What the fuck was this now, a date?

I hadn’t done the dating thing in a long time. I kept the situation pretty clear as far as what I wanted or needed, and that was that. If anything, the easiest thing would be to meet up at Shammy’s, grab a drink or two, and waste the night away. It struck me to imagine her as a single mother every single day and only getting a night or two here and there to get away from it all.

But what the hell did I know?

It was a situation that had to be messy, but luckily for me, I had plenty of boots.

Hell, I was wearing a pair of black boots as I walked up the steps of her porch.

It was a nice little house, a dark green color with black shutters on the second-floor windows. I was always the kind that could look at a house and think of twenty things to fix on it to make it even better.

I rang the doorbell and stepped back.

I wasn’t nervous. There was nothing to be nervous about. Hell, we talked through damn text messages for five minutes and that was it. But I spent all day at work thinking about her. Wondering how to approach everything and came up with one simple way to do it.

However the fuck I wanted to do it.

The door finally opened, and Jordyn stood at the screen door. Her hair was down, just past her shoulders, dark brown, curly like before. It pulled all my attention to her face, which I didn’t need convincing to look at.

“Hey, darling,” I said.

“Rams… shit…”

She blinked and looked down.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“This isn’t a good time. I shouldn’t have made plans.”

“Oh,” I said. “Is your son still here? Am I too early?”

“Rams, you should just go,” she said.

I considered listening to her, but that was only for a second.

Instead, I made a move and opened the screen door.

The night at Shammy’s flashed in my mind again. That guy touching her. Me punching the guy.

Only this was different.

I wasn’t trying to get in her pants.

“What’s wrong, Jordyn?” I asked.

“I said-”

I touched her chin and gently lifted her head so she would look at me.

Comfort and calmness wasn’t my strong suit. My fingers started to shake as I realized she was crying.

“I know you barely know me and I barely know you, but if you think I’m leaving here while you’re crying, you’re crazy. I thought we were going to grab a drink and talk or something. I show up and you’re in tears. If I leave, my mind will just keep racing all night.”

“You don’t need this, Rams,” she said. “You’re free.”

“Nobody is free, darling,” I said. “So, cut the excuses and talk to me.”

“It’s hard when he leaves, okay?” she said. “When I have to watch him get into someone else’s car and then he’s gone. And it wasn’t an easy goodbye with his father this time. We had an argument and I feel like a terrible person right now.”

I slowly moved my fingers from her chin and touched one of her tears.

What are you doing here, Ramsey? She’s got a ton of baggage and is telling you to leave. Just wish her well and walk the hell away.

“I doubt you’re a terrible person. Want to get a drink and talk about it?”

“No,” she said.

“Okay. Just thought I would offer again, Jordyn.”

“Rams, can we just sit right here and talk?” she asked.

“We can do anything you want,” I said.

Jordyn pulled the door shut behind her and we both sat down on the top step of the porch.

When she walked by me to get to the steps, I caught her scent. She smelled as beautiful as she looked. My eyes looked her up and down again, wondering how in the hell she had a kid. The curves pressing against the sides of her jeans hinted at it, but they were so perfectly placed with the rest of her body, it was hard to look at and not let my mind go crazy. Yet here she was, upset about something with her kid and I was eye humping her.

Typical Ramsey.

I turned a little and leaned against the brick base to the pillar on the porch. “Talk to me.”

“Do you really want to know this stuff?” she asked. “I mean… why?”

“Truthfully? I don’t know why. This is not my normal.”

“What is your normal, Rams?”

I smiled. “I don’t give away my secrets.”

“I promise, I won’t tell anyone. And I won’t try to use them either.”

“Okay.” I inched toward her. “Me and the guys from work usually have a drink or two at Shammy’s. If the bar is busy and everyone is enjoying themselves, then I’ll stick around. I don’t really make plans.”

“That makes you a one-night stand kind of guy?”

“Is that what you’re looking for?” I asked with a grin.

Her cheeks flushed. “No, Rams. That wasn’t an invitation. It was a question. I was just curious what your normal is.”

“Here,” I said. “Let me see your hand for a second.”

