Headed for Trouble

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

They had dinner that night with Maggie, and the sound of Arlene’s laughter mingling with her daughter’s made Jack smile.

Will and Dolphina purposely made themselves scarce, no doubt taking advantage of Arlene being home to spend some alone time of their own over at Dolphina’s apartment.

So Maggie and Arlene and Jack played a board game called Settlers of Catan, in which Maggie kicked their collective ass, but after which she insisted she had homework to do and vanished into her bedroom, closing her door tightly behind her.

It was only then that Jack trusted himself to kiss Arlene because he knew damn well that she wasn’t going to sleep with him—not with her teenage daughter awake in the next room. At least not until after they took that trip to Vegas …

“You’re diabolical,” she gasped between kisses, out of breath in the kitchen, as she clung to him. “Now you kiss me …?”

“I want you to take me seriously,” he told her before he kissed her again.

They eventually moved back into the living room and pretended to watch a movie on TV while, in truth, they made out on the sofa until the light that shone from beneath Maggie’s door went out.

At which point, Jack told Arlene he’d pick her up again at nine the next morning, kissed her good night, and sent himself home.

That next day, her T-shirt was tighter, her shorts were shorter, and he could tell she’d spent some time on her makeup and her hair.

When she got into the Zipcar and he kissed her hello, her hand traveled up his thigh, inside the leg of his shorts. But he caught her wrist, asking, “Is that your way of telling me you’re ready to go to Vegas?”

She laughed as she shook her head no, but told him, “You know, I do take you very seriously.”

“Only because I’m not having sex with you,” he pointed out. And then he drove them to Concord, where they walked the Minuteman trail until it started to rain, so they ran for the car, and then went to the mall and got tickets to a movie.

The plan was to have popcorn for lunch, but they ignored it—and the movie—and just sat there in the dark, alone in the small theater, kissing and touching like they’d never had a chance to as teenagers.

At least not together.

With incredible restraint, Jack limited himself to second base.

He won the real prize on their way home, when he got her to talk—just a little—about the latest of her friends who had died in Iraq as the result of the blast from an IED. It had been soul-crushingly awful—and just another day in a war zone.

They pulled in front of Will’s apartment building as Maggie was walking up the street, coming home from school. And this time, instead of hanging around, having dinner and making Arlene and Maggie laugh, Jack gave them both the excuse that he had to get back to his place in Watertown to work—that he had an assignment to write.

In truth, when he found out that Maggie had plans to do a homework project over at her friend Keisha’s house from seven to ten, he knew he had to stay away.

Jack was, after all, only human. And spending three hours alone with Arlene would require superhuman strength.

Besides, he’d set himself a capitulation date.

Saturday. The night after Maggie’s party. If Arlene didn’t agree to marry him by Saturday, he’d change the rules of the game. Because enough was enough.

He was in the process of cleaning the hell out of his crappy studio apartment. He’d already spoken to Jules and Robin about taking charge of Maggie for the second half of the weekend, since Will and Dolphina were going to a wedding on Sunday.

But until then, with his incredible restraint, he was showing Arlene, in glorious living Technicolor, that he was one majorly serious mofo.

At least he hoped that was how she was reading it.

Right now, she was looking at him as if he’d completely lost his mind. And as Maggie went into the building, the door swinging shut behind her, Arlene whispered, “She won’t be home until ten. I can call Will and make sure—”

Jack stopped her with a kiss. “I love you,” he said. “But I gotta go.”

“Jack,” he heard her say, laughter and bemusement in her voice as he climbed into the Zipcar. He waved at her as he pulled away.

Long-term goals. Long-term goals.…

He was in this to win it—and Saturday wasn’t all that far away.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The party at Laser-Mania was a huge success.

Maggie’s schoolmates were wide-eyed when they realized that a movie star was one of the guests. They were also astonished at the concept of having the entire huge amusement complex to themselves.

But as Jules well knew, those two things went hand in hand.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” Arlene said to Jules as they stood at the railing in the spectator loft and watched Robin talk to Maggie and the other kids down on the laser battle course below. The large area had recently been redecorated to look like the hulking remains of a decaying spacecraft—very science fiction, and not at all reminiscent of Iraq. The laser weapons, too, were very ray gun—otherwise Jules was certain that Maggie would’ve picked another location for their party. “I can’t even begin to imagine how much this cost.”

“Not as much as you think,” Jules reassured her. “And definitely less than bringing security in, to try to protect Robin in a Friday night crowd. He’s kind of a hot target—that’s just something we live with. The studio knows it, too, and they help pick up the cost of protecting him. It’s a worthwhile investment for all parties.”

