by Darla Jones
Back to her old routine after church, she took the children to McDonald’s, and they ate and played at the gym. Forget about Jeff, she kept telling herself. He’s gone and happy to be with Judith now.
“Big Mac, large fries, coffee, and a kid’s meal with chocolate milk. We’ve got our usual order, although I did swear off Big Macs.” Jeff slid his tray on her table. “LynAnn, fancy meeting you here.”
She stood and gathered up their food containers when she heard his familiar deep voice. She couldn’t look into his face. Her heart thudded against her rib cage. Eyes aimed downward, she circled around him and threw her trash away. Why was he here? Did he intend to tell her about Judith? Did the man have no feelings at all? “Get your shoes on, kids. We’re leaving.”
“Come on, Mom. Let us stay a while. Jon’s here,” Matt pleaded.
Jeff’s warm hand on her forearm stopped her movement. “Please, LynAnn. May we talk?”
She still couldn’t look at him. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Her muddled brain couldn’t think.
“Sit back down. Let the kids play. Would you like some more coffee?” His voice held a pleading note.
Stunned and confused to see him, she shook her head to his coffee offer. They had nothing to talk about. She sat down across from him at the little plastic table and waited for him to speak. But he didn’t, instead he covered her hand with his, and she hastily tugged hers away. She gazed at his face and was instantly lost in his eyes, remembering how they touched her very soul the night he’d tucked her into bed.
His lips curved ever so slightly upward, and she averted her eyes again. His memory was too painful. He tried to cover her hand with his again, and once more she pulled away. She couldn’t speak. She could hear the happy screams of children laughing and playing. Their noise seemed extra loud, and it vibrated her eardrums. Why was he doing this? Why did he feel he owed her an explanation about Judith? She studied his hand near to hers and wondered if it made the same magic on Judith’s body as it had on hers. This was pure torture.
Finally, she jerked her body back. “Jeff, what are you doing? There’s nothing more to say. I know about you and Judith. You don’t have to explain.” There… She said it and now he could leave. Her chest felt heavy, it was hard to breathe, and tears threatened to flow from her eyes.
“Judith? Judith who?” Frowning, he seemed puzzled.
Now, he was toying with her, and her anger soared. “Judith, Andrea’s daughter.” She hurled the words at him. “Andrea told me all about you two. How Judith waited for you to get everything cleared up with me, the psycho woman”—her thumb thumped her chest—“so you could be with her.”
Angry for some reason, Jeff jumped to his feet. “What? Andrea said I wanted to be with Judith?” He clenched his fists, groaned, and turned away. When he finally turned back, he was more in control of himself. “The woman is a meddling bitch. She’s always bringing up Judith’s name, and I brush her off.”
“But she said you and Judith emailed back and forth.”
Jeff’s lips were moving, and she was grateful he wasn’t saying the curse words out loud. He sat back down and inhaled a long, deep breath. “Judith emailed me about another play she was going to be in. Yes, I replied back. I said we would love to see the play. Nothing more.” He threw up his arms. “I told you before I don’t date young girls. This is all a figment of Andrea’s imagination. She knows too much about our situation. She’s probably listened in on some of my conversations about you. Somehow, someway, I’m going to fire the meddling instigator.”
Totally confused about Judith, she plopped her elbow on the table and rested her forehead in her hand. “Then why are you here?” She asked the question to the tabletop.
His fingers touched her cheek and nudged her to look up at him. “I’m here to tell you how sorry I am about the way I acted when I saw the picture. I’m more than sorry I didn’t act on your request back then when you first came to me, but I talked with Jim Anderson at the time and…”
“He told you I was crazy.” She finished the sentence for him.
He nodded. “I should have followed up on it myself, but I didn’t. I failed you, sweetheart. I’m so ashamed. I managed to put you through years of pain because I listened to Jim. By the way, Jim is really sorry about what he’s said about you. He wants to apologize personally to you. He was listening to Ron Cooper and Trent, and then I believed Jim.”
She thought back to the time four years ago in his office. “You were my last resort. I talked to anyone who would listen, but I had no proof, only a gut feeling everything surrounding Todd’s death was wrong. I don’t know what I said to you, I was a mess then. But you listened to me patiently and said you’d get back to me. I waited and then I kept calling your secretary.” She paused to pull a face. “Was that Andrea?” He nodded and she continued, “After months passed, I had to let it go. But when I met you again at the cabin, it all came back to me. I only said I’d go out with you the first time because sometime during the evening I intended to bring it up and tell you what you did to me.”
