Just Beginning: A Prequel to Just Destiny Read online

  “Where to next?” Jenny asked.

  “Back to Suz’s house so she can change, then I told Grams and Pops we’d follow Michael and his friends around for an hour or so.”

  That was nice of Alex to bother with Michael and help her parents out that way. “That’s nice of you.”

  Alex shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

  “What cut of their candy are they giving you?”

  “Whatever do you mean?” Alex opened her eyes wide, innocent.

  “Been there, done that, Maleficent,” she said dryly.

  “Two pieces each—her pick,” Michael said as they got in Alex’s car.

  Jenny laughed and waved them off, as another group of kids from the left rushed across their lawn. Jenny duly admired the black cat, witch, and Sponge Bob costumes and held out the candy basket as their parents walked up to the door. The woman had a chunky baby dressed as a pumpkin in one of those slings across her chest. Looked heavy.

  “Hi. I’m Dan and this is Wendy. Are your parents home?”

  Parents? Jenny frowned. They think I’m the kid. Natural enough assumption given her costume. Jenny smiled and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Jenny.”

  They shook her hand. “And the ghost and Sponge Bob are our kids, Penny and Caleb. We’re your neighbors three doors down,” Wendy said as she rocked side to side. “I’ve been meaning to stop by before now to meet your parents, but this one,” she patted the drooling baby’s head, “kept me busier that you’d believe—not that he’s a bad baby, but—”

  “We were excited to hear the new neighbors had a teenage daughter. Do you babysit much?” her husband interrupted.

  “Not at all actually, but my step-daughter, Alex, does. You just missed her, but I can give you her number if you’d like.”

  Wendy frowned. “Step—Oh—Gosh, I’m sorry. I... You just look so young, I assumed...”

  “It’s okay.” Jenny smiled. She swept her hand up and down in front of her. “I am dressed as a doll.”

  “Hey, you kids wait for us,” Bob called out as the children ran across the lawn toward Steve’s house. “Well, welcome to the neighborhood, we’d better catch up with them.”

  His wife backed up and with a faint wave hurried after her family.

  “Come, Ritz.” Jenny returned to the house and shut the door. “Somehow I doubt we’re going to be bosom buddies with them.” Apparently they were in dire need of a babysitter and had little interest in being neighborly.

  Her phone rang. Jenny looked at the number. Judith.

  “Jenny, it’s Judith.”

  I know. “What’s up?”

  “Is Alex there? She’s not answering her phone.”

  “Her battery probably died, it was beeping when she was here.” She put the candy on the entry table and crossed her arms. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  Judith sighed loudly. “How long ago was that? The kids are waiting for her to take them trick-or-treating.”

  Jenny frowned. It wasn’t like Alex to blow off a commitment. Judith wasn’t going to like finding out that Alex was with Michael. “Does she know that?”

  “Not yet. Dave took them out, but they want to go longer and he’s not feeling well.”

  And you told them Alex would do it. And what about you? You could take your own kids trick-or-treating like a normal mom.

  “She left about ten minutes ago. They should be at Suzy’s house soon.”

  “Fine. I’ll try there.”

  “Judith, wait. While I have you on the phone I wanted to ask you something. Would it be okay if the kids came over here during the day on Thanksgiving? I know it’s your turn to have them for Thanksgiving, but this will be the first holiday dinner we’ve hosted in our new house and we were hoping the kids could join us. They’d be back by four, in time for your dinner.”

  “We have the kids for Thanksgiving this year. Gabe had them last year.”

  “I know, but the house wasn’t done, and we went to my parents. This year we’re having it here, and we wanted the family together. I thought, maybe, the kids could celebrate at both houses—that’s why we moved it up to noon.”

  “So the kids will eat turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie and get back to our house stuffed,” Judith said flatly.

  “No! I’ll remind them to just snack. They’ll be plenty hungry when they get to your house.”

  “No.”

  “We wanted the whole family together for our first holiday in our new house.”

  “Touching, but no.”

  Jenny struggled to hold onto her temper. Come on; bend a little. “I...will you think about it?”