She smiled at that, and it softened the angles of her face, making her look much too young to have a daughter Maggie’s age. “You’re so lucky,” she said. “I mean, to have found him.”

“I am,” Jules agreed, as down beneath them Robin explained the rules to a game that was really called Balls, but that, for today, he was calling by the more PG-13 name Pairs. “He’s amazing.”

Teams of two attached themselves together with a harness and a three-foot-long bungee cord. They would then compete in a laser tag game with another likewise-attached team. First team to annihilate the other won. You got more points if both team members survived, but one person standing was okay, too.

But once your teammate was “killed,” and her laser vest lit up, she had to stop and drop, which was limiting for the survivor, who was now attached to a “dead” body.

It was a fun game, even for beginners. And Jules knew that before the evening ended he’d be dragged into it, and forced to handicap himself by doing something ridiculous. Like taking off his boots and limiting himself to firing his laser ray gun with his toes. Or tying his feet together and firing his weapon with his hands behind his back.

Right now Maggie had teamed up with Robin, while a very pretty Asian American girl named Keisha was giggling as she attached herself to the skinny boy named Jason.

Maggie’s smile was a little bit forced, and she kept looking over at the door that led into the gaming area, as if she were waiting for someone to come in.

Dolphina and Will were setting up the room where they’d all have pizza—yeah, right, that’s what they were doing, alone in there. Arlene’s friend Jack had yet to arrive, so maybe Maggie was waiting for him.…

But, no. “Maggie’s friend Liz isn’t here,” Jules realized.

Arlene nodded. “Yeah, they had a big fight. Lizzie’s pretty volatile.” She sighed. “Mags is really upset, and I feel guilty, because I keep thinking maybe it’s for the best.”

“Look who I found, lurking out in the parking lot.”

Arlene practically did a triple-lutz, she turned around so fast. She lit up with a smile that was so wide Jules had to squint at the extreme wattage. And, sure enough, the voice belonged to Boston Globe reporter Jack Lloyd. He was with a grim-looking boy who was nearly Jack’s height, but half his weight. He was almost as skinny as young Jason.

But he was older than Maggie and her friends. Maybe by as much as four years.

He’d clearly made an effort to look nice. His jeans were clean, and he was wearing a button-down shirt, sleeves rolled to his elbows. His long hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail. But he had the hardened, edgy attitude of a kid who’d often found himself in trouble—and probably not by accident.

Still, Jules had to give the boy credit. He looked Arlene dead in the eye and held out his hand and said, “I’m Mike Milton, Mrs. Bristol.”

“Liz’s brother,” Jack provided, in case they weren’t on the same page. He turned to Mike. “And she’s Ms. Schroeder. Maggie’s name is Bristol, but her mom and dad are no longer married.”

“Of course, I knew that, I’m sorry,” the kid said. He glanced at Jules, but apparently decided that he didn’t need to know who he was, because he turned back to Arlene. “Ms. Schroeder, I came over here tonight because my sister is convinced that you don’t want her anywhere near Maggie ever again, and maybe that’s the case, but there’s really something that you need to know before you make any ultimatums and that’s that Liz is the only person Maggie talks to, you know, about your being out there, in danger? And it’s really not that Maggie talks to Lizzie, but it’s that Liz makes Maggie talk. And I can see it—I can see that it helps her. Mags. And I try to get her to talk about it, too, but …” He shook his head. “Lizzie’s the only one she’ll talk to and I know she’s not perfect, Lizzie, she’s really not even close to perfect, but her friendship with Maggie is … It’s important to both of them and … I wanted you to know that.”

It was quite the speech, a little wordy in places, sure—and it would have benefited from more traditional punctuation, which also would have allowed the kid the chance to take a breath.

But as far as heartfelt went, it was a perfect ten, in Jules’s book. And evidently it got high scores in Arlene’s, too, because she was now clearly struggling to find her voice to respond.

Jack gave her the time she needed to compose herself by putting a hand on Mike’s shoulder and saying, “You were right—that’s really important information for Arlene to know.”

“Thank you,” Arlene added. “I can tell that you … care a lot about Maggie.”

