After they got settled into bed, Berkleigh laid on Jack’s chest and they both laughed heartily at the funny antics of Phil Dunphy’s character along with the rest of the clan.
Berkleigh slowly dozed off after two episodes thanks to the steady beat of his heart. He held her all night, conflicted about how to accomplish what he was set out to do while keeping her out of the loop and preserving this amazing thing they have going. I would quit my job tomorrow for her IF what John and I think is about to happen wouldn’t impact such a large amount of people. He whispered softly in her hair, “I love you, Berk,” then kissed the top of her head. Eventually, Jack dozed off for a few hours.
18
As sunlight broke through the crack in Jack’s curtains, Berkleigh stirred and stretched. Jack was still sleeping so she quietly crept out of bed, got dressed, tip toed out of his room and made her way to the kitchen. She made herself a single cup of coffee using Jack’s Keurig and fired up her laptop, sitting at his breakfast nook.
Despite that it was Saturday, she replied to a handful of emails and checked a couple of reports.
She decided to go sit on the back porch to enjoy her cup of coffee and reflected on the last couple of weeks and smiled fondly.
For the first time in her life, Berkleigh felt happy and ‘at home’ with a man. It felt like she had known Jack for years recalling his moments of vulnerability talking about his mother, making her fall deeper for him.
When Jack had awakened and noticed Berkleigh was not in bed or the bathroom, he brushed his teeth, got dressed and went downstairs. He saw the Keurig had been turned on but there was no sign of Berkleigh. Assuming she was sitting out back, he headed toward the family room that led to his back porch, he noticed her laptop was on and she was still logged on. He felt a heavy pounding in his chest. When he peeked around the corner, saw the back of her head rocking in a chair, a moment of nostalgia set in. Berkleigh appeared deep in thought and hadn’t seemed to notice that he had come downstairs, so Jack quickly went to his kitchen drawer, grabbed the memory disk and stuck it in one of her USB ports. He began typing in codes he had memorized weeks prior and the download from her computer to his disk began.
Jack wiped the sweat from his brow, a little surprised at how intense it felt to finally be accessing data from her computer. He took several deep breaths and went out to say good morning. He opened the door, leaned down and gave her a kiss on her cheek, “Good morning, Baby, how’d you sleep?” he asked in his deep, sexy morning voice.
“Mmmm, I slept so well,” she murmured, “your heart beat is so soothing.” She took the last sip of her coffee and began to get up. “I’m going to grab one more cup if you don’t mind. Would you like me to make you a cup?”
Jack rubbed her shoulders which encouraged Berkleigh to sit back in the rocking chair and relax. “You sit here and enjoy the peacefulness of the morning. I’ll refill you and grab a cup for myself and come join you.”
“You’re always taking care of me. You really are one of the good guys, aren’t you?”
“I sure hope you always feel that way,” he replied casually returning a smile. Internally, a pit in his stomach formed by the guilt creeping in.
“I think I always will,” she flirted, “be careful. I could get used to this pampering.”
He leaned down and gave her a peck on her lips, “That’s the plan, beautiful.” He took her cup and went inside.
Jack checked the progress of his download, it was almost complete. He fixed them both cups of coffee. By the time he finished preparing Berkleigh’s coffee the way she likes it, his download had completed. He removed the memory disk, placed it back in the drawer and proceeded to go out back, two cups of coffee in hand.
“Here you go, Berk.”
“Thank you, handsome.”
“So, I was thinking this morning I can show you around town and we can eat lunch downtown. This afternoon I thought that we can sit out here, enjoy a few beers while I smoke ribs, you know the ones I bragged about in Hawaii?” Jack’s twinkle in his eye was back. Pushing the guilt out of his mind, a part of him felt a little relieved to have accessed the data John was asking for. Now I can just focus on our time together.
“Perfect day with a perfect man,” she complimented.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he replied. “How about I make us a light breakfast, then we can get ready and head into town?” he asked.
