Runway Romance (Love in the Air Trilogy) (21 page)

“Oh, Dad, don’t get your boxers in a bunch. I’m not talking about serious kissing, just a quick ‘hey, I like you’ kiss.”

“You’re a bit young for kissing don’t you think?”

“I knew I should have had this conversation with Mom instead of you.”

“She’ll say the same thing I will.”

“I know, but she’ll say it in a way that doesn’t make me feel like I’m two years old.”

“I didn’t mean to do that.”

“I know. You’re a guy, it’s just different.”

“Well, I don’t plan on having a sex change any time soon so you’re going to have to get used to dealing with me being a guy.”

“Men are the worst,” Jenny said, handing Maya the items she’d requested. “They say all the wrong things at the wrong time, never let you complete a sentence without interrupting and then they say they don’t understand women. If they’d listen once in a while, they’d learn exactly what we want.”

“This ought to be good. What do women want?” Rich asked.

“To be able to share love, fear, doubts, dreams… everything, with the man they love.”

“Sounds simple.”

“Men want to fix everything. They can’t let us work it out in our own way in our own time.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“I never said it was. It’s just that we don’t need a knight in shining armor making some grand gesture.”

“What do you need?”

“A guy who’ll leave a note on my car that says he’s thinking of me and wishing me luck with the job interview I’m about to go to. Or a guy who’ll bring me chocolate and a heating pad when I’m having cramps and not mention anything about how I need to be careful about getting fat from eating too much chocolate.”

“I see. It’s the little things. The moments where he shows you that he loves you, not because he has to, but because he really is thinking of you and not himself.”

“Exactly.”

“Men aren’t really wired that way. If I knew you had a job interview, I’d be more apt to ask you if you’d tuned up your car recently so you’d have reliable transportation than leave a note on your car. I probably would bring you chocolate if you had cramps, but I wouldn’t even know that a heating pad would help something like that.

You have to give us a few hints along the way or we’ll never figure out what the right thing to do is. The rules seem to always be changing.”

“Mostly, we just want you to make the effort, whether it falls to pieces or goes smoothly doesn’t matter as much as the fact that you cared enough to do something.”

“Should I be writing all this down?”

“If I were you, I would,” Maya said. “She’s telling you how to show her you love her. I am so glad I’m not a man.”

“I have your paperwork. It’ll still be an hour or so before you can leave, but we can take care of most of it now,” the nurse said as Maya hopped out of bed and began gathering her belongings. Turning her attention to Richard, she said, “I’ll need your signatures.”

“You got out of that one,” Jenny said.

“Don’t I know it. I wasn’t going to touch that comment with a ten-foot pole.”

“I think it’s good for you to have a daughter. Just imagine all the insight you’re getting about women.”

“It hasn’t seemed to help me so far.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Thank you for coming, Jenny. And, for staying with me.”

“I didn’t want to be anywhere else.”

“Want to have dinner together tonight?”

“Sure. Not Korean food.”

“You didn’t like it?”

“I don’t like the memory of that day.”

Rich nodded. “Italian?”

“Now you’re talking my language. How about Cristiano’s on Downey Street?”

“I love their food. They don’t give you rinky-dink portion sizes, either. Seven?”

“Perfect. I’ll meet you there.” Jenny kissed Rich on the cheek. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Can I come, Dad?” Maya asked.

“Not this time, sweetie. You and I can go on Friday night. It’s our date night, remember?”

“I love date night. Dad always takes me to these great places and I get to dress up.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“It is.”

“I’ll see you tonight,” Rich said, squeezing her hand gently and then letting go.

“Glad you’re feeling better, Maya.”

“Thanks, Jenny. You and Dad go good together. I approve.”

Rich laughed. “I didn’t know we needed your approval.”

“Well, now you know.”

Jenny suppressed a grin as she exited the hospital room. Rich was a good father. She could easily see him with kids draped in his arms and hanging on his legs as he read them stories in an overstuffed recliner.

She yawned as she headed back to her car. “Glad I’m not working today.”

On the drive home, she thought about how fast things had happened between the two of them. It had all seemed so easy. Usually a relationship took work… lots of work. Jenny wasn’t sure if that meant Rich was The One or if she was heading toward heartbreak.

“How do you know if you’re meant to spend the rest of your life with someone?” The question rang in her ears, echoing in her heart.

