gift on your shoulder,” he reported, mirroring its location on himself.
She immediately blushed and looked to the left, her chin grazing the pinnacle of spit-up and transferring some to her face. She had wanted to answer the door as sexy Alison, not mama-bear Alison. It had been so long since she had felt that desire. She even broke out the new lavender-and-vanilla-infused soap that the woman at the local apothecary promised would eradicate the smell of new baby, her unintentional signature scent persistently emanating from her pores. She was sure the gift that Zachary had left on her shoulder would override her efforts. It was not how she pictured this going.
Her embarrassment was slightly tempered by admiration. She couldn’t believe Jack remembered Zach’s name; she didn’t even remember telling it to him. Even dressed as sexy Alison she was still thinking like a mama bear. Maybe that part of me is dead, she thought. But when she looked at Jack with his broad shoulders and piercing eyes, she knew that was not the case.
He blushed as well, realizing that she never had—not knowingly at least—told him her son’s name. He swore again to stop communicating with her as Jackie from the bulletin board.
“I’m gonna go up and change. I’ll be quick,” she said, touching him gently on the arm and leading him to the living room to wait. Even with a gesture as small as that, they were both aware of the obvious spark between them.
He looked around, taking it all in—shabby chic meets the baby aisle at Toys R Us—or wherever one would buy such things today. Jackie had no idea. He had forgotten how much paraphernalia came with a baby. He remembered how intent he had been when Jana was small on always having the latest toys and gadgets, trying to make up for the one thing he couldn’t give her: her mother. He took a seat on the couch and ran through his “I have something to tell you” plan.
“OK, I’m good to go now.” She was back smiling at him in a way that made his heart thump a bit harder. “And thank you for telling me, not everyone would have.”
The perfect lead-in, he thought. “I always tell it like it is. But funny enough—”
She cut him right off at the word “but,” completely drowning out the rest of his sentence. “I always tell it like it is, too. Maybe it’s the lawyer in me, but I have zero patience for dishonesty.”
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she had done on the train. He again pictured them being close enough to tuck it back for her. If he said something now he may never get that chance. She barely knows me, he thought. I’ll wait until after dinner.
“Let’s go,” he said, smiling. “We can walk from here.”
Both Jack and Jackie really liked this woman. He couldn’t risk not even making it out the door on their first date.
On the way to the restaurant, they talked about the weather and the beautiful old Victorian houses along Main Street. It was only after they sat down and had their first glass of wine that the conversation loosened up.
“What do you think is harder, having a baby or a teenager?” Alison asked.
“That’s a great question. I thought the in-between time was best. You’ll step on a few Legos, which really hurts, by the way, but if you feed them and love them and get them where they need to be relatively on time, you’re good. Bringing up babies and teenagers is similarly hard.”
“How so?”
“Well, when you have a baby you suffer from sleep deprivation, and it’s hard to figure out what the baby wants and needs. And when you have a teenager you have to wait up for them to get home, which is equally exhausting, and you have no idea what it is they want and need.”
Alison thought of her online friend and the tampon incident. She almost brought it up, but lucky for Jackie she decided it wasn’t good dinner conversation.
“I remember when I was a teenager, I didn’t tell my mom anything,” Alison said instead.
“Me too, but at least when I did, we could understand each other. My daughter speaks a totally different language. Tonight, she said my outfit slayed. I had no idea if that was good or bad.”
“I know that word! It’s good!”
“OK, hotshot, how about ‘lit’?” he said, matching her quite adorable enthusiasm.
“That’s so easy. Cool.”
“Hmm. I’m impressed.