“Sounds great, I’ll help.” As she passed the breakfast nook, Berkleigh noticed her computer was on and that she was still logged on.
“Oops, I forgot to log off this morning. My company is ridiculous regarding security and would not be happy about that,” she frowned as she looked at Jack, “at least it’s just you and me here.”
Jack took the opportunity to ask, “What information is your company trying to protect?”
“Well, since our clients are banks, it’s important to keep all their customers’ data secure within our servers seeing as their accounts contain so much sensitive, personal information, you know. We worry about identity theft, any type of security breach etc. In fact, even in my senior executive position, there are reports I don’t have permission to access. Notice I don’t check email on my phone? They won’t allow access to us, everything has to be done through their intranet on company issued laptops.”
Jack didn’t realize he had been holding his breath. Relieved to hear that it was highly likely that she had no clue what her company might be involved in, he let it out. It also made him wonder if TGS required everything to be accessed through their intranet, so they could monitor 100% of their employees’ activities but he said nothing to Berkleigh.
After they finished eating a light breakfast, Berkleigh rinsed the plates, while Jack loaded everything into his dishwasher. Berkleigh kissed his cheek and said, “I’m going to go jump in the shower. Care to join me?”
“The day I say no to that offer, just kill me right then and there,” he teased.
Jack looked at the clock, it was 8:30 am his time so he said, “Let me call my boss really quick, then I’ll be right behind you.” He hoped she wouldn’t question why he was calling John on a Saturday morning.
Instead she smiled and replied flirtingly, “I’ll be waiting.”
19
Jack called John who picked up almost immediately and yelled, “Jesus, Jack, I give you an inch of rope and you take a football field’s length. Where the hell have you been?”
“Calm down, boss,” he said, “this is as important to me as it is you,” he paused, “I got it, John. I got what we need.”
John celebrated on the other end, cheering and laughing, “Now that’s what I like to hear! I knew you were the man for the job. Good work, Jack. I’ll send someone by to pick it up shortly.”
“Okay. I will leave the disk in a photo envelope in my milk crate near the front door. It will be unlabeled. Berkleigh and I will be gone from 9 this morning until around 1:00 pm. Send someone between then, please.”
“You got it! Seriously Jack…great work! Now go enjoy yourself with that beautiful woman,” John ordered.
“How do you know she’s beautiful?” Jack inquired.
“Uh, are you forgetting I assisted with prepping you on both her and her company? Also, I’m sure you heard of a thing called the internet and Google images? Woo man, she is a beauty!” John responded with a whistle.
“Duh. I guess I did forget. You have no idea, John. Her heart is even more beautiful than her looks and her body combined. She cannot get hurt, John. I’m serious. I’m confident she knows absolutely nothing, so we need to protect her,” Jack pleaded.
“Listen Jack, we are only interested in bringing down the players, if she is innocent, consider her protected. You have my word. Hell, we may need her to help interpret some of the reports.”
“Preferably, she never has to know,” Jack paused, “Alright man, well…my beautiful lady has invited me to join her in the shower so I’m going to hang up. I’ll put the package o
utside,” Jack told John.
“Have I told lately you how much I envy you?” John asked.
Jack laughed and said, “We’ll talk soon. Email me if you find something.”
“Will do.”
Jack put the disk in an envelope and placed it outside in his milk box.
He leapt the stairs two at a time and was in his room in no time and undressed quickly to join Berkleigh in the hot shower. As expected things got steamy between them since their appetite for one another was insatiable.
20
After getting ready, they drove into town. The air was brisk but they both had dressed warm enough to walk around McLean. Holding hands as they strolled along the streets, they did a little shopping. Jack offered Berkleigh a little bit of history about McLean.
“I love this part of the United States. It’s so rich with history, beautiful older houses and mature landscaping. I can see why you chose to live here,” she said appreciatively.
“It’s a great place to live and it’s close to work,” he replied, hoping she wouldn’t ask to go by his office. Thankfully, she didn’t.