She gave me her hand. I took it with my left hand. I noted how soft her hands were. How her fingernails looked like they were bitten down stubs with super tiny chips of nail polish on them. All these little things hitting me in a soft spot I didn’t know I had.

“I’d find someone beautiful like you, Jordyn. And I’d stare at her. And I’d say everything right.”

“Like what?” she asked. “Come on, Rams. Try me.”

I leaned toward her. “Look, you don’t want that. You’re doing your own thing right now. And normally that would piss me off. I’d walk away. But I have to be honest, darling, I respect it. You’re short but tough. I can see that from a mile away. It keeps catching my attention. So here I am. You have my attention. And I’m sure there’s attention of mine I can give you…”

Jordyn swallowed hard.

There was a pause between us.

That part was unplanned.

I cleared my throat and placed her hand on her lap.

“And then I’d sneak a kiss,” I said.

“What?”

“That’s my normal,” I said. “You asked for it.”

“Oh. Right. Everything you said…” She shook her head. “Sorry.”

“You got caught up in it. I bet I could have kissed you right then.”

“Not a chance. I would have slapped you.”

I inched at her again and she lifted her left hand.

“That’s tempting,” I whispered. “Is the kiss worth the slap?”

“Are you brave enough to find out?” she asked.

I laughed. I leaned away from her and exhaled a breath that came from way deep within my chest.

Goddamn… she is very intriguing…

“Okay, I told you another secret of mine. What’s going on with your kid and his father?”

“You say that so casually.”

“As opposed to what? Accusing you of something wrong?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. It just feels like this thing… I always have to worry about it.”

“Well, now you don’t. I know you have a son. Your son is with his father this weekend. Which means I won’t get to see you again for two weeks.”

“Oh, really? You’re that confident?”

“You’re the one who texted me.”

“You stalked me at my job.”

“I didn’t stalk you, darling,” I said. “I had a meeting.”

“Which you didn’t attend.”

“I let my uncle handle it,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “He doesn’t have much time left, you know?”

“Wow. That’s really nice to say.”

“I’m joking. Plus, Wendy told me where you worked.”

“Wendy. That bitch.”

“Yup.”

“She could never keep her mouth shut.”

“In more than one way,” I said.

Jordyn looked at me, eyes wide. “What?”

“Not me,” I said. “I just heard things. Don’t act like you didn’t either.”

“Whatever. I don’t have time for anyone else’s love life.”

“Focus on your own,” I said. “That’s smart.”

“Focus?” She laughed. “I need glasses to focus on…”

She caught the rest of her words.

I put my left hand flat to the porch and leaned toward her again. “Go ahead, finish that sentence. I liked where it was going.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” she said. “You don’t get to do that.”

“Do what?” I asked.

“Play the sexual hero card.”

“Sexual hero?” I asked. “That’s new for me.”

“Well, what are you doing then?”

“I’m sitting here, talking to you. Like you wanted to do. Get pissed at me if you want, but you’re not crying anymore.”

“I’ll give you that much,” she said.

“Maybe a little more…”

I took away more space between us. She briefly bit her bottom lip.

With my right hand, I touched her jaw again, slowly smiling.

I pulled her toward me, leaving just an inch between our lips.

“See how easy I make it?” I whispered.

Jordyn swung her left hand and slapped my face.

It wasn’t hard, but I backed away again.

“I didn’t even get to kiss you,” I said.

“I owe you one. Jerk.”

I laughed. “Sorry. I had to. I just wanted to see you get it off your chest.”

“Get what off my chest?”

“The anger,” I said. “Tell me what happened. I won’t judge or anything, darling. Consider me a friend right now. Wasting my Friday night of drinking to hear you talk about your life.”

“Jeez, that makes me feel comfortable.”

“I could sweet talk you into another almost kiss,” I said.

“Down, boy,” she said. Then she sighed. “So, here’s how it always goes…”

* * *

My back was against the pillar. My right leg bent on the second step, my left leg stretched out. Jordyn sat right across from me, knees bent, hugging her legs. It almost felt like we were teenagers with nothing to do and nowhere to go.

That sense of innocence only existed in my mind because as she spoke, it started to piss me off.

“It was never easy when we decided to split up,” she said. “I knew it was going to be hard. I just… I just knew it.”

