Chapter 4
Jake knew he had to give Mia some time to cool off but he didn’t relish the idea. He wanted to see her so badly – she was in his blood all over again, just like she used to be – but he ultimately decided to give her a day to unwind before he approached her again. He thought of her a lot though - somewhere in a room in this very hotel. He imagined her right above him, maybe sleeping nude, touching herself because she couldn’t be touched by him...
He did feel guilty. The way she had said that he had broken her, still made his chest ache. He wanted to make it up to her somehow but he wasn’t sure she would give him that chance. Still, he had to try because from the moment he had seen her standing in the hospital – after all these years - he had known one thing. He wanted her. He had actually never stopped wanting her.
He spent a sleepless night in his too-quiet room and then at six a.m. got up and showered. He had a long day of surgeries ahead of him and he wanted to see her – he needed to. Soon enough, he told himself.
By seven a.m., he was ready to go – after thoroughly lathering every inch of his body and dressing and spraying on that old, familiar cologne of his. He grabbed his keys off the dresser and was heading to the door when suddenly there was a knock. He smiled. Maybe Mia was coming to her senses and wanted to be with him. Maybe she could even one day forgive him for hurting her the way he had.
He hurried to the door and threw it open. “Mi-“ he started to say and broke off when he saw who was standing there.
“Trevor!” He said with a grin as his son launched at his legs. He picked Trevor up and swung him around.
“Watch out. He might throw up on you,” Amanda said. “He did that to me twice during the night.”
Jake immediately stilled and pressed a hand to Trevor’s forehead. “Whoa, buddy, you are definitely warm.”
“Yeah he’s sick. Too sick to go to school,” Amanda said. “And I have an important meeting at Fusion so it’s your turn for vomit-duty.”
Jake could have protested. After all, he had back-to-back surgeries today but he also knew that Angie Hubbard was more than capable of handling them herself and now that she was back from her four-month-long maternity leave, she was raring to go on new cases.
Jake nodded. “Alright. I’ll take good care of you, Bud,” he said to Trevor. The little boy smiled widely and nodded. Amanda set a bag of snacks, and all manner of syrups and drops of medicine inside the door.
Trevor spotted his favorite stuffed giraffe and wriggled down to the floor so he could pick it up. He hugged to him and then took off towards the room’s huge TV.
“Everything will be fine right, Jake?” Amanda said.
“Of course. I’ve babysat plenty of times, remember?”
“I know. It’s just never easy to pawn my sick kid off on someone else.”
“I’m not someone else, Amanda. I’m his father. It’ll be fine. Now you’d better get going.”
“Yes,” Amanda agreed and she waved to Trevor and blew him kisses. “Bye, son!” She then turned and started down the hall. Halfway to the elevators, she paused in her tracks and turned back to look at him.
“So you and Mia Saunders are at it again, huh?”
“Wait. How did-“
“You said ‘Mi’ when you opened the door. I assume you were expecting her. She’s back in town; it’s not hard to put two and two together, you know.”
Jake nodded. “I don’t know if there will be anything lasting between us, to be honest.”
“Not for your lack of trying, I’m sure,” Amanda said. “I know you. You’re just as tenacious as I am when it comes to getting what you want.” She splayed her small hands. “Good luck with her.”
“Is that your way of giving me your blessing?”
“Yeah, I suppose so. We’ve been divorced for a long time now, Jake. I want you to be happy as long as it’s not with Cara,” she said with a little laugh and a half-smile.
Jake smiled. “Thanks for the support.”
Amanda nodded and then turned and walked off. She climbed onto the elevator and was gone. Jake sighed and walked back into his room. Trevor was lounging on the sofa, watching Sponge Bob on the huge TV. Jake watched his son and smiled. Even with a pasty pallor, mussed hair, and wearing wrinkly blue pajamas, he was a darn cute kid. He favored Amanda in a lot of ways. He thought of Amanda. They hadn’t had the most amicable divorce and he’d been angry when she upped and married that rat JR Chandler but for the first time in a long time, he felt things were going to be okay – at least on that front. He still had to make things right with Mia.
XoXoXo
Almost two hours had passed and Jake had checked Trevor’s temperature three times. He had puked twice but his fever was starting to go down and he was asking for animal crackers. That was a good sign.
Jake was rifling through the bag Amanda had brought along for him and found the little baggie of animal crackers. He brought them to Trevor who was still on the sofa, but looking a little less sickly than before. “Hey, Bud,” Jake said. “After this episode of Doc McStuffins is over, what do you say we play Parcheesi?”
“What’s Par-cheese?” Trevor asked, cocking his head.
“Parcheesi. It’s an adult game but it’s never too early to learn how to play it. Plus , it’s the only game I could find in the cabinet here. You can’t watch TV all day.”
“I can’t?”
“Nope. It will rot your brain,” Jake said with a teasing smile.
Trevor shrugged. “Okay.” He then turned back to watching the rest of the show.
Jake smiled as he eyed his cell phone on the end table. He wanted to call Mia but then he didn’t know her phone number, or hell, even her room number. They had never actually made it to her room here at The Valley Inn.
He sighed and was just about to set out the Parcheesi box when there was a knock at the door. He wondered who it could be. Amanda wouldn’t be back so soon. Again, he had the hope that it was Mia but he wasn’t counting on it this time.
He opened the door and his eyes practically bugged out. Mia really was standing there this time. “Hey,” he greeted her with a big smile. “How’d you find me?”
Mia crossed her slender arms. She was looking particularly luscious in a chartreuse dress. “I asked around,” she said. “Anyway, I just came to tell you that –“ She broke off as she spotted Trevor walking over to them.
“Hey,” Trevor said. “Who are you?”
“I’m – I’m… My name is Mia,” she sputtered out. “And you must be Trevor.”
Trevor nodded. “Yep. Are you Daddy’s friend?”
Mia obviously didn’t know how to respond so Jake stepped in. “We’ve known each other for a really long time so yes, I like to think we’re friends.” He flicked his eyes to Mia’s. Her doe eyes were stormy.
“Mia,” Trevor said. “We’re about to play Par-Cheese!”
“Par-cheese?” Mia asked, looking at Jake for an explanation.
“Parcheesi,” Jake said.
“That’s great.” She started to back up. “Jake, I’ll come by later. Have fun playing Parcheesi.”
“Mia,” Trevor called to her. “Do you like Par-cheese?”
“Well… It’s been a long time since I played it. Why?”
“Stay and play with us!” Trevor said. “Please!”
Mia’s eyes darted to Jake. “Jake…”
“You don’t have to stay,” Jake said, thought disappointment tinged his words. “Trevor is ill anyway. I wouldn’t want you to catch anything.”
Trevor’s bottom lip trembled. “I won’t get you sick, Mia, I promise. Stay!”
Mia offered Trevor a little smile. “Okay… I guess I can I say ‘no’ to that, can I?”
Trevor grabbed for her hand, pulling her inside the room. Jake just grinned. Who knew his own son would end up being the perfect matchmaker?
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