Jack chose to take Berkleigh to Evo Bistro for lunch, known for their Mediterranean-style tapas and excellent selection of wine. As they entered, he saw the Assistant Manager he had known for quite some time.
“Jack!” her eyes lit up as she gave him a hug. “How have you been? I haven’t seen you in while.” She eyed Berkleigh curiously as she awaited his response.
“Hey Julie,” he said with a smile, “I’m good, I’ve just been traveling a lot.”
Jack put his hand on the small of Berkleigh’s back and said, “Julie, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Berkleigh.” Her heart skipped a beat hearing him refer to her as his girlfriend for the first time.
Julie smiled and put out her hand and with a very thick southern accent exclaimed, “It’s very nice to meet you. You mean to tell me that McLean’s most handsome bachelor is officially spoken for? That’s a first,” she said teasingly, winked and laughed. Julie observed just how beautiful Berkleigh was and what a perfect couple they made.
“Hi Julie, it’s nice to meet you, as well.”
“I presume y’all are having lunch with us today?” Julie asked with eyebrows raised. Everything about her gestures and facial expressions were exaggerative in nature.
“Yes, just us two.”
“Right this way,” Julie led them to the best table in the restaurant, set their menus down and said, “Enjoy.”
“Thank you,” they replied in unison.
“Are you known everywhere you go?” Berkleigh inquired, recalling their dinner at Duos in Maui where the waiter knew him by name.
“It’s one of my favorite restaurants. It has been a while since I’ve been here, though. I know Julie,” he nodded in Julie’s direction, “and their chef, too.”
The server showed up with a bottle of wine and spoke in what sounded like a British accent, “Mr. Ashford, this wine is complimentary from the chef,” he presented the bottle of wine. He cleared his throat acting a bit uncomfortably, “Apparently, we are celebrating this lovely young lady or something?” he looked Berkleigh’s way causing her to blush.
Jack laughed, “Thank you, uh,” he looked at the server’s name tag, “Jonathan.” He gestured toward Berkleigh and said, “Ladies, first.”
“My pleasure, Sir,” he poured the wine into Berkleigh’s glass and then did the same for Jack. “Have you had an opportunity to look at the menu?”
“Not yet,” Jack replied, “however, we would like your Calamari Frito and Les Moules Tapas to start, please.”
“Great choices, indeed, Sir,” Jonathan nodded approvingly and left.
Berkleigh had tried to stay composed while Jonathan was present but then lost it as soon as he went to the back.
Laughing exaggeratively, “Seriously? We get a bottle of wine simply because you announced that you have a girlfriend?”
Jack shrugged smugly, “Maybe they thought I was gay or forever going to be a bachelor, I don’t know,” he laughed, too, at how silly it seemed. Jack noted to himself that he really liked referring to Berkleigh as his girlfriend.
The tapas arrived, and they placed their orders.
Jack’s phone indicated a new text message Ding! “Package has been picked up and delivered to me personally. Great work, Jack. I will let you know what we find out.”
Jack’s eyes became noticeably darker to Berkleigh, so she inquired, “Is everything okay?”
“Oh yeah, it’s just my boss. I’m getting close to a deadline, but everything is good,” he turned his phone off, put it back in his pocket, and gave her a reassuring smile while taking her hand.
Changing subjects, he asked, “So Berk, do you think you might be up for visiting me again soon?”
“Of course!” She couldn’t believe she would be leaving in less than two days. In fact, she didn’t really think about how this long-distance relationship was really going to work after this visit. She missed him so much the two weeks that had passed between Hawaii and this trip.
“You are always welcome to come visit me, too, Jack,” extending an invitation to California. “I guess we probably need to discuss how this is really going to work, don’t we?”
“Yes, we need to talk about that, but I have some ideas, we can talk about them later,” his eyes flashed mischievously like he had something up his sleeve. Like maybe you move out here.
