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Gavin appeared first, strutting through the house with his chest puffed out, his black-brown hair slicked down and dressed in perfectly creased jeans and a red button-down shirt. His boots gleamed with a fresh polish.
“My goodness. You look immaculate.”
“Yeah,” he said proudly, craning his neck to one side. “Smell me.” He pointed to a spot on his neck. “Right there. Daddy put me on some of his smell-good.”
With an inward smile, Jenna inhaled loudly. “Wonderful.”
If Dax smelled this delicious, she might swoon.
The man in question ambled down the hall into sight. Jenna’s heart banged once hard against her rib cage. He was definitely swoonworthy.
“Everyone ready?”
“Yearning for that Friendly Meal,” she joked.
“Yeah,” Gavin sighed. “I love Friendly Meals.”
The adults exchanged glances. For a nanosecond their gazes locked and a feeling of pure pleasure danced between them.
“No headache?” she asked.
He touched his temple. “Good as new.”
She reached for Sophie’s carrier, but Dax nudged her out of the way. “I’ve got the princess. You grab the diaper bag.”
She did as he said, covertly watching her employer tap the baby’s nose and make faces at her. Sophie, her usual drowsy self, let her eyes cross and then closed them as Dax draped a blanket over the entire baby seat.
Feeling happy in a way she had never dreamed possible, Jenna walked alongside Dax and Gavin out the door and to his truck.
She helped Dax position the car seat in the back with Gavin and smiled her thanks when he helped her into the cab, closed the door and grinned at her through the glass before jogging around to the driver’s side.
Yes, indeed, being a normal, everyday woman was beginning to feel very, very good.
Dax sat across the orange plastic table from Jenna watching her and Gavin devour French fries with the same zeal. He’d tried to take them someplace nicer, but she’d insisted on the burger joint. He was sure she’d done so for Gavin’s sake and he appreciated that, but she deserved a classier establishment.
Part of him wanted to be sorry he’d asked her out, but tonight he just wanted to laugh and have a good time. When was the last time he’d done that? He didn’t even know. From the looks of Gavin, hanging upside down inside the indoor playland, he felt the same. His squeals of laughter mingled with those of a dozen other kids out for a good time on Saturday night.
Dax looked around the colorful dining area, raising a hand to acknowledge a person here and there. He knew most people in Saddleback but hadn’t seen them all that much during the last few years. It struck him that the world was moving right along without him to the detriment of his son.
Reba had driven him into a shell. Jenna was bringing him out.
“You have ketchup on your face,” he said, pointing.
She took a paper napkin and swiped. “Did I get it?”
“Here.” He leaned across the table, took the napkin and cleaned away the drop on her upper lip. “Messy.”
The smell of her perfume had driven him batty in the truck, and now he smelled those flowers again. He sat back but the scent lingered in his nostrils.
“You look pretty tonight,” he said and then wanted to jam a handful of fries down his throat and strangle himself. He’d brought her out as a means of keeping her employed, not to admire how good she looked in those jeans and that pricey-looking jacket.
Right, and all his cows would jump over the moon at midnight.
Her smile took away the urge to hurt himself. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure what to wear.”
Women. From the curve of golden hair against her slim face to the silver dangling from her wrist and ears, Jenna was a knockout. “You look great. Perfect.” Shut up, Dax.
A hint of pink crested her cheekbones. “What time does the movie start?”
Relieved at the change of subjects, he checked his watch. “Soon. We’d better round up the boy and head that way.”
Jenna nodded and began piling discarded wrappers and cups onto the plastic tray before following him to the yellow-and-red tube slide.
“Gavin, come on, son. Time to go.”
“He’s having such fun.”
“Yeah. I liked this stuff when I was a kid, too.” An odd look crossed her face. “Didn’t you?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never played on one.”
As if she’d said something wrong, she turned away to fiddle with Sophie. Dax studied her, baffled. She’d never played on a playground?
“Why not?”
“Oh, it’s not important. Look, here’s Gavin,” she said a little too brightly as if they hadn’t just seen the boy moments ago when he was dancing in ecstasy over a Friendly Meal toy.