  “Nothing to think about. We’ve got the kids Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, and Gabe gets them Christmas and New Year’s. That’s the schedule.”

  God forbid they amend the schedule. “Maybe you could have them for New Years instead?”

  “No.” Click.

  Jenny scowled. “Goodbye to you, too.” Bitch.

  Jenny went into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. The doorbell rang. She took a big gulp as she scooped up the candy and rushed to the door.

  “Trick or treat.” Sophie, dressed as a miniature Elsa, stood in front of her brother, a vampire.

  “Hel-lo. Well, Ms. Elsa, you’re looking lovely tonight.” She pointed at her white gloves. “Glad to see you’ve got those on so we don’t have any accidents.” Jenny bent down and wrinkled her nose as if confiding a secret. “Red wine is best served at room temperature, not frozen.”

  Sophie giggled.

  Jenny turned to Josh. “And you, sir, look very dashing and frightening with those fangs, I might add. I hope you’ve already fed tonight.”

  Josh nodded as a deep voice out of the dark said, “Well, well, well. I always suspected Raggedy Ann was a lush.”

  Jenny peered past the bright porch light into the darkness. “Funny, Grant.”

  “Ohhh,” Sophie squealed. “Lion.”

  Jenny turned to the kids and backed up. “Come on in.”

  Sophie and Josh ran to the dog and knelt before her, petting her. Ritz bore the attention with her usual good nature and got in a few friendly licks of her own. Steve and Annie stood in her entry, looking around.

  Steve had a huge burger in one hand and bag of fries in the other. He swallowed and said, “Where’s Darth Vader?”

  “Work.” She held up her glass. “Wine?”

  Steve looked at Annie in question.

  “We can’t.” Annie said. “It’s getting late, and they need a bath.”

  “Have you had dinner?” Steve asked.

  Jenny shook her head.

  Steve handed his fries to Annie to hold, then split his burger and passed half to Jenny. She considered refusing the food, but it smelled heavenly and Steve knew she loved cheeseburgers.

  He pushed it at her. “Take it. You get cranky when you don’t eat.”

  “Thank you.” Jenny took a big bite of the burger, closed her eyes and savored the sinful taste of grilled beef and cheese, then quickly swallowed. “What time’s the game Sunday?”

  “Do we have to watch football every Sunday?” Annie pouted. She glanced at the kids. “Only one piece each, you guys.”

  Steve crammed several fries in his mouth, quickly chewed and swallowed, nodding. “We always get together on game day. It’s tradition.”

  Steve had invited Gabe and her to join his firm’s Fantasy Football league, and Jenny was crushing everybody else. It was mostly beginner’s luck, but being the only woman made being in the top of the bracket extra sweet. Every Sunday, a bunch of the guys gathered at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game.

  “I understand if you skip it. After all, it must be humiliating the way my boys are stompin’ all over your teams,” Jenny said as she polished off the burger. Talking smack was one of the best parts of the league, though the tidy pots for first, second and third places winner were enticing, too.

  “Only because you have Peyton Manning.”
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  “And Demaryius Thomas, and Calvin Johnson, and LeSean McCoy—”

  Steve snorted

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure Drew Brees and Andre Johnson will start coming through for you any week now.” She smirked. Sipping her wine, she washed down the last mouthful.

  “It’s hard to get a babysitter on a Sunday, and football is so violent,” Annie whined. “Why don’t we see a movie instead? There’s this new French film that’s won all kinds of awards.” She frowned and tapped her lip with her manicured index finger. “Now what’s it called? It’s about a devoted cellist in the Romanian orchestra and how she had to run for her life and goes into hiding when the country was invaded and how she made her way to Canada and became a huge hit there, but then something tragic happens and she’s dragged back to Russia—”

  “Romania?” Jenny corrected. Jenny raised her brows and cocked her head at Steve, pretty sure he’d rather poke himself in the eye with a hot stick than miss football to watch a foreign film, no matter how many awards it’d won.

  “Right. Back to Romania to protect her childhood love–”

  The doorbell rang, and Jenny gratefully leapt to answer it rather than listen to Annie’s monologue.