His face was sad. “Why didn’t you? You should have. I deserved it. I’m so ashamed.”
She reached across the table and ached to touch his hand but then halted her action. She still wasn’t clear why he was there. Did he merely want to apologize and be on his way? “I couldn’t. I watched you with your parents, your son, and my own children, and I found out what a kind and caring man you are. And especially how caring you were to me. Whatever happened four years ago is over, and who would guess we’d meet four years later and it would be resolved. If you’re here to apologize, then I accept your apology, and I want to thank you for everything you did for me and my children.”
“You’re really quite a woman,” he replied reverently. “Do you mean you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive, only my thanks.”
“Could you find it in your heart to give me another chance, or are you tossing me to the curb again?”
Another chance? Is that why he was here? They sat in silence for a time, and finally LynAnn spoke softly, “You’re the one who tossed me to the curb this time. Maybe we shouldn’t do this again. I don’t want you to make love to me for the next two or three months and then move on to someone else. If you plan to string me along for a couple of months, I want to end it now.”
“Do you think I’m playing games with you?”
“I really don’t know. But I refuse to be another pelt on your belt, as Stu called it. You told me once I was afraid of a relationship, and I think you are, too. Maybe we should both think this over carefully before we dive in head first again.”
He squeezed her hand. “I’ve been doing nothing more than thinking about you. I’ve been kicking myself in the butt for what I did to you four years ago. I’ve always been proud of the work I’ve done as DA, but look what I did to you. I’m so ashamed…” He closed his eyes and bowed his head. “I’m so sorry.” He lifted his face and his eyes searched hers. “You told me once, life was precious, and not to waste a day. I wasted too many days because I wasn’t with you. I don’t want to waste another day.”
She looked into his kind eyes then, and although he didn’t say it, she found it there. They were full of love. She saw it now. It had always been there.
Right there in the middle of the noisy, crowded McDonald’s play gym, he stretched across the table and kissed her. His kiss was slow and gentle as if she were a delicate lotus blossom.
Matt and Jon saw the kiss and both boys stuck their fingers in their mouths and gagged, pretending they were throwing up. She and Jeff laughed.
Jon wanted to sleep over with Matt, and later, after the kids were in bed, Jeff kissed her with long, deep kisses. “I love you, sweetheart,” he whispered. “I truly love you.”
He said the words she yearned to hear. “Oh, Jeff, I love you, too.” She nestled her face into his neck and kissed his sensitive spot.
He moved the coffee table and sprea
d out the pink princess and Highway Burner sleeping bags again.
“How many condoms do you have with you?” she teased.
He chuckled. “Two in my wallet and forty-six more in my car. I got them for our first date.”
She let out a gasp. “Forty-six…You must have been expecting quite a marathon. You mean our first dinner-only date?”
“That’s the one.” He chuckled again. “A man’s got to dream, don’t you think?”
“You must have been very disappointed.”
“No, not at all.” He lightly grasped her hand and brought it to his face and rubbed it over his cheek. “I was happy merely holding your hand.” He kissed her with a gentleness somehow filled with passion and then stretched out on his sleeping bag and held his hand out to her. “Come here, sweetheart, I want to show you my love.”
There was very little talking after she joined him on her pink princess sleeping bag. Highway Burner was in low gear.
Epilogue
Three Months Later
Stu’s genetic testing proved he did not carry the gene of his father or brother. He and Jean are expecting a baby. LynAnn took Jeff to meet Abby Southern and not long after, she died peacefully in her sleep. Bart Nathan was sentenced to life in prison and the rest of the criminals on the list were sentenced to twenty years each. Four weeks after their second meeting at McDonald’s, Jeff proposed. LynAnn’s engagement ring was a diamond with two rare red opals on either side. Four weeks after their engagement they were married by Rev. Barnes. LynAnn’s children now officially call Rose and Robert Grandma and Grandpap and their first grandparents visit often. Jeff is driving a new Buick.
A word about the author…
While pursuing her forty-two-year career as a Registered Nurse, Darla Jones authored two nurse romance novels for teens and Caring For Your Own (a patient care guide).
Now retired and living with her husband in rural Pennsylvania, she devotes her time to her family and to her love of writing and painting.
Thank you for purchasing
this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.