When she reached the house, Kate and Patricia were sitting on the porch with afghans wrapped around their shoulders.

“She doesn’t call.” Patricia looked at her watch.

“She doesn’t text.” Kate picked up her phone.

“I know, I know.” Jenny sat next to Kate and pulled half of her afghan around herself.

“How’d it go?”

“Not the way I planned, that’s for sure.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it was better.”

“Spill,” Kate said.

Jenny shared the events of the night and early morning.

“Wow. Never saw that coming,” Kate said.

“Me, either. We’re going to Cristiano’s tonight for dinner. I need to get some real sleep, though or I’ll be dead on my feet by seven o’clock. I am dragging this morning.

Maya is a little spitfire. It’s so unfair that she has this breathing issue.”

“Jenny Novatney has a nice ring to it.”

“I doubt very much that Rich will want to end one marriage and then propose. I’m thinking he’s got a few wild oats left to sow.”

“He can sow them with you. And then he can propose.”

“Why are you so interested in marriage all of a sudden?”

“Not for me,” Kate said. “For you. You are totally the marrying kind.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You have that nurturing, nesting thing going on. You’d be happy to sit on the porch and watch the sunset every night with a man you loved.”

“You wouldn’t?”

“Maybe a couple of nights, but then I’d want to go out dancing or to a movie or something. I am not a homebody.”

“I like doing both,” Patricia said. “I love snuggling with a guy, but there are times when I want to be on the back of a motorcycle with the wind blowing through my hair.”

“You’re a dangerous one. That hair should be tucked neatly underneath a helmet. I saw a guy on a cycle get killed once. Car hit him and he flew right off the bike, through the air and splat. I can still remember the sound.” Jenny shuddered.

“Plus the bugs. Yuck! I can just see it now. After your very romantic motorcycle ride, he pulls over and runs his fingers through your old knotted up mangle of hair and there’s a big ol’ flying beetle making itself a nice little home in your hair,” Kate said.

“You are ruining my little fantasy, here.”

“Good. Maybe if the opportunity arises you’ll be sure to wear a helmet,” Jenny said.

“Where’s all the support and love and care you two are supposed to be giving to me?”

“We’re giving you all that. We don’t want you to die,” Kate said.

“Worry wart.”

“Risk taker.”

“Pot stirrer.”

“Beetle houser.”

“Stop it.” Jenny laughed. “I need to sleep. If you decide to continue this, please do it quietly.”

“Glad everything worked out, Jenny,” Kate said.

“Me, too,” Patricia said.

“Thanks. I would never have gone to talk to him if it hadn’t been for you guys. Thank you.”

“It weren’t nothing,” Patricia said in her best Southern drawl.

“We do at least ten good deeds a day. You was only number six.” Kate joined in the fun.

“Goodnight.”

Jenny slid under the covers and was asleep in minutes. She awoke four hours later feeling much more energetic. Her first thought upon waking was of Rich’s hands. She closed her eyes and remembered how they felt as she held them before going to sleep in the hospital room recliner. Solid. Sturdy. Strong. Oh how she wanted those hands to explore every inch of her body.

She imagined what their life might look like together. Where they’d live, who’d cook dinner, if they’d have kids. Jenny wasn’t sure what she wanted their life to be like, she just knew she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

Jenny drifted off to sleep again, her dreams filled with images of herself and Rich together on vacation, at the airport, going to his family reunion.

A knock on her door roused her from sleep. “It’s six o’clock. Didn’t you say you were meeting Rich at seven?” Patricia asked.

“It can’t be.”

“It is.”

“Crap!”

“You’re welcome.”

Jenny hurried into the shower to get ready for her date.

“You’re late,” Kate said as she passed the open bathroom door.

“I know. How late?”

“You have fifteen minutes to get there if you leave right now.”

“I can’t leave right now, I haven’t even done my make-up.”

“What’s taking so long?”

“I can’t get my hair to do anything.”

Patricia poked her head through the doorway opening. “Looks fine to me.”

“You’re just saying that. It’s like a mop.” Jenny tried putting more gel in her hair. “Now it looks like I haven’t washed my hair in a week!”

“He’s not going to be looking at your hair. Just put it up in a ponytail, throw on some lipstick and hit the road,” Kate said. “Besides, he’s already seen you without make-up. What’s the big deal?”

“You can say that because your skin is perfect. Mine is not. I need help. A lot of it.”