“I’m sure,” I said. “And who is the father?”

“Keith,” she said, blushing. “Keith Rolens.”

“Ah, I remember that name,” I said.

I felt a little fire of jealousy burn for a second or two. My mind took me back to the old days for a minute. Keith was considered a bad boy, but all that meant was that he wore a leather jacket, smoked whenever he wanted, got into fights, got into trouble, and could get any girl he wanted. That included getting Jordyn.

“Your hair was longer back in high school,” I said to her. “And it was blonder.”

“You remember that?” she asked.

“I’m starting to.”

“I used to get highlights,” she said. “I was a total bad ass back then.”

From what I remembered, Jordyn hung around with the bad kids but was never all that bad. She just smoked and tried to look cool. Which eventually led to her having a kid with Keith. A guy I never liked because while he pretended to be bad, I actually was bad.

But that was a whole other thing to think about, which I did not feel like doing.

“So, you had a kid with Keith,” I said.

“Surprise,” she said.

“Nah. You and him were close.”

Again, that little fire of jealousy burned.

“It fell apart on me,” she said. “And he lives a little bit away, too. He works crazy hours. When we split, he needed to get himself cleaned up, so we agreed he could see Sam every other weekend.”

“That’s your son’s name? Sam?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sam, I named him after my grandfather.”

“He must’ve been happy about that.”

“My grandfather passed away when I was a kid,” Jordyn said.

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know. So, yeah, I have a son and his name is Sam. And his father sees him every other weekend. So, the rest of the time I’m on my own. That’s my life. It is hectic, and I don’t have time for this.”

“What’s this? Talking to someone?”

“Going out with someone, Rams.”

“So, this was a date?”

“You have to put a label on everything, don’t you?”

“No. Just wondering what this is.”

“Anyway,” she said. “Seeing Keith is hard enough. But he gets to show up on a Friday and take Sam until Sunday. Usually he drops him off too early on Sunday. I figure by then Sam is ready to come home anyway. I don’t know what kind of relationship they have. Sam says he has a good time, so I believe him. But he’s a kid. I have to put a lot of trust in Keith to not fuck anything up. And that’s hard.”

“What got you so upset today?”

“Just trying to talk to Keith. About money.”

I nodded. “I imagine it’s pretty hard trying to balance everything in life, including money.”

“Just a little,” Jordyn said. “We’re obviously doing okay… or so it seems. I can’t believe I’m telling you this stuff.”

“Why not?” I asked. “Who else would you tell? One of your friends? And what would they say to do?”

She laughed. “I don’t even know. Norah and Brenda are the only really close friends I have.”

“Norah being the one who bailed on you at the bar that night?”

“That’s the one.”

“She seems reliable.”

“She’s harmless,” Jordyn said. “She’s just in a different place in her life. She listens. Let’s me vent when I need to.”

“And Brenda?”

“She’s married with a young son. Don’t see her as much as I used to, but I totally understand why.”

“Which leaves you dealing with all of this by yourself?”

“To be fair, Rams, I did this to myself. There’s nothing anyone can do.”

“I can take you out, as I said I would. It’s good to do that, darling. Forget about life for a second and let your mind settle.”

“You don’t know me all that well, Rams. That’s why I told you to stay away. You can’t just whisk me away for a cheap draft beer and flirting.”

“Wanna bet?” I asked.

I got her to smile again, which was worth everything, for the moment.

“You were crying when I got here,” I said.

“Just caught up in it all.”

“In what?”

“I made the mistake of talking to Keith,” she said. “I walked Sam to his car. As Sam was getting himself settled, I went around to the driver’s side window and thought I could make small talk for a second.”

“He didn’t want small talk?”

“I may have mentioned about some things that had cost money and that I expected to spend over the next two weeks. I really don’t know how to handle those situations, Rams. When everything went bad, we had an agreement and that was it. For me, it was more or less a way to get away from Keith and keep Sam safe. At that time…”

She turned her head and swallowed hard.

I moved my left foot to bump it against her leg.

She caught her breath and looked at me, eyes beautiful and glossy.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I shouldn’t be asking so many questions. I’m just intrigued by this, Jordyn. Sitting here on your porch, just talking like we’re old friends.”

