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ChapterTwelve
There arekids running and screaming around me like crazy little banshees.
Parents are chasing after them, yelling at them with exasperated voices and tired eyes. And then there’s my daughter, who’s laughing like a lunatic due to the sugar high from the cotton candy I bought her. I’ve never been in this type of environment before and even though it’s chaotic and at an ungodly decimal level, I’m having the time of my life.
Mainly because I’ve never seen my daughter this happy.
This week has been a learning curve with observing the girls’ routines and Jenna keeps Avery on a tight schedule. During the weekday, Avery goes to preschool from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. so Jenna can work. From 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Jenna then takes her to the indoor pool in her building or to the park, but due to the paparazzi, they’ve been staying at the pool. After that is dinner, play games, then a bath and a couple of books before bed. Jenna has let me take the lead on story time this week and Avery seems to love when I get into character.
Friday nights Jenna takes her ice skating, a ritual from when she was a little girl. I love how she is passing down traditions from her childhood to Avery and I can’t wait to start incorporating some of mine. I’ve never ice skated before, so there was lots of laughter watching me wipe out. Not being steady on my feet gave me a good excuse to hold Jenna’s hand while she helped me balance on my skates. Did I milk it for as long as I could? Yes, yes I did. Once she saw I got the hang of it, she let go and kept her distance.
Today Jenna is letting us play hooky from preschool and I took Avery by myself to the Children’s Museum while she and Robert went to a business appointment. She’s supposed to meet us at any moment and from here, we will grab lunch and take the water taxi around the city. I’m hoping to persuade Jenna to take the rest of the week off so we can keep Avery home from school and do more fun things together. I only have one more week left before production starts on my movie and with that will come a crazy schedule. Although I’ll try to spend every hour I’m not working with Avery, I know there’ll be a lot of nighttime shoots and some twelve-hour days coming.
Avery has gotten completely comfortable with me now, but Jenna is still guarded. She treats me as a client, acting cool and professional no matter how hard I put on the charm. I believe her attitude toward me is because of Jax. Per my daily reports from Chase, she has met with Jax for lunch a couple times before he left for his away games. It guts me that she’s freely giving him her time, giving him her smiles…her kisses. And while I can’t let my mind go to the thoughts of him touching her, I’m almost certain that she goes to bed alone each night. Chase still watches Jenna’s building long after I leave, and he has not seen Jax come over once.
Trouble must be brewing because Chase said they were arguing outside of the restaurant they were eating at yesterday and even though he couldn’t hear the conversation clearly, he thinks it has something to do with me.
Jax’s insecurities will only push Jenna straight into my awaiting arms—exactly what I’m hoping will happen. It’s only a matter of time before his jealousy gets the best of him and be the demise of their relationship.
I smile at the thought and focus my attention back to the present and my daughter. I’m about to lead her to another section of the museum when I see Jenna a couple feet away, looking around for us. She seems anxious and frustrated. Her gaze finally locks on mine, and she smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
Something is wrong.
“Hey baby girl,” she greets Avery, who screams in excitement and practically tackles Jenna.
“Whoa,” Jenna nervously giggles as she catches her. “Seems like you’re having fun.”
“Mommy! Cal bought me cotton candy and it’s so yummy. How come you haven’t given it to me before?”
Jenna looks over at me and I realize I should have texted her first about it.
Shit!
I look at her with wide eyes, ready to plead my case about not knowing she wasn’t allowed cotton candy when she bursts out laughing.
“Your face,” she sputters, trying to catch her breath. “You looked like a little boy who just got in trouble with the principal at school.”
Avery starts giggling with her mother and I join them, warmth spreading through my heart as I hear their whimsical laughter.
“Ah, I needed that,” Jenna says after she stops giggling. She puts Avery down and wipes underneath her eyes to make sure her mascara hasn’t run. She looks back up at me and smiles, this time it’s genuine.
“Bad day?” I ask as we follow Avery to another learning station.
She nods. “Our meeting didn’t go as planned.”
“What happened?”
She grimaces and doesn’t answer right away. Her facial expressions give away that she’s debating whether to tell me.
“Let’s just say their intentions when setting up the meeting weren’t honest.”
“What did they want?”
She sighs and turns to watch Avery play before looking back at me. “They wanted you.”
Dread starts seeping into my veins at her answer. “What do you mean?”
“Basically, they were hoping a meeting with me would get them an in with you.” She smiles sadly before continuing. “Unfortunately, this has been happening more frequently since the story broke.”
