throat. “So I was wondering if I could stop over tomorrow evening. I have something for you.”
“Oh, yeah? What is it?” I ask. A smile slowly curls my lips and elongates the question.
“You’ll see. Tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I tease, biting my lips.
“Don’t get too excited. I hope this doesn’t disappoint,” he states with a laugh.
“I don’t think you could disappoint me,” I reply but quickly recover the statement. “With a surprise, of course.”
“Of course.”
+ + +
When Jess arrives the next night, the surprise is exactly what I’d hoped it would be.
“It’s so beautiful,” I whisper, tears clouding my eyes. Jess has completely restored Nana’s radio. He cleaned all the parts and even prettied up the old wood.
“I really struggled with how to make the sound function. You can’t get any radio stations to connect without the modern developments. Then the next dilemma was whether a local station even existed that would play the kind of music Elizabeth wanted.”
I swallow the lump in my throat at the mention of her name and give Jess a weak grin. He pulls a remote from his pocket, aims it at the radio and the device comes to life. My eyes widen, and I beam at him like a kid on Christmas morning. He presses a button, and classic big band music fills the room.
“Oh my gosh.” I cover my lips with both hands, impressed and saddened at the same time. “It’s so wonderful.” I blink back the tears, and Jess’s hand strokes up my back.
“I’m sorry I didn’t have it sooner,” he whispers next to me as I stare at the antique piece.
“I’m sure they can hear it,” I reply, thinking of both my grandparents. I close my eyes, and just for a moment, I see them as I did when I was a child. They danced in a corner of the living room. My grandfather buried his face in her neck. My grandmother giggled. It’s such a romantic memory.
“Looks like you got a lot done yesterday,” Jess says, interrupting my thoughts. I follow his gaze to the front door, and he eyes the boxes without saying anything else.
“How’s Katie?” I ask. I haven’t seen her since my visit to Jess’s mother’s house.
“She’s doing surprisingly well with the picture program, although I shouldn’t be surprised as kids are so technologically advanced. She used the program the other day to tell me what she wanted to wear—Cinderella dress-up shoes with her shorts.” Jess smiles and shakes his head. She’s a girl who already knows her mind and her fashion.
“She misses you,” he adds, not even thinking twice about what he said.
“I miss her.” It’s true. I feel something for his child, something I most likely shouldn’t.
A song on the radio changes to one with a slower tempo, and Jess walks around the room to turn off two of the lamps I had on. He returns to where I’m standing, stops before me, and holds up a hand.
“Dance with me?”
It’s so Grandpa and Nana, and I accept. Jess wraps his hand around mine and pulls me close, nuzzling at my ear, and I shiver with the thought I’m living their happily ever after for the length of a song.
How I wish this could be a reality for me.
“How did you come up with this design?” I ask, feeling like I should speak despite the music.
“I told you, I’m an electrical engineer by trade.”
“You must have worked hard at this.”
“I liked the challenge.”
I pull back to smile up at him. As a stubborn man, I suppose challenges do give him both frustration and entertainment.
“The idea of restoring sound . . .” His voice trails, and I read into what he isn’t saying. He can’t fix his little girl and her lack of speech, but he could fix this old radio and make it sing.
“Oh Jess,” I say, melting against him.
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but let’s not talk right now.”
“Okay,” I whisper before tucking my head back against his chest and closing my eyes as the female crooner bellows about love at last.
As the song nears its end, I lean away again and look up at Jess. The electric crackle between us is like the flickering of lights during a thunderstorm. His mouth lowers to mine, and we move together. No longer swaying to the music but rocking against one another. The kiss heats as do other parts, and Jess lowers his lips to my jaw and then my neck. He tugs at my T-shirt collar