“Not the wild night you expected.”

“Night’s still young,” I said.

I gave a nod behind Jordyn to the last little flicker of daylight as it clung to the horizon for dear life.

She turned and slowly pulled herself to her feet. “Oh, wow, that looks amazing.”

I sat there, smiling, watching her watch the sunset.

The night was getting cool. I reached for the railing and pulled myself to my feet. My lips and tongue were thirsty for a drink or three. That had been the plan for the night. Yet standing there with Jordyn, I could feel the week just slipping away. Not giving a damn about things that happened, my only focus on her.

I took two steps and hesitated.

This was her house. This was where she raised her son. By herself. I wasn’t going to jump to judgement on another man’s actions, but it didn’t sit well that she had been crying. It wasn’t my place or my job to understand anything. I wanted to take her out and enjoy her company, in whatever way that meant. There were no strings linking me to her. We could have a few drinks and laugh. I could take her back up to the top of town and count the stars… in her eyes. Or I could let her escape for a night and come back to my place.

“I can stand here and watch this all night,” she said.

I almost laughed, it was as though she had been sifting through my thoughts.

“Well, you know, this only lasts a few minutes and it’s gone,” I said. “Kind of like us, huh?”

Jordyn looked back and rolled her eyes. “Smooth.”

“What? We get our little bit together and then we’re apart for two weeks.”

She slowly turned, her back against the opposite pillar on the porch. She reached behind herself to touch the pillar. Something about that view just got to me. The faint purple color, off in the horizon, that was quickly turning to black. The look in her eyes was borderline dangerous to me.

I moved toward her for what felt like the hundredth time.

Before I could say a word, she put a hand out and touched my chest. “Rams…”

I nodded. “This is where you kick me out, right?”

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Jordyn. It was worth it.”

“What was?”

“Right now,” I said. “Standing here, watching you with the sunset behind you. The cold chill in the air. The sound of the leaves. The way the air smells.”

“Is this you making a cheap move on me again?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“You’re all big and tough with muscles and tattoos and now you’re spouting off some poetic crap…”

“It’s working though,” I said. I touched her hand and pulled it away from my chest. I kissed it and sidestepped down off the porch. “Have a good night, Jordyn. I’ll be around if you need to talk about anything else.”

That’s when she moved at me. “Wait a second.”

I turned and was on the third step down. Which put me and her at eye level.

“Thank you for listening to me,” she said. “I really hoped for something else tonight.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Whatever you wanted to do.”

“Last time I checked it’s only Friday night.”

“Yeah…”

Her eyes burned that dark honey color. I studied the line of her jaw, dreaming of a moment when I could trace it with my finger and then with my lips.

“Meaning tomorrow night is Saturday,” I said.

“You know how the days of the week go,” she said. “That’s good for you.”

I gritted my teeth. Smart mouth, darling. That’s only going to get you into more trouble with me.

“That means I’ll see you tomorrow night,” I said.

“You just assume that? What if I have plans? Or work?”

“Then I’ll make my place on your porch and wait.”

“Like a lonely dog?”

“Woof,” I whispered.

Who the hell are you right now, Ramsey?

“You’re the kind of dog that needs a warning sign,” she said.

“You didn’t take the warning seriously, darling.”

“You sort of just showed up and barged your way in,” she said. “I never had a chance to take the warning seriously.”

“Tough break for you. Goodnight, Jordyn.”

I had the perfect chance right there to steal a quick kiss, but I saved it for a different time.

I stepped down another step.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked. “Do you feel bad for me or something? Or think that it means I’ll sleep with you faster?”

I laughed. I rubbed the scruff on my face and dug at it until I felt my hard jaw. “You know, I have no idea why I’m doing this. Maybe you’re just that pretty. You’re worth the hassle.”

Jordyn’s eyes went wide. “Worth the hassle?”

I turned and walked away.

I felt her staring at me.

I never thought I’d show up to pick her up, only to not leave but just sit there on her porch and talk.

When I looked back to see if she was still there, she was. She wasn’t staring at me though. She was staring at the spot where I had been standing and sitting. And she was biting her bottom lip.

I could make her forget about all the messes in her life.

And she could do the exact same for me.