The boy’s attitude shifted into full-on badass, and he laughed his disgust as his entire face shut down. “Perfect, yeah, I should have expected you to go there. Right. I don’t know why I bothered—”

“Yeah, you do.” Jack cut him off. “And she didn’t go there, but you sure as hell just did. So why don’t you just confess to Maggie’s mother that you’re smitten, but you know damn well that right now the girl’s too young. Cap it off with a little reassurance that you’re honorable—”

“I am honorable,” Mike countered hotly, his chin high. “Not that I expect you to believe me.”

“I’d very much like to believe you,” Arlene said evenly. “But I don’t really know you. So why don’t you go home and pick up Lizzie and both come back here so we can all spend some time getting to know each other.”

The boy looked at Arlene as if she’d just spoken to him in Chinese.

“Unless you have someplace you need to be,” she continued. “In which case, you and Liz can come over for dinner. Maybe tomorrow …?”

“Not tomorrow,” Jack said quickly. “We’re busy tomorrow. Night.”

Arlene looked up at him in surprise. “We’re …?”

“Busy. Yes, we are.” Jack nodded. For some reason he was unable or unwilling to look at her, his focus on Mike. “How about Sunday. I’ll come, too.”

The boy was astonished by the invitation, and Jules could tell that he was not the kind of kid who was often astonished. Mike closed his mouth. Opened it again. Closed it again, then cleared his throat. “No,” he said. “Well, I mean, yeah. Dinner would, um … I know Lizzie would like that and, um, I would. Also. But she’s … kinda waiting out in the car. See, I thought there might be a chance that Maggie’s mom would be … at least marginally cool.”

Arlene had laced her fingers with Jack’s, and she smiled now. “Go and get her. And tell her that Maggie—and I—will be very happy to see her.”

Mike nodded. “I can’t stay tonight,” he said. “I wish I could, but … I made a promise I have to keep. If you’re serious about dinner, just tell Lizzie when, and … I’ll be there.”

Arlene nodded. “Sunday.”

“Or Monday,” Jack interjected.

Arlene laughed as she looked at him. “Or, apparently, Monday.”

As Mike headed toward the stairs, Arlene murmured to Jack, “Really?”

Jules turned to look over the rail and to watch the game that had started below. Maggie and Robin were kicking ass as their opponents shrieked and laughed.

“I’m still holding out for Vegas,” Jack murmured back, as Jules tried not to listen. He wasn’t exactly sure what they were talking about, but it didn’t take much imagination to guess. “I’m giving you twenty-four more hours.”

She laughed again. “I’m not going to Vegas, Jack. Not after you just tipped your hand.”

“I’m a terrible negotiator,” he agreed. “But I do believe miracles happen every day, and that I’m due for one.” He kissed her and changed the subject as he tugged her over to the railing so that they, too, could look down at the action. “So. Mike Milton. A lot less scary than he looks. But definitely damaged goods.”

“I have boys just like him in my unit,” Arlene said. “Just dying for a little respect, and for someone to treat them decently.” She looked up at Jack. “And yet …”

“Good cop, bad cop,” he told her. “You can deliver the respect and decency. I will pull him aside and let him know that we have a one-strike policy—and that if he touches Maggie inappropriately, I will not hesitate to cut off his balls.”

The game ended with the sound of a buzzer, and the door to the playing arena opened.

“Lizzie!” Maggie squealed as the other girl launched herself into the room, and they hugged as if they hadn’t seen each other in five years, as Robin unhooked himself from the harness.

Mike stepped in through the door, too, and Maggie went running toward him. He glanced up at Jules, Arlene, and Jack.

“Yes, we are watching you, bucko,” Arlene said quietly, even though she was smiling down at him.

He was not a stupid kid. He was well aware. He was also carrying something that he held out to Maggie. When she took it, Jules saw that it was a graphic novel. One of the X-Men anthologies.

Maggie was thrilled. As Mike spoke to her, she hugged the book to her chest and hung on his every word.

“Look at how she looks at him,” Arlene murmured. “God help us.” Jack laughed. “Look at how hard he’s trying to be cool.”

Lizzie came over and tried to pull Maggie away, and Mike laughed. He ruffled his sister’s hair, and then did the same to Maggie’s before he turned to leave. He looked back, though, right before he went out through the door, and it was clear that he would rather have stayed.

“Gotta love a kid who keeps his promises,” Jules pointed out.

“To his fellow gang members?” Arlene wondered aloud. “To his drug dealer? To his pregnant girlfriend?” Jack laughed again. “We’ll ask him at dinner.”

“On Monday,” she said.

His smile grew broader. “On Monday,” he agreed, pulling her close, as Jules escaped downstairs.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Maggie’s hands were as big as Arlene’s.

