Chapter Thirty-Seven
Noah
The wind whipped through the sides of my helmet as we descended down the hill toward Chloe’s house. It was about a ten-minute drive to our house from Jess’s mom’s but a little too far to walk, especially with all the hills involved. Gina had the idea of getting bicycles for all of us to give us exercise while going back and forth. Since it was on the warmer side that Saturday morning, we opted to ride together.
Even though in Minnesota I had a home gym and tended to work out a lot, there was something different about being outdoors and exercising. I even took it a step further and made a daily ride every morning that I was able. Most of the time I returned from my ride and Gina and Jess were still sleeping. It was a great start to my morning.
When we arrived at Chloe’s house, she was out back on the patio starting up the grill.
We propped our bikes next to the house and greeted Chloe.
“What’s for lunch, Mom?” Jess asked.
“It’s a beautiful day, and I wanted to cook outside today. I got some shrimp from the farmer’s market and was going to cook it up on skewers.”
“Sounds great,” I said.
Gina wrinkled her nose at the thought of shrimp. She always tried foods that I gave her, but she hadn’t been fond of seafood as of yet unless it was fried and she wasn’t able to see what was under the crunchy breading.
“Don’t worry, love,” Chloe said to Gina, “I have chicken for you. It’s been marinating all morning.”
Gina hugged Chloe. “Thank you!”
I glanced over at Jess, who was watching the two of them. Gina wasn’t the type of kid to make strong bonds with people in a short amount of time. But since Jess came into our life, Gina latched onto her. And then she did the same thing with Chloe. It was as if these two were meant to be with us from the start. It only took some time to get there.
“Want to help me out?” Chloe asked Gina. “I’ll need you to have really steady hands.”
“I can do it!” Gina said. They both went inside.
Jess sat in one of the chairs at the table, and I plopped down next to her. “Your legs are looking real nice lately.”
“It’s all the biking.”
“I wish I had the energy to do that in the morning. But sadly, I’ll leave that all to you.” She leaned over and kissed me.
For a moment it was nice to be there with her. Even though Gina was in the next room, Jess and I hadn’t clocked any time alone together for any length of time other than after Gina went to bed.
“Jess,” I said.
“Hm?”
“We haven’t gone out at all together since Gina and I came down here.”
She chewed on her lip. “I guess not. Moving into the house has taken up a lot of time.”
“You two should go out,” Chloe said, returning to the patio. Gina was behind her, holding a glass container with the chicken. The marinade sloshed about in the container as she walked. “How about I take Gina for the night?”
“A sleepover!” Gina exclaimed.
“Are you sure, Mom?” Jess asked.
“Absolutely, you kids enjoy yourselves.”
Jess looked at me, excitement lighting up her face.
We stayed for a few hours after lunch. Chloe wanted some help with the landscaping so while they weeded around the bushes, I mowed the lawn. As much as the work wasn’t something I was excited to do, I hadn’t felt like I was a part of a family like this for a long time. Now I knew what my brother, Tim, had been on about for all those years. It wasn’t easy for me to travel when I was working since I owned the company and had a young child. But when Tim said he couldn’t visit, I never understood. This was what he was talking about. He always put his family first, while I’d always put my work first. It was better this way.
By the time we got home and showered from the day working outside, it was time to go to dinner.
“Where did you want to go?” Jess asked me as she was pinning her hair back.
Jess was a gorgeous woman, but I particularly loved it when she dressed up. It made me proud to be on her arm. Unlike Kimberly, the date that felt like a distant memory, I liked when people looked at us. Jess was adorably oblivious to the way men looked at her. And I enjoyed making them feel jealous that she’d never been theirs. Not as long as I could help it.
“How about somewhere local?” I suggested.
“There’s a nice Asian place in the town center,” she said.
“Perfect.”
I drove to town that night. Since the date night was last minute, I didn’t have time to rent a car. Besides, I was a local now, and I wanted to appear like one. Coming to a well-known place frequented by locals, it would look strange if I showed up in a town car.
And since I had time to work on my body with cycling and working out at home, I kept my drinking to a minimum. Now that I knew the truth about Chloe, I didn’t feel comfortable drinking in front of her; even though Jess had no problem with it, I felt odd. So, I didn’t. And after working on our house or Chloe’s house, I was exhausted by the end of the day, and I wanted to go to bed. Sometimes Jess and I would sit on the terrace having a glass of wine each, but we preferred to share the bed any day.
When we arrived downtown, we parked in a nearby lot. People milled around the sidewalks, walking to their Saturday night destination.
I held Jess’s hand tight in mine, keeping her close to me.
She leaned heavily against me. “I probably shouldn’t have gone with heels for tonight.”
“You look beautiful,” I said.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “I hope they have tablecloths, though. These suckers are coming off right when I sit down.”
