoiding telling you what Abby said. I knew deep down that it would tear you apart. I'm not stupid I know that I will never be what Jarrod was, but I am going to try my hardest to be a good second place,” he smiles that smile at me and I can’t control the blush this time. Dammit! He smiles and grabs my chin and kisses me. “I love that I have an effect on you like that. Knowing that you are effected just like I am.”