It shouldn’t have been a shock because she was now taller than Arlene, too.

And yet …

Maggie had gotten a green plastic signet-type ring with the face of a leprechaun imprinted on it out of what looked like a giant bubble-gum dispenser. She had been hoping to get the ring that had the head of the not-very-Johnny-Depp-ish pirate, but immediately announced that this was much better. And it became a whole, big, hilarious thing—whoever was deemed the all-star in the current round of Pairs got to wear the ridiculous ring.

And so it passed from hand to hand.

Arlene had had possession of it for a few brief moments before the pizza arrived.

“This actually fits you? On your ring finger?” she asked Maggie as she slipped it on. It fit her perfectly.

Her daughter cheerfully replied, “It’s a little tight.”

And somehow Jack knew what Arlene was thinking and feeling, because he put his arms around her and gave her a hug, which was comforting and nice.

We. Us. Ours. They’d both been using those words a lot lately, and it didn’t feel weird or wrong.

It felt oddly perfect, as if, at long last, the universe had finally been set right.

Even more odd was the fact that Arlene was a little disappointed that Jack had announced his intention to surrender on Saturday night. Despite the sheer impracticality, part of her had been seriously considering taking him up on the craziness of a Las Vegas weekend. But not this weekend, because Maggie was part of her school’s Playcrafters group, and they were performing a series of ten-minute plays at a local assisted-living facility on Sunday afternoon. And Arlene wasn’t going to miss that.

Not for anything.

As far as her disappointment went, it was very small. Very manageable. It was nicely mixed with her current feeling of breathless anticipation.

After this party was over, she was going to do her best to convince Jack that there was no point at all in waiting for tomorrow night.

Right now the conversation was all about a book called The Hunger Games. Will had gotten an early copy from a friend who did a book review blog at the Boston Globe, and Maggie had loved it so much that she shared it with all of her friends.

She’d made sure to get it back so that Arlene could read it, too. The copy was coming unglued, the pages rubberbanded together.

Arlene had finished it in one sitting, while Maggie was at school.

“Foxface,” Lizzie was saying. “I would totally be Foxface. I would finally have a good reason to use my mad shoplifting skills.”

Maggie looked quickly at Arlene. “She’s kidding.”

Arlene certainly hoped so. Jack was sitting so that his hand was resting lightly against her back, and she appreciated his solid presence.

“Don’t say things like that,” Maggie lit into Lizzie. “My mom doesn’t know that you’re not serious.”

“My mother’s the shoplifter in the family,” Lizzie told Arlene brusquely, with a blunt honesty that was disarming. “She got caught once when my little brother and I were with her and …” Her sharply featured face twisted. “Believe me when I tell you I’d starve to death before I ever did anything as moronically stupid as that.”

Arlene did believe her. “That must’ve been hard.”

“It sucked.” Lizzie glanced at Maggie before steadily gazing back into Arlene’s eyes. “But there are definitely worse things in life to endure.”

“Lizzie,” Maggie said, a warning tone in her voice.

“It’s okay,” Arlene told her daughter, still holding Lizzie’s somewhat challenging gaze. “For the record, I liked Foxface a lot.” She glanced at Jack who hadn’t yet read the book. “I don’t want to say more. Spoiler alert.”

Jack spoke up. “I guess I gotta read this book.”

“Oh, you do,” Maggie told him earnestly. “I’ll lend it to you.”

“I’d love that,” Jack said, smiling warmly back at her.

This was weird. This feeling of … contentment? Satisfaction? Serenity?

It was a sense of unity, of belonging, of rightness.

Maybe this was what it felt like to have a real family—to have someone, very literally, at her back, not just during bad times, but good times as well. Which was not to say that she and Maggie hadn’t been a family, albeit a small one. But it had always felt to her as if it were Arlene and Maggie against the world. With Jack sitting beside her, it felt more as if they were part of the world.

The conversation had drifted to the character named Peeta, and Jason was enduring some intense teasing. If Lizzie was Foxface, and Maggie was the heroic main character named Katniss, then Jason was Peeta. Apparently Lizzie’s brother Mike had some competition in the crush-on-Mags department.

Arlene looked at Jack to see if he’d made note of the boy’s blushing, but he was frowning.

But only because his phone was buzzing. He’d set it to vibrate, and he now pulled it out of his pocket. “Ah, shit,” he said. “I mean, shoot. Sorry. Becca just called me three times in a row.”

Arlene laughed. “I think that qualifies for an ah, shit,” she leaned closer to him to say.