I chuckled against her ear then kissed it.
The restaurant looked like a hole in the wall. But after our last date in Australia, I knew not to judge the place by its exterior.
Inside, the lighting was dim, but the surfaces still managed to reflect what little light there was. Through the dining area, there were four hibachi tables.
The hostess smiled at us. “Dining room or hibachi?”
“Dining room, please,” Jess said.
“This way, please,” the hostess said, scurrying off toward our table.
Jess struggled to keep up.
Unfortunately, there weren’t any tablecloths, but we were set back enough that Jess could take her shoes off with anyone noticing.
Our server came over right away and took our drink orders.
“Have you eaten here before?” I asked.
“Not in a long time. But the food here is fantastic. It beats several of the places in Minnesota, in my mind.”
“How come you didn’t want hibachi?” I asked, recalling how quick Jess was to turn it down when the hostess asked.
“There’s not a lot of privacy,” she said. “And I don’t want to have a loud meal.”
“I agree,” I said.
“We get enough screaming and cheering from Gina,” Jess said with a laugh. “I mean, I love her to death, but I also enjoy quiet time.”
“Me too,” I said.
Jess scooted closer to me in the booth, and she pointed out several items that she remembered loving. Too bad for me, there now were a lot of choices since she liked almost everything on the menu.
After I had made the tough decision about what to eat, I sat back in the booth and lifted my glass of wine to toast Jess.
“To a successful move and a successful date night.”
“It’s barely started,” she said, clinking my glass.
“I have high hopes,” I said, grinning.
I leaned over and kissed her. She hummed against my lips.
When we broke apart, she said, “I’m so happy. I never thought I’d feel like this. Ever. Especially after breaking the cardinal rule of not sleeping with your boss.”
“Well, I was the one to initiate it,” I said.
“I didn’t stop you,” she said.
Brandon’s words from weeks ago filled my mind. If I wanted me and Jess to be something that lasted forever, I had to open myself up completely to her. And before I could stop myself I said, “I hadn’t felt like I did that night for anyone since Wendy.”
Jess nodded.
She never prodded me about Wendy, even when Gina mentioned her birth mother. There was so much Gina didn’t know about Wendy, but selfishly, I kept most of it to myself. I never wanted Gina to feel sorry for missing her mom, and at the same time, I wanted her to feel open to love someone like Jess. But opening up to Jess felt right.
“I felt like I lost everything when Wendy died during childbirth. In one day, I lost one love and gained another. It took me a while to wrap my head around it. I had to plan a funeral while I had a young infant. Then balancing work with Gina was tough.”
“I can imagine,” Jess said.
I took her hand in mine. “But I’ve never been happier than I am with you. Wendy had my young years, and she gave me the most special person in the world. But you get to have me and Gina.”
“And I’m the luckiest girl alive.”
The words on the tip of my tongue were muted by the arrival of our appetizers. Then, I decided to wait. I wanted it to be special and just us when I told her the three most important words in the world.
After dinner, Jess and I walked around town for a little while opening up to each other about everything in the nooks and crannies of our lives. I knew so much about Jess, but I enjoyed hearing more stories about her life before living in the States, how she met Sierra, and more about her previous nanny jobs.
Our relationship had its rocky moments, and I wasn’t sure we went about everything in the correct order, but I also wasn’t certain that we would have ended up together in Australia if they didn’t work out in the way they did. If we didn’t fight and I didn’t lose her, then I wouldn’t have had the motivation to leave the job that had a stranglehold on my life.
With the way I was working, I would have been a tired-looking sixty-year-old who missed out on his only child’s life. Gina would be off and married with her own kids, and I’d be left with nothing. Now I had Jess. And I had the opportunity to be there for Gina when she needed me most.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said to Jess, unable to hold in what I really wanted to say.
Once we were inside our house, I took Jess out on the terrace. We gazed out at the ocean for a few minutes before she started to shiver.
I was running out of time for this perfect moment. “Jess, I want to tell you something.”
“What is it?” she asked, expectantly.
“I love you.”
She blinked several times.
“I’ve wanted to tell you that for some time. Then Gina goes and does it first, so I had to wait a little while.”
After Wendy died, I never thought I’d say it again to anyone but Gina. I never wanted to either. Until I met Jess. And I didn’t want to hold back anything from her.
Jess laughed and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you too, Noah. So much.”
I dropped my lips to hers and lifted her off the ground. My body screamed for her, and I started to walk inside.
Jess wrapped her legs around my waist as I closed the glass door behind us.
Her breathing intensified as we kissed. When I reached the stairs, I lowered her to the ground. She remained on her toes as she broke the kiss.
“Now, let’s make this official,” I said, leading her up to our bedroom.