  “That sounds like something you should see with your sister. I think she’d appreciate it much more than I would,” Steve said, as Jenny closed the door on the departing trick-or-treaters.

  Annie frowned, “You think?”

  “Definitely.” He watched Josh and Sophie sort the candy they’d scattered all over the rug. Ritz sat nearby drooling, looking for an opportunity to sneak a piece. “All right guys, put it all back, we’ve gotta get going.”

  The kids piled the loot back in their pumpkin buckets under Annie’s guidance. Steve looked at Jenny. “Do you guys have plans December fifth? I’ve reserved a couple of extra tickets to see A Christmas Carol.”

  Annie threaded her arm through Steve’s. “That’s a Friday night. I’m sure they already have plans.”

  “They might not.” Steve looked at Jenny.

  “But we were going to take the kids and make a night of it. Remember?”

  Steve frowned at her. “We were? It’s okay, I haven’t bought the tickets yet. I can pick up a few more.” His eyes lit. “You know what? I’ll see if I can get eight, and then we can bring Alex and Michael, too. It’ll be fun.”

  Annie smiled brightly. “You’re so busy. Why don’t I take care of that? I’ll get the tickets first thing Monday morning.”

  “You sure? It’s no problem.”

  I bet. And somehow Jenny was sure Annie’s luck would run out, and she’d buy the last four tickets. “Uh... I’ll have to check with Gabe and the kids first. Why don’t you buy yours and then if we can make it, I’ll get our tickets.”

  “We won’t sit together then,” Steve said.

  When they’d seen Motown: The Musical a couple of months ago, Annie talked and sang along throughout the whole musical and nearly got them kicked out of the Fisher Theatre. Not sitting together would be a bonus.

  “I gotta go potty,” Sophie whined and did a little dance at her mom’s feet.

  “Just a minute, Sugar.”

  “Now.”

  “I gotta go, too,” Josh said.

  Jenny pointed to the restroom. With a hand on each child’s back, Annie herded her offspring to the bathroom.

  “I’ll check with Gabe and the kids and let you know if we can make it.” And don’t hold your breath. Annie didn’t want them going any more than Jenny wanted to go. How could Steve be so oblivious?

  “It’s at the Meadow Brook Theatre,” Steve said.

  “Got it.” She nodded as the trio headed back their way. Sophie’s mouth stretched wide in an impressive yawn for such a little thing. Jenny smiled. “Looks like it’s bedtime.”

  They said goodnight and left. Jenny grabbed her jacket, and she and Ritz walked down the driveway to blow out the two jack-o’-lanterns flanking their entrance, then the ones on the front porch. They went inside and turned out the porch light. Hanging up her jacket, she pulled the lion’s mane off Ritz and brought her wine into the kitchen as Gabe came through the back door.

  “Hey, babe.” He moved into the kitchen, put his mask and saber on the counter, then dropped a kiss on her lips.

  “What’re you doing back so soon? I thought you had to operate.”

  “They’re observing her overnight. If she’s not better in the morning, we’ll go in.” He tugged on her wig. “By the way, did I mention what a doll you are tonight?”

  “Ha ha.” Jenny pulled the wig off her head and plopped it on the counter. She tugged the hairband from her bun.

  Gabe brushed her hands aside, gently unwound her hair, and dug his fingers in. She shivered, and her eyes drifted shut at the tingling feeling his head massage generated. Gabe finger-combed her hair. “What’s the matter? Didn’t we have any trick-or-treaters?”

  “No, that’s fine.” She leaned into his touch and moved her head around like a cat being stroked. “I’m just annoyed.”

  “At...”

  “Your ex-wife.”

  “Because...”

  She’s a bitch? “She’s unyielding and mean.”

  Gabe settled back against the counter, crossed his legs at his ankles, and took the wine glass from her hand. “Be-cause...”

  He swirled the wine in the bowl and sniffed it before tasting. Gabe raised his eyebrows and nodded his approval.

  “I asked if she might share Alex and Ted with us on Thanksgiving, and she said no.”

  “It’s their turn. We had them last year.”