He smiled, but he wasn’t happy. “I better take this,” he told her as he pushed his chair back from the table.

“Say hi for me,” Arlene said, and the face he gave her—Not a chance in hell mixed with Are you freaking kidding?—made her laugh again.

“I’m in the middle of something important,” she heard him say into the phone as he headed for the door to the hallway, “so unless this is an emergency …”

Jack put his finger in his ear as he started to push open the door with his shoulder. But then he froze. It was only for an instant before he was moving again, but his body language had changed so dramatically that Arlene was up and out of her chair and heading for him, before the door shut behind him.

As she slipped out into the hall, he was going through his pockets almost frantically, even as he asked, “He’s in surgery right now? Who’s the doctor?”

He’d found a folded piece of paper to write on, but as he looked at Arlene he said, “Pen, I need a pen.”

He always carried one in the back pocket of his jeans—even back when he was in college—and she reached for it, and sure enough it was there.

She uncapped it before she handed it to him, and as he scribbled the name of a doctor and what looked like a hospital onto the paper, he said into the phone, “You seriously left them home alone when Luke was … No, I’m not saying it’s your fault. How could appendicitis be your fault? I’m just … Oh, oh, that helps. That’s … Do we really have to do this now? Shouldn’t you … No, no, I’m not saying that! That’s not what I—” He took a deep breath and exhaled hard. “Look, I’ll call you back with my flight information. Yes. Yes.” He hung up the phone. “Jesus!” “Luke or Joey?” Arlene asked.

“Luke,” he told her, already scrolling through his address book. When he glanced up at her, his eyes were apologetic. “I gotta catch the next flight to San Francisco. World Air flies out of Logan. I have their number in here, somewhere …”

“People don’t die from appendicitis,” she told him.

“Yeah, I know, thank God, right?” Jack said. “But I’m sorry, I still have to go.”

He thought she’d said that to … “Of course you still have to go,” Arlene said. “I wasn’t … That wasn’t …”

“Where the hell is it?” he asked, frowning at his phone.

Arlene reached into her pocket for her own cell. “I’ll get the number from information.” She dialed her phone. “World Airlines ticketing,” she told the voice system. “Please put the call through.”

Jack, meanwhile, had started trying to access his far fancier phone’s Internet service. “Shit,” he swore as he tried to access the tiny keypad. “Shit. I’m all thumbs.”

She’d already been put on hold, so she held out her phone for him. “Trade.”

Jack handed his phone over as he took hers, holding it to his ear.

Her Master Sergeant had a similar phone to Jack’s, and Arlene knew how to use it. “What are you looking up?” she asked.

“It ruptured,” he told her.

Oh, no. She didn’t say it aloud, but she didn’t have to.

“Yeah. He’d been complaining of stomachaches for weeks,” Jack said, but then he pointed to the phone. “Yes, thank you. I need the next available flight to San Francisco. Or LA. I could fly into LA. Or even Sacramento … There is?” He looked back at Arlene. “One seat left on a red-eye to San Francisco. It leaves in two hours. I’m going to take it.”

“You should,” she said, as the Internet revealed that the big danger from a ruptured appendix came from infection after surgery. Peritonitis. And oh, she’d been wrong. People did still die from a ruptured appendix.

Jack had dug for his wallet and was giving his credit card information to the airline rep.

He was going to need a ride to the airport, but Arlene didn’t have a car. She stepped into the pizza party room, where her brother was completely focused on Dolphina. “Will!” she called.

But it was Jules Cassidy, always vigilant, who looked up and came over.

“What happened?” he asked, and she told him what she knew as she pulled him with her back out into the hallway.

“Robin and I can drive you to the airport,” Jules told Jack as he hung up Arlene’s phone. “No problem.”

“Thank you,” Jack said, handing Arlene her phone. “Damnit, I have to leave, like, ten minutes ago.”

“I’ll get Robin.” Jules vanished.

“Luke’s going to be okay,” Arlene told Jack.

He nodded, but he didn’t look convinced.

“Call me when you get there,” she said.

“It’s going to be late,” he said.

“I don’t care,” Arlene insisted. “Just call me when you land. And again when you get to the hospital. And whenever else you need me.”

The muscle was jumping in his jaw. “I will,” he said, then he grabbed her and held her close. “Jesus, I’m a total douchebag for thinking this. My kid’s in the hospital and I can’t stop thinking shit, shit, why didn’t I check into the Baldwin’s Bridge hotel with you when I had the chance?”