They finished their delicious lunch and after Jack introduced Berkleigh to the chef, thanked the him for the bottle of wine and drove back to Jack’s house. Berkleigh imagined what it would be like to pull into this driveway every day and fall asleep in the ‘most handsome man she has ever laid eyes on’ arms every evening.
She envisioned them cooking together, enjoying wine by the fire and watching more Modern Family marathons. For the first time, it didn’t freak her out how fast it seemed their relationship was moving.
21
Jack grabbed the rack of ribs that he had prepared with a dry rub the day before Berkleigh arrived out of his garage refrigerator. Berkleigh caught a hint of the seasoning, it smelled delicious. Jack filled a pitcher with water and a handful of oak wood chips to soak; he then went out back, lit his propane smoker and set his table up. As he reentered the kitchen to grab the pitcher and ribs, he threw a kitchen towel over his shoulder then looked at Berkleigh. She was looking at him adoringly. She found Jack’s established routine to smoke ribs to be endearing.
He saw her watching him and his eyes smiled at her, “What?”
“You’re just so adorable. When we met, you talked about how much you love smoking ribs. You have this cute little routine; it’s just fun to watch you in action. Plus, I love how you have let me into this part of your life.”
He approached her, his hands full and gave her a peck, “I’m happy to have you in my life and my home.”
Berkleigh grabbed two beers, went out back to the screened-in porch and handed Jack one as he was placing the rack of ribs in the smoker. He took a chug, “Thank you, Berk,” he looked at the bottle and continued, “Shiner Smokehaus, a great Texas beer… fantastic flavor to compliment any type of BBQ!” Jack then poured the wood chip/water combo into the tray below the rack which created smoke and closed the smoker door.
Berkleigh was enjoying a bottle of Blue Moon with a splash of orange juice, “I will have to try that with my ribs later.”
Jack indicated that he would be right back and next thing Berkleigh knew, Salsa music was playing overhead which caused her smile to shine brightly.
“The ribs will smoke for about three hours before I have to wrap them in foil and put them back in the smoker. Care to dance with me?” he asked with his charming smile.
Berkleigh jumped up laughing and said, “I’d be a fool to pass on an opportunity to dance with you.”
They immediately got in sync with one another; stepped to the side, then back and then Jack spun her around while keeping the integrity of the dance
steps.
“We are so good together in so many ways,” Jack complimented their relationship.
Jack spun Berkleigh again as she replied, “I couldn’t agree more.”
The song ended and they both sat in the rocking chairs positioned closely to one another. How ironic. He’s had two chairs all this time, yet he never invited anyone to share them with…until me. She hugged herself feeling special about how much of his life Jack has been willing to share with her.
They enjoyed a couple of beers while rocking in the chairs and continued to learn more about each other. Something about Jack seemed a little guarded but Berkleigh didn’t find herself paranoid anymore or let it bother her given how much he had already opened to her.
Jack wrapped the ribs in aluminum foil and placed them back in the smoker for another two hours.
“Why do you wrap them in foil?” Berkleigh inquired curiously.
“It helps keep them moist,” he responded, “they won’t dry out and when done right, they will fall right off the bone,” Jack said matter-of-factly, winked at her and smiled proudly.
“You are just too adorable when you are in your element,” Berkleigh flirted.
“You are beautiful always,” he responded sweetly.
Berkleigh and Jack danced a couple of more times, laughing and thoroughly enjoying themselves. They went into the kitchen, Berkleigh prepared a pasta salad while Jack made his “famous” baked bean recipe.
He silently observed how they navigate around the kitchen together so fluidly and how wonderful it felt to him to have someone there to share his home.
Before they knew it, the ribs were ready to be pulled off the smoker and the timer for the oven went off indicating the beans were ready. After Jack let everything sit for 10 minutes or so, he grabbed two beers that would complement the smoky flavor of the ribs for them and they proceeded to the dining room.
Jack lit the candles in the dining room and put smooth jazz on, “I just realized that last night was the first time I had lit these candles since I have had them and the first time I have eaten in my dining room.”
You and Only You Page 12