  “I know, but I explained that it was our first time hosting a holiday dinner in our new house, and that we’re having George and my family over, and I promised they’d be back with her by four—in plenty of time for their dinner—and she flat out refused to even consider it.” She hesitated, then said, “I even offered to trade her New Year’s Day for it, and she said no.”

  Gabe frowned. “Why would you do that? I don’t want to trade New Year’s Day. Ted and I watch football together. It’s tradition.”

  “Well, we could make new traditions. Doesn’t matter anyway. She said no.” Jenny took her glass back, reached for the wine bottle, and poured another half a glass. “This is our first holiday together. I’m making the turkey. I wanted the whole family together.”

  “I understand, but we have a schedule. It’s worked well for over ten years.”

  “Well, it doesn’t work for me. All I asked for is a half of a day to make our first Thanksgiving special. I’ve gone along with everything for a year now. I worked my family around your and Judith’s precious schedule, and now I ask for one tiny modification, and you guys are totally unyielding.” Jenny took a sip of her wine, then frowned. “And, she was totally snotty about it. Like I was this inferior being bugging her. She even hung up on me. It’s not fair.”

  “You’re right.” Gabe pulled her stiff body into his arms. “It’s not fair. You’ve been very understanding, and I appreciate it.” He set her back and sat her on a stool. “Why don’t you ask your mom to have Thanksgiving at her house again, and we’ll have our first big holiday dinner at Christmas when we have the kids? We can do Christmas brunch and dinner—a twofer.”

  Jenny frowned. Great. Then Mom would think she couldn’t even plan a simple dinner without screwing it up.

  “It’s all arranged. I can’t change things now. I’ve already bought the turkey.” She’d been so excited about cooking her first turkey, she’d bought it as soon as they hit the grocery store.

  “You can still cook it and take it to your mom’s.”

  “I bought a new table cloth and Thanksgiving decorations. No, we’re having it here. I am not going to let Judith muck up all my family’s plans.” She paused, then looked hopefully at Gabe. “But, maybe you could ask her.”

  He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and slowly shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Pleas
e.”

  He drew in a deep breath.

  “Please. She’ll listen to you.”

  “Fine. I’ll talk to her, but don’t get your hopes up.”

  Jenny smiled. “I have confidence in you.”

  “I’m serious. I’ll ask, but if she says no, I want you to be okay with it.” His serious, steady gray eyes held her gaze. “The kids are growing up and moving on, as it should be. You and me, we’re family now. That’s part of the reason we got married, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I want a big family gathering, too, but if Judith sticks to her guns, it’ll be fine. We’ll still have a good time with your family and Uncle George.” Gabe took the wine glass and raised it to his lips.

  How about Judith takes George and we get Alex and Ted? Jenny nodded. “Fine. I understand, but I'm betting on your powers of persuasion. After all, you convinced her to let us take the kids out of school to go to Maui.”

  Gabe quickly swallowed his wine. “For our wedding. That’s completely different. And it didn’t take anything away from her. Judith works a lot, and that cuts into family time. These holidays mean a lot to her.”

  Don’t stand up for her. Jenny frowned. “It means a lot to me, too.”

  “I’m just warning you. She’s not going to change her mind. I don’t want you to be disappointed.” He set the wineglass on the counter.

  “It sounds like you’re on her side.”

  “Of course not.” Gabe stood, came up behind Jenny, and wrapped his arms around her. “I just understand her.” He rocked Jenny from side to side and kissed that sensitive spot behind her ear. Jenny shivered. His warm, wine-sweetened breath tickled her ear. Gabe brushed her hair aside and gathered it in one hand to give him unobstructed access to her neck.

  “I am always.” He kissed the sensitive skin below her ear. “On.” Kissed a little lower. “Your side.”

  Gabe ran his lips down the side of her neck. His coarse hair brushed her cheek as Gabe bent over her shoulder. Jenny drew in a deep breath, and her eyes drifted shut as she savored the feeling of his hot mouth at the top of her collarbone.

  “And your back.” Gabe shifted to the other side and with great care rearranged her hair so he could lavish equal attention to the other side of her neck. “And your front—that’s my favorite place.”