She laughed. “You’re thinking that because you’re human and you know damn well that you were going to get some tonight.” She lifted her head to kiss him, and the kiss he gave her back was deliciously loaded with promise. But his worry and fear was back there, too, and she pulled away, because he had to go. “I’ll be here when you get back,” she promised him in a voice that was breathless.

He kissed her again. “Or you could meet me in Vegas.”

“Again with the Vegas thing.”

“We’ll talk about it,” Jack told her.

“Jack.” Robin was at the door. “Jules got the car, he’s waiting out front.”

The trip to the airport was going to take fifteen minutes at best. Longer if there was traffic.

Jack pulled Arlene back with him into the party room. He raised his voice. “Mags, I gotta go.”

But Maggie was already standing right there by the door, looking worried. “Jules told me that Becca called and Luke’s in the hospital.”

“Jack,” Robin said again.

“I’ll keep you updated,” Jack promised Maggie, giving her a hug and Arlene one last glance before he followed Robin back out the door.

Maggie chased after him. “Jack, wait!”

Arlene pushed open the door, too, watching as Maggie ran to keep up with Jack.

They were halfway down the hall when something Maggie said made Jack pull up short. Arlene watched as Maggie stood there, almost nervously turning the green ring around and around on her finger. And Jack gave the girl his full attention as he listened to whatever she was telling him so earnestly. It was clear she was upset as she used the heel of her hand to wipe tears impatiently from her eyes.

Jack, bless him, spoke to her just as seriously, just as earnestly, and completely reassuringly. And then he took Maggie’s sweet face in his hands and planted a kiss on her forehead.

And it took Arlene’s breath away—watching this man be the kind of father that Maggie’d never had, the kind of father that all little girls deserved in their lives.

Whatever he’d said to Maggie calmed her, and she nodded as he told her something else, and then they both turned, almost at the exact moment, and looked back at Arlene and smiled.

And her heart damn near burst.

Then Maggie stepped back, and Jack was gone.

But then Lizzie appeared, running past Arlene to pull Maggie back with her into the party.

And Arlene knew she was going to have to wait until they got home to ask Maggie what she’d said to Jack, and what he’d told her in response. Except her phone rang, and she saw from the number that it was …

“Jack.”

“Hey.” His warm voice came through the tiny speaker. “Since I’m not driving, I thought I’d call and tell you, well …” He exhaled hard. “I’m just going to say it, okay? Maggie was afraid that my having to rush off to California was another ploy of Becca’s that would keep you and me apart. And I was sitting here and it suddenly occurred to me that if Mags was worried about that, you might be, too.”

Arlene hadn’t even considered the possibility. “Should I be worried?” she asked.

“No,” he said, his voice absolute.

“Then I’m not worried,” she told him.

“I love you,” he said.

Arlene nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t possibly see her. “I love you, too.” And then she said words that were even more astonishing—words she truly couldn’t believe were coming out of her mouth. “We’ll meet you in Vegas, Jack. Maggie and me. After Luke’s out of the woods. After Maggie’s show on Sunday. Maybe on—”

“Monday,” he finished for her, laughing, and she could hear his joy in his voice. “That would be amazingly great.”

“Or Tuesday,” she said, “provided I can take Maggie out of school.”

“I think they’ll let her go for her mother’s wedding,” he said, and the world tilted for her, because it was so surreal. And somehow Jack knew it, because he lowered his voice. “When you start having second thoughts, just remember, Leenie, how many years we’ve known each other. How good it feels, just to sit together in the same room. How well we fit.”

They did fit. But … “I still have to go back,” she reminded him. “I can’t get pregnant. Not … yet.” Once again, she’d said a word that she would never in a million years have believed that she’d say. But she meant it, because someday—a not-too-distant someday—she could imagine bringing another child into this world. A world that she was going to share with this man who loved her.

Arlene heard Jack smile as he exhaled, as he understood the subtext of what she’d said. “I love you,” he said again. Simple. And absolute.

“I know,” she said, and it was true. She believed him.

He laughed again. “I gotta go, Han Solo. Although I gotta tell you, you’re the only woman on the planet for whom I would willingly play the part of Princess Leia. But my battery’s at ten percent and I don’t have my charger on me and, shit, I won’t have time to get one at the airport.”

“Then don’t call me when you land,” she told him. “Save your phone for an emergency. Call me when you get to the hospital. Whatever time it is. I’ll be here.”

“I’m counting on it,” he